At this time of year, back to school is on a lot of minds. For parents, many of you are getting your kids ready for grade school, high school or college. For parents who own businesses, it’s time for you to start thinking about yourself and your biz again.
Those of you in the latter category have a tremendous opportunity before you. The annual back to school event is a good time for assessing what you need to learn as a business owner.
Owning your own business means the learning never stops. The moment you stop learning, you’re putting yourself and your business at a disadvantage. Whether you coach, design, write or produce a physical product, you have a specific skill set and chances are, each year brings new advances in the technology and methods you employ while executing those skills. There’s always new terminology, new programs, and new products that keep you ahead of the cutting edge.
What Classes Should I Take?
What classes you take depends on what kind of business you run. Do you travel a lot? Learning new languages is helpful. Have a cooking or food related site? Take some culinary classes and discover some new cooking techniques.
In addition to industry specific subjects, schools offer a bounty of courses that teach you the skills required for running a business on a day to day basis:
- Accounting: Whether it’s a full on accounting course or learning how to use Quick Books, you as a business owner need to know where your money’s going. Even if you end up hiring someone else to do your books, you still need an understanding of how it all works.
- Office Software: Many of us are self-taught when it comes to using programs like Word or Excel. Are we really using them to their full potential? Probably not. Taking a course on a program you’ve already learned on your own is an eye-opener. Learning from an expert, you’ll surely pick up a few tips and tricks you never thought of before.
- Website Management: This is another subject you may end up hiring out, but it’s good to know. Learning how to manage your website enables you to speak the same language to your web designer or a potential webmaster. You should always know where your site files are kept, how to retrieve them and how to make simple changes to your site, especially if you use WordPress.
- Computer Basics: Has your computer always been a mystery to you beyond the On/Off switch? Learn more about the one tool so crucial to your business.
- Keyboarding: Do you hunt and peck? Sure, it gets you by, but it’s not very efficient, especially if you do a lot of writing. You’ll be surprised how much more writing you can get done when you know how to type properly.
- Personal Development/Coaching: Skills and business management classes are fine, but the glue that holds it all together is YOU. When you’re frazzled, overwhelmed and feeling like the whole world is spinning out of control, how can you expect to keep your business…and your life…going? This is where coaching comes in. Oh, before you start saying, “What do I need a coach for?” stop and think for a second. Having an impartial observer, someone who can look at all the pieces and offer you the right tools for assembling them is a huge help, one you don’t realize you need until after you’ve worked with a talented coach. And what do you know? We have one right here for you. Check out our Creative Clarity Coaching. Wendi would love to hear from you.
These are just a few suggestions to get you started. Find your local community college on the web and get on their mailing list. Look through the courses they have to offer and keep an open mind. When you read the class descriptions with your business in mind, you’ll be surprised at how many classes will apply to you.
Back to School Bonus
Think about this, you will not be the only person in class. Other people with similar interests will be taking that class with you. So many of us work alone in our homes we forget what it’s like having other people around us. Meeting face to face with people is what gives us new ideas and…also brings us new business.
Classes are great for networking. So, be friendly, introduce yourself, start conversations and don’t forget to bring your business card. You never know who you’ll meet or where that relationship will lead.
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