Top Degree Ideas for New Entrepreneurs

When you’re starting out as a small business owner, it can be tough trying to work out how to keep advancing your venture and to make ends meet. This is where it is useful to be educated on topics directly related to business and to your sector or to develop other types of key personal skills.

Read on for a selection of top degree ideas for entrepreneurs who want to invest in their education so their business can soar.

MBA

As you would imagine, one of the most popular university programs for those looking to work for themselves is an MBA. In a Master’s of Business Administration degree, you learn about all sorts of helpful topics related to starting and running a venture. For instance, most courses cover things like marketing, sales, finance, accounting, leadership, human resources, international markets, psychology, administration and computing and analytics.

Another benefit of enrolling in an on-campus or online MBA is that you will get to build up helpful personal skills needed to manage a business. For instance, you’ll hone skills like communication, problem solving, time management, creativity and the like. You also have the chance to spend time working in other businesses, during internships and other work experience sessions, which can help you to see how technical knowledge can be applied practically.

Engineering

These days, another degree that’s proving a common one for entrepreneurs is engineering. This program is helpful for those who end up having their own businesses because it builds skills in areas such as reading and analyzing large amounts of information and then synthesizing to take out the most important details.

Engineers also learn quickly how to search for and notice potential issues before they become huge problems. They are trained to find the root cause of things as soon as possible, which is a big help when running a business. Furthermore, engineers become adept at creating and testing prototypes, testing and measuring projects and outcomes and continually improving processes and results.

Psychology

When you run a business, you’re always trying to think about things from your customers’ perspective to decide what to sell, how and when to sell it, what price to charge, what kind of language to use in advertising and more. As a result, people who have studied psychology at university can have a real advantage in this area.

Becoming qualified as a psychologist will also mean that you understand how the brain works, what motivates and inspires people and how different personalities work (or don’t work) together. This kind of knowledge is wonderfully helpful in business because it makes it easier for you to choose employees and build teams and to lead them to success. You’ll also be better equipped to know how to best generate interest from investors or lenders, as well as journalists, suppliers and internal and external stakeholders.

Once you’ve learned about psychology, you will know how to control your own emotions better and cope with the many stressors that arise when you’re an entrepreneur. Plus, you’ll have honed your knowledge of things like negotiating, conflict resolution and body language when building relationships with people. These are all important skills to have as a business owner.

Economics

Of course, when it comes to launching and building a business, and ensuring it’s around for the long-term, it’s vital to have an understanding of finances. Most businesses that have to close do so because of cash flow issues, after all. A degree in economics can consequently be a great one for entrepreneurs.

Study a degree in this area and you will learn about how and why people make financial decisions and the way in which resources are allocated. You’ll come out of your program understanding things like how governments, businesses and financial institutions intersect and how micro and macro decisions can play out in different ways. You’ll learn about topics like inflation, currencies, investment, employment, statistics, accounting, banking, economic history and more.

When it comes to being prepared to be an entrepreneur, there are many steps you can take. One that will always be helpful, though, is studying a degree that will not only teach you relevant knowledge but also help you to prepare personally to handle the rigors of business life.