What is Entrepreneurship? Why is it Important?
If you look back at the founding of this country, you’d find entrepreneurship at the core of the American spirit. It’s about seeking freedom, and seeking to be good stewards of the assets and resources God has blessed us with, producing an increase. It isn’t just what you do with your own monetary investment. It’s about your idea and others’ assets and putting those things together to create a profitable return of some kind!
How to Acquire Skills as an Entrepreneur
Especially if you’ve been an employee in the past, acquiring business skills is one of the most difficult things you will do on your journey. There are different ways you go about acquiring skills, with some ways being more appropriate for certain kinds of people, depending largely upon what financial and time constraints you face.
Basically, skills acquisition falls under two main types: formal study and informal study.
Formal Courses / Academics
College/MBA Programs
Formal courses and academics–for example, college and MBA programs–have their place. In fact, most people think of business training in these terms. According to the most successful people who hold MBAs, this formal study is valuable because it opens doors for networking and climbing the cooperate ladder.
For many people, however, formal courses and study programs often aren’t the most effective or efficient way to gain skills. (Something like Venture Academy might be a better choice for you, as well as the other options listed here.)
Informal Courses / Self-Study
Especially today, you can find very affordable resources for learning new skills in an informal or self-study setting.
Books
Whether you’re talking about a print book or an eBook on a digital device, books still hold an important influence over our lives, especially when you’re an entrepreneur. (Remember you’re the people you know…and the books you’ve read. Here’s a list to get you started.)
Online Courses
In addition to reading, research online courses on skills and specific topics. There are Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), which are generally university-level courses, often from institutions like Harvard, MIT, and the University of California. Basically, MOOCs are free, online versions of their college courses.
There are also less formal free and paid online courses available. With CreativeLive, for example, you can watch the course for free when it’s live, then buy the recording afterward. (Check Out CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes here.)Another example is Product Launch Formula, which a highly focused methodology delivered by an experienced, successful export.
Webinars & Video Training
In addition to online courses, many business offer webinars and online video training to help build their audiences. This provides high-quality, free tutorials and training, often pitching a premium product that dives even deeper into the topics discussed.
eBooks & White Papers
White papers are found in the business space, but eBooks are found in almost every space today. They’re often available for free, or at very discounted prices. (Unlike regular books, these will often be very targeted on a specific topic.)
Blogs & Email Subscriptions
Given the number of quality blogs published today, they’re one of your best learning resources. Blog posts (and entire blogs, for that matter) are often tightly focused. You can read blogs on everything from marketing to finance!
Once you find a website with lots of quality content that keeps up on the latest business trends and news, also consider signing up for their email list. Reading their email list is a great way to keep your eyes and ears open to things that you need to study in the future, even as certain technologies evolve.
How to Acquire Skills as an Entrepreneur – Summary
So as we talked today, there are two main ways to acquire new skills:
Formal Skill Acquisition (College/MBA)
Informal Skill Acquisition:
- Books.
- eBooks.
- Online courses.
- Webinars/video training.
- White papers.
- Blogs.
- Email subscriptions.
