There are plenty of steps you can start with when you’re aspiring to become the best entrepreneur you can be, but they’ll all have to do with expanding your skills and knowledge. The question for a novice or someone who has a lot on their plate is usually related to where they should set their starting point. Do you start with a degree, serve as an apprentice, or just skip ahead to founding your own business? Although the exact approach will vary depending on your preferences and industry, here are four things every entrepreneur can do to get better at business in general:
1. Pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration Degree
One of the best ways to not only become a highly proficient manager but to have a credential that proves it on your resume is to earn a master’s of business administration degree online. Although some schools may require you to have taken the Graduation Management Admission Test (GMAT), you can find plenty of online universities that don’t require a GMAT by simply searching for “MBA no GMAT required.”
2. Launching an Online Retail Store
Entrepreneurs can specialize in all sorts of businesses, from real estate to inventing products, it’s really just a matter of what inspires you to give the endeavor your all. However, if you’ve never launched a retail store then now is a good time to go ahead and get that experience under your belt. Plus, doing so might just wind up creating a sizeable new revenue stream for you to enjoy with relatively minimal work other than management duties.
3. Managing Your Own Marketing Campaigns
Many company owners choose to outsource promotional tasks to marketing firms or a virtual assistant. Although that may give you time to focus on other tasks that seem more important in the short-term, in the long-term it doesn’t give you any hands-on experience with marketing, which is something every entrepreneur should have. Thus, if this is something you’ve never done before, why not create a marketing to-do list and tackle it yourself for once?
4. Designing and Selling a Custom Product
You may not consider yourself an inventor, but you don’t necessarily have to be to create a new product. Most products are just spin-offs or improvements to pre-existing items. You could also create an informational product like an eBook or podcast. You could go down the revolutionary route and release something completely unique, or you could go down the easy route and identify opportunities for improvement in existing products.
Building Practical Experience in the Most Important Areas of Business
You might’ve heard the saying “there’s no substitute for experience,” and that certainly rings true in business, as some things just have to be experienced in order for you to become familiar with the subtle nuances and technicalities involved. You’ll probably find that each one of the above tasks includes more steps than you had initially expected, but that’s okay because surmounting these unexpected steps will lead you to the promised land of being a more capable and creative entrepreneur.
