America is home to the most prominent business tycoons of all time. It has shaped the landscape of many industries far and wide. According to MOSourceLink, 18,234 startup firms were established in Missouri in 2021. Despite this staggering statistic, starting a business isn’t easy. According to HubSpot, 90% of all startups fail in their first year of operations.
While 10% of the surviving businesses fail within the second year of operations. While being your own boss and bringing your dream to life might seem exciting, you need to be prepared to navigate the complexities of the business world. And what better way to acquire business acumen and skills than pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA)?
An MBA can be a game-changer for an entrepreneur. This blog will tell you the top five reasons you should get an MBA to succeed as an entrepreneur.
So, let’s dive in!
- Understanding The Financials:
One important reason behind the failure of so many startups is a lack of financial literacy and understanding among entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurial ventures are built on innovative ideas and passion. However, a lack of business acumen and management of financials sets them up for failure.
Business owners with access to excessive capital often end up over-investing in areas with less to no rate of return because they are unaware of how the market works.
Opting for an MBA from a reputed school can give you the foundation to make sound financial decisions for your business venture. We recommend doing your research to see which MBA program suits your needs.
For example, an MBA in Missouri guarantees a cutting-edge curriculum, an affordable fee structure, a virtual learning model, and various specializations to choose from. Studying financial management, entrepreneurial finance, and accounting principles under such a program helps business owners make informed financial decisions.
While an MBA is an investment, it can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in rookie mistakes. Moreover, you can test your business idea by placing it in an incubator and taking reviews from peers and course instructors. This can especially be helpful if you are in the alpha stage of your business idea.
- Helps You Turn Your Startup Into An Enterprise:
As an entrepreneur, your biggest challenge is scaling your business in a competitive landscape. Running a small company with only a handful of employees is much different than managing and growing it into a whole enterprise. As you grow your business and generate more revenue and profits, you must know the best ways to expand your business operations. You must hire the right people and align people with your corporate vision.
An MBA program provides you with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) to manage the complexities of scaling your business. You gain a comprehensive understanding of business functions by studying HR management, operations management, marketing and sales, and business strategy courses.
You learn from experienced faculty members and industry professionals; their valuable insight and guidance propel you forward. Moreover, an MBA pushes you to make tough calls and work under high-pressure situations. You can understand the importance of taking calculated risks, evaluating opportunities, and making strategic decisions that take your business to new heights.
- Build A Network:
An MBA offers entrepreneurs valuable opportunities to build a network of influential business people who can help them with their ventures. These opportunities are presented to them through seminars, networking events, social nights, business conferences, and more.
When you pursue an MBA, you are surrounded by like-minded people. Adding them to your contacts list can prove invaluable in the future and help you in collaborations, partnerships, and even business associations.
An MBA program offers students a well-rounded faculty of industry experts specializing in management, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They act as great mentors, and an MBA program allows you to learn from the best in the field. Entrepreneurs can access information, advice, and resources by cultivating connections with professors, industry leaders, and alumni.
Building a network of business people is crucial to survive in the long run. These relationships act as solid foundations for future partnerships and collaborations. These connections can help acquire potential customers and clients and secure strategic alliances with other organizations. You can also build a global network exposing you to international opportunities and perspectives. Your network can support you when the going gets tough and encourage you by pushing you in the right direction.
- Developing Diverse Perspectives:
An MBA provides you with exposure to diverse perspectives and global business scenarios. MBA programs attract students from all over the world from various backgrounds, industries, and cultures. Engaging with people from different walks of life gives you a better understanding of global markets, business practices, and cultural norms.
This helps you think globally and adapt to business environments more efficiently. Moreover, many MBA programs offer international study trips, projects with global organizations, and exchange programs. This helps immerse entrepreneurs in different business environments and helps them develop diverse perspectives.
- Gaining Interpersonal Skills:
Many big and small businesses fail despite being technically and financially sound. The main reason is the lack of interpersonal relationships with the key stakeholders; employees, customers, partners, etc.
An MBA can help entrepreneurs develop valuable communication skills to express their ideas clearly, persuade investors and lead their teams. An MBA coursework also has subjects and activities that emphasize leadership and teamwork; this helps entrepreneurs motivate their employees, cultivate a positive corporate environment, and resolve conflicts.
An MBA provides ample opportunities to interact with experienced faculty members and industry professionals. This helps you build relationships and expand your professional network while also helping you build interpersonal skills such as rapport-building and relationship-building that help your business. Moreover, pursuing your MBA with people from diverse backgrounds helps you enhance cross-cultural competence and communication, which is very helpful if you plan on collaborating internationally.
An MBA curriculum also inculcates emotional intelligence in entrepreneurs, paying long-term dividends. It helps them be self-aware and quickly navigate complex situations.
Bottom Line:
Pursuing an MBA can be a life-changing decision for an entrepreneur. It can help them succeed in the competitive business world and help set themselves apart. An MBA equips entrepreneurs to make sound financial decisions, gives them business acumen to run business operations smoothly, and builds a solid network.
It exposes them to diverse perspectives by putting them in the same space as other people from different walks of life. It helps develop interpersonal skills like teamwork, effective communication, leadership, and others to help build lucrative relationships and navigate complex scenarios. An MBA gives entrepreneurs a valuable toolkit to scale their business and take it to new heights.