Business Education

[AlbinoRhino]

Hey there guys, I'm new to this thread but I think I just read every single post in one night!! I am looking at several business ventures and I am starved for all things information. So my question that I haven't seen on here is: What level of education does every one of you who ran, run, or are going to run a business? Did most of you achieve your business ventures with no education, self education, or did you do formal education I.E a four year college. I want to go at this with all the right puzzle pieces for maximizing my potential for success and I figure I better start at education.

So please post up and let me know how you know what ya know!!!

 

[Razorguns]

High School Graduate
Mathematics Scholarship
4 Years Degree Engineering

career starts (this is where most people stop learning now) :

Business Book / Auto-Biography book once every two months

Technical Books / Once a month

Business Magazine Subscriptions (Black Enterprise, Entreprenerur, Smart Money, etc.).

Congregating with people who are successful and have money -- instead of people who aren't successful and don't have money.

Moving up higher on the corporate ladder. Getting more responsbility thereby gaing more relevant "business" experience.

Having fun in life and to not let all that above crap consume your life. Focus on the motivation which wants you to learn all that above.

 

[AlbinoRhino]

I guess a secondary question should be: What level of income do you have? because for alot of us low income earning individuals, investing and making business moves requires, alot of income and equity and a nice credit rating. Of course there are the little mom and pop style business ventures that score big but for the most part it takes money to make money. I only bring in 40K a year and I find it hard to come by enough equity to make the business leaps I want to make.

It sounds like most of you who post here have 60K plus incomes plus whatever revenue your investing brings you. You can't really pull real estate investments off of 40K a year and still find money to live on.

 

[Razorguns]

You can't really pull real estate investments off of 40K a year and still find money to live on.

People with money, but no investment brains -- require people with investment brains but no money.

When the partnership works well, everyone wins.

So there are always options. Everything one needs to become a millionaire is found at your local bookstore. Start crackin'!

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

Bor,

I have a BS in Math from a crappy university. I work with a guy who is a grad of U-Penn, the best business school.

Most of his classmates went the wall street route, and make big bucks. I went another route and met this guy who gave me unlimited opportunity.

Formal education is part of the equation, yes. Informal education is part of it too. D what you can to find people who have the knowledge you need - almost every successful person had some sort of mentor....I do, and the guy I learn from ahd one too. Warren Buffett had benjamin graham, and so on.

Try to find those people, work for them, try and associate with them. There are also all kinds of online communities you can explore to meet people that way. On the web, you've gotta take your chances...there are plenty of people out there who say they have all the answers buthave never done anything (posers) but there are some good people out there too.

Also, read and learn more about what you want to know. The Internet is a great resource, but you can learn about derivatives trading (for example) or anything lese by reading books on it too. All of this knowldege is out there.

And oddly, you will find that the more knowledge you have, the more interesting you will be to people who can really change your life. The world is full of 20-somethings making 40K per year, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. When you are trying to get ahead or find a breakthrough, it is your knowledge that will catch the attention of other people who can help you.

Last thing I can say now...be fearless. Anyone who has built anything has heard NO a lot of times before they heard yes. If every door seems closed, I guess you'll have to break them down. If you want to exchange more ideas, post up.

 

[Cuthbert]

High School Graduate
Mathematics Scholarship
4 Years Degree Engineering

career starts (this is where most people stop learning now) :

Business Book / Auto-Biography book once every two months

Technical Books / Once a month

Business Magazine Subscriptions (Black Enterprise, Entreprenerur, Smart Money, etc.).

Congregating with people who are successful and have money -- instead of people who aren't successful and don't have money.

Moving up higher on the corporate ladder. Getting more responsbility thereby gaing more relevant "business" experience.

Having fun in life and to not let all that above crap consume your life. Focus on the motivation which wants you to learn all that above.

Any solid business books/magazines you recommend in particular?

 

[manny78]

Hey there guys, I'm new to this thread but I think I just read every single post in one night!! I am looking at several business ventures and I am starved for all things information. So my question that I haven't seen on here is: What level of education does every one of you who ran, run, or are going to run a business? Did most of you achieve your business ventures with no education, self education, or did you do formal education I.E a four year college. I want to go at this with all the right puzzle pieces for maximizing my potential for success and I figure I better start at education.

So please post up and let me know how you know what ya know!!!

I have a degree in law. While I did my last year in business law I dont consider this as pure "business education". it's all about what you're willing to do in order to achieve your goals. Who you know and how you deal different issues. Matt is right, it's sooooo easier to learn from someone with a solid background. Took me 2 years to understand the firearms industry. The whole import/export thing, dealing with federal authorities and all. Didnt learn by myself. Had to look at others and take advices from 2 established and successful individuals. Some people wont listen cause it makes them feel like newbies. Biggest error IMHO...

 

[Synpax]

Hiya,

I have a BBA from a top 50 school and have my own company and work for another.

Regarding business, there is a saying from a TV show that will go unmentioned - "you need the lobes for business."

Those lobes usually lead you to a good /decent business school, but not always. They also lead you into apprenticeships and into other ventures.

I can tell by the way you phrased your question that you could probably guess the answers you were going to get. A mix.

If you do go to college for business, I'd strongly encourage you to take a lot of finance classes. They give you a good sense of 'balance' or the ability to 'size things up' - very vital in any venture.

At the end of the day, either you have the lobes or you don't.

 

[AlbinoRhino]

I appreciate all the answers guys. I am just trying to get started in the right direction, I know at this point I have no business leaping into anything investment or business wise. I see that my education will need to get a little bit more intense so I can get a better grasp of business comings and goings as well as a better income.

Since I am about to try and make a career swap I was wondering what type of degree you would recommend for owning your own business or going into investments of some type?

I really want to get into some real estate, I live out here in Tucson AZ and it just got rated the 2nd fastest growing city in the US. The property value out here over the last four years has just sky rocketed and the surroudning areas are starting to gain alot of value as well. I'm hoping to scrape something together really soon to take advantage of this.

 

[Madcow2]

In truth nothing beats real experience but a good education and a good mind can save you a lot of costly missteps on the way. Knowledge of finance is valuable for anything investment related as it provides a framework to allow you to value the investment and incorporate risks/uncertainties.

I have a BS in finance and an MBA from a fairly top program with a heavy concentration in quantitative finance - thought about PhD but I don't have the time and my research interests are fairly narrow and specifc so the time/coursework/poverty issues contrain me too much. I'll be the first to tell you that just about every MBA program is fairly the same. The coursework is designed to take someone with no real business skills (albeit a good mind) and bring them up to reasonable levels where they will add value to a company and are worth investing the time in to train them in the specifics of a buiness. The primary differences in the programs are going to be the calibur of your classmates, on-campus recruiters, and alumni network (for getting into a target industry or making good contacts this is hugely valuable). For 95% of all MBA graduates from a local part-time program to the best schools in the country the general coursework varries very little. Now where school specific curriculum acutally matters is for those who have a narrow focus and know exactly what branch of knowledge they want to specialize in (about 5% likely in the top full-time programs - amazing isn't it, most full-time MBAs are escaping a situation or getting their resume improved/ticket stamped). This is where the ability to customize one's coursework comes into play as well as the research specificity and quality of the professors in a given department as their willingness to supervise and assist with customized coursework and research comes into play.

What I would recommend is buying some cheap used textbooks and going through them. Maybe check out the curriculum at a local university and see what books they are using (older editions are cheap and rarely are updates material - textbooks are a sham business with constant new editions). Maybe even email or contact a professor in an applicable department. Something on valuation methods for finance (or even something more general at first), I'm sure there's something on real estate although that's not my area of expertise, you also are going to need to be up on tax and any regulation issues (very expensive to overlook these) and that might be a bit harder but not insurmountable.