You are finally living the dream.
You’re the boss of your own business and everything is perfect. Now…if only you could figure out how to apply all that great information you have spent the past few years learning in school. Translating textbook case studies and imaginary scenarios into marketable skills for your company can be tough.
In fact, a 2011 study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education found that learning based on actual work situations was the top way youths prepare themselves for the workforce.
There are many skills you can develop while earning your degree online.
FastWeb.com lists some of the top skills include: independence, multitasking and motivation. Combining the actual information you learn in the classroom with the life skills that accompany the course load is the best preparation for business success.
Whether you earn your degree from a brick and mortar school or through an online program, you will be in a situation to learn both academic and real-world skills that will help you both run and market your company.
Independence
An online school can actually prepare you even more for owning and running your own business. If you go about earning a business management associate degree from an online accredited school like Penn Foster allows you to work at your own pace, it forces you to learn one of the most valuable entrepreneurial skills, which is independence.
When you are your own boss, no one is telling you what to do. You have to be the one who determines how to spend your time. By the time you join the workforce you will be well-versed in how to make your own schedule and stick to it. That independence has also shown you how to market yourself, by going after what you really want and not giving up.
Multitasking
OnlineCollege.org discussed a study that showed how only 2 percent of the population can actually multitask. It then went on to talk about how with technology today, everyone is more and more tempted to do more at once and then work suffers. It takes longer to do each task because you are constantly distracted by other tasks. With online studies, since you are sitting in your own space, with your own computer, cellphone, tablet, DVR, etc. the ability to focus on the schoolwork becomes extremely difficult.
However, when you own your own business, you are in that same situation most work days. If this is your first taste of these distractions, you will never be able to get work done for your clients, and you certainly will not be able to juggle running your business and promoting it too. Surround yourself with all these distractions while in school and make a point to actively train yourself to tune them out.
That way, when you’re answering work emails, returning client calls and responding to business texts, you won’t be distracted by the latest Youtube video.
Motivation
With no one telling you that you need to be at class at 8 a.m. or work at 9 a.m., starting your day is all on you.
Online education teaches you that you need to motivate yourself, because no one else will. You have already learned that procrastination and laziness are your worst enemies, and if you want to get the work done right and on time, you need to get things going, like now.
Plus, in order to stay one step ahead of the competition, you need to use that motivation to continue to market yourself and stay relevant.
Jon Rognerud and Chaosmap work with Fortune 500 companies, small business and entrepreneurs to create digital traffic strategies that scale up customers, leads and sales with profitable returns. Mr. Rognerud wrote a best-selling book (Buy On Amazon), “The Ultimate Guide To Optimizing Your Website” (Entrepreneur). Connect directly here.
