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Entrepreneur College: Where To Find Formal Training In Entrepreneurship by Yank Elliott, MBA & IAHBE Staff Writer Don’t try to find a job, MAKE A JOB! That’s exactly what many business school students are doing all across the U.S. Small businesses fuel the economy and are the greatest creator of new employment opportunities. But this idea is often forgotten. Only in recent years have major educational institutions realized the importance of small business. There’s a new paradigm for business school graduates: only one in 11 will go to work with a Fortune 500 company. Nine out of 10 would rather work for themselves. The demand for entrepreneurial training does not end with business school students. Consider the millions of workers who absolutely hate their jobs or some aspect of it (such as several hours in traffic every day). School Systems & Entrepreneurial Training In the U.S. and many other countries, the educational system teaches students how to work for others. After the Industrial Revolution, the basic idea for education was to help a person get a decent job in the manufacturing industries that emerged. High School business courses and extra-curricular business activities appear to neglect the entrepreneur. Junior Achievement (http://www.ja.org/default.asp) programs are geared more toward careers and how to get along in the business world than toward entrepreneurship. Extra-curricular activities like DECA, a national association of high school and college marketing students, claim to offer training in entrepreneurship, but the efforts seem to be more directed toward careers and working for others. Some colleges have stepped in with summer programs to teach high school students entrepreneurship. One is the HAAS School Of Business (http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/yeah/). Some graduates of entrepreneurial college programs do, in fact, go to work for venture capital companies. Others may work for private or government entities in development programs. When examined within the scope of this article, however, they miss the point. Entrepreneurs should basically work for themselves in their own business. Business School Omissions Students who go on to college business courses are taught how to make decisions for others. Even investment courses don’t tell you how to make your own investments—just what a good investment might be. You are left to find out how to make this information work for you. Business schools teach you how to manage others. You need to know this, but they never teach you to be your own boss. Finally, most business training never shows you how to make money for yourself. Skeptics say, You can’t do it. You can’t succeed working for yourself. The responsibility is too great, there is too much to know, and the competition is fierce. And, you know, most new businesses fail. That includes large ones, too. Changing Times There are several theories about why the Industrial Revolution occurred when it did. It was a combination of issues. It’s true that new manufacturing equipment became too expensive for the cottage industry to afford, but there was also the desire of the large business owners to gain complete control over what their workers were doing. They used the machinery issue to get people to leave their homes and go to a central place of work. It was the capitalistic motive to get more production for less pay. Nothing is inherently wrong with this idea; that’s basic economics. The same thing is going on now. Companies encourage employees to gain additional training, often on company time and at company expense. Why will they pay for it if they do not believe they can get more work from employees for the same amount of money? This is just basic economic theory; there’s nothing wrong with it as long as the employers can get away with it, but the result is that many individual employees do more for less to make somebody else wealthy. Companies will continue to press for the bottom line in today’s period of high unemployment. Employees—wanting to make themselves more valuable to their employer—try to get as much training as they can just to retain their jobs, but more training may simply mean that they do more work for the same amount of money! It’s sad. Going
Against The Current If you want to, and if you can, get out and be willing to swim against the current! Be an entrepreneur. Why is it so hard to do this? For one thing, we have deep-seated religious beliefs about work. The Protestant work ethic teaches us to obey instructions, work hard, and be loyal. Family, friends, and associates often discourage us from becoming entrepreneurs, but they are the worst possible advisors. They probably don’t want you to be more successful than they are. They will help you when you are sick or down, but they will not help you get ahead. For helpful advice, best-selling author and entrepreneur Napoleon Hill says to find a small group of like-thinking people. These people don’t have to always agree with you, but they should think reasonably about your ideas, not laugh at you, and they should not always be discouraging. Many won’t do what it takes to have their own business even if they know how.
Reasons
For The Home-Based Business Why should anyone have a home-based business?
Everyone should have an e-commerce site of some kind. If you are older and just thought about a home business, get started NOW! Spend as much money and time as you can on your business. Some will say a home-based business is demeaning or beneath their social status.
Professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants, insurance salesmen, stock brokers, realtors, nurses, and other professional licensees have special problems.
The Shift
In Focus There is starting to be some recognition of the problems mentioned above, as a few professional schools now include debt-management courses in the curriculum. Some professionals are enrolled in business or MBA courses, but many of these really don’t show them how to make money for themselves. The training often misses the mark since it is geared toward teaching you how to work for others, not how to be your own boss, so these professionals don’t learn what they need to work for themselves in their own practice. In addition, some colleges and institutions are now recognizing the need for entrepreneurial training. In fact, one in 10 adult Americans are engaged in starting some kind of business at any one time, and finally there are educational resources coming available for them. A few are mentioned below:
These are only a few of the hundreds of training programs available. To find one near you, go through the George Washington survey list of schools that offer courses in entrepreneurship (http://www.gwu.edu/~nes/aboutcfe.html—click “View Results” at the bottom of the page). There is sure to be an educational opportunity for entrepreneurs close to you. Take advantage of these college-level courses. ------------------------------------------------ ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: National Commission on Entrepreneurship site discusses many concerns for the individual. A valuable resource for the home-based business person. www.renderx.com/~renderx/myths/en/main.html Kauffman Foundation’s site for Women’s Issues, www.entreworld.com/Women/ --------------------------------------
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