However I think using dentists and hair-dressers as examples is wrong as these are not tasks you can really do yourself.

Steve

kind regards

Sharon Outlaw (owner of ‘All Above Board’ Ironing

My name is Chris Markham and I’m a learning addict. I’m happy to admit that: publicly.

When I’m getting to grips with something fiendishly complex and difficult and I come up with a new view and a better understanding, it is a hairs standing up on the back of the neck moment. The man with the tricky to pronounce name Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it Flow, so sometimes learning just for the sake of learning can be utterly stimulating if that’s your bag.

But learning for running a business is probably THE most important skill there is. When you run your own business, or are a key player in a small business, you need not only to do your core job but you also need to be good at sales and marketing and a bit of IT and financial management and managing people and social media and the list goes on and on. But being immersed in your own business can mean you lose sight of the longer-term objective, so as Aaron suggests, a business degree can help give you that wider perspective.

The hours I toiled away (when I could have been goofing off) studying for my law degree then Masters in Business all those years ago did a lot to prepare me for running my own business, and for helping others do the same. But no amount of study ever prepares you for the reality.

If you want to study business alongside running a business, why not do it part-time so you can apply what you are learning to improve your own company. You don’t even have to study officially: there are so many outstanding books on business available today you can run your own course. My latest recommendation is the Lean Startup by Eric Ries: treat everything as an experiment and use the learning.

Chris