Sooner or later all businessmen, no matter how successful they are, feel the need to find new tools to grow their business and take a natural interest in business education. But the development of any business is inseparable from the development of its owner. When a business plateaus, it’s time to start investing in yourself – find new ideas, draw inspiration from new acquaintances, meet future partners, or even change your business model. In order to put it all together (and most importantly – put yourself together), all business schools and courses need to be taken within the context of your personal growth trajectory.
1. Formulate your Personal Strategy
This is a long-term plan for self-development. To create it, you need a clear understanding not only of what you want from your businessbut also what you want from your life as a whole. What are your dreams and goals? Do you want to evolve the market and the industry you’re operating in? Build several related and exciting projects? Sell the company and never work again?
Creating a personal strategy is no walk in the park, and any attempt to sit down and come up with something will most likely fail. Firstly, you need to know how to separate your personal strategy from your business development plans. Secondly, your strategic goals need to be realistic and lead you to a specific endpoint.
Therefore, formulating a personal strategy is yet another skill that needs to be learned, just as you needed to learn how to develop business strategies. And a proper educational programme will help you do just that.
2. Understand your Entrepreneurial Ideology
One more thing you need to figure out is why you are doing business in the first place. Is it only about making money? The answer to this question is your entrepreneurial ideology. And it should be at the heart of your business.
Today, the trend for building values-based businesses can be seen across the world, and they often grow from their founders’ own needs. For example, someone becomes a vegetarian and find they lack access to certain products. In the search for a replacement, they come up with recipes, negotiate with suppliers, and end up opening their own business. In addition to profits, the foundersof such companies focus on improving the quality of their own life and the lives of others.
3. Find your “Big Topic”
It’s good to have a real sincere interest in life besides your business and family. Opera, baseball, or neurolinguistics – it does not matter. The most important thing is that this subject constantly sparks your interest. Some people consider interests outside of businessto be a useless waste. But they are wrong. A narrowfocus on a single subject strips you of a breadth of thinking, while passions widen your thinking through building connections with the world and expanding your horizons. Often the most interesting projects are born where business and hobby meet.
The “big topic” might be something completely irrelevant to business education, yet essential to your personal growth trajectory. Attend lectures, read books or take online courses. Don’t be afraid to invest time init; itwill pay off!
4. Network Continuously
Networking is one of the essentialneeds ofan entrepreneur. A person who develops their business and themselves should expect to outgrow friends and colleagues. Former good friends become like relatives: the entrepreneur continues to love and respect them, but these people no longer help them grow. Expanding your network and looking for those who meet your new needs and hobbies is crucial for moving forward. It is important to learn to recognize when a time to move on has comeand actwithout hesitation.
Attending a business course for the sake of networking is completely normal and logical. In my practice,the most important contracts and solid partnerships are entered into between those sharing a desk. Therefore, when choosing an educational programme,one must consider the quality and characteristics of the environment it creates, and analysewhether it is a good fit for you and your development. Does it target the right markets? Are your business interests relevant to the people that will surround you on the course? Do your personal interests connect with them?
5. Always Take Care of your Health
Your body is a resource, and to some extent,it can be renewable if maintained properly. This is one more skill to master. Anyone who spends a lot of time on a business they love, an interesting hobby, and learning new things, will experience significant overload, which needs to be recovered from. This is the reason why many business schools now include health-related courses in their curriculum. Consider this as you plan your business education.
A good business programme should not just be a part of your educational trajectory; itshould help shape and adjust it. If you can formulate a personal strategy or ideology as a result of the training, that’s wonderful. High-quality education should not just give you tools and teach you how to use them; itshould also help you understand what you want to do in your life and why.