Building and running a small business often consumes most of an entrepreneur’s time, leaving little room for other pursuits. Yet many company owners decide to get an MBA, believing it will help them be better managers, marketers and bosses.
And because many business schools have programs designed to be squeezed into a business person’s overscheduled life, a graduate degree doesn’t have to be one of those “someday” pipe dreams.
Jennifer Prosek was already a partner in the New York-based public relations firm Cubitt Jacobs &Prosek when she decided to get an MBA. She enrolled in Columbia University’s Executive MBA program, which allows entrepreneurs and corporate executives to get the same degree as full-time students, but Prosek attended classes on Fridays and some Saturdays, and got her masters in two years.
“If you’re looking to continue operating your business or continue to sustain the job you’re in, these programs are the perfect solution,” she said.
Prosek said she believed an MBA would give her better skills to run her company, but she found grad school had another, unexpected benefit: “You will acquire a network of people who will inevitably help you throughout your career.”
Linda McAnern, co-owner of Stirya Inc., a New York-based computer services company, said the MBA she got at Northeastern University in Boston improved her expertise in running a business. “It helped me to have a better, well-rounded sense of how to make the business grow,” she said.
McAnern enrolled in Northeastern’s high-tech MBA program, a part-time course of study aimed at people who work in the technology business. She went to class on Tuesday nights and all day on Saturday, every other week, finishing her masters in two years.
“It was pretty intense,” she recalled. “I pretty much didn’t have a life, but that’s pretty standard.”
Because students in programs like McAnern’s and Prosek’s are already running companies, classroom discussions and projects don’t deal with the hypothetical – students are immediately taking what they learn back to their businesses and seeing results. “It was very hands-on and we got to apply everything as we went along,” McAnern said.
A search of the Internet shows there are many schools across the country that offer MBA programs aimed at people with companies to run or other full-time jobs. Some also have special accelerated programs for people in professions such as law or accounting.
Because of the growing number of online academic programs, entrepreneurs who don’t live near a business school offering an executive MBA can still pursue a graduate degree.
Bonnie Harris, owner of Wax Marketing Inc., a St. Paul, Minn.-based marketing company, couldn’t find the program she wanted in a school nearby. She was searching for a masters in integrated marketing communications, and found it online, at West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism.
Harris, who is still working on her degree, said she spends about 12 hours a week on her studies. Online doesn’t mean it’s easier than attending class on a campus, she said.
“It is so much more work, so much more writing, being interactive with discussion boards,” Harris said. “You’re trying to keep up 24/7 versus going to classes a couple of days a week.”
Harris says she does some school work, such as using class discussion boards, on her lunch hours, or when she has slow periods at the office. Most of her class work is done at night and on weekends.
She’s had to make adjustments in her personal life, but Harris said her school work has the side benefit of being what she called a mini-vacation away from her company.
Even business owners in highly demanding industries or professions have been able to complete an MBA program.
Orthopedic spine surgeon Scott Tromanhauser, who practices in Boston, got his MBA at Northeastern even as he conducted his practice. Tromanhauser co-founded a company that created spinal fusion devices, and “then I realized that I really didn’t know anything” about business.
When he found out that he’d have to go to class only every other week, he recalled saying, “I can do that.”
The degree has helped him with his entrepreneurial pursuits, and also has helped in his practice, “in the way hospital administrators deal with me and the respect I get in business.”
Of course, it’s not necessary to pursue an MBA to build your business knowledge – many owners take individual courses to ground themselves in specific business areas, such as marketing or accounting. They find that one course or a handful of courses are all they need.
Joyce Rosenberg writes about small business for the Associated Press.
Small-business classes
Snohomish County’s two community colleges offer courses for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Everett Community College (www.everettcc.edu) has developed a new center for entrepreneurism. Edmonds Community College (www.edcc.edu) is the site of one of 1,000 small business development centers around the country.
Small-business classes
In Snohomish County, two community colleges offer courses for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Everett Community College has developed a new center for entrepreneurism. Edmonds Community College is the site of one of 1,000 small business development centers around the country.
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