Should small business owners do an MBA?

Could an MBA be the catalyst that your business needs?

There is a definite perception that an MBA is more suited to those who wish to pursue a career in the corporate world and that MBA graduates are the future CEOs of global business. Conversely, there is a perception that entrepreneurism is a built-in characteristic that only the lucky few are born with.

I would argue that the perfect businessperson should have a blend of both entrepreneurial spirit and solid business acumen.

So, what skills could a small business owner learn from an MBA? Here I have highlighted three key benefits that an MBA could provide to a small business owner.

Finance

One of the most important things about being a small business owner is to have a good handle on finance. After all, cash flow is probably the single most challenging aspect of being a small business and ultimately companies go bust because they run out of cash not because sales slip a few percent or the social media marketing campaign didn’t quite do as well as expected.

Finance is a core part of any MBA program and having a solid grasp of finance can only help small business owners to make better informed decisions and evaluate risk more effectively. Being an expert in the finances of your business could be difference between you or your competitor going bust in times of economic strife!

Sales & Marketing

Another core part of the MBA curriculum that would definitely help small business owners is sales & marketing. A lot of people think they know about sales & marketing and that they do it well, but if you ask them to provide proof that an activity or campaign has been successful they are unable to provide sound return on investment (ROI) figures. Measuring sales and marketing activities is key to understanding what works and what doesn’t and in a small business environment, where time and resource is precious, you need to know this!

Networking

The final benefit of doing an MBA (assuming you would not opt for an online MBA) is the opportunity to network with people from a range of different backgrounds and industries. The benefits here are twofold; firstly you may uncover a new customer or strategic business partner and secondly you could learn techniques from other industries and perhaps even be the first to apply these to your own sector.

Barriers

The main barriers to small business owners doing an MBA are obvious – time and money! To address the first problem of time, there are many options now for doing an MBA with many business schools recognising the need to provide flexible courses. Some schools even offer weekend classes to help people who are too busy to attend class during the week. Another option is to look for a course that has a blended curriculum of classroom and online study.

With regards to the second problem of cost, this may not be quite such an issue for a small business owner as it is for somebody who is trying to forge a career in the corporate world. The reason for this is that the requirement to get your MBA from a top business school is not there. If you are a small business owner you can freely choose the MBA that fits your needs and not worry about whether your MBA comes from a top ranking business school like Stanford. If budget is really tight then you could look at a completely online MBA, however, you would lose the benefit of networking opportunities mentioned above.

In summary, don’t exclude the idea of an MBA if you are a small business owner. It could be just the catalyst that your business needs!