Last Updated on Dec 19, 2019 by James W
With the United States private sector currently accounting for nearly 90% of the country’s GDP, there’s no doubting that the country is full of innovative and exciting businesses which are surging ahead. But running a business can be a stressful experience: not only can financial concerns eat away at you over time and leave you feeling uncertain and nervous, it can also be lonely if you’re at the top. With so many start-ups sadly failing over the long term as a result of these problems and more, breaking even and making a profit can seem like a distant dream.
But there are ways to tackle any difficult problems you come across. Whether that’s finding yourself a mentor or changing your business practices, there’s always a way to inject some life back into your business. That is especially true when it comes to finances and cash flows – and by doing the hard work upfront and investing in your own learning about the basics of the financial world, you can ensure you won’t slip behind. This article will explore the main reasons why a rigorous financial education is a smart move for anyone looking to break into business.
Basic principles
On your first day of financial education, it’s likely that you’ll be introduced to some handy basic concepts which will stand you in good stead for the rest of your business career. Some of the simplest include obvious ones like profit and loss – both of which have a clear use in the world of business. But other concepts and practices which are handy are likely to be more obvious in nature.
Take the balance sheet, a document used in business to show an overview of a business’ financial position at any one time. And the idea of investment in your own operations is something that a good financial education can give you: while some business leaders try to avoid using debt, for example, others see it as a chance to fund strategic growth when it is used well. No matter what concepts you end up finding useful, having an overview in your mind of what the options are and how they work can help you grow your firm and tackle any financial problems.
Networking and contacts
A good financial education goes much further than simply equipping you with the basic concepts you will need to understand the world of business. Financial degrees are also great for networking. When you study finance or a finance-related discipline at a college, it’s likely that you’ll meet people who will themselves go on to do great things in the business world. If ten years down the line you suddenly find that you need new clients, you’ll have a wide pool to approach. Getting your education from an accredited college with a range of recognized courses, then, isn’t just good news in terms of the quality of the teaching you receive. It’s also good from the point of view of building up that all-important contact base.
Math and numeracy
The popular perception of businesspeople is that they spend all day crunching numbers. As any successful business leader knows, that is far from the truth: the most pressing tasks for business leaders are inspiring their team members, planning strategy and more. A finance team will usually be put into place to deal with the nitty gritty details of financial tasks, and micromanaging their members is a surefire recipe for disaster.
But it’s impossible for a business leader to lead the way for the firm if they don’t have the capabilities to assess figures such as profit and loss. A financial education can show you what you need to be able to do mathematically in order to advance as a business leader and will identify what skills you might need to brush up on if you’re not a natural at math.
Working in the business world, then, isn’t something to take lightly. There are all kinds of difficulties you’ll need to overcome in order to achieve success. If problems like restricted cash flows and a lack of customers is posing an existential risk to your firm, you’ll have to take action to deal with them. But a good background in financial education is a godsend here: not only can it give you the basic concepts you need to take sound financial decisions, it can also provide you with the sort of network that is required to get yourself out of a sticky financial situation.
