Can you answer Phil H’s question about MBA?:

I am a young practicing corporate attorney with an interest in business. Eventually, I would like to make a transition to something more financially involved and entrepreneurially oriented. Business school seems an ideal place for me because I can build my business knowledge by taking accounting and finance classes (thus, giving myself the business background that I do not have now).

Do business schools value legal experience without a business background? Would I be better off taking a signficant paycut to try and do something financially oriented now to help myself get into business school?

Any help and suggestions are much appreciated!

MBA Tips

A business school in a box is definitely the quickest, easiest and most reliable way to learn how to start a home based business. If you want to access the very best small business knowledge center money can buy and successfully operate your home based small business, then you should avoid investing in traditional business schools.

Local trade and vocational institutions, community or regional colleges and universities and even secondary schools offer night time and other nontraditional forms of training classes for adults.

Think about it - many of these local programs were designed to help home based small business and craft business community. As an added benefit, those forums offer many options for satisfying one or more of the top priorities of entrepreneurs wishing to learn more about their industry and advance their careers. 

Even with all that support, the first thing you have to learn is how to start a home based business. Aspiring owners need more convenient forms of supplementary educational resources to help them develop their business domain knowledge. That’s where the business school in a box can serve you your needs.

A few top business schools are already providing or considering support for the home based business entrepreneur. We see online business school offerings gaining momentum with ever-increasing velocity.

A Boxed-Lunch of New Business Opportunity

The main drawback of most traditional business schools is that student entrepreneurs must physically attend classes, this requirement demands an unreasonable amount of time, money and effort from these struggling students. In response to these constraints many organizations now offer a “business school in a box”, a series of knowledge-based learning sessions, articles and lectures.

These programs give students ways to learn established standards and become well-versed in the various topics of business management, including accounting, finance and marketing.

Often, the business school in a box consists of packaged lessons or recorded lectures students can access online.  Business concepts, ideas and theories are usually taught in these serialized lesson modules. 

I think you will agree that this form of training is perfect for entrepreneurs searching for the optimal small business knowledge center solution - it can especially help out people who are trying to learn:



how to start a home based business;

how to manage a home based, small business;

how to find good home based business opportunities for moms and women.





 

What Comes On Your Plate?

You do realize that learning how to start a home based business or successfully operating your home based small business means working on your own without a boss or direct supervisor, don’t you?

In a word, the business school in a box format is a variation on the distance education theme, and as such, some lesson plans may not provide direct interaction with your instructor or fellow students.  This kind of learning occurs through the student’s own efforts and perseverance, so you will have to be someone who works well and effectively without supervision. 

Lessons are typically presented in small packages and feature home study along with assignments. Sometimes self-grading quizzes, learning simulations and projects may also be included.  Depending on the institution, some subjects provide live online classes, which may give students a chance to participate in lectures and discussions in real time.

Yummy Advantages of A Business School In A Box

There are several advantages to choosing to learn more about how to start a home based business and managing your home based small business, using nontraditional methods such as a business school in a box.  These include:

Convenience of Your Small Business Knowledge Center

A business school in a box is the equivalent of distance learning, a well-respected and established method of imparting knowledge.  Many of today’s universities, including top business schools, use this method in order to provide better services and reach more students.  Here’s an example, students in China can enroll in online business school courses being offered in USA colleges.

Since student entrepreneurs don’t need to be physically present on campus in order to participate, they can absorb lessons at their own pace and in the privacy of their homes.  This forum gives them the flexibility and relative freedom to develop their ideas for a home based business and devote serious attention on how to start a home based business that they might not achieve in a traditional classroom setting.

Lower Food Costs for Your Business Education

Generally, a business school in a box package can be less expensive than the best online business schools.  Most assignments and tasks assigned just require the use of available, virtually free technology, with minimal need to produce hard copies.  Because program’s materials can be accessed from the home helps students save on their travel, food and lodging expenses.

With its low cost of entry, learning how to start a home based business or acquiring the knowledge to grow your home based small business this format presents an attractive alternative to other educational options.

Access to all-you-can-eat business training and coaching resources

Some of the best business schools in a box programs use combinations of teaching techniques to optimize the learning experience for their students.  Other than passive lectures, for example, students can also take advantage of online classroom settings, discussion forums, chats and instant messaging in order to communicate with their instructors and classmates.

In today’s globally-focused, online-driven, socially networked economy, expanding your home based small business or getting the knowledge you need on how to start a home based business is easier, cheaper and more robust than ever before.

You will find there are more than enough educational options, regardless of whether you:



operate a home based business for moms and women;

have promising ideas for some part time home based businesses;

desire to make your efforts pay-off with a more profitable home based business. 



 

Copyright © 2008, Mustard Seed Investments Inc., All Rights Reserved Worldwide.



Thanks to Bill Thomas for contributing this article to our MBA blog:

Executive Mba Ranking

Leadership is the single most important quality that a businessperson can have. Think about it. If you had excellent business knowledge but didn’t have the leadership ability to get others to follow your advice, it would be difficult to know what type of a business you were able to run. Many people find that they only move up so far in a company and then get stuck somewhere in the humdrum world of middle management. To bust out of that area and move into a higher position, it is often necessary to hone your leadership skills. An Executive MBA online is one way that people gain the leadership abilities that they need to move forward in their careers.

An Executive MBA online can teach you many different things. You can use it to learn about specific organizational systems and how to work best within them. You can take courses for the degree, which will apprise you of updated technology for the business sector. You may even improve your ability to do company taxes in a way that favors your business. But the real skill that you get out of a program like this lies not in the content that you learn. It lies in the leadership abilities that you develop as a result of this kind of study. You will learn how to command a room, how to negotiate with employees in a way that keeps them happy but keeps you in charge and essentially how to run a business from the top down.

The reason that many people opt to gain these skills through an Executive MBA online rather than by attending a traditional college is because they don’t want to pause their careers. The goal here is to move forward. Cutting back on work so that you can attend college classes doesn’t help you to achieve that goal. In contrast, the Executive MBA online can be completed on your own schedule. You can get the work that you need to do done during the day and then deal with your classes at night or on the weekends. The best part about this is that you’ll be taking what you learn from your courses and applying it directly to your work. You’ll see your leadership skills go into practice immediately, reaping almost instant rewards from your efforts.

Some people fear that getting a degree in something like leadership through an online program won’t prepare them for that type of real world application. After all, it’s one thing to read a theory in a book and another to actually act it out with real people. But the way that the web world works these days, it’s easy to make a classroom as interactive online as it is in real life. You can incorporate video technology, conferencing options and voice communication to simulate a real classroom. That facilitates putting your leadership skills to the test with real people who will give you live feedback. And it will also translate well to your business since much of your leadership may be taking place online these days.

An Executive MBA online isn’t the only way to develop your leadership abilities. You can attend leadership seminars, read books and work by the practice makes perfect approach. Consider what your goals are and whether the credibility of a degree will assist you in meeting those goals. And when the going gets tough, focus on the fact that you really don’t want to be languishing in middle management forever. There is no reason that you have to let anyone else be the boss of you. You can be your own boss and lead others as well.



Thanks to Andy West for contributing this article to our MBA blog:

Best Online Mba Program