Do you need a degree to start a business? The short answer is no, you don’t need a degree to start a business. Most businesses can be run without a specialized college degree, if you know what you are doing.
However, this depends on the business you are starting. Some businesses require a certain education before you can start. Those could be medical or businesses or law firms for example.
There are some benefits to getting a degree, but it is not necessary. It is always up to you, whether you decide to get a degree or start a business without one. Everybody has their own opinion about degrees, and if you should or should not have one before starting a business.
How can a college degree help your business?
Getting a college degree can help your business in several ways. It can give you confidence and help you think differently. Your partners could take you more seriously, even if you are young, if you have a degree.
College degree can give you confidence
Let’s start with the confidence the degree can bring you. There are two ways a college degree can bring you confidence and in that way help your business. First, you will have more knowledge about the industry you work in.
When you know what you are doing, and some background on why you are doing things that way and how things really work, you can do your job more confidently.
You can also gain social confidence while going through college. It can “grow you as a person” as you go through studies and student life. You will have experience with working with different kinds of people. This can give you a confidence boost that will help your business.
College can improve the way you think
Getting a degree requires a lot of studying and analyzing information. When getting a degree, you will learn to analyze information differently, more comprehensively.
This will help your decision making, when you are not only focusing on your intuition, but making the decisions based on facts. Also, if you don’t know something, you have already learned to get information.
College is not just about getting a degree. It can help you learn, even after you graduate. You will know how to get the information and how to analyze it. How to find the pieces that are useful to you and ignore the parts that don’t help you out.
College can help you network with other professionals on your field
You had this coming. The next thing is networking. Networking early on, even before you start your business, will probably have a positive impact on the future.
In college, your classmates are one segment of people, who can help you out in the future. They might have skills you need in the future, and since you already know each other from the past, the barrier to asking and giving help is lower.
Teachers also have a lot of information. They have seen things over the years that can be helpful to you. You can reach out to them when you have problems with your business, that they might know how to solve.
Cons of getting a college degree
There are pretty much two main cons on getting a degree before starting a business. First, it can cost a lot of money. Second, it takes a lot of time.
The cost of your college degree depends a lot on where you live, and what kind of college you will attend. In the US, some colleges can have pretty high tuition fees and getting a degree can cost six figures easily.
Then there is the time that college will consume. 4 years is a long time. You could spend that time doing something else and learning otherwise, but it still is not 4 years down the drain. It can bring a lot of value to your life.
You can even start a business while attending college. If you decide to do that, remember to keep your main focus on your studies. You don’t want to pay high tuition fees if all of your time and energy goes in the other direction anyways. I have a post about how and should you start a business while studying, you can read it here.
Get the degree now or later?
If you plan on getting a college degree, you don’t have to do it right away. You can do that when you are 40, if you don’t see it necessary right away.
However, if you have been a student for the past 10+ years or so, it might be easier to continue the studies while you still have the “student lifestyle”. You know how to live on a smaller budget and have been “learning to study” for the last decade.
Therefore, I would say if you know you will one day get the college degree, go for it now. If you don’t know, you don’t have to decide. The door is always open. Whatever option suits you best.
If you plan on getting a degree after you have your business running, you can get more out of the studies. You will see, how you can apply certain things you learn to your business right away. You will think about the topic differently when you already have use for it. This way you will also have more motivation to study.
Education for entrepreneurs
Even after you start your business, whether you have a college degree or not, it is important to keep learning and improving yourself. There are courses made for entrepreneurs on many different topics.
Educate yourself on different aspects your business needs. That might be marketing, leadership or finance related things. Whatever you feel like you should learn more about.
Make a plan, for example, that you will attend at least one course per year to improve yourself to run the business. This will help you in several ways. You will meet new people, update your view of the industry, and help you improve your business with the knowledge you gain. Knowledge is power.
Final words
Getting a college degree comes without saying, for some people. Others don’t want to get it for various reasons. From a business aspect, a college degree is not necessary, but it can bring you value.
Weight the pros and cons when deciding, whether to get a college degree or not. Also, keep in mind that if you decide not to go now, you can always attend later.
Keep your skills on point by studying and learning even after you start your business and have or have not completed a college degree.
Hopefully this was helpful to you, have a nice day.