Tightrope: Why knowledge isn't the real power
— -- Hi, Gladys,
I have graduated from college with an MBA. I would like to start a business with a partner. However, of the people that I have asked to join me, not one has accepted. Each one claims that just because I have a degree is no indication that I will be successful. I believed that my education is sufficient. Now I am having doubts. How much knowledge do I need to run a business?
Vincent
The making of a successful entrepreneur is about more than getting a college degree.
Some people think that once they finish their formal education, learning stops. Nothing could be further from the truth. The world is constantly changing, as are our businesses. New technology and new sources of information require constant updating of our skills and knowledge. To stop learning is to fall behind and drop by the wayside. You must constantly enrich your life and your skills if you are to be successful and fulfilled.
My suggestion is to develop a system to keep learning as a constant in your life, especially if you are planning to own your own business. The following questions can be the start of a guideline to follow.
What information or knowledge could expand your ability to become a better business person? For example, learning a foreign language, taking a course in marketing or public relations or taking a course in hiring employees. The idea here is that there is always something you will need to learn to improve your business.
What kind of things do you enjoy? What are your favorite hobbies? What type of books or movies do you like? Keeping up to date with the latest on your hobbies can even find its way into helping you in business. The sluggish economy, for instance, found Alonzo unemployed. In order to make ends meet he started a car detail business. To get a steady stream of customers, he called on a car rental company to see if he could get a contract. The company manager immediately said no. But as Alonzo was about to leave, he noticed a model airplane on the manager's desk. After he told the manager that he enjoyed making model airplanes, that small comment turned into an hour-long conversation and landed Alonzo a contract with the company. Turns out building model airplanes was also one of the manager's favorite hobbies.
Become aware of the various ways in which you can enhance your knowledge: workshops, seminars, reading books, newspapers, magazines, listening to news programs, searching through the library, DVD's, audios, etc. Of course the Internet gives us unlimited knowledge and information at our fingertips. Start building your knowledge in ways that are enjoyable.
Also, pay attention to how you spend your time. Are you investing it into the things that can help you toward becoming a successful business person?
This exercise suggests that we all have many interests. Some are personal and enrich our lives; others are related to our effort to advance in business. Still others can serve both purposes. We must decide how to balance these interests to meet our goals while enriching our lives.
There is an old saying that goes, "Knowledge is power," but the real power is being able to use your knowledge to improve your life and get what you are seeking.
In other words, to answer your question of how much knowledge do you need: As much as you can possibly get, and then some!
Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. Click here for an index of her columns. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds is founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, a six-step guide to success published by Viking. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.