5 Degrees for Small Business Owners Who Want to Stay Solvent in Tough Times

Most people do not understand the difficulty of running a small business. If you have your own business, you've probably already experienced ebbs and flows in a market that favors massive corporations over small businesses.

Aspiring business owners (and current business owners) might wonder if a business degree is worth the investment. After all, earning a degree takes time, money and effort. Wouldn't it be better to spend those resources directly on your own business?

If you own a small bakery, being a good baker is not going to make the business successful. There are a lot of business owners who are very talented in their area of expertise, but also need the core skills necessary to successfully operate a business venture.

Running your own business requires knowing how to...

• Follow accounting principles
• Recruit, hire, train and compensate employees
• Excel at soft skills like written and oral communication
• Understand the basics of business law, relevant technology, social media and more

That’s why some small business owners bring on partners who handle business administration while the owner focuses on their area of expertise and what they do best. But even if you have a business partner, it’s still beneficial to have business acumen yourself.

This doesn't mean you have to go and earn a Master's of Business Administration degree (MBA). While those programs are definitely valuable, even taking one course in communication skills or earning a certificate in marketing can make a huge difference for the company you are running.

If you don’t have the time to complete a full degree program, you can still gain many of these important skills through a certificate program. Since certification programs are more concentrated, you can finish the program quickly and focus more on your business.

Here are some degree and certificate programs to consider.

1. Accounting degree

An accounting program can cover a lot of important ground for professionals running their own business. Accounting concepts are important for managing the day-to-day financial transactions of any organization. Entrepreneurs should understand how their decisions can negatively and positively impact the accounting journals.

Courses in accounting can help you understand how every single transaction can affect the company’s bottom line. Since running out of money is the main reason small businesses fail, making accounting your focus could be a powerful way to keep your business solvent. After taking an accounting program, you’ll have a better sense of when making purchases is appropriate and when it isn’t in line with the cash budget.

Students in the accounting program will also learn about managing income taxes and what the tax liability is for different types of businesses. You can use your knowledge to help you organize and manage your books to help with filing taxes.

How business owners use accounting skills

Let’s look at one example of a small business and why it needs a solid foundation in accounting.

A bakery’s mixer stopped working, so the owner decides to purchase a new mixer using the company’s debit card. She makes the purchase without knowing how much liquid cash the company has on hand in their account.

This could cause an issue if there are other expenses underway that she didn't account for. This results in the account being overdrawn, checks bouncing and the business incurring bank fees.

If you’re interested in learning how you can apply accounting in the business world, Rasmussen University offers accounting programs, including an Online Accounting Certificate, an associate degree and a bachelor’s degree program.

Part of the curriculum for some of those programs includes operating a food truck business as a project for students. This practical knowledge can be applied in the real world to many other types of enterprises.

An accounting degree program also helps you...

• Understand overall business operation
• Build your leadership skills and manage people
• Familiarize yourself with tools like QuickBooks^® and Excel^® to manage financial transactions

2. Finance degree

Entrepreneurs who are not diligently operating the financial aspects of their business will not be able to adequately manage their risk. Without sufficient capital to sustain a business venture long term, the business owner might have to file for bankruptcy and liquidate the company. If they plan accordingly, they have a better chance of avoiding these pitfalls and running a thriving business.

Rasmussen’s Bachelor’s degree in Finance prepares business owners to understand the day-to-day financial operations of the enterprise. The degree program teaches students valuable skills, such as understanding financial markets and institutions, financial principles, financial accounting and more.

(For more on that, check out 4 Reasons a Finance Degree for Entrepreneurs Builds the Best Foundation).

The Principles of Finance course is instrumental to helping entrepreneurs understand the different aspects of finance. Throughout the course, students are exposed to various financial decisions that owners have to make to sustain and scale their business.

A finance degree will help you understand...

• The U.S. financial market system
• Time value of money
• Supply chain management
• Savings and investment
• External financing for business
• Financial structure of the business
• Financial budgeting plan

How business owners use finance skills

Let's say the owner of a local bakery is ready to scale her business. She wants to open two additional locations over the next five years. She estimates that this type of expansion will cost $200K.

She needs to decide how to finance the expansion with debt or with equity financing. Both options have risks and benefits. She must be able to conduct an analysis to determine the best path for the company.

In our program, entrepreneurs learn by completing course projects that prepare them to make financial choices using:

• Time value of money concepts
• Financial statement analysis
• Valuation calculations
• Breakeven analysis
• Forecasting
• Budgeting

3. Marketing degree

New entrepreneurs can get so focused on getting their business started that they assume customers will love their product or service just as much as they do.

But people can’t purchase the product if they are not aware of its existence or how it can benefit them. This is where marketing comes into play. Marketing helps entrepreneurs to reach and expand upon their target market.

A marketing degree will help you understand...

• Consumer buying behavior
• Business-to-business markets
• Market research techniques
• Fundamental pricing concepts
• Marketing channels and logistics

Although some small business owners hire marketing consultants, they can still benefit from knowing how many aspects of marketing are imperative to business success. For example, many companies seeking to compete today find they need to invest in multimedia marketing and e-commerce, two areas that the average business owner knows very little about.

In Rasmussen University’s online associate's degree and online bachelor's degree programs in marketing students learn about internet business models, online multimedia marketing as well as public relations and advertising strategies.

How business owners use marketing skills

Currently, our example bakery owner sells baked goods from her home to family, friends and coworkers. Now that she has a brick-and-mortar location, she needs to raise awareness about her business in her community and build a loyal customer base.

Since she has taken marketing courses, she knows how to create and maintain her company’s digital presence. As an entrepreneur, she applies the digital marketing concepts she learned to create a website and social media accounts to gain buzz around the business. The owner also recognizes that her online presence is just one component of the company’s overall marketing strategy.

4. Business management degree

Current and aspiring entrepreneurs can benefit greatly from gaining business acumen, such as business communication, business planning and business operations.

I have visited several businesses that offered great products/services, but they were not well-managed. This caused them to lose customers and eventually close down.

A business management certificate, associate or bachelor’s degree provides students with knowledge of core topics such as accounting, management principles, human resources as well as functional and project management. This knowledge not only helps with running a business successfully day-to-day, but also with business strategy planning for the future.

How business owners can use leadership and management skills

Many business owners and other entrepreneurs start their own business because they have a passion or specialty they’d like to market.

However, to succeed and scale, they also need the knowledge and practical experience to operate a successful business.

Pursuing a degree in business management can provide the example bakery owner with essential management skills. For instance, let's say the owner receives a huge order for a convention coming into town next month. This would be a massive opportunity for the business. She accepts the order without analyzing all of the aspects involved in successfully fulfilling an order of this magnitude.

After taking business management courses, she realizes she should first analyze the return on investment (ROI) before accepting the order. Also, her project management course would help her consider whether she has enough employees and resources to handle the production for this order. There are costs associated with purchasing additional supplies and equipment too.

All of these factors must be considered before accepting or declining the order. This way she can ensure that the bakery has the capital and resources to successfully fulfill the order requirements.

5. Human resources (HR) and organizational leadership degree

Financial capital is important for a business, but human capital is important as well. A business is only as good as its people. Attracting, hiring and retaining the right team members is essential to the company’s success. Business owners have the option to hire an HR consultant, but when operating on a smaller scale the owner is typically the one responsible for their team members. To be successful, businesses need to understand the fundamentals of human resources management as well as labor relations.

A human resources management degree will help you...

• Ensure compliance with federal employment laws
• Hire the best people
• Train and develop team members

Associate and bachelor’s degree programs in human resources and organization leadership cover essential topics, including training and development, employment law as well as financial accounting principles.

How business owners use human resource management skills

The owner of the bakery is opening her first brick-and-mortar location next month. She’s secured building permits, marketed the bakery and ordered the inventory. Now she needs two employees to help with prep, baking, cleaning and customer service. She decides to pay for a job posting online to find the team members she needs. The flow of candidates applying for the job posting is very low, so she is worried she might not find the people she needs in time to train them before the opening.

After completing courses in human resources, she’s able to create an effective hiring plan and have a realistic understanding of how long it can take to hire people. Having skilled, enthusiastic staff will help her win customers, receive positive reviews and build her business. Likewise, learning how to train employees can help increase employee retention, ultimately reducing the time and cost associated with staff turnover.

What does it take to be a successful small business owner?

There's no one degree to differentiate successful business leaders from those who see their efforts fail. Business programs have a lot to offer, but they aren't a magic solution to make your business idea a reality.

Succeeding with your own business takes hard work, lots of learning (whether you do that inside or outside of a classroom) and very careful use of resources. Increasing your knowledge as an entrepreneur is an investment in yourself and the success of your business in the future.

If one of these business degree or certificate programs sounds right for what you need, check out Rasmussen’s Business Degree page, and get the details on tuition cost, timing and more.

Rasmussen University’s Accounting Certificate, Accounting Associate’s and Accounting Bachelor’s degree programs are not designed to prepare graduates for any state-issued professional license or certification. Rasmussen University’s Accounting Certificate, Accounting Associate’s and Accounting Bachelor’s degree programs do not meet all educational prerequisites for licensure as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in any state. Each state determines its own requirements. Please consult with your state’s board of accountancy or equivalent oversight agency for further details. Rasmussen University’s Accounting Certificate, Accounting Associate’s and Accounting Bachelor’s degree programs have not been approved by any state board of accountancy or other professional licensing agency. The coursework in Rasmussen University’s Accounting Bachelor’s degree program is aligned with the standards of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA^®) and meets the academic requirements to sit for the Certified Management Accountant (CMA^®) exam. Additional requirements, such as work experience in a management accounting role, may be required to sit for the CMA^® exam. Please consult the IMA^® for any further details.

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