Even after obtaining their business degree, entrepreneurs can benefit a lot from going back to school. However, the problem of handling a business while, at the same time, attending classes is time management. When schooling is already demanding in itself, it’s easy to think that there’s no longer any extra time to open doors for other obligations.
If you think that juggling work and school is tough, so much more when you’re juggling school and running a business. Still, many can do it by having the right mindset, time-management skills, and the desire to achieve.
To help you get started with that pursuit, be guided by the following tips:
Table of Contents
1. Associate With Like-Minded Peers
Juggling your education and your business is no easy feat. It’s also something that you can’t do on your own. University life entails making social relationships with peers. But, because you’ve got the added challenge of running a business while going to school, the peers that you associate yourself with should also be like-minded as you.
This means that your friends should be as determined and serious about time management as you are. Otherwise, when you mingle with friends that are carefree about their academics, then this wouldn’t do you good.
Remember that to succeed in academics and business, it demands more than just intelligence. One of the most important attributes is discipline, especially if you’re taking a terminal degree, like your master’s, as this entails a lot of paperwork and time. If you have friends who are more interested in going to college parties, chances are, you’re going get influenced by them. This would spell the beginning of failure for you.
2. Keep Your Priorities
Along with associating yourself with like-minded peers, you also need to stay on top of your priorities. Why are you running a business while still in school? What goals do you wish to achieve by going through this path?
Keeping attuned with your priorities can help you avoid any unnecessary distraction that’ll only make time management more difficult for you. For example, do you need to join four university organizations? Is that college party really necessary, or would you rather spend that time after class doing operational tasks for your business?
This may mean that you’ve got to sacrifice a little bit on hanging out, but this sacrifice will only yield greater returns in the future.
3. Always Have A Designated Study Time
Once you’re enrolled, you’ll have a fixed class schedule. Once this is given to you, create a structure of your schedule so you can fit attending classes, studying, and managing your business at the same time.
Always have a designated and fixed study time. That way, you know that you’ve got a certain time in a day where going out should not be an option. Otherwise, you might risk falling behind your classes because your other extra time is spent on the business.
If, for instance, there are days where you don’t have classes, use this time to do advanced study work or tasks for your business. Only when you’ve done everything that week for school or business should you be confident enough to give yourself a breather as you’d also need to take a break once in a while.
4. Observe What Schedule Works For You
If this is going to be your first time managing both school and your business, you need to do a little trial-and-error once in a while. This means finding a schedule that truly works best for you.
For example, do you find yourself at optimal levels when studying during your daytime breaks at the university? Or, would you rather spend this time for your business, then study at night? Do you do well studying at home, or are you better off in the library or a coffee shop?
Finding what works best for you and sticking to this ensures that you’re always productive at what you’re doing. Otherwise, you may be spending hours in the library thinking that you’ll be productive studying only to find out that you’re dozing off and daydreaming.
5. Make Plans In Advance
Balancing business and your academics means that you’re not a good candidate for last-minute plans. Everything always has to be planned, so that you can tweak your schedule for the week. That way, even when you have to go out, you’re still able to complete all of your academic and business workloads.
For example, your best friend’s birthday party is coming up this weekend. This would’ve been a time that you’ll spend on your business’ weekly accounting. Make some necessary changes throughout the entire week so you can still do the weekly accounting before the party, without sacrificing your academics.
6. Create Daily Plans
Productive individuals wake up at 4 or 5 in the morning, which you should do, too. Before you attack the day ahead, take at least five minutes to make a plan for the day. This should include the specific tasks that must be achieved for both business and school before the day ends.
You never really know how a day is going to go. For example, there might be some classes that’ll be suspended. Perhaps there’s an emergency in your business that you’ll have to attend to. Whatever the change in the fixed schedule of the day, your plan and to-do-list will still remind you of all the necessary tasks that need to be done. That way, you don’t miss out on anything.
As much as you can, don’t put off for tomorrow the tasks that you can complete today.
Conclusion
Studying while running a business will demand a lot of time. It’ll also entail hard work, dedication, patience. In some instances, you’ll even have to make a lot of sacrifices. But the rewards are far greater than you can ever imagine.
The tips above are going to get you by as you strive to balance being an entrepreneur and a student.
About Carson Derrow
