It’s true that you don’t need a degree to start a company. When you apply for a business license, launch your website, and sell your first products, no one asks you where you went to school or what you studied, because it’s not a requirement, nor is it relevant.
Still, the right college education can be immensely useful for organizing and promoting a startup. That’s worth knowing because so many small businesses fail in this tough economy. Too often, that’s due to a lack of knowledge and business training that would have kept them competitive.
So, although there’s no requirement to obtain a degree or undergo formal education to start a business, it can be a huge benefit. If you hope to start a business someday, here are eight university majors that can help you prepare for that.
1. Business
This one’s a no-brainer. A degree in business mean you will have been expose you to a variety of real-world tools and skills, including Excel, leadership, critical thinking and problem solving, public speaking, accounting, and more. This field can extend to the master’s level and prepare you for a wide variety of activities in commerce.
2. Health
If you’re headed into a health-care operation of any kind, a background in a medical field is highly recommended, whether it’s health-care administration, nursing, or even dental hygiene. This kind of background will set you up to understand the people you will work with and to run a patient-oriented business. Because the health-care sector is growing at an amazing rate, a degree in the health care field right now is highly relevant for startup training.
3. English or Communications
The ability to write using excellent grammar and cohesive sentence structure is of unparalleled use in the business arena. It’s worthwhile in marketing, search engine optimization, product descriptions, emails, client proposals, and so much more.
Also, these majors teach you the value of research and critical thinking: They give you the additional skills necessary for success in any business venture.
4. Accounting or Finance
If you have a degree in business, you’ll take a few entry-level course in this area, but it will be more beneficial if you obtain an extensive background. Being able to take charge of your own accounting, investments, and other financial functions will guarantee you have excellent control of your film’s finances.
5. Economics
This major teaches students not only about the financial aspect of business but also how to work within the current market. Economics details supply and demand and how your future company might fit into the bigger picture. Most important, it can help you to understand what it takes to be competitive and how to go up against the other top companies in your industry.
6. Computer Tech
You can’t hope to succeed in business without understanding technology at some level. You can excel at e-commerce if you have a deeper understanding of how to build and maintain websites and market your company in the digital universe. Web development, analytics, web hosting, mobile readiness, data collection, online security, and software solutions are just some of the many skills you’ll learn if you jump into computer tech from a business standpoint.
7. Law
The law is a very complicated factor in business that’s essential for commercial success. Most entrepreneurs must hire legal assistance to help them meet proper business standards and mitigate risk. Obtaining a law background yourself can make that aspect of the process of launching a startup a lot more clear.
8. Psychology
Startup entrepreneurs must have a thorough understanding of their target audience and what their prospective customers are likely to desire from business. Psychology gives you a solid background in people: their behavior and motivations.
You’ll come to understand their needs, how to solve problems, what stimulates the brain, and how your product or services might fit into their universe.
Obviously, entrepreneurs can’t get a degree in every one of these fields before starting a business, but you can take classes and develop a background that will set you up to create and manage a thriving company.
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Written by: Larry Alton.
Larry Alton
Currently, Larry writes for Entrepreneur, Social Media Week, CEOWORLD Magazine and the HuffingtonPost among others.
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