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create a solid business plan, accurately pay taxes, expand at a sustainable rate, market cost-effectively, and budget personal spending. Many go into entrepreneurship without understanding the full range of responsibilities they will be taking on as founders of a business. Business classes, especially those aimed at training students how to manage a business, will not only make students aware of these different aspects of business ownership, they will also give them the knowledge and resources to overcome these issues effectively. Business plan writing, basic business law, understanding channels of funding, and learning how to make a sale are key components of these classes. Knowledge of these fundamental areas can mean the difference between struggling through the most difficult years of a start-up business and crumbling under the pressures the company is submitted to.

challenges, from paying taxes and budgeting to identifying what kinds of talent you need in your workforce. Business classes provide entrepreneurial-minded individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to start a business and prepare for the obstacles they are sure to encounter. Here are a few of the skills valued in the professional world that you can develop in a good business program.

Communication Methods & Skills

No matter where you start out in the professional world, communication skills are essential. Whether you have team members to coordinate with, clients to contact, investors to report to, or employees to supervise, you will have to talk to and work with other people. It takes a village to build a business, and even if you are running a one-man-show, odds are youll have to reach out to other professionals to help get your company off the ground. Communication is a multi-faceted means of expressing and gathering information. Professionals must be competent in face-to-face talks, written correspondence, and phone conversation as well as know when each method is best applied to facilitate a clear exchange of information. While we use all of these methods in daily life and may already be very comfortable with them, business contacts often require more

Small Business Training

Today many students are preparing to enter a workforce that is not as welcoming as it has been in the past. As a result, more students are turning instead toward entrepreneurship. If they cant find a job, theyll create one! However, every year is a struggle for start-up businesses. One out of four start-ups (25%) fail within their first year. At two years, 36% will fail. By year three, 44% will have gone out of business. Half of all businesses fail to make it past four years. Of those failures, 87% are caused by incompetence (46%), inadequate experience (30%), and lack of experience with goods/services (11%). When entrepreneurs open shop, they need to be able to assign fair or reasonable prices for goods and services, keep clear financial records,

Entrepreneurial Skills You Learn in Business Classes

When starting your own company, knowledge of several elements of business is a fundamental element of success. While many business skills can be learned over time, entrepreneurs need to ensure that they have the right tools to grow a company well before they open their doors. Even those with prior job experience need to be prepared to take responsibility for a new set of

Entrepreneurial Skills You Learn in Business Classes

formal treatment and courtesy, which is expressed differently across the various forms of communication. As a business leader, your actions are a reflection of the companys conduct as well as your own, and becoming practiced at professional-level communication is necessary to make the best impression on behalf of your business.

Marketing & Brand Management

A business cannot succeed without customers, and customers will not hire you or buy your product if they do not know your organization exists. Marketing effectively and establishing a brand are a major part of a business success. With different means of communication coming in and out of style, the world of marketing is a dynamic field. In addition to traditional PR outlets, such as contacting news agencies with press releases and sponsoring public events, the Internet now offers many opportunities for cheap or even free marketing practices that can reach an immense audience. To take advantage of these developing areas of marketing, students interested in starting their own business are being taught how to effectively manage a Google AdWords pay-per-click campaign through business marketing classes. Along with this, programs may also explore the basics of search engine optimization (SEO), which emphasizes creating a user-friendly website and quality content that will appeal to users. These methods can be used to both build and maintain a brand by promoting the companys presence online.

Software & Technology

There are already a number of technologies and software that can help out emerging businesses. Many programs can help business owners organize themselves more efficiently, monitor their inventory, manage employee attendance and payroll, track financial data for budget and tax purposes, and handle a number of other potentially meticulous and timeconsuming tasks. Three of the most vital programs for entrepreneurs to master are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Intuit QuickBooks. Most people have at least some familiarity with Microsoft Word and Excel. However, significantly fewer people are able to take full advantage of these programs. Creating tables and charts from research data, crunching long sets of numbers, and organizing data by certain categories is translated into a few simple keystrokes once users learn how to properly operate these programs. Financial and inventory tracking can be a major source of anxiety for business owners. Fortunately, some software is designed specifically to meet the needs of small business owners and take the stress out of office management.

Management & Leadership Development

At some point, entrepreneurs expanding their business will need to hire staff. Learning management and leadership skills before this step can help start working relationships off on the right foot and have operations running smoothly from the beginning. Without competent management, businesses can suffer major losses in efficiency, underutilized talent, or loss of talent as skilled workers find more promising work environments. Even though management skills may be learned on the job over time, students can save time and struggle by benefiting from the insight and wisdom of instructors who have a lifetime of professional experience to draw from. No matter the size of a business, leadership can make or break a company.

One of these is Intuit QuickBooks. Students trained in Intuit QuickBooks will be able to neatly monitor spending and revenue, manage inventory, send secure company checks, draw up professional invoices, and even manage employee payroll. The QuickBooks system also makes filing taxes much simpler. With all relevant data already in the program, delivering your companys financial information to your accountant is as simple as sending an email. In addition to knowledge of useful software, there are also many advances in technology that business owners can now take advantage of. Tablets, smartphone credit card readers, touch screen displays, and other technological advancements are able to assist business owners with providing more convenient payment methods, fast management tools, quick inventory checklists, and more. Modern business classes should be able to integrate these technologies into the curriculum so that students may better understand the resources available to them.

hurt into the exchange. By learning from the example of business instructors, students can learn how to ensure that their actions, communication, and behavior are appropriate for the workplace. A good business program will help students develop these professional skills as well as provide the knowledge of what to expect when starting a business. These programs can give them both relevant information and experience without having to jump into a career and learn by trial and error as they go. Strong businesses grow and adapt to changing environments, requiring industry leaders to learn and adapt themselves. Competitive businesspeople will have to educate themselves throughout their careers, and they can start out with a solid foundation by first seeking out the right business education. Computer Systems Institute (CSI) offers career training and certification

programs in Chicago, Elgin, Gurnee, and Skokie to help students prepare for todays fastest-growing industries, focusing on Business, Health Care, and Computer Networking. Its recently expanded Business Career Program now features resources specifically designed to meet the entrepreneurial needs of incoming students. This revamped program includes training for Intuit QuickBooks Certified User, Microsoft Office Specialist Excel 2010, Microsoft Office Specialist Word 2010, and Google AdWords Certified Professional certifications. It also contains classes focused on information for small business, marketing, and funding in addition to staples of the former program, such as professional development, customer service, and computer applications. The program will also provide students with a Lenovo Thinkpad 2 to take advantage of e-textbooks and innovative business apps.

Professional Conduct
Contacts may not say they will be looking for a high degree of professionalism from you, but it is often expected. Much of professionalism is rooted in common sense and respect. However, professionalism isnt just being polite when you meet someone. It also entails a certain level of responsibility and accountability. Actions like arriving promptly to work and meetings, fulfilling commitments, and owning up to mistakes (and correcting any issue for better performance in the future) are all qualities that people look for in reliable business contacts and team members. Furthermore, handling issues with employees, outsourcers, partners, and other business contacts requires a calm, firm approach without adding aggression, indignation, or feelings of

For more information on the CSI Business Career Program, contact a CSI representative today: www.csinow.edu.