How to be a Successful Student and Entrepreneur
Making the decision to advance my Degree and Education was not something I did lightly. It's so important to me to always continue to learn how to be a better business person and keep up to date with best business practices while staying current with new advances in technologies available to me. Last year, I decided to return to school to do just that. Being a full-time student is very much like being an Entrepreneur. You have to be organized, focused, and extremely disciplined. Even with a strict schedule, each day has the chance of bringing unexpected circumstances that may require immediate attention. So, to the busy grind of answering emails while developing/ marketing products, constructing your target market and developing strategies to engage them long term, maintaining exceptional customer relations - all while meeting classroom deadlines, proper formatting, hours of research and weekly essays. Here are my top 3 suggestions for keeping it together and being successful in both of these vital aspects of your life.
1. Use School Resources
Since I started school again I am amazed at the resources that are available to me as an Entrepreneur. There are many databases of videos, competency testing activities, and networking opportunities that have helped me polish up on skills, and more importantly, learn new insights that I didn't know. Even if you recently graduated 2 or 3 years ago (which is not the case for me, lol), there are new applications and platforms developed all the time. And with multiple updates and downloads to the Apps we grow familiar with, there is constant change. You're already investing in your education, be sure to wear out the school resources available to you!
2. Your Planner Becomes Your Bestie.
I was never one to use schedules and calendars and the likes. There are, I'm sure, many who think this one's a no-brainer. I felt so productive waking up, charging into each day at 5 am, running on full speed well into the late hours of the evening. Because of that, I would spend every day working tirelessly, without giving myself permission to stop. As a result, I would be exhausted and drained and feel as though there wasn't time for life. One of the first courses, when I returned to school, was a class that taught Time Management. At first, I thought it was just ridiculous. Because when you are in the haze of the lack of time management, you think you are just so productive, getting things done, like, "Hooray for me!" But I decided to go through the motions and see what all the hype was about. The first step was basically to monitor my daily routine. After that, it was to evaluate my discoveries and divide up my days accordingly, down to the most minute details. Doing this and sticking to it has transformed my life (Oprah Winfrey voice). Seeing my days, weeks, and months projected in advance just helps to make efficient use of my time (hence the phrase time management). And by extension, helps me to create an actual life. There's a purposeful plan for each day. There's a stopping point for each day. Do I still have some hectic days? I am an entrepreneur and a student, obvv. But for the most part, I am sane, well adjusted, organized, and able to keep up extraordinarily with my business and studies, with a 3.9 GPA to show for it!
3. Incorporate Lesson with Life
I'm like a sponge lately; I literally cannot get enough of learning. Just the way technology is infused into lessons, accessibility to tools and the methods by which students learn is so different than when I was back at Florida State University many, many years ago. The great thing about being a student and entrepreneur at once is that I can put the information I'm learning into practice. When I have assignments that need a business reference to create a presentation or data to extract, I use my business. As a small business owner, I thought I had no use for many applications that corporations use for business productivity. But platforms like
Sharepoint and Office 365 have increased productivity among my team, making our projects so much simpler. It gives us one place to communicate and collaborate effectively, something I never would've discovered or tried before. While advancing my degree and knowledge, I am actively using the information learned daily - which makes me as an individual more marketable. The real life experience is priceless.
