Is going to business school worth it?

A few people sent some questions via my email asking advice on starting a business and the best way to learn; which included the option of self learning, attending seminars and also going to business school.

The most common question is that “Is business school worth it?”

Truth be told, I never joined business school. My bachelor’s degree is BS - Industrial Engineering but I did consider taking an MBA as I was graduating in college. The answer, of course, is much more complicated and depends on what your goals are.

Yes, it’s somewhat worth it.

For my friends who did get an MBA, there answer is YES. To them, business school has been an amazing opportunity to learn a ton, focus on professional development, meet great people, and potentially switch into a new career path. Although from my perspective, you can do that anywhere, here are instances that it becomes worth it:

• Finance & Consulting professionals - This usually has a lot of weight when pursuing career advancement.

• Academic Sector - This is a mandated education minimum requirement for teaching higher ed.

• Learn about Business History - What I realized later in life is that business schools basically document business history and if you want to learn local, international, family business dynamics, it’s a fairly good education expense.

• Second, third or succeeding generation entrepreneurs - Similar to the above, it’s a good place to learn business history, network and learn about the current industry trends and practices.

Take my journey as a perspective

As a would-be entrepreneur, you dream of starting your own business and making an impact, but it's important to realize this doesn't need to happen immediately. You can gain important skills and experiences too by working for someone else.

As a child, I remember copying the street vendor and sold candy, chips in a box to my classmates during recess (until it was confiscated). Then in high school, I got an opportunity to get my first job-for-a-cause through SHS-J’s summer of service program (where half of my salary went to charity) as a Jollibee service crew.

In college, one of my crazy teachers decided to teach us about management by encouraging us to organize seminars. A couple of my classmates decided to organize more (which we made some money), until the school called a stop to it.

“You learn more in failure than in success.”

There is no straight path when it comes to business. Most people are afraid of failing which is understandable. You have to learn that failure is part of the process. You have to fail fast and also learn fast. Failure is a powerful tool for understanding and being even more successful. Here are some of my failures:

• One MLM which I will not mention. *winks

• Social Media agency (I was way too early)

• Financial Consulting Firm (My first group/corporation venture)

Second hand failures (Family businesses):

• Fashion Accessories

• Food service (A little bigger than a carenderia)

It has been a crazy journey. But I learned a lot of things like sales, marketing and leadership from the trenches (not concepts but hands-on experience). Also, all the other stuff not talked about such as taxes, legal, customer service, PR, recruitment..etc..

Long story short, entrepreneurship is not easy. The best way to learn fast, is that you have to be in the front lines.

“You can’t just read about doing push-ups. You actually have to do it. If you want those abs.” - Gary Vaynerchuk