Business

The allure of attending a top business school is powerful: it can be a powerful way to jumpstart a new career or revive the financial prospects of a mid-career businessperson. However, given the expense and two-year time commitment of business school, many people choose to bolster their business skills in other ways.

Here are 5 ways to bolster your business skills without attending business school.

1. Subscribe to a business book summary service: The benefits of attending business school can be distilled into two categories: prestige (i.e., letting others know you have an MBA) and knowledge (i.e., actually learning something useful). As a substitute for the latter category, consider subscribing to any of a number of business book summary services. These services allow you to download (in written or audio form) summaries of the top-selling business books: you get only the most useful information, and it costs only a fraction of buying the books themselves.

2. Join a national business association: There are a host of business associations in existence today. Try joining a local chapter near you and then volunteering for an extended role such as being an officer or part-time staff member. The network of contacts you stand to gain through this type of association can rival that of what you will gain in business school.

3. Enroll in company training program: If you work at a company, your boss will appreciate the initiative you show by enrolling in an internal training program or by petitioning to get reimbursed for an external program. This can be a great option for increasing your skill set because you can become more knowledgeable about a specific area that is directly relevant to what you do at work.

4. Consider an executive MBA course: If you want the prestige of an MBA but cannot afford to quit your job for two years in order to attend, consider applying for one of the many available executive MBA programs. These programs usually take three years to complete, but they offer you the advantage of only having to attend on certain evenings and weekends – thereby allowing you to keep your day job.

5. Subscribe to a business publication No business education is complete without staying up-to-date on the latest happenings in your industry: regionally and globally. A great way to do this is by subscribing to a first-rate business magazine or newspaper. A subscription like this is an investment in your skill set that will start yielding immediate returns.

Investing in yourself is one of the wisest ways to get ahead in business. For those who believe business school is not the right option at present, it can mean good dollars and sense to put the necessary money and effort into bettering yourself by bolstering your business skill set.