6 Ways To Start Learning For Aspiring Entrepreneurs

America's Moment: Creating Opportunity in the Connected Age

1. Business gamification and simulation. Learning doesn’t have to be all work. We know now that people learn from a younger age, and keep coming back for more, from sources that are entertaining and educational (edutainment). With new tools like Thrive15 and GamEffective, people of any age can learn to start or take their business to the next level.
   
2. Adaptive business advising and learning. Every business and every entrepreneur is at a different stage, so it’s time to seek out learning tools that can adapt to you, rather than the other way around. Universities and the marketplace are spawning tools like OpenStudy, which is a learning network enabling massively multi-player study groups.
   
3. Help entrepreneurs with constant learning. The wealth of online education offerings is a great start, but is not enough. Business advisors need to be ready to help at every stage, and I see it beginning to happen. Yet many new entrepreneurs are hesitant, perhaps out of fear or ego. If you are not constantly learning, you are falling behind.
   
4. Mix business learning with doing. Entrepreneurs don’t need to know everything about business before they start. They do need the first few steps, and where to find the next steps. There is no standard course for this, but the answers are accessible online, if you know how to search, follow blogs, and interact with the relevant social media groups.
   
5. Business financial aid alternatives. Crowdfunding is just the latest alternative for assistance to entrepreneurs who need help, supplementing the existing alternatives of loans, grants, angel investors, venture capital and many others. These days, if you can’t find money, you haven’t tried hard enough or maybe your idea isn’t a good one.
   
6. Utilize business content curators and coaches. Potential resources available to entrepreneurs are enormous, but often under-utilized. The challenge is to find these just-in-time, including community and university startup incubators, accelerators, and advisors. Entrepreneurs should be monitoring online curator platforms and blogs.