It’s necessary that you have well developed financial management skills and not only because of your growing. business. You also need them for your personal finance.
The scope of finance is quite broad. Off the dome, there is pricing, costing, accounting, debt and working capital. This means that it is a tough ask to require anybody to cover all ground when it comes to financial management skills.
Handling money for personal use should be easy if you live above the poverty line – that’s 50% of all Kenyans (how horrible). Essentially, you’re supposed to save in times of plenty to use in times of shortage.
In business, financial management skills require more nuance since the situation has a lot of variability. As such, you’ll be having a great mindset if you welcome the opportunity to learn. We have a list of 5 easy ways to learn more.
1. Take a course
This is the most obvious solution but also the most intimidating. For one, you’ll have to pay considerable sums of money. You’ll also have to take an exam and align your schedule to whichever institution you enrolled in – there is e-learning these days though. Teaching will be academic in nature which means you’ll develop a great understanding of the basics of finance and you can push yourself a little to grasp what theories exist in the field. There are certificate, diploma, undergraduate and more to suit yourself.
2. Attend training
You may prefer more practical teaching. In that case, training tailored to your need is always available. You can visit any entrepreneurs hub in Kenya, you can be on the lookout for seminars or you can sign up to a networking group and all you want will be availed to you. When you opt for this, you should expect targeted training as it focuses only on specific areas at a time.
3. Learn online
If you want learning to be convenient then the internet is your friend. More, the quantity of material is immeasurable meaning you can always compare and learn even newer stuff. Internet learning can also be engaging thanks to infographics and videos. Youtube has 5 minute videos of a 3-month school semester, haha. You can bookmark high quality entrepreneurship websites (*wink*) or follow a school curriculum on free sites like Tutorials point.
4. Mentorship
There is something for everyone. Havard Business Review suggests mentorship as the financial management skills learning tool for entrepreneurs who hate numbers. Get close to someone who works in accounting or in finance instead of laughing at them for being employees. They are specialists and will always be able to teach you something new. It’s a good gain from your network, no?
5. Make plans
Don’t make plans for the weekend only! You can teach yourself financial management skills as well. All you have to do is be consistent in making financial plans for your business. The plans come in form of budgets and forecasts. They enable you to go though your long-term and short-term goals over and again. This practice of setting targets and monitoring whether you meet them allows you to learn by adapting to different situations.