Earning Your Associate Degree in Entrepreneurship

Did you know that small businesses represent 99.7 percent of all businesses with employees? These small businesses--which by definition employ fewer than 500 people--employ around half of the private sector's employees and represent around 44 percent of the private sector's payroll. These numbers include the 52 percent that are home-based businesses and 2 percent that are franchises. There's no doubt that small businesses are important to America's economy.

If you've always wanted to own and operate your own business or take over your family's business, consider an associate degree in entrepreneurship to give your business the best chance of succeeding. In 2009, over 550,000 new small businesses with employees (employer firms) opened, and over 650,000 closed, making 2009 the second year in a row that saw more closures than openings. Three times as many non-employer businesses turnover because it's easier for them to open up and close up shop.

A degree in entrepreneurship can help you learn all the ins and outs of operating a business, marketing that business and turning a profit. You'll need to learn about financing a business and creating a capital campaign. You'll also need to know about federal regulations for small businesses. These regulations can eat your profits if you don't know what you're doing; compared to the big businesses, very small businesses spend three times more per employee on tax compliance and four and a half times as much per employee on environmental compliance. An entrepreneurship degree can give you the tools you need to better manage your business and your dream of working for yourself.

Typical courses in an entrepreneurship degree program

In total, your associate degree in entrepreneurship should take anywhere from eighteen months to two years to complete, and no professional certification is required. Half of your courses should be general education or core requirements. You can typically choose from several classes in several major disciplines:

Communications
Humanities
Math
Science
Social science

The other half of your course requirements are directly related to your major. Your entrepreneurship degree may include courses in:

Accounting
Business law
Managing a new business
Marketing
Web development

These types of courses can be taught via distance learning, making an online associate degree in entrepreneurship a convenient option. Many entrepreneurs start their own businesses while working a full-time job. An online associate degree in entrepreneurship program would allow you to continue working while you prepare for your own business's success.

Careers in entrepreneurship

With an associate degree in entrepreneurship, you may also consider these careers in addition to starting your own business:

Administrative assistant
Assistant manager
Bookkeeper
Office manager
General manager

On average, general managers earned $110,550 in 2009. These numbers include various sized businesses and well-established business, not just new ventures. More than 67,000 people were general managers of companies and enterprises in 2009 and earned a $134,590 average annual salary. General managers in the financial investment industry were the highest paid in 2009 with a mean salary of $173,120. The number of jobs for general managers between 2008 and 2018 is expected to grow modestly.