SCALING Educational Resources for Entrepreneurs

[machinistguy]

I've always known my range of knowledge regarding areas of a business were very heavily skewed towards the engineering side. As for knowledge of finance, operations, team building, sales, etc I'm mediocre.

My solution starting out was to focus on what I'm good at. Find a product who's engineering need serious improvement, and then just copy what the competition is doing to get sales. Make sure the product was high margin so I only have to kinda worry about the economics, etc...

But it's clear the biggest bottleneck my business is about to start facing is my knowledge of finance/accounting and how to use them to make effective decisions. Constant cash flow problems, unsure about how to handle new, more complex projects. etc.

I've found the following library of free MIT courses: Search | MIT OpenCourseWare | Free Online Course Materials
It's open access to courses from engineering, to operations, to finance, to project management, etc. They all seem to have lesson notes, and some have recordings of the classes on YouTube.


Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting:

Readings | Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting | Sloan School of Management | MIT OpenCourseWare

MIT OpenCourseWare is a web based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity

ocw.mit.edu

Project Evaluation:

https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/1-011-project-evaluation-spring-2011/pages/readings/

Manufacturing System and Supply Chain Design:

Readings | Manufacturing System and Supply Chain Design | Sloan School of Management | MIT OpenCourseWare

This section contains list of readings associated with the course material.

ocw.mit.edu

These courses would be more time effective than getting an MBA for me; I'm sure you can find a course on whatever your knowledge bottleneck is. Just wanted to share in case it helps anyone.

 

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[amp0193]

But it's clear the biggest bottleneck my business is about to start facing is my knowledge of finance/accounting and how to use them to make effective decisions. Constant cash flow problems, unsure about how to handle new, more complex projects. etc.

There is no substitute for having financial knowledge. You cannot hire it out and you must understand your numbers.

Team Building too. Hiring is on you and no one else.


The others you mentioned: ops/sales.... you can hire for as you have cash to do so.

Just read one book for finance: Simple Numbers by Greg Crabtree

Just read one book for hiring: Who

And that should be good enough for now.