If you run a business or have dreams of being a business owner, there are plenty of places you can learn from. Perhaps you know people personally who run their own businesses; perhaps you have been to college or university and have studied business; or perhaps you have worked in business all your life, building up your knowledge from experience. Whichever avenue you go down, you are bound to have formative experiences which help you lay the groundwork for your future business endeavours. Any experience with business – the good, the bad and the ugly – will form your knowledge and skill base which will help you down the line when you finally set up your own company.

But when it comes to doing your own research, outside of education and personal experience, how can you learn about business? Well, look around and point to something. Nowadays, absolutely everything is wrapped up in business decisions – whether it’s healthcare, real estate, sport, technology or space travel! Even politics, scarily, seems to boil down to business decisions. While the increasing monetisation of everything around us seems frightening and isn’t necessarily beneficial for everyone, it does mean that as a prospective business owner, you can learn your lessons from the best of the best. Here are some examples of business decisions which teach a valuable lesson!

Football Transfer Deals

Football is one of the most lucrative industries in sport, and in that vein, you can take your business lessons from the transactional approach that footballers have to their teams. When it comes to transferring to a new team, the line between a business decision and an emotional decision becomes blurred. While some players are staunchly loyal to their teams for nostalgic or sentimental reasons, others choose their head over their heart.

When it comes to learning from these decisions, it is important to look at deals that were almost made, as well as deals that were made. The biggest transfer deadline deals in football often never happened at all; reading why these decisions were not taken is just as valuable as learning from those who took the plunge.

Ethical Consequences

When business decisions and the media collide, the consequences can be pretty huge. Especially in today’s times, with the younger generations being keen to ‘expose’ companies who run unethical practices behind the scenes, it is hard to get away with any risky moves as a business owner. Fashion company BooHoo recently came under fire for underpaying their garment workers, which devastated their sales and harmed their reputation for life. As a business owner you can be subjected to trial by the media which can ruin your name. What’s the answer to this terrifying prospect? Simply run an ethical business, which pays its employees properly. If there are no skeletons in your closet, then you need not fear exposure. 

Conclusion

Learning about business can be done in your own experience or from outside research. With business decisions happening all around us every day, there is no limit to the lessons that can be learned, simply by looking around and taking notice.