It was about a year ago today that I accepted admission into TCU’s MBA program in Fort Worth. It was a very tough decision for me at the time because I had also just decided to launch a real estate brokerage. I weighed the advantages/disadvantages carefully, and although I knew that developing a company was going to require my full attention – I decided to move forward with the MBA program for a number of reasons.

• I’m fascinated by education. I’m a terrible student though – I don’t do all of the work, attend every class, or get really good grades. I did ok on the GMAT. But I love the experience.
• My competitive nature. My brother is an attorney and we have been competing and fighting our entire lives. I can use an MBA against him. Seriously. We are best friends by the way.
• Networking. TCU is Fort Worth. The city loves the university and many business owners, professionals, and philanthropists in Texas bleed purple.
• It’s free. I served in the Navy for six years and earned a benefit in which the Department of Veteran’s Affairs pays my entire tuition. Cool huh?

I mainly decided to take on this endeavor to improve my real estate business (and for free football tickets) and I think it would be beneficial to break down the concepts I have learned this year and apply them to real estate. And since I am not paying tuition – neither will you. I’m going to create a series of posts based on every class I’ve been in this year and apply the theories to the real estate industry. I’m going to explore:

• Managing People – Why people are your most important asset.
• Financial Accounting – How earning money keeps you in business.
• Managerial Accounting – Your pricing models are broken. Fix them.
• Marketing – Why early innovators don’t always succeed.
• Negotiations – Prepare. Study the opposition and always aim for win/win.
• Supply Chain – How planning can save you money (and just makes sense).
• Educational Entrepreneurship – What we can learn from the disruptive innovation happening in education.

It has not been easy to juggle the launch of a new business with the discipline needed for the rigor of the MBA program, but so far – I’m extremely happy. I’m hoping that by taking my experience and translating it into real estate – we can all benefit. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to hear about. Look for the first post next week on Managing People and how “you can’t jump a large gap with a lot of small steps”.