We all would love to live our lives perfectly the first time, but there are often times where our lives take twists and turns that we can’t ever expect. This might involve the fact that we ended up starting a family, having the wrong priorities, or simply pursuing a career path that didn’t work out. As a mother, there is no doubt that I would never take back the years that I dedicated to making sure that my kids were taken care of - but I certainly did have to re-evaluate my skills with regards to the workplace. School helped me to make sure that I have a viable path towards the financial future that I desire.

Sharpening Up Your Skills

Technology is constantly changing. I fell in love with music at a young age, and knew that I wanted to involve myself with audio engineering of some kind. I certainly saw myself one day owning a music studio, and recording respected artists of various genres. However, the truth is that once I started a family I realized that there are more music artists that are recording music by themselves, and that the music industry was constantly moving too fast for me to find a lucrative job opportunity. I decided to consider a career in podcasting, due to the huge interest in the sector - and the skills that I picked up in college made it so that I was able to pick up a large amount of freelance work that has helped with my bills, as the mother of two kids. I certainly can attest to the fact that going back to school has allowed me to “sharpen up”, and rethink where my skills can be applied.

Emotional Fulfillment

While becoming a mother is the best thing that has ever happened to me - I did not want to “rest on my laurels” by any means. The fact that I was able to go back to school to learn more about business helps me feel capable as a strong woman, and not just in the context of my family. We all want to have a social impact, and the fact that school has allowed me to find new ways to market my business truly makes me feel better about my potential as a human being. This new feeling of fulfillment translates into me being a better wife and mother, as well.

Networking

Sometimes the advantages of school isn’t just about the new skills that you learn - but about the people that you meet. Whether we are speaking about college or graduate school - there are networking opportunities that cannot be denied. One might be surprised at the lists of startups that were created in college, and the individuals that they met at their perspective institutions certainly played a role in the startups’ ultimate creation. You can never deny the kind of connections that you can make at school, and keeping these contacts might lead to opportunities that you never expected. Thanks to college - I was able to meet the individual that I started a podcast with, and get some valuable advice from many colleagues that I would never have met otherwise.

Doing It Myself

There are aspects of life that I always wanted to learn more about. I feel better now about researching and finding more information about a certain skill, and potentially learning and eventually mastering it. A good example is that I wanted to learn more about accounting, because I want to be more responsible financially. This has translated to me giving tips to my husband, who is also a business owner, and also allowed me to give my friends and family advice about accounting approaches that they weren’t aware of. There is the idea that food simply tastes better when you cook it yourself, and it’s because there is a sense of pride in the fact that you were able to rely on yourself completely. Similarly, school makes me feel more autonomous and proud of myself than ever.