For many small business owners, getting started is one of the most difficult parts of running a small business. You likely have to invest large amounts of money, your time, and yourself to help the company take off and thrive. When hiring experts is beyond your budget, you might have no choice but to learn new skill sets yourself. Taking this time to invest in your education can have huge benefits for your business down the road. As one example, here are several reasons why learning to code can be a huge boon for you and your company.
Save Money
Having a custom website built is just one expense you can save by learning to code. When most of your customer base is online in some capacity, a good website is often the first impression your company makes to new people. You want to make sure your website is easily navigated and draws people in. Make sure you have a few people look it over to see whether or not it’s confusing or dated. This is especially important if you have an online shop. People can’t buy if they can’t find the right page! Also, there are many services who offer website templates you can customize, which means the grunt work is taken care of, but a base knowledge of coding can help you create something truly special.
Custom Tools
Only you will know what works best for your business, and this often evolves as time goes on and your business grows. New advancements are discovered constantly. Just look at the digital transformation for healthcare. You might not be aware of your needs when a website is first built, but making edits or creating new tools can get expensive. When you have some experience coding, you might be able to add or customize elements of your online presence in a way that works for you. Even if you can’t, you’ll know exactly what to ask for when consulting an expert.
Creative Thinking
Learning to code can also be great for your brain! Coding is almost like learning a new language, and when you think in a different language, the way you process new information is altered. This can be a game changer for your problem solving skills in coding and in other areas of your life. Creative problem solving can help you save time, keep your business running smoothly, and even help your company grow.
Instant Results
One of the largest benefits of handling the coding aspect of your business yourself is that you can make changes instantly. Are the shop categories or tags out of date? Easy fix. Do you need to rearrange the order of webpages on a drop menu? Also easy. Is something not showing up where it needs to be? Good thing you can find the issue yourself instead of being put on hold by tech support. Suddenly, a problem that would mess up your business operations for at least a day becomes a manageable problem in-house.
Easy To Learn
You don’t need a fancy degree to learn how to code. In fact, there are many resources to learn the basics for free online. Some programs gamify the process to keep you interested and engaged with the lesson, and others can be completed on your phone while you wait for your coffee order to be ready. While there are a lot of options for coding languages, and you’ll need to decide for yourself which one will work best for your business, learning this new skill doesn’t have to take up all of your extra time or interfere with your work day.
There are many new skills business owners are expected to learn, and coding basics should be one of them. Even if you don’t want to build a website from scratch or be the go-to tech support, a minimal amount of knowledge can make a huge impact on your company’s success.
