Having a career in business could mean a wide range of things. But regardless of where exactly you’re wanting to end up at the end of your business career, you’ve got to start at the bottom and climb your way up that professional ladder, just like everyone else. Luckily, there are some things you can do that will help make your journey a little quicker and get you to your goals sooner rather than later. So show you how you can do this, here are three things you might want to try to help further your business career.

Know Your Formal Education Options

Even after you’ve already started your career, you can always learn more that can help propel you forward. For many people, this means getting more education. However, if you’re already working within your desired field, you might not want to quit working to go back to school. But according to Gwen Moran, a contributor to Fast Company, there are a ton of options for getting more formal education as someone with a full-time job. You can go part-time to school, take online classes, train for certain certifications, find ways for your job to count as educational credit, and so many more options. If you’re serious about this, start researching what you can do to get more education without having to stop working.

Focus On Your Relationships

In addition to your education, you can also work to improve your soft skills to help further your business career. A major part of these soft skills is creating and maintaining business relations that could prove to be beneficial in the future. According to Kristina Leonardi and the editorial staff of The Muse, you should do everything in your power to build solid relationships with everyone you work with or for, even if you don’t think you’ll know that person for long or will be at the job for an extended period of time. You never know who could help you out in the future, and you’ll regret unnecessarily burning bridges down the road if there’s someone who could help to give you a lift up professionally. 

Take Your Education Into Your Own Hands

For people who don’t need or want to get any additional formal education as mentioned above, you can still learn about your field of work and gain greater skill to aid you in progressing. According to Susan M. Heathfield, a contributor to The Balance Careers, you can try things like job shadowing, getting a mentor, starting a professional book club, taking weekend training courses, watching online tutorials, and more to gain more knowledge and become more valuable in your chosen industry. 

Become Familiar With Marketing

Even doctors and dentists are marketers. Marketing is my no means simple, especially in today’s world of big data (in fact some even take a very technical approach to SEO, link building and online marketing). However, a basic knowledge of marketing is critical for the would-be businessperson looking to expand and grow opportunities. If you can get the marketing right, the finance, operations often flow best from there. 

If you want to get further in your career at an accelerated pace, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you do just that.