This times a million.

I've done a lot of hiring in the past and the MBA title doesn't seem to add anything in my experience. I've not come across someone in my work history that has had an MBA and I've thought "this person is so much better than a person without the MBA."

Learn to code.

My buddy makes great money with his used car lot offering Rent to Own plus the buy here pay here on cheap cars. His locations are on highways with billboards he owns advertising his places.

Looking at Humble Texas on the map looks like lots of car dealers, but not many on social media, etc.

Anything you could specialize in? How’s your marketing plan?

Getting any MBA degree in order to improve your hiring chances with employers would be a big waste of time. You'll find that there is a lot of age discrimination in the job market, so in your case an MBA or PhD won't help you. Anyway, if you did find a job with your MBA, you would still have to start at the bottom with all the non-BA and BA new hires. On the other hand, if you're looking to get the degree in order to give you additional skills to help you improve your business, it "might" be worth doing.

Instead, you might want to spend the time to research why your present business is failing. Maybe you should see if there are other opportunities in the industry you're in now. If selling used cars isn't working out, what about renting cars? We're now in the early stages of a new business called "car sharing," and since you already have the inventory, it would be very simple to start testing out the car sharing/rental car business.

Don't let the "educational machine" fool you by saying an online MBA degree will make you more marketable in the job market. These universities could care less if you succeed or not. The main thing they want is your tuition money...

Try this:
There will be 2.5 MILLION job openings in manufacturing between now and just 2025.
https://www.manufacturing.net/article/2019/02/closing-worker-shortage-gap-manufacturing

Baby-boomers are retiring, companies need the talent.

LOTS of these jobs just require basic skills that would land you in a nice job like a CNC machinist.
Typically, jobs like this in the manufacturing or production sector (or something similar) pay better with a better benefits package, than many jobs in other sectors of the economy. Many employers will even pay for your training if they see a good potential job candidate with just basic skills.

I know machinists currently making 6-figures a year and doing OT because the production needs are so great.

The under 22 crowd doesn't understand that manufacturing today can provide a career, and many of them don't have the patience to get the skills or they don't have the interest.

Contact your local tech school or state workforce development office. Often they have grant money that isn't widely publicized but it can help with educational expense.

Years ago, folks laughed at plumbers or electricians. Not anymore, LOL.
Soon, that same value-in-a-career will be coming with so many manufacturing jobs possibly going UNfilled.

Best to you whatever you decide.

Obviously the market is different in each territory, but the used car market is booming in my area and I’m not far from you. Here are a few thoughts:

Consider changing your sales crew if you’ve had the same sales reps for awhile. They may be your company’s problem and you may not realize it. Bring in new people with energy and you may gain sales and like coming to work more.

Bring on a new finance partner bank. Start talking to three to five different lenders and find one to be your go to for tough approvals and one for your easier approvals. Find a new whole seller for your product to, change will help you.

Getting complacent with a lender, wholeseller, or sales crew has been the death of many a used car lot.

These three sentences summarize why an online MBA is not considered useful by many employers any longer. MBAs are too easy to obtain and the academics are not rigorous enough.

Use that as a marketing tool: “everything must go” type of thing. Good luck to you.

Mind sharing your business, maybe somebody on pinside would be interested or hell even looking for a car

So, the car lot is done now. Time to move on. I personally don't think you should spend one dollar or one hour on studying for any kind of degree right now. An MBA and $6 will buy you a Big Mac value meal. Your current knowledge, work experience, and people skills are the tools you need to use to get your next career.

You obviously don't like your job. Change that. Either find something you really like to do or find someone you would really like to work with.

In the meantime, work somewhere. Volunteer if you need to. Take an entry-level position at a good company that does something that you are interested in. The absolute worst thing on a resume is a gap in employment that is not explained by a significant life change.

My next job will probably be doing something I am passionate about, but it will definitely be with people that I care for.

Easy to avoid gaps, create an LLC and say you did freelance, during that time. I have friends that do that all the time after a lay-off/firing/quitting.

A CDL is the best thing I ever did. Great jobs all over, but driving a big rig takes a certain kind of person. It's not a leisurely drive, it's work and you work a lot. It's a lifestyle really, but a rewarding one.

(I have a useless Master's in Arts Administration)

I have been on interview panels and it is way more attractive to consider hiring a person who is currently under-employed than one who has been fully un-employed more than a couple of months (without a birth/death/stay-at-home parent situation). The person who is working an "entry-level" job in my company (or another company) and immediately shows interest in moving up is what good employers are looking for. They will pay for your online MBA if it will be mutually beneficial. Good companies love to promote their best talent into roles with more responsibility and impact. Not a lot of good companies hire someone simply because they have earned an online MBA. Good companies train/educate/promote their best, most motivated employees.

Damn... can you sell? Do you have natural empathy with people and are a good listener? Since you are a pinball person, you probably have passion.... which is key to sales as well. Point is you can always try the sales gig- like business software. You can also try to find a gig in corporate somewhere- procurement or supply chain, IT help desk, etc.

Or if you are not tied, move to a location and get a license to sell ganja. A friend of mine did that.

That's going to make an MBA challenging. Taking a "real" MBA program is going to require courses in Finance, Statistics, and Economics. The watered-down programs may not require those things, but their degree will be much less valuable to you. *Where* you take the degree is just as important-- if not more important-- than the letters you get to put after your name. A degree from generic-state-university is more valuable than a degree from online-institution-no-one-has-heard-of.

I agree with what drsfmd said here. I'd also like to add that if you go for an MBA, check to see if the school is accredited. If it's not accredited (like Strayer isn't) then all you receive is a very expensive diploma that won't mean anything to an employer. Hint: If they offer you credits for work experience then: they aren't accredited, and your degree will be meaningless.

Not every state college MBA is valuable. Here in Atlanta there are four state school MBA programs; Univ of Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State and Georgia State. The first three are respected, but the last is not as it's very easy to get into and you don't learn much in the program.

Some private online only universities have been started in the last ten years that have names that sound like state universities, but they're private, they're really easy programs and aren't accredited. It's unfortunate because their are legitimate state university programs that have added strong accredited MBA programs.

After reading thru this thread, most of the differing opinions have been covered. But I'll throw my two cents in anyway. The value of getting an MBA, any MBA, is dependent on "why" you're getting it. Career development, entrepreneurial knowledge, self improvement, or any other reasons can all be valid.

From what you've posted, it sounds like your reasoning is you hate your current position, used car lot owner, and want to move to some corporate or office type position. In that scenario, I don't see an MBA helping you. If you move to a large dealership in sales or financing or general management, your experience is much more important. If you are looking to move into some other type of corporate management, an MBA isn't going to help as you'll be competing against 20 or 30 somethings, and you're going to lose that contest.

However there is one situation that may fit. An investment banking professor said something in one of my MBA classes that I've never forgotten. "Brains are cheap. The person who can sell gets paid." If you're looking to take that MBA and start another business, any business, it'll be beneficial. Start a software company, make a better pillow, whatever; it doesn't matter. An MBA will give you the ability to look at any opportunity and break it down into simple dollars and cents. If you can sell, you can sell...period. An MBA will give you the tools to find more creative ways to separate customers from their money.

Bottom line is you have to look at why you want to get it and what you're going to do with it after you have it.