9 Online Programs to Boost Your Business Skills

The internet is practically infinite. With that size comes the ability to learn just about anything, from how to change a tire to how trade tariffs will impact long-term economic growth. For business owners, there are endless resources to further business education. No matter what role you're in now or what stage your business is in, there are several ways to learn new skills and business concepts for the future.

A lot of these online resources are free, and you can learn at your own pace. This means you can focus your necessary attention on growing your business or improving in your current role while studying on the side. Regardless of what you want to learn, it's easy to get access to university and college courses for no charge.

Coursera

Courses on Coursera are taught by leading experts and instructors from the world's best universities. Business owners have access to video lectures, community discussion forums and auto-graded and peer-reviewed assignments. There's a wide-range of content, from free to paid online, university-recognized degrees. There are several tracks and hundreds of courses to choose from. Topics range from programs like Excel to business practices like financial accounting. Coursera offers both paid and free courses, depending on what you're looking to learn.

Learn more at Coursera.org.

edX

Business owners can enrol in various free online courses from top institutions around the globe with edX. You don't have to apply for individual applications, courses are open 24/7 to join, and you can take courses on your own schedule. These courses are taught by university experts but are non-credit courses. You can get a verified certificate to prove you've mastered the class and concepts, however. Business courses range from critical thinking to data modelling. There are also courses in Spanish.

Learn more at edX.org.

Hello Fearless

Hello Fearless is an online school for female entrepreneurs. It provides courses and networking opportunities for women entrepreneurs looking to advance their careers. The website's educational component, Boss School, has educated more than 175,000 entrepreneurs. It's a 90-day course that provides real-world education, mentors for future growth and community support. There are limited spots, so you'll have to apply and tell Hello Fearless a bit about your business. If you're looking for more online-based learning, there are inspirational articles plus other content on Hello Fearless's website about entrepreneurship.

Learn more at HelloFearless.com.

HP Life

Tech giant Hewitt-Packard provides a free training program called HP LIFE (Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs) to educate business owners on common business challenges and technology solutions. Its courses span communications, finance, marketing and operations. There are even designated courses for start-ups. HP has partnered with various companies to bring users unique education opportunities. These courses are ideal for new business owners or workers looking to build out knowledge on their current role.

Learn more at life-global.org.

Lynda.com

Lynda.com is an online video education website that provides hundreds of courses on a variety of topics. Lynda isn't free, but they provide a free trial period so you can determine if the service is ideal for your needs. Lynda provides great resources for using software programs, such as Adobe Creative Cloud. It also provides designated learning paths, so you can take courses along a learning path until you're an expert in that area.

Learn more at lynda.com.

OpenLearn

The Open University is a free online learning platform that touches on a variety of topics, such as IT, Design and Law. You can browse OpenLearn's offering by courses, qualification or subject. It features several business-specific courses, such as business management, economics and marketing. For defined degrees, The Open University may require tuition.

Learn more at open.edu.

Small Business Administration

The Small Business Administration has been supporting U.S. businesses for generations. In addition to providing loans and other services, the government agency also has an extensive learning center on its website. The courses on SBA are free and are great for young entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to learn business basics. Courses on writing a business plan, learning about financing options and understanding legal requirements are all provided by the Small Business Administration. There are courses on savings plans, social media marketing and sales. The SBA offers a lot of hands-on, real-world business education resources.

Learn more at SBA.gov.

Thrive Time Show

This online platform provides various resources for small businesses. In addition to conference information, business coaching and a business podcast, Thrive Time Show also has a business school. It's a massive library of 15-minute training courses taught by successful entrepreneurs. The company supports various topics ranging from copywriting to financing. While Thrive Time Show's business school is a good resource, it's a paid service. The company advertises a $1 per month fee, but you'll have to talk with a sales representative about cost depending on what you're looking to learn.

Learn more at ThriveTimeShow.com.

Udacity

Udacity provides online courses and learning resources for individuals interested in entering the tech industry. This platform focuses on data, artificial intelligence and other trending topics in technology. It breaks down learning paths into nanodegrees. Depending on which courses you sign up for, Udacity may charge a fee.

Learn more at Udacity.com.

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7780-online-business-education-programs.html

Writing a Business Plan? Do These 5 Things First

Starting a new business comes with headaches. Being prepared for those headaches – and trying to get ahead of them – can greatly decrease the impact they have on your business.

One important step in preparing for the challenges your start-up may face is writing a solid business plan. The technicalities and standard information that go into a business plan are easy enough to figure out, but there are other, more abstract things to consider before you put pen to paper.

Make sure you take the following five steps prior to drafting your business plan.

1. Determine your purpose

Having a plan to make a profit is important, but it's far from the only thing that matters when you start a business, experts say.

"Business plans … encourage entrepreneurs to focus on what they are going to do," said Alan Williams, co-author of "The 31 Practices" (LID Publishing Inc., 2014). "This overlooks two more important questions: 'why' – why it exists and why employees would want to get out of bed in the morning, and 'how' – the values of the business, what it stands for, how people representing the business will behave."

Williams noted that entrepreneurs should take time to identify and articulate their business's core values and purpose, which will serve as your organization's compass for decision making at all levels. Williams' co-author, Alison Why brow, said that this "compass" can be discovered by having an honest, open conversation with your team.

"One thing that a team might want to do is engage in a formal assessment process – looking at habits, beliefs, values and capability – so that they are working from a clear starting point and have a framework for discussion about working styles, strengths, and individual and collective blind spots," Why brow said.

2. Build your vision

The key to business success is having a clear vision of what you want to accomplish as a company, experts say. But before you write a business plan, you should come up with three to five key strategies that will enable you to achieve that vision, advised Evan Singer, CEO of SmartBiz, a provider of SBA loans.

"Sometimes, less is more," Singer said. "It's far better to do three things very well versus 10 things not so well."

Tied in with building the vision for your business is also putting together a mission statement. The mission is the "why" you're doing what you do.

"The first sentence of the mission statement should be why you're in business. After you fully understand the why, then you need to define 'what' you are going to do and 'how' you're going to do it. The third and final part of the mission statement should be the 'who' you want as customers and how you are going to treat them," said Tina Bacon-DeFrece, president of Big Frog Franchise Group.

She added that from the mission statement, it is an easy transition to develop your "value proposition" statement that defines what makes you unique in the marketplace and how you intend to differentiate and position your business.

3. Clarify your business model

Alex Muller, senior vice president and chief product officer of GPShopper at Synchrony Financial said a good financial model should include many of the details you would put in your formal business plan – for example, hiring, pricing, sales, cost of acquisition, expenses and growth. As with a business plan, your model should be revisited and updated as the realities of your business start to unfold.

"Start [answering] 'what ifs,'" said Muller. "If I sell this product at this price point, and this is the cost of client acquisition, what rates of return can I get? When you're done building [and testing] the business model, then you can go back [and] write a business plan."

4. Identify your target market

Identifying a target market can be a tricky obstacle to get through. To help narrow down your market, Grant Leboff, CEO of Sticky Marketing Club, says to answer the question, "Why am I uniquely placed to solve the problem?"

"If you are unable to answer the question, you either have the wrong target market of the wrong offering," Leboff wrote in a blog post. "In this case, more work will need to be done before you start targeting your potential customers."

If what you offer isn't the most attractive to the type of client you want, you may need to change your offering or define your target market differently, Leboff added.

5. Test your business idea

Entrepreneurs should go out and talk to industry experts, potential customers in their target market and other entrepreneurs to determine their business' viability, said Kara Bubb, principal consultant at Kara Bubb Product Consulting.

"Talk to some real potential future clients [and experts], and ask for some honest feedback," Bubb told Business News Daily. "What do they think about your business idea? Who, specifically, are you targeting with your business? How big is the market? Will your market buy what you are selling? Who is your competition?"

Simply writing a business plan will not make your organization successful, but it does give you a road map to get there. The forethought put into the plan identifies the milestones by which you can mark your progress.

https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7893-steps-before-business-plan.html