Need to Tweak your Skills? Top Free Online Classes that can help you be a Better Entrepreneur
While technically you don’t need an MBA to become an entrepreneur and maintain a successful business, the skills you learn in graduate school can in fact help you accelerate your business to profound heights—especially for those who lack foundational knowledge in basic accounting, marketing and leadership. But while some know that enrolling in graduate school is ideal, some don’t have the time nor the funds to go. Thanks to open courseware, however, those who crave flexibility and those who are short on cash since they’ve invested everything in their business can actually have the opportunity to learn some valuable and free information on their own time. Granted, you won’t truly be an MBA holder—you can’t earn credits and you may need to purchase some textbooks and or special software. But you can feel more comfortable knowing that you are handling different aspects of your business in the correct manner. With that said, whether you went to college and need to tweak your entrepreneurial skills or didn’t get any formal education at all, consider taking some of these free online courses to become the best entrepreneur possible.
Finance and Accounting Open Courseware
Typically new start-up business owners cannot afford to pay a professional accountant to handle the book keeping and thus are forced to care of the financial sectors themselves. But an entrepreneur/ business owner who has no basic foundational knowledge in accounting and finance is putting their business at great risk. Instead of jeopardizing the success of your business due to miscalculations and over budgeting, consider taking these online classes that will teach you everything from cash flows, how to acquire money to start your business, and how to assess your company’s financial needs:
· Fundamentals of Personal Financial Planning [UC Irvine]
· Financial Markets [Yale]
· Introduction to Economics [Utah State]
· Business Skills for Success [Kutztown University of Pennsylvania]
Marketing Open Courseware
The trouble with budding entrepreneurs is that they struggle finding ways to draw-in a clients to buy their products or services. These online courses will teach you not only how to identify your target audience, how to give your audience what they want and how to use traditional marketing techniques to lure them in, but they will also educate you on how to utilize modern marketing tools such as social media to solidify a strong audience:
· Entrepreneruial Marketing [MIT]
· E-Marketing [UC Irvine]
· Social Marketing [Open University]
· Listening to the Costumer [MIT]
Management/Leadership Open Courseware
As an entrepreneur you will be your own boss and will need to know how to monitor and speak to your staff and subordinates. These following online courses will teach you how to perfect your strong leadership skills in order to encourage productivity within the workplace, including for nonprofit entrepreneurship endeavors, as well as give you some insight of what is expected of an entrepreneur.
· Introduction to Project Management [UC Irvine]
· Managing and Volunteering in the Non-Profit Sector [MIT]
· Garage Technology Ventures: Passion vs. Money in Entrepreneurship [Stanford]
· The Entrepreneurial Strategies [Kutztown University of Pennsylvania]
Green Business Open Courseware
If you aspire to become a green entrepreneur and want establish a business that simultaneously makes revenue but also aid in the stability of the environment, then consider looking into these following courses that will teach you all about eco-building and design and will explain the importance of establishing a green business.
· Design for Sustainability [MIT]
· Laboratory for Sustainable Business [MIT]
By-line:
This guest contribution was submitted by Jamie Davis, who specializes in writing about masters degree. Questions and comments can be sent to: davis.jamie17@gmail.com.