The business world is ever changing, and it’s important to be at the forefront of innovation in order to run a successful business. It is in the best interest of small business owners to continue to brush up on their business skills to keep their competitive advantage. While business owners have enough expenses without committing to pricey programs and degrees, there are plenty of free online resources on various helpful topics. We have included five of our favorites for you here:
MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology shares some of their undergraduate and graduate course content online, providing a great resource to small business owners without the hefty price of MIT admission. You can learn accounting with their Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting and Management Accounting and Control classes; learn how to file a patent with by following the advice in the Inventions and Patents class; brush up on Entrepreneurial Sales and learn about Pricing from the comfort of your home or office!
The Open University
The Open University is a UK non-profit group that offers over 1,000 free courses and videos on different topics, such as business! There are 104 free courses in the area of money and business, such as:
- Operations management
- Understanding your sector
- Products, services and branding
- Developing high trust work relationships
HubSpot
HubSpot helps its customers grow their sales by providing marketing, sales and customer service tools. The site offers an 11-hour course that helps small business owners with inbound marketing (marketing with the goal of attracting new business) and sales.
Learn about the full inbound marketing methodology, content marketing, sales, design and contextual marketing with their free tools and courses!
U.S. Small Business Administration
The SBA provides a multitude of free resources for small business owners, including online courses, the option to web chat and other helpful videos. Courses cover topics such as mentorship programs, getting a competitive advantage, winning a federal contract, taking a product to market, etc. You can view the list of classes or search in a catalogue, finding more information about each course when you click on it.
Fundamentals of Operations Management
Another free course that highlights the importance of operations management. Learn about how to plan, find a facility, schedule and conduct inventory and quality management for effective operations.
The course has four modules:
- Operations management
- Operations management strategies
- Applying operations management
- Assessment
If you come across other courses or classes for small business owners that require a financial contribution, IOU Financial can help. We provide small business loans of up to $300,000 to help you grow your business. Contact us today!