Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurs
Free online courses for business owners on marketing, accounting, time management and social media.
by square May 02, 2018 — 4 min read
Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

Looking to learn some new skills this summer? Good news: even if you’re not heading back to a traditional school, today’s technological advances mean that anyone with an internet connection access can learn anything they want, any time they want.

The flexibility of online courses suits the busy schedule of a small business owner. Whether you can spare half an hour each week or a couple of hours every day, we’ve found seven courses to help you increase your understanding of the issues facing many of today’s small businesses. Best of all? They’re free.

Entrepreneurship – Starting a Business: Vision and Opportunity

Aspiring entrepreneurs can learn how to uncover and evaluate new business opportunities with a free online course available through FutureLearn. This site hosts a wealth of university-backed short courses. In the University of Leeds’ Starting a Business: Vision and Opportunity, instructor Nigel Lockett examines what to look out for when considering new business ventures, the importance of a business plan and achieving entrepreneurial success.

What you’ll cover:

Digital marketing – Branding, Content & Social Media

Today’s small business owners need to know their way around social media so that they can harness its marketing and branding potential. Ohio State University has a free online course to help you do just that. Available through iTunes, Branding, Content & Social Media will show you how to grab the valuable attention of audiences across the web through branded content.

What you’ll cover:

Accounting basics – Accounting in 60 Minutes: A Brief Introduction

Available through the Udemy website, which offers both free and paid online courses, Accounting in 60 Minutes: A Brief Introduction enrols over 28,000 users who give it a very respectable 4.5 out of 5 stars. Instructor Vince Turner walks you through about an hour of basic accounting principles using whiteboard illustrations, videos and quizzes to reinforce the topics. He covers the accounting equation, balance sheets, debits and credits, income statements and a discussion on profits.

What you’ll cover:

Time management for small business owners – Effective Time Management: Get 10X More Done in Less Time

All entrepreneurs come up against the challenge of time management. If you’re looking for ways to get more done in less time, invest just one hour in Effective Time Management: Get 10X More Done in Less Time. Covering everything from how to eliminate time killers to learning how to identify the top one percent of your business activities that generate the most revenue and profit, this course from the website Udemy has an average 4.2 stars from over 900 ratings.

What you’ll cover:

Employees – Management and Leadership: Well-being and Welfare at Work

Positive management is key to every business. Staff whose wellbeing is nurtured are more likely to be loyal, diligent and to reflect your brand in a positive light. Having a good relationship with them will also improve day-to-day operations for you. Management & Leadership: Well-being and Welfare at Work — offered by FutureLearn — is designed by the Open University to help you support the professional development and needs of your staff. This will help you retain the staff you have today and hire great people tomorrow.

What you’ll cover:

Innovation – Innovation: The Fashion and Food Industries

Business owners in the fashion or food industries may need a hand with innovation. After all, coming up with new ideas in two traditional business sectors can be challenging. The University of Leeds’ inspiring and free online video courses Innovation: The Fashion Industry and Innovation: The Food Industry highlight how the big players in each field ideate and innovate to bring new products to market. These lessons are easily applicable to other industries as well and each course takes just a couple of hours to complete.

What you’ll cover:

Business beyond VC – How to Finance and Grow Your Startup – Without VC

Worried that you don’t have the skillset to help your business grow without a Venture Capital angel on your side? Take the free online course How to Finance and Grow Your Startup – Without VC created by London Business School. You’ll learn key skills and develop a toolkit of knowledge to help grow your business when you go it alone.

What you’ll cover:

 

We never get too old to learn. Developing your knowledge and skill set as an entrepreneur will keep you at the top of your game. Because of the size and agility of your business, the impact of your personal growth will have a huge positive impact on day-to-day operations.

The great news is that with the free courses above (and all the thousands we couldn’t include on the list) this can be done for free.

square
The square Editorial Team is dedicated to telling stories of business, for business owners. Our team comes from a variety of backgrounds and share a passion for providing information that helps businesses to start, run, and grow. The team is based in San Francisco, but has collaborators all over the country.

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