12 Free Online Courses For Entrepreneurial Success

So you've decided on starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur but don't know where to begin?

You know you want more control over your life, your work, your wealth and job satisfaction. You want the excitement of new opportunities, challenging your skills, abilities and determination. You want the flexibility and freedom to work your own hours, be your own boss and spend more time at home with your family.

Entrepreneurs are the driving force behind our economy. Small businesses drive wealth and new jobs into our economy and as a result, many big business leaders, economists, politicians and educators believe that encouraging an entrepreneurial culture is paramount to collective economic and social success on a local, national and global scale.

University courses are becoming more an more inaccessible to low income families, and many students are simply not seeing the value of a degree, especially to those who are determined to run their own business. Whilst its true that you don't need a formal education to be an entrepreneur, its important to keep learning new and relevant skills that can be applied to power your entrepreneurial ventures.

Thanks to the rise of online learning platforms such as Udemy.com, learning new skills on the internet has never been easier and more accessible. There is a plethora of free courses which will equip you with everything you need to think like an entrepreneur, how to start your first business, how to find funding and so much more!

So here are 12 of the best free online courses for new entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners that you can take today!

Basics Of Entrepreneurship:


"In this course, you will learn how to be an entrepreneur from Steve Blank. No matter what business vertical you're entering, serial entrepreneur Steve Blank outlines a few points of necessary focus for the emerging business start-up, including market opportunity, market regulations and distribution, competitors and complimentors, and technology breakthroughs. He notes that the customer is not always the same thing as the payer, and that this bifurcation is creating interesting new business models. Take this course and start learning about becoming an entrepreneur."

  2.   21 Critical Lessons For Entrepreneurs

"Whether you aspire to start your own business or are a serial entrepreneur, this entrepreneurship training offers real-world insights that can be put into action. Jason Nazar, CEO of Docstoc, shares important lessons learned over his career, first by working with new companies then on to starting his own successful business. From the early stages of vetting your idea and raising money to hiring the best team and continuing to grow your business, this training offers poignant insights from a real entrepreneur that can be applied to any business."


"Successful entrepreneurs understand that entrepreneurship is a process that can be learned and improved upon with experience. This Entrepreneurship course provides a series of lectures that can guide an aspiring entrepreneur through the steps that will greatly increase their chances for successfully turning their idea into a successful business. The Entrepreneurship Course is designed to be viewed as an overview for those who want to learn what entrepreneurship is really all about."

Starting A Business:


"Build: Lessons learned in agile, continuous development.
Measure: Case studies on pivots & minimum viable product (MVP).
Learn: Best practices in customer development.
Recorded at SXSW Interactive 2012, this course is the only place where you can find all presentations and videos for the entire Lean Startup event and learn lean methodology for startups from the leading experts."

 5.  Basics of Starting an Online Business

"Learn everything you need to know to start your online business! From business plans to marketing to inventory management to time considerations, Chris Benjamin the Rogue CFO helps guide you through the steps to start your business."

 6.  Start up or grow your business: From employee to entrepreneur

"Are thinking & acting like an 'Employee' or an 'Entrepreneur'?
Discover if you have all THREE core foundations rock solid so you can really grow your business!"

Funding, Financial & Investment For Your Business


"This course is for startup entrepreneurs who need a simple understanding of bookkeeping and accounting basics and who don't have a lot of time.
It consists of 9 very short videos (they average under 3 minutes) that cover:
• creating invoices and getting paid
• receiving and paying bills
• doing a bank reconciliation, and
• how these things lead to your financial statements.
If you're just starting out and you want to manage your business more effectively then you need to understand financial basics. This course is for you."


"One of the most critical issues facing entrepreneurs is deciding if and when it makes sense to raise outside capital. In today's entrepreneurial environment, there are many funding options and competitive pressures to grow rapidly. Access to capital cannot only help accelerate product development and sales, but in many cases, partnering with the right investors can influence the trajectory of a business."


"Ready for angel funding?
This course will give you some tried and tested tips and techniques for speeding up your angel investor funding.
I would write a lot more justifications but really...that second bolded sentence is exactly what this is all about so enough with the copywriting 'fluff' already....
And for a short time, its free, so what are you waiting for?"

Marketing Fundamentals:


"How would you like to never have to worry about getting new customers in your business ever again?
Some people don't think its possible...
But successful business people are doing it right now...
Everyone else, though, are struggling just to get 1 or 2 people to say yes to buy their product or service - and it takes them 3, 4, even 6 months to do it!
This class will teach you the exact step-by-step system that you need to follow - in order to get you to a place where you can get customers any time and anywhere.
Once there, you'll never have to worry about getting new customers ever again..."

 11.  How to Write The Ultimate 1 Page Marketing Plan

"Do you have your Marketing Plan yet?
If not, your'e not alone.
The truth is that most business owners do not have one.
But boy, they sure would make a lot of money if they did!
If you didn't know, statistically, business owners who have a marketing plan are 80% more successful than those without one."


"Social media is not a passing trend, and today every business is expected to have an active presence online. But if you’re new to it, or you’re the only one managing social media for your business, how do you know where to get started with your social media plan?
HootSuite University is pleased to deliver tactical courseware on Creating a Social Media Strategy."


Can you recommend any other free online courses for entrepreneurs? Let us know in the comments below!

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Some say he’s half man half fish, others say he’s more of a seventy/thirty split. Either way he’s a fishy bastard.

3 comments:

  1. Is there any further reading you would recommend on this?

    Amela
    online business advice

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great! Yes its true that entrepreneurs are the driving force behind our economy. Small businesses drive wealth and new jobs into our economy.


    Entrepreneurs Education
    http://www.entrepreneurs-education.com/

    ReplyDelete