Whether you’ve already started your business and you want to stay informed with the most effective strategies, or you’re preparing to launch your new business, it’s useful to know the fundamentals. Not everyone can afford to hire out marketing, finance, HR, and operations departments in the few months, so you can at least get a jump start in the right direction.
If you find yourself in a financial bind this month and can’t attend many lectures or events, don’t worry! What many small business owners don’t realize is that they can access valuable courses, workshops, and seminars for free.
Free Business Resources for Small Business Owners
In addition to these free online resources, don’t forget to check your city for nearby free or affordable business workshops.
SCORE
SCORE is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration, and in addition to supplying online tools, they also provide volunteer mentors with various backgrounds that can share their business expertise. Examples webinars they have done in the past are: “Maximizing After-Tax Profits on Your 2018 Return,” “Lean Canvas: Create Your Business Plan Quickly,” and “Five Marketing Tips to Attract More Local Customers.”
Bizlaunch
Bizlaunch specializes in webinars. They’ve hosted over 500 live webinars, and if it serves your business, Bizlaunch also works to create other content like white papers and videos for other small businesses. View their website today for this week’s webinar, conducted weekly.
Small Business Expo
Small Business Expo is the largest B2B trade show, conference, and networking event for entrepreneurs, with a reach of 17 major US cities and over 75,000 attendees. The one-day event has upgraded badges that require additional fees. However, you can register for free as a “bronze” level attendee or access their workshops and webinars online.
Harvard Business Review
Harvard Business Review is a great resource if you want to visually learn alongside reading. Subjects include:
Economics & Society
Entrepreneurship
Finance & Accounting
Innovation
International Business
Leadership & Managing People
Managing Organizations
Managing Yourself
Operations
Sales & Marketing
These areas are explained via podcasts, videos, slide decks, and graphics. Essentially, Harvard Business Review caters to all sorts of learning styles.
Google GYOB + Workshops
If you want to improve your digital presence, Google provides workshops in select cities to collaborate with local business owners. They also have lessons with activities you can follow online around building an online presence and connecting with more customers using the web. View the online fundamentals from Google here.
US Small Business Administration + Local SBDC
Although the difference between the U.S. Small Business Administration and your city’s SBDC is that the SBA is primarily a lending source, they both provide tools and feedback on how to improve your small business. Courses cover launching businesses as well as management and growth.
Business Resources for Specific Skills
If you’re well-versed in general business and want more resources pertaining to specific skill sets, we found these to be useful:
Marketing
Moz
HubSpot
Udemy - Digital Marketing
Financial
SCORE
QuickBooks
Wave
HR
HR.com
Alison
Technology
Udemy
CodeAcademy
Pluralsight
Udacity
Laracasts
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