To become an entrepreneur, all you need to get started is a great, innovative idea. However, to become a successful entrepreneur, with a small business that joins the ranks of Airbnb, Pandora, and other exceptionally prosperous startups, it’s crucial that you brush up on your entrepreneurial skills. Entrepreneurial education courses are getting increasingly popular, so with the huge amount of options available, we thought we’d scour the market for the top 6 essential free courses for the budding entrepreneur.
How to Make a Start with Your Startup
These free courses are great if you’re starting out or want to fill out some skill gaps. Packed with expert insights into the business world, they’re useful online tools for beginner entrepreneurs. If you have a business idea but aren’t sure how to get it off the ground, why not give one of them a try?
This fantastic introductory course is perfect if you’re curious about entrepreneurship, but you’re not quite sure where to start when it comes to creating a company around your initial ideas. ‘Becoming an Entrepreneur’ allows you to establish your startup business’ goals, choose your target customer through market research and then sell your idea to customers.
(Source: edX)
This educational course lasts 6 weeks and consists of videos and activities. You can also take part in the edX community forums and polls with other aspiring entrepreneurs undertaking the same course as you.
In this free educational course, Jason Nazar, CEO and Co-founder of Docstoc and Comparably, shares the lessons he’s learnt over his career, from starting his own successful businesses, to running the widely attended tech gathering, StartupsUncensored.
(Source: Udemy)
The great thing about this course is that the information is coming from a highly experienced professional, who specialises in startup business advice. The course materials consist of 21 downloadable lessons that can be accessed on your mobile phone and through your television and an eBook on Nazar’s philosophy of the 21 Golden Rules of Entrepreneurship
Udacity is an online education organisation founded by Google X’s Sebastian Thrun, Scientist, David Stavens, and robotics specialist, Mike Sokolsky. Udacity offer a range of free vocational courses, with How to Build a Startup as a great choice for budding entrepreneurs.
(Source: Udacity)
This course helps you create and establish a business model for your startup that’ll address the unmet needs of real-life customers. Appropriate for beginners and serial entrepreneurs alike, the educational materials include instructor videos taught by industry professionals, practical exercises and interactive quizzes allowing you to explore the key steps required to build a thriving startup.
How to Grow Your Business
Now you’ve established a solid business plan around your fantastic ideas and you’ve taken the first steps in creating your successful startup, it’s time to think about how you can go about growing your business. Here are some fantastic entrepreneurial education courses perfect for doing just that.
This free online course aims to develop how to improve your LinkedIn profiles and an essential skill for any entrepreneur: networking. These great tips will mean you can attend networking events comfortably and make a fantastic first impression with your personal narrative and elevator pitch. You’ll also learn how to create a professional LinkedIn profile to boost your brand online and how to write emails that get replies.
(Source: Udacity)
This is a beginner course ideal for those who generally shy away in networking environments or struggle to form personal off and online connections, and you only need to dedicate a week to it!
Growing your business in a digital age requires an expert SEO strategy. That’s why developing your SEO skills is essential for both beginner and experienced entrepreneurs. From building links to your website to blogging for SEO, this free course aims to grow your business through creating sustainable traffic to your website.
(Source: Udacity)
The aim of this training is to help your online content rank highly in search results, with a focus on high-quality content and creating credible backlinks to your company site.
- How to Be More Financially Literate
Targeted towards those who are ‘financially phobic’, this interactive online course is designed to help beginner entrepreneurs with managing their money, budget and savings. Through 7 extensive modules, you’ll learn how to set up your bank account and manage your current money with the future in mind.
(Source: Alison)
Only 6-10 hours long, this thorough course features quizzes to test your knowledge once you’ve finished each module and an end assessment leading to the option of purchasing a certificate.
From creating a startup business around your initial ideas, to growing your brand and developing your marketing skills, we hope that by showing you just a few of the many free online courses available to budding entrepreneurs, we can help your business flourish. Got a favourite online course we’ve not mentioned in this blog post? Get in touch and let us know!