Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to feel like you’re alone in running your business. You are, after all, the one calling the shots, even on days when you don’t feel like you know what you’re doing. However, there are many online resources available to help business owners like you improve their skills.

Online courses are a great way to beef up your business, marketing, management, or tech skills, and many are absolutely free. All you need to do is dedicate time and energy to taking the courses that best fit your needs.

Why Take Online Courses?

There are, of course, other options for learning business skills, including books, blogs, magazines, and in-person courses and workshops. But online learning has a distinct advantage: you can take a course at your own pace from the comfort of your home or office.

You can learn business skills you might not already have, especially if you don’t have a business background. This can help you be better at managing your own accounting and financial tasks or understanding long-term planning strategies for your business.

And because online courses are updated to keep up with an ever-changing environment, you can stay on top of the latest marketing strategies or learn to leverage technology to grow your business as these fields change. Artificial intelligence is a great example. It’s still relatively new, but already there are courses that can help you learn to leverage it for your marketing and your business.

Sites Offering Online Courses

Once you start your hunt for online business courses, you may quickly be overwhelmed with possibilities. Here are a few sites that offer courses in many fields that may provide an easier way to filter down to what you’re looking for.

Mooc.org

A MOOC is a “massive online open course.” Many prestigious universities and colleges offer popular courses in a variety of fields on Mooc.org, including:

• “Understanding Agribusiness, Value Chains, and Consumers in Global Food Systems”
• “Sport Business Foundations”
• “How to Buy Cloud - Strategies for Cloud Procurement”

EdX

Another site offering dozens of courses in a variety of fields, including business, is EdX. Here, you’ll find courses from well-known universities and brands including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Google, Harvard University, McGill, Georgetown University, and more.

EdX also offers EdX Enterprise, which your business can leverage to help your employees with their professional development. Here are a few of the courses that you can find with EdX:

• “Becoming an Entrepreneur” 
• “Entrepreneurship MicroMasters Program”
• “CS50's Introduction to Cybersecurity” 

Coursera

Coursera offers  5,800 courses, Professional Certificates, and degrees, so you’ll have no shortage of possibilities. Here are some of its business-related courses:

• “Entrepreneurship Specialization” 
• “How to Start Your Own Business” 
• “Innovation Management” 

Udemy

The last site we’ll cover in this section is Udemy. Global brands like Cisco, AT&T, Samsung, Volkswagen, Hewlett Packard, and Citi take advantage of the 210,000 courses published here. Udemy has a vast selection of courses on entrepreneurship, including:

• "The Lean Startup"
• "Entrepreneurship: Finding and Testing Your Business Idea" 
• “Powerful Business Writing: How to Write Concisely”

Starting a Business Courses

Now, let’s look at online courses by topic, beginning with those that help with starting a business. These courses would be particularly useful for the new business owner who might feel like she’s in too deep when it comes to understanding what she needs to get her business off the ground.

“Startup School” is a popular free online course offered by Y Combinator, one of the world's most renowned startup accelerators. It is designed for you if you are in the early stages of building a startup, turning a side project into a company, or are curious to learn about becoming a founder.

The “Starting a Business” course, offered by My Own Business Institute, offers 15 lessons on topics like choosing the right business, creating a business plan, licenses and permits, financing, marketing, and managing employees.

Entrepreneurship Courses Online

This section is for those who have already launched their business but need a little direction to take it to the next level.

It should be no surprise that Harvard has its own online course division. At Harvard Extension School, you can find courses like "Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets" and “Entrepreneurship and Innovation.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology has its MIT OpenCourseWare, which offers a selection of free entrepreneurship-related courses, including "New Enterprises" and "Innovative Businesses."

Even LinkedIn can help you beef up your entrepreneurial skills. LinkedIn Learning offers a wide array of business and entrepreneurship courses. Look for courses by well-known entrepreneurs and business experts on topics such as interpersonal communication and goal-setting.

Khan Academy offers a free entrepreneurship course that includes interviews with well-known and successful business leaders like Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group; Marc Ecko, Founder of Ecko Unlimited; and Zach Kaplan, CEO of Inventables.

Online Marketing Courses

Every business needs marketing fundamentals, but not every business owner is an expert in marketing. Courses like these can keep you abreast of marketing trends and help you develop a marketing strategy for your company.

Udacity offers a "Digital Marketing Nanodegree" program that can be beneficial for entrepreneurs looking to build their online presence. You’ll not only learn about marketing fundamentals but also marketing data and technology, social media marketing, search engine marketing, digital advertising, and more.

Google's Digital Garage is a platform that offers free courses on various digital marketing and business topics, including making sure customers find you online, business communication, and connecting with customers via mobile.

Reliablesoft’s Digital Marketing Full Course includes courses in digital marketing basics, Facebook/Instagram ads, Google ads, search engine optimization (SEO), keyword research, content marketing, email marketing, Google Analytics 4, social media marketing, and eCommerce SEO.

Technology Courses

And if technology is important in your line of work (there are few, if any, industries that aren’t impacted by technology in some way on a daily basis), explore courses on technology like these.

Harvard Online offers “Technology Entrepreneurship: Lab to Market,” where you can explore how entrepreneurs move technology from testing to a finished product.

On Future Learn, the University of Twente offers “Technology Entrepreneurship: How to Start a New Venture,” where you’ll develop a technology-based business model from a basic idea towards a financially sustainable business.

Need to learn the basics of computer programming? You can also find the course “Computer Programming for Everyone” on Future Learn.

Tips for Taking Online Courses

While we covered a lot of the courses available for business owners in this article, there are still hundreds, if not thousands, more options out there. Spend some time researching courses that offer what you’re looking to learn.

To narrow it down, look at the format. Many use videos to teach. Are you someone who absorbs information well via video, or do you prefer reading? Consider how long the course will take to get through as well. If you need to learn a skill quickly, investing three months to learn it may not fit your timeline.

You’ll have the best success with your online learning if you dedicate uninterrupted time to your endeavor. Get a notebook for the course and block off an hour or two several times a week so you can focus.

And remember: you’ll get out of the course what you put into it. If you’re serious about stepping up your business skills, you’ll need to invest that time and energy into expanding your knowledge.

Online learning provides a veritable wealth of knowledge readily available to anyone willing to dive in. With so many options, both free and paid, the only question remaining is: what will you study first?