An online course is a learning program conducted in a virtual environment and structured according to a syllabus (often in units). Online courses can be informal, focused on a single skill, or formal, leading to certification or a degree.
Professionals who take advantage of online entrepreneurship courses will leave with more business knowledge than they had when they began, making them valuable assets for their present and potential employers. Many of the topics covered by students in a business master’s program with an entrepreneurial focus are covered in online courses. Even if they don’t graduate with a formal diploma, individuals who persevere will ultimately, at the very least, gain insightful knowledge of some of the same subjects as those who select the more conventional route.
Where to Look for Online Courses
Over the last seven years, the market for online courses, particularly those geared toward business themes, has grown. Many prominent universities, like Stanford and Harvard, now offer classes that are open to the public.
Several platforms have emerged as leaders in the online course world—Coursera, Udemy, and Udacity are just a few platforms that provide enormous open online classes (or MOOCs). Some are free, while others have a one-time fee or monthly subscription.
LinkedIn Learning, formerly Lynda, is another website for business classes linked to the corporate social networking platform LinkedIn. Many of these lessons are included with a monthly subscription and can be completed in under a day. Below is a list of available online courses for entrepreneurs:
1. Learning How to Learn Offered By The Open University
The popular Coursera course “Learning How to Learn” provides insight into the learning methods and techniques used by artists, musicians, writers, mathematicians, scientists, sports experts, and others.
The 12- to 16-hour course delves deep into brain research to explain to students what occurs while they attempt to recall new information, concentrating on two learning “modes.” It describes how information is “chunked” by the brain to be more easily remembered afterward. Additionally, it dispels many myths regarding how individuals learn.
Overall, the course intends to assist anyone studying any subject at any level in changing their method and becoming a more successful student. Even if you believe you have a subject under control, you may still need to learn more about how to put it to use, which is something else this course can teach you.
2. Accounting 101 Offered By London Business School
Business Accounting Basics is a five-week course that takes three to five hours of work each week. This introductory course aims to give students the fundamental knowledge and skills they need to comprehend business. Four financial statements are presented first. These comprise the Statement of Cash Flows, Statement of Retained Earnings, Income Statement, and Balance Sheet. Additionally, the course covers how to break down costs, forecast profitability, evaluate a company, and how these assertions are made.
Accounting without a business is like driving down a dark country road in the rain without headlights. Missed turns and impediments to progress may go unnoticed until it is too late to correct them. Accounting is used not just to keep track of income and expenses, but also to ensure that a corporation complies with applicable regulations and to provide decision-makers with the knowledge they need to make sound judgments.
3. Business Modeling Offered By Lund University
This course involves a commitment of approximately 11 hours and has flexible deadlines. Unlike many other free online entrepreneurship classes, this one is unique. It is a project-centered course, meaning that students complete a real-world project directly pertinent to their careers and ambitions.
There are various definitions of business models, according to an article published in the Harvard Business Review. Michael Lewis characterized the business model succinctly in The New Thing, saying, “All it meant was how you expected to earn money.” According to Entrepreneur.com, the key to entrepreneurial success is determining the best business strategy rather than the product. According to the definition, a business model identifies how a company “creates, distributes, and captures value.”
4. An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence Offered By Stanford University
Students study the fundamentals of machine learning over four months, as well as how statistics, reasoning, and planning are used in AI. They next go on to the course’s applications lesson section, which offers information on image processing, natural language processing, and processing robotics. However, knowledge of linear algebra and probability theory is a requirement for the course.
Why not study how they operate and how humans can control them instead of allowing robots to take over the world? You can learn the fundamentals of robotics, including how to make them, their history, anatomy, and more, through several online courses.
5. Entrepreneurship 101 Offered by AION Academy
Ten weeks are needed to complete the program, and it takes two to four class hours per week. This course provides a methodical strategy for acquiring consumers, starting from the assumption that customers are what makes a firm successful.
Finding out what customers want and the most effective way to deliver it is key to success. The likelihood that a consumer will return to a firm increases with how well it fulfills their needs. It is impossible to exaggerate the value of customers. Bills are paid by customers. Any organization, whether a church, a charity, or a manufacturer of widgets, needs money to function, and without clients, there is no money. Although it might be argued that customers are not the most important aspect of a company’s success, there is no denying that they are essential.
6. Digital Marketing Offered By Udemy
This online business course, Social Media Advertising, is primarily concerned with particular digital marketing platforms. It uses Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as its primary social media platforms for marketing. This course is one of four that make up the Digital Advertising Strategy Specialization and takes roughly ten hours to complete.
Unlike traditional media, which is a one-way street in which information is delivered to the client via various channels such as a television commercial or a billboard, digital marketing allows for two-way communication. Digital marketing is essential for today’s firms’ marketing strategies due to the expansion of this medium and the capacity to precisely target consumers and prospective customers. A Digital Marketing emphasis is ideal for professionals who wish to grasp marketing leadership.
7. Entrepreneurial Funding Offered By Udacity
The goal of the online entrepreneurship program is to teach students how to finance their brilliant concepts. This 18-hour course addresses issues such as when to acquire funds, various methods of obtaining finance, and how to effectively get investors on board with a concept.
It emphasizes the importance of considering all possibilities before settling on a few and accepting that not all will work out. Trading equity or services for startup assistance is one of these sources of investment. One could, for example, barter skills for free office space. Another choice is to look for venture capitalist funding.
Even with a fantastic idea, investors are not always waiting to throw money at a new firm. A course in entrepreneurial fundraising gives the information required to get a concept off the ground and running, and it is not a variable that can be overlooked.
8. Google IT Support Professional Certificate Specialization Offered By Google
If you manage a small business with a staff of people who all wear many hats, the Google IT Support Professional Certificate Specialization could be a good approach to get tech support skills for your organization.
Google and Coursera launched their collaboration on the program earlier this year, offering scholarships to people interested in training for entry-level IT jobs. Since then, they’ve made the five-course curriculum available to the public, and it’s open to all prospective in-person and remote IT professionals, not just those aiming for a job at Google.
The certificate curriculum consists of “video lectures, exams, and hands-on labs and widgets” and takes around eight months to finish at eight to ten hours each week. Students learn the basics of IT troubleshooting and customer service, operating systems, system administration, security, and other topics.
9. Entrepreneurial Management Offered By Udemy
Student-focused techniques study businesses and organizations to see what sets them apart from rivals using an inquiry-based methodology. This course takes around six weeks to finish and needs about an hour of effort each week. While there are many similarities between a standard management function and an entrepreneurial management role, there are also significant differences, according to the Global Enterprise Institute.
Making decisions as an entrepreneurial manager typically involves personal risk. More than simply a job is at stake. It is not commonplace for one’s home, private credit, and way of life to be jeopardized. The course defines entrepreneurial management as “the discipline of taking entrepreneurial knowledge and using it to increase the effectiveness of new business ventures as well as small and medium-sized organizations.” Some household names were started during challenging economic times.
10. Entrepreneurial Mindset Offered By Udemy
This online entrepreneurship course is part of a series on how to establish a business. While technical execution is absolutely important in building a successful business, the manner in which one thinks is equally essential. Successful entrepreneurs possess many characteristics, and one trait they all share, whether they are a well-known household name or own a local store down the street, is an entrepreneurial mindset.
The primary purpose of this online entrepreneurship program is to explain that attitude and show students how to achieve it. Forbes explains the entrepreneurial mindset in similar words and notes how it is always overlooked in discussions. This state of mind is described as a desire to develop one’s skill set and to be persistent in the face of failure. It is an essential component of the equation because it propels one onward.
11. Entrepreneurship Specialization Offered By Harvard Business School
The Wharton Online Entrepreneur Specialization course is a step-by-step guide to starting and running your firm. The five-course series begins with idea generation, teaching aspiring entrepreneurs how to identify feasible prospects.
This training does not necessitate any prior knowledge. However, it is recommended that you have some basic math skills (high-school level). Wharton’s focus on entrepreneurship will cover every facet of developing and establishing your own business, making it one of the best online entrepreneurship courses for beginners.
Throughout your education, a team of five experienced professors will walk you through concepts like starting a business, creating a scalable business plan, and what it takes to become profitable.
12. The Complete Crowdfunding Course for Kickstarter & Indiegogo Offered By Udemy
At the beginning of the decade, it appeared that crowdfunding via platforms such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe would open up enormous new pipelines for delivering your small business directly to the people. After hundreds of projects failed to meet their funding targets or failed even after receiving funding, small business owners now understand that crowdfunding is more than just asking your Facebook friends for a few dollars. The Complete Crowdfunding Course for Kickstarter & Indiegogo on Udemy, taught by Kickstarter success stories, claims to help you understand this new world of finance.
The course may cost as little as $11.99 depending on Udemy’s current offerings. Crowdfunding can be a great way to get money into your business before you’ve even made a product. However, you can spend hours creating a page and not receive a penny if you don’t plan ahead of time.
13. The Essential Guide to Entrepreneurship by Guy Kawasaki
One of the most dependable and perceptive entrepreneurship experts Silicon Valley has ever produced is Guy Kawasaki. Kawasaki pioneered the concept of being a brand evangelist in the early 1980s when he sold the first Macintosh computers. He has survived several decades in the tech industry and now works as an author and a popular conference speaker. His Essential Guide to Entrepreneurship course on Udemy is a wealth of knowledge for aspiring entrepreneurs and seasoned small business owners.
The training includes four hours of Kawasaki lectures as well as some tough, hands-on learning. Notably, the course fee includes lifetime access to the material. While Kawasaki’s background is in technology, his decades of experience allow him to lecture about entrepreneurship in any industry.
14. How to Come Up with Killer Business Ideas By Udemy
If you’ve arrived here after exploring the internet for small business guidance, chances are you don’t already run a small business—but you’re highly interested in becoming your boss. That’s fine! If you’ve chosen to start a business but aren’t sure what type of business to open, the Udemy course ‘How to Come Up with Killer Business Ideas’ can help you set yourself up for success.
Even if you already have a business, this workshop course can help you get started. You can probably alter your primary business to attract more clients, or you can pivot your company into other, more profitable industries. The course is one of the most popular business seminars on Udemy. Students concentrate on developing actionable business ideas.
15. Introduction to Virtual Reality By the University Of London
Virtual reality has been hyped as the future of technology for nearly a decade, and while it does not appear to be defining our lives right now, it will undoubtedly be a large part of most people’s lives in the 2020s. Expect VR to become increasingly popular for work and enjoyment, thanks to employee training, video games, and the new media phase. That means there is now a chance for individuals who want to thoroughly understand the technology and its consequences, which is why Coursera’s Introduction to Virtual Reality course will provide crucial information for curious small business owners.
The University of London’s course aims at beginners who want to learn the fundamentals of virtual reality. Overall, these VR courses are for those who want to start a profession or business in VR, but they will also provide information on inventive methods to use this technology in an existing firm. Coursera offers a Virtual Reality Specialization, so you can delve even deeper into the subject after completing this 18-hour class, which Coursera recommends taking over four weeks.
Conclusion
Finally, we have reached the end of our lengthy list of the top online entrepreneurship courses. Remember that entrepreneurship is about the journey rather than the destination. There will be days when you lose, and then there will be days when you win big. The trick is to retain your head and not give up in either of these scenarios. Maintain consistency in your efforts and stick to your plans. The results will come, but only if you keep going. That is the essence of financial freedom.
Entrepreneurship is both lucrative and difficult. Starting your own business involves extraordinary dedication and passion, but it also necessitates specialized abilities. You must understand how to position and establish a brand, pitch your business to investors, and attract customers.
