SmallBizU is the first online academy created especially for small businesses and entrepreneurs. As the largest collection of entrepreneurial training resources on the web, SmallBizU teaches the “3Ms” – Money, Marketing, and Management – through a no-frills, utilitarian curriculum that provides small businesses with real world tools and information. Click here to visit their website.
What can it do?
Most people that start a business are technicians by trade. They know a skill or craft and seek to build a business around it. But, as Michael Gerber states in his book, The E-Myth, “therein lies the fatal fallacy: a technician assumes because they know the trade or craft that they know how to run a business that does the technical work.” As technicians, they have worked in their business, but not on it. Fortunately, the critical skills of entrepreneurship can be taught. As management pioneer Peter Drucker stated, “Entrepreneurship is not magic, it’s not mysterious, and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline. And, like any discipline, it can be learned and improved upon.” SmallBizU provides the necessary skills an entrepreneur needs on a “just-in-time” basis to allow them to work on their business rather than just in it.
What kinds of courses are available?
SmallBizU offers courses in the areas of Money, Management and Marketing. These courses vary from beginner level classes such as Marketing 101 and Finding Money to more advanced courses such as Market Insight and Research and Strategic Planning and Execution.
SmallBizU offers courses in the area of Money such as Creating a Loan Package, Finding and Attracting Investors, and Accounting 101. Management courses include Crafting a Business Plan, Choosing a Legal Structure, and Buying a Business. Marketing courses include Positioning, Pricing and Strategy Tactics, and Understanding Intellectual Property.
What is the typical course format?
Each course is self-tutorial in format and typically contains from 170 to 200 slides presented over a three or four hour period. The sections move from a general description of a functional skill, to the recognized theory, to the application of the practice to a small business. Course presentations require Web access through a Windows PC and Internet Explorer.