Sometimes it is just really nice to discover a blog post or article that has a list of great resources. I am hoping you will find this post to be just that. Many of our followers are owners of small businesses or marketers in either the agency or corporate world. We have put together a list of resources that should be useful to all of you.
Training and continuing education are sometimes a challenge. First, where do you find the time? Next, what do you focus on first? And finally, where do you go for that training? Well, in this post we are focused on the last question, and we have some recommendations for you.
- Tried and true: The US Small Business Administration has some wonderful resources for training at http://www.sba.gov/tools/sba-learning-center. There are videos, online training, plus the ability to chat with someone and get local assistance.
- Local training: There may be a Small Business Development Center at a community college near you. One example is the SBDC at Raritan Valley Community College which offers both free and low-cost courses year-round. They also offer free counseling with their business counselors.
- Quality college-level courses for free: Coursera’s mission states it “is an education platform that partners with top universities and organizations worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. We envision a future where everyone has access to a world-class education. We aim to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in.” Well, where do I sign up? The first class I am eyeing is An Introduction to Marketing from Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania on April 21st. I never took a marketing class in college. All of my experience has been earned “on-the-job” so taking a basic marketing course through such an esteemed school sounds great!
- MIT for FREE! Here is a well-kept secret…MIT has a website where they offer free course content called MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). “MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) is a web-based publication of virtually all MIT course content. OCW is open and available to the world and is a permanent MIT activity.” They have both broad marketing topics and marketing classes available.
- Business coaching in teams: The Business Bakery out of Australia has a really interesting and unique approach to helping “intentionally-small” businesses learn how to make a healthy income. The Kitchen is their Healthy Income Program which includes twice a week “Cookalongs” or meetings, step-by-step business recipes, tools and notes, kitchen table get-togethers, videos, and more. The cost translates to about $28 per month, not bad!
There are so many opportunities out there for training and education to help us expand our knowledge of marketing and how to grow our businesses. Let us know if you have any luck trying these or if you have found any others. Good luck!