If you have a business idea, and have been contemplating starting your own business, here are some online learning resources that will help you think it through. Stay tuned for more business-related themes and resources via our Keep On Learning series.
Where does one begin?
How to Start and Run an Online Business, Home Business, and Small Business Guide, courses from Universal Class, offer what you need to understand to make a home-based, or online business successful. Gale Courses also offers similar classes which cover the essential facets, through Start Your Own Online Business, and Start and Operate Your Own Home-based Business.
For information on the different types of business structures, choosing names, how to register your business, and other steps to get your business officially recognized, visit the government websites that will present the necessary requirements for you. On the federal level, visit irs.gov or usa.gov. On the state level, visit nj.gov or state.nj.us. Use the search terms “starting a business”, or/and “NJ Business Action Center” to get the latest information pages presented in these official websites. You may also try the search terms “small business”, and “business taxation” for programs, and tax information. The US Small Business Administration at sba.gov also provides information on launching a business, business counseling, programs, and loans.
For help in transforming your business thoughts into a plan, try Gale Courses’s Creating a Successful Business Plan. A simple but good business plan helps in keeping target with goals, in defining detailed plans for your main plans, as well as in procuring financing!
For crucial skills needed in documenting, communicating, and reporting your business’s status, you can find Effective Business Writing, and Accounting Fundamentals from Gale Courses. You can also try Universal Class’s Accounting & Bookkeeping 101 for Everyone. Those ledger entries absolutely need to be made… correctly!
Make sales, marketing, and customer service have a better impact on your business by signing up with Universal Class for Creating an Effective Sales Team, Customer Service 101, Customer Relationship Management, Telephone Skills and Quality Customer Service, Marketing for Small Business 101, Business Branding 101, and Internet Marketing Basics. There’s sure to be lots of tips and strategies on how to increase your revenues, make your customers more satisfied, and provide a wider reach for potential clients.
Courses concerning hiring can be found in Gale Courses’s Employment Law Fundamentals, and Workers’ Compensation.
Budgeting and finance might become bearable with Business Budgeting 101: How to Plan, Save, and Manage from Universal Class.
And finally, you can reach out to Score.org for free business mentoring and education. Score offers entrepreneurs webinars, courses, workshops, and a way to connect with expert business mentors who can help you grow your business.
Register for any of these courses, to seek information and be proactive, while you are searching for sources of income (or additional income) during these trying times.
When the situation opens up, you could hit the ground running — after all that you have learned online, at any time of the day convenient for you, while staying at home — all through your Livingston Public Library card!
May business blessings come to us all… in abundance… soon. Take care, everyone!
— Janea Agbayani, Technology Department Library Specialist
For more information, visit: www.livingstonlibrary.org/resources-az/.
For other topics, themes, and resources suggested for lifelong learning pursuits, visit our blog under the tag: Keep On Learning.