While summer draws to a close, and many are prepping for back to school, your own continuing education is probably the last thing on your mind. Like most entrepreneurs, you’re so busy pouring yourself into building your business, it often feels like there’s no time – let alone money – to invest in your own personal and professional development.
But here’s the thing, taking the time to learn new skills can actually help grow your business. And it doesn’t necessarily mean a huge time or financial commitment either. In fact, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of highly-rated online learning platforms out there that offer low or no cost business courses you can take at your own pace and on your own schedule.
As it turns out, professional development is very much within your reach.
4 Continuing Education Courses for Entrepreneurs
Ranging from 1 to 20 hours, these continuing education courses are just a small sample of the vast library of learning available for small business owners. Depending on where you need to grow, you can learn new marketing strategies, better ways to manage your team, even tips to streamline your business operations – all online.
Managing in Difficult Times
In this hour-long course on the LinkedIn Learning platform, you’ll learn how keep your team focused and inspired during times of change or crisis. According to this Tucson property management company the course also shares strategies for cutting costs, and reframing challenges as opportunities for your team – skills that many small business owners realized they were lacking when faced with the challenges of the 2020 COVID-19 health crisis. Sign up for Managing in Difficult Times.
Productivity & Time Management for the Overwhelmed
With a 4.5 star rating and nearly 95,000 students, this professional development course is a Best Seller on the online video learning platform Udemy. Catering to those with minimal time to spare, the course takes only 2 hours complete, but is well worth the 120-minute investment. You’ll learn what causes procrastination, as well as new strategies to improve your time management, and at the end of the course, you’ll have a personal plan for increasing productivity that fits your personality and style. Sign up fpr Productivity and Time Management for the Overwhelmed.
Blogging for Business
This course by Ahrefs Academy covers everything from how to find great content ideas and analyze the search engine traffic potential of a blog topic to how to optimize your writing with keywords and promote your blog. The course is broken down into 10 chapters, and each chapter includes 1-5 video tutorials ranging in length from 2 to 8 minutes. The total course time is 5 hours, however, the format makes it easy to break up your learning into small blocks of time, or pick and choose only the videos that are most relevant to you. Sign up for Blogging for Business.
The Science of Well-Being
In this course offered by Yale University on the Coursera platform, Psychology Professor Laurie Santos explores misconceptions about happiness. You’ll learn how to incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life, while engaging in a series of challenges designed to increase self-fulfillment and build more productive habits. Although the course takes approximately 19 hours to complete, you can learn at your own pace and on your own schedule. Sign up for The Science of Well-Being.
More on Professional Development for Small Business Owners
Going back-to-school doesn’t necessarily mean going back to get your MBA. With a few hours online each week, you can grow your skillset and, in turn, your business. In fact, investing in continuing education for your team can also reap many benefits.