Latest Online College Courses

Every entrepreneur can benefit from continued education. Whether you are just starting out and handling multiple roles within your company or an experienced business owner -- enrolling in an online course is always a good way to improve your knowledge and has never been easier or more affordable.

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Long gone are the days of taking evening classes at local colleges and paying tuition. You can now take excellent courses in the comfort of your own home for free.

Here are ten free online courses that every entrepreneur can benefit from.

1. 21 Critical Lessons for Entrepreneurs

This two-hour video course by Docstoc CEO Jason Nazar takes his real-world experience and breaks it into several video lessons that discuss all the important steps of running a successful business, from vetting an idea and raising money from investors to scaling and growth strategies.

There are a lot of coaching and training programs online that are put together by individuals that don’t have real business experience. They make their money by teaching and not by doing. Nazar’s insight is truly valuable because he has been there. He has used the information he is sharing to grow Docstoc into a successful business.

More information about this course can be found here.

2. New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs

Some entrepreneurs prefer not to seek outside funding, opting to bootstrap -- but the majority of startups would welcome funding with open arms if they knew how to secure it. This is what this online course from the University of Maryland covers, as professor Michael R. Pratt explains what you need to do in the early stages of your business to prepare for funding, where to source funding, how to pitch investors and venture capitalists, as well as how to close funding.

There is a lot more to the process than putting together a business plan and a pitch deck and firing it off to any investors or VC that you can find. Part of being successful is being prepared -- and this course helps entrepreneurs be prepared before going after funding.

More information about this course can be found here.

3. Introduction to Web Development: HTML

Every business has an online presence these days, meaning every business has a website. Some tech startup founders are very computer savvy and can write code in their sleep. Other business owners, such as a restaurateurs or retailers, might not have the same knowledge and experience. So what do entrepreneurs do that don’t have a coding or programming expert on their team? They pay ridiculously high rates to companies to make simple website changes.

A lot of the small changes and tasks can be completed in-house with just a little HTML knowledge -- exactly what this course delivers. You aren’t going to become a world-class developer after taking this, but you will have a thorough understanding of how to create HTML web pages and make changes and edits to existing pages.

More information about this course can be found here. 

4. Scaling Operations: Linking Strategy and Execution

This course from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is a five-week lesson that shows you how to correctly build an operation that is both stable and scalable. There isn’t a single entrepreneur that starts a business hoping to stay small.

The two professors, Gad Allon and Jan Van Mieghem, cover everything from the correct framework, marketing, outsourcing and strategy required to scale efficiently and successfully.

More information about this course can be found here. 

5. How to Make Money Online: The Passive Income Business Plan

My company brokers the sale of online businesses, so I understand firsthand how lucrative online-based businesses can be. This course lays out a simple, yet effective, way to make money online. The goal of the 12-hour video course is to explain how to execute a plan to make $5,000 in monthly passive income by creating 10 websites that each produce $500 in monthly revenue.

While this is a basic introduction to online business, it does provide helpful information for entrepreneurs that have contemplated starting an online business but weren’t sure how to start. It’s a good first step for those interested in making money online -- as are these online business models.

More information about this course can be found here.