For small businesses entrepreneurs, continuous learning and finding new resources to help further business goals can be essential to growth and success. However, business courses can be costly and the sheer amount of information and resources available online can be overwhelming.
But now, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has announced a new online Small Business Learning Center aimed at simplifying the process of finding and procuring small business resources online.
The redesigned portal features a searchable catalog of educational resources including videos, web chat sessions, and self-paced courses all aimed at small businesses and entrepreneurs.
The free courses can cover anything from disaster recovery to market research. Basic topics covered include starting a business, managing a business, financing, marketing, and government contracting. Users can browse items by selecting the course topic and/or the type of media.
Once users select a course that looks interesting, they can view details about it including a brief overview, length of the course, system requirements, and a few more details.
The photo above shows what the overview page looks like for a course regarding the 8(a) Business Development Program. Users can view the course’s workbook (PDF) or a text-based version (PDF) in addition to the course itself.
Once you begin the course, all of the course’s topics are indexed on the left, so that you can see an outline of what is to be covered. At any time, you can stop the course, go back to a previous slide, or advance to other content within the course. Many of the slides also include links that direct you to supplementary content elsewhere.
For videos and chat sessions, you can simply view the media or transcripts directly on the overview page.
The site also gives businesses access to analysis tools and information about local resources, such as connection to SBA district offices, SCORE chapters, Small Business Development Centers and more.
The SBA already offers many resources for small business entrepreneurs, both educational and otherwise. But this new portal is a way to easily find and access the resources that can be most relevant to your business needs.
[“source-smallbiztrends”]
