10 Best Courses for Small-Business Owners

Whether you’ve already founded a small business or you’re a budding entrepreneur, courses in small-business development can hone critical skills for the early phase of a business venture.

You’ll learn how to strengthen a business concept, conduct market research, and write effective business plans. These courses also cover budgeting, resources for growing small businesses, and financing approaches.

Small-business owners are entrepreneurs who can innovate and think creatively about their niche markets. By studying entrepreneurship, you’ll learn how to apply lessons from business to your venture.

In entrepreneurship courses, you’ll explore entrepreneurial techniques, methods for generating market impact, and strategies to grow your business.

Entrepreneurship courses also cover topics such as product and service development, which can benefit small-business owners.

Managing a small business requires specialized skills. Learn how to manage a team, set business goals, and plan for short- and long-term expenses while strengthening your leadership and decision-making skills.

By studying small-business management, you can develop critical communication and collaboration skills.

Strengthening budgeting, accounting, and finance skills helps many small-business owners, making this one of the best small-business courses you can take.

In classes on budgeting and financial analysis, you’ll explore financial planning, strategic budgeting, and the tax implications of running a small business.

You’ll also learn how to use budgeting to set goals and measure performance.

Strong communication skills benefit all small-business owners. Whether you’re interacting with potential customers, employees, or business partners, the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively can make a major difference in your success.

This course uses real-world business scenarios to develop communication skills in multiple formats, including presentations, advertisements, and negotiations.

Small-business owners can take their accounting skills to the next level with a course in financial accounting. These classes cover accounting procedures and the most effective approaches to managing financial information.

You’ll develop both bookkeeping and financial analysis skills by exploring the accounting side of running a business.

Marketing a new business poses unique challenges. As a result, studying entrepreneurial marketing can strengthen valuable skills.

In this course, you’ll explore the strategy behind marketing a small business while developing your market research skills. You’ll also learn tested methods for converting customers and increasing retention.

These courses can help small-business owners develop an effective, focused marketing plan.

As your small business expands — or, if you work in an area with lots of regulations — it’s a good idea to study business law.

You’ll explore different business structures, including sole proprietorships and corporations. You’ll also learn about contract law and the legal responsibilities of business owners.

Business law classes often cover the financial side of running a business as well.

Growing a small business often means hiring the right people — and keeping your team strong.

Courses in talent acquisition and retention teach you about workforce planning, recruitment strategies, and employee relations. You’ll learn how to manage the hiring process, develop strong relationships with employees, and prioritize employee satisfaction while running your business.

What’s the best strategy to grow your small business? Develop your strategic thinking and analytical skills by taking a class in business strategy.

You’ll learn how to analyze your position in the market and beat out your competitors.

These classes also showcase different tools to help you develop your business strategy, including SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis, the Five Forces model, and strategy mapping.