Why Continuing Education Is Important for Business People

A successful businessperson must often be a jack of all trades. They must be analytical, excelling in math and certain computer programs so they can chart their business’s finances, provide accurate accounting and project future revenue growth. They must also be good verbal and written communicators, able to write clear proposals and business letters as well as manage an efficient business team. They must also be creative, improving their product or service so that it is better than the competition’s. Continuing education is valuable to businesspeople because it can help them stay sharp in all of these areas. Completing continuing education courses in areas related to business communication, business technology and business administration, for example, not only help you become a better leader in your profession, but also provide a significant boost to your resume, especially if it has been many years since you completed your college education.

The Advantage of Taking Online Classes

Businesspeople know that time is money. Why would you want to waste your valuable time commuting to a college campus when you could take continuing education classes from home? The convenience factor is the biggest advantage of online classes for the businessperson. Not only do you receive the same high quality of education that you would expect at a traditional college, but you also receive instruction from professors with years of business experience under their belts. With online classes, you’ll be able to access your courses 24/7, rather than being required to be in class at a set time each week. For many businesspeople, this flexibility is just what is needed to integrate continuing education into a busy schedule.

How Free Online Classes Can Supplement Your Career

A simple, yet challenging way to kick off your continuing education as a businessperson is to seek out some of the free online classes offered by some of the nation’s top universities through Open Courseware. These educational materials are not credit-bearing, but they are offered to the general public for free from universities’ websites, many times without even requiring registration. Free course materials may contain anything from extensive lecture notes to complete online textbooks to video content, depending on the course. Some of the courses offer basic business education, while others offer graduate-level content. Some of the schools that provide this free content include MIT, Harvard, Tufts University, UC—Berkeley and Utah State.

• Introduction to Economics: This introductory class will give you a broad understanding of U.S. economic policies and principles. [Utah State]
• Small Business Bookkeeping and Accounting: Take this course if you want to learn the basics of bookkeeping or are running your own business without a separate accountant. [Sweethaven]
• Early Stage Capital: This course will help you raise capital in the early days of your business. [MIT]
• Introduction to Financial and Managerial Accounting: Learn how to read managerial reports here. [MIT]
• Macroeconomics for Managers: Management students and managers can learn macroeconomic theory from this course. [Utah State]
• Investment risk: Learn about fair returns, investment terminology and risk here. [The Open University]
• Entrepreneurial Behavior: Learn about the nature of entrepreneurship and the role of the entrepreneur. [The Open University]
• Fundamentals of Business Analysis: Learn how to solve business problems in the IT world and beyond. [UC Irvine]
• Ethical Practice: Learn about corporate social responsibility and business ethics here. [MIT]
• International Economics: Better understand international trade policies, finance and economic principles here. [Utah State]
• An introduction to business cultures: Explore the factors that define office and/or business culture. [The Open University]
• Introductory Probability and Statistics for Business: Take this common stats test for business students. [UC Berkeley]
• Finance Theory II: Discover how to apply finance theory to business situations. [MIT]
• Designing and leading the entrepreneurial organization: Develop critical thinking, decision making and analytical skills that will help you design solid systems. [MIT]
• Financial Accounting Course for Small Business Owners: Learn the principles and practices for financial accounting. [Nine Hub]
• Taxes and Business Strategy]
• Fundamentals of Business Analysis: Find out what it means to work as a business analyst. [UC Irvine]
• Training and Human Resources Development: Develop skills to train employees here. [UC Irvine]
• Invention and innovation: Consider the concept of innovation and what it can do for your company. [The Open University]
• International Trade: Here you will learn about trade, international economic policies, investments, interest, currency and more. [MIT]
• Principles of Modern Management: Principles covered here include decision making, strategy, value chain management, and more. [Free-Ed.net]
• Work, Employment, and Industrial Relations Theory: Study historical and current theories related to work and employment relations. [MIT]
• Academic Strategies for the Business Professional: Business professionals who want to go back to school should take this course on note-taking, critical thinking, research and goal-planning. [Kaplan]
• How to Write a Business Plan: This course walks you through the steps of writing a business plan. [Trump University]
• Choosing a human resources consultant: If you want to hire a recruiter or HR consultant, take this course. [The Open University]
• Urban Labor Markets and Employment Policy: Learn about urban labor markets in the public and private sectors. [MIT]
• The concept of innovation: Find out how innovation is harnessed in the business world. [The Open University]
• How to develop "breakthrough" products and services: This class will help you become more innovative when it comes to creating new products and services. [MIT]
• Global Strategy and Organization: This is a good class for learning about international markets and how to run a company with international parts and employees. [MIT]
• Economy and Business in Modern China and India: Explore how these two countries are becoming major forces in the global market. [MIT]
• Understanding Management: Understand the true role of managers and purpose of management here. [The Open University]
• Management Communication for Undergraduates: This beginning management communication course will help you develop basic skills for working with teams. [MIT]
• Advanced Managerial Communication: Here you will learn skills in making presentations, running group discussions and listening as a leader. [MIT]
• Perspectives on China: Here is another course on China’s influence on policies, economics and business. [Harvard]
• International Multilateral Negotiation: Topics covered here include coalitions, conference diplomacy, negotiation processes and more. [Tufts]
• Game Theory for Managers: This course will help you realize the consequences of your decisions. [MIT]
• Introduction to Marketing: Learn marketing principles like competition, customer needs and pricing here. [MIT]
• Advanced Strategy: Here is a course for planning out long-term strategies for your business. [MIT]
• Social Marketing: Study the value of social marketing from this course. [The Open University]
• Introduction to Project Management: You’ll be able to lead better projects and teams after taking this course. [MIT]
• Marketing Management: This MBA-level course teaches customer orientation, competition and more. [MIT]
• Global Marketing Strategy: Get tips on understanding and manipulating global marketing strategies here. [Utah State]
• Practical Leadership: Move beyond theory to learn the fundamentals of practical leadership. [MIT]
• Principles of marketing: Study product, price, promotion and place here. [Wikiversity]
• Listening to the Customer: Learn how to conduct customer research. [MIT]
• Strategic Marketing Measurement: Learn how to conduct marketing surveys. [MIT]
• Power and Negotiation: Take this course to become a better negotiator. [MIT]
• Global Markets, National Policies and Competitive Advantages of Firms: Discover how governments and large corporations impact international business. [MIT]
• Product Design and Development: Here is another class on developing innovative products. [MIT]
• People and Organizations: Managers will learn how to analyze different group behaviors and create solid teams. [MIT]