Learn how to manage your own business.
Becoming your own boss is the dream. Setting your own hours, running the business how you see fit, and being able to make creative decisions without having to get approval from others feels amazing. You want to make this dream a reality, but you’re not sure where to get started. That’s where an online course that can help you build the skills you need to manage your own business comes in handy! Here’s how ICS Canada’s Managing Your Own Business course can guide you through the process to build skills and confidence that helps you prepare to confidently run your business.
How to decide what business you want to start.
Sometimes the hardest part of starting your own business is deciding exactly what business you should start. Even if you have a general idea, you might not know how to make your concept stand out. Gaining perspective and developing skills to objectively evaluate your business idea is a vital first step to building the foundations of a successful venture. While you may have a unique passion that you want to share with the world, determining how it works from a business-perspective is another thing to consider. In your first few courses, you’ll cover how to outline your ideas, develop new ones, and make a clear decision on what your best business bet will be.
Once you narrow down what sort of business you think you’d enjoy running — and make sure it’s something you can eventually earn a steady income with — you’re onto your next step. It’s time to get down to business, right? Not exactly. You’ve got your idea, now it’s time to do some extensive planning.
In classes like Basics of a Business Plan and Writing a Business Plan, you’ll learn what you need to do to form your plan and get it down on paper. While it may sound straightforward, building out the foundations of your business plan involves research, like learning about government requirements.
How to start building your business.
You’ve done your research, you’ve checked out your target audience and have looked into some similar business online to see what seems successful and what falls flat. Time to hang that “open” sign on your door/website and start doing business! But, before you do, there are a few other things you need to consider such as hiring, marketing, financial planning, and other necessities.
Are you working your business by yourself? Do you need a team to help out? Depending on what type of business you’re building — online — only or a business with a storefront — you may need to look into requirements and laws for hiring staff.
What about your online presence? Are you going to have a website? Or just rely on social media? If you don’t have answers to these questions, that’s you’re next step. You can start the perfect business, one that offers a necessary service, but you won’t have many customers if you don’t get the word out.
Once you have the basic bones of your business, financial planning, accounting, and budgeting are going to be vital to making sure your store stays afloat.
Through classes like Building a Team and Putting Your Business Online, you’ll cover the basics of starting up a website, hiring employees, and running the show.
Make sure you’re comfortable with accounting and communications.
If you’re managing your own business, at the start you probably won’t be hiring someone to do your invoices and paperwork for you. Making sure you have a solid understanding of the basics of effective communication and different computer applications is vital to starting off on the right foot — and making sure you don’t lose important files and documents. In your online Managing Your Own Business courses, you’ll cover writing professional letters, emails, and more as well as polishing your skills with Microsoft Excel and Word. You’ll also learn about managing your financials, from understanding basic bookkeeping, understanding and creating financial statements, creating budgets for your business, and recording keeping do’s and don’ts.
The “starting your own business” checklist.
Starting your own business and managing it involves a number of steps that won’t be completed overnight. However, if you’re passionate about being a business owner, you know you’ve got to get things done in the “right” order. Here’s a step-by-step checklist of some things to think about.
- Decide what you want to do or sell.
- Do your research.
- Write a business plan.
- Figure out what licenses or requirements you need to open your business.
- Figure out financing.
- Pick your location or if you’re completely online, choose the best site or site creator to use to get started.
- Choose a business structure and a business name.
- Register your business and check with your local government office to see what, if any, tax IDs you need.
- Apply for licenses and permits, as needed.
- Open a business bank account.
Start your business with confidence and knowledge.
If you’ve never managed a business before, taking online classes you can fit around your schedule can help you prepare to move toward opening a business you’re proud of. With ICS Canada’s online courses, you can study whenever you want, wherever you are! Get started working toward your dream of working for yourself by calling and speaking with an Admissions Specialist today at 1.888.427.2400.