Small Business Planning Certificate

This two-course Certificate Program will provide you with the principles, practices, strategies, and requirements needed to form and manage a small business.

The first course is all about gaining the knowledge and skills (the essentials) in starting a small business. You will learn about establishing online, home-based, mobile and commercially zoned small businesses. Topics include legal forms of organization, hiring employees, financial issues, establishing credit, securing loans, developing sales and marketing strategies and legal issues. Additionally, you will learn how to identify and analyze personal and business skills necessary to start a small business.  Throughout this course, you will also be working in a group to analyze an existing small business startup. Not only will this give you the opportunity to network with other students interested in starting their own businesses, but it will also allow you to apply the knowledge and skills acquired to an actual small business startup.

The second course will show you how to take your business idea and planning how to launch it! You will learn how to preplan; create a business model canvas; undertake feasibility analysis and market research; and create financial projections, project profit, and do a break-even analysis. In your final project, you will create and present a profitable business model that identifies a market, creates customer value in a product or service, and identifies how you may successfully create self-employment by creating your own small business. As part of your final project assignment, you will seek investment, financing, and partnerships for your small business idea as you learn alongside experienced business professionals and like-minded student entrepreneurs!

• Live face-to-face classes
• Collaborative project-based learning
• 24-hour tutoring
• Live counseling available
• 24-hr library services
• Career Counseling
• Professional development
• High quality professionally designed courses
• No textbook fees

Upon successful completion of the first course, you will be able to:
1. Differentiate and describe legal forms of ownership
2. Describe business and personal skills necessary to starting a small business
3. Identify and describe legal issues and requirements of federal, state, county and city governments
4. Identify and describe best practices for hiring and recruitment of employees
5. Describe various sales and marketing strategies
6. Explain and develop a networking strategy, outlining target customers, mentors, industry peers, advisory groups and government
7. Describe the accounting equation and explain how financial statements are used in business accounting
8. Construct and describe an implementation and exit strategy for a small business

Upon successful completion of the second course, you will be able to:
1. Describe and assess personal skills and develop a personal vision statement outlining desired lifestyle, professional and financial goals
2. Develop a business model concept that creates customer value in a product or service, describes how the product or service will be delivered, and is aligned to the Personal Vision Statement
3. Explain management and organization, market strategies and financial requirements
4. Prepare and present a written business plan that describes how a successful small business can be formed based on projections derived from the Business Model Concept