More and more people all over the country are finding the confidence to start small businesses, and north Iowa is no exception. North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) and the local Small Business Development Center (SBDC) recently worked together to provide a ‘Smart Start‘ seminar for local residents who were interested in learning small business skills. This free course helped people learn how to create business plans, and gave a fundamental overview of other key things like marketing a start up.
This session was held on October 12th, but if you missed out then there are lots of other ways you can learn the skills you need to get started in business here in North Iowa, although it is likely that future Smart Start lessons will also be planned.
Community College
As well as putting on the Smart Start session, NIACC has a wealth of adult education programs that may be helpful to residents looking to start a business. You can visit their website to find out more about how to enroll and what they have to offer North Iowa residents in terms of business programs.
Online Education
Another great way you can get the basics – and more – to help you start a new business competently is to study online. Because you don’t have to relocate or even attend the NIACC to do plenty of courses related to business if you choose an online degree, it can be a great way to fit studying around a busy life, and this is something that as a community, is important because it allows our future business owners to stay in the local area. You can find online business administration degrees with well respected colleges all over the USA, like Arizona State University, and get the benefits of a full education in business while studying from home. This can be the perfect choice if you want to start a business in future but want to be able to study in your own time and on the web, making it easy to fit learning business skills and gaining the degree around your home and work.
Of course, you don’t have to complete an entire degree to get the basics, and you can always continue the course alongside actually creating your business plan and launching your business, using the new things you learn as you go along.
Web Research
Naturally, not everybody has the time or resources to do a formal course, whether we are talking about online business programs or community college. However, you can still gain the info you need to work on things like business planning and market research for a new venture by doing your own web research. There are loads of helpful blogs and eBooks out there for free, so there is no reason to miss out on the help you need to start a business even if you are very limited when it comes to time!
With sessions like Smart Start, North Iowa’s future entrepreneurs are being given encouragement and support to go out and make their businesses happen, however if you missed it you can still help yourself start up in one of these ways!
