Access SmallBizU here, the first online academy created for small businesses and entrepreneurs. It is sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) at no charge for electric co-ops and their members.

What is SmallBizU?
As the largest collection of entrepreneurial training resources available on the web, this online academy seeks to instill formal business intelligence — the capacity to solve problems, meet challenges, and create valued products.

What can be found inside?
SmallBizU teaches the “3Ms”— Money, Management and Marketing — through a no-frills, utilitarian curriculum that provides small businesses with real world tools and information.

Within SmallBizU there are over 4,000 animated slides presented across 24 core classes. Each course is delivered via the Internet full of animated slides accompanied by voice-over narration, PowerPoint presentations, worksheets, toolsets, and access to a comprehensive knowledgebase.

What can it do?
Most people that start a business are technicians by trade. They know a skill or craft and seek to build a business around it. But, as Michael Gerber states in his book, The E-Myth, “therein lies the fatal fallacy: a technician assumes because they know the trade or craft that they know how to run a business that does the technical work.” As technicians, they have worked in their business, but not on it. Fortunately, the critical skills of entrepreneurship can be taught.

As management pioneer Peter Drucker stated, “Entrepreneurship is not magic, it’s not mysterious, and it has nothing to do with genes. It’s a discipline. And, like any discipline, it can be learned and improved upon.” SmallBizU provides the necessary skills an entrepreneur needs on a “just-in-time” basis to allow them to work on their business rather than just in it.

What kinds of courses are available?
SmallBizU courses vary from beginner level classes such as Marketing 101 and Finding Money to more advanced courses such as Market Insight and Research and Strategic Planning and Execution. Courses include:

Money

• Creating a Loan Package
• Finding and Attracting Investors
  
• Accounting 101

Management

• Crafting A Business Plan
  
• Choosing a Legal Structure
  
• Buying A Business
  

Marketing

• Positioning
  
• Pricing and Strategy Tactics
  
• Understanding Intellectual Property

What is the typical course format?
From its inception, the curriculum of SmallBizU was developed using a branded and unified approach applied across the design of every course. Each course moves across a continuum of ten sections. The sections move from a general description of a functional skill, to the recognized theory, to the application of the practice to a small business. A typical course ranges anywhere from 170 to 200 slides and is presented over a three to four hour period.

Does SmallBizU duplicate any services already offered?
No. SmallBizU is not meant to replace any current educational programs or support organizations that already provide such entrepreneurial training. Instead, its purpose is to improve the effectiveness of what is already being offered. Its turnkey, comprehensive curriculum provides a jump-start for the design of new courses and workshops, and it also provides the perfect online compliment to existing training courses such as FastTrac or NxLevel business planning curriculums.

Who can help me or provide more information?
Technical support can be obtained by emailing service@smallbizu.org or by calling 800-282-7232 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. EST.