Understand the necessary steps for starting your own business
Your purchase now also includes a Free Starter Pack tailored to your course when you register and attend the first Live Webinar
Introduction
Starting or improving your business begins with this course. How long have you had a desire to run your own business? Hasn’t it has always been in you? Even when you were not aware of it, you have always had that need to be your own boss, to do things differently, better.
Are you a business owner looking to reignite the entrepreneurial flair in your business? This course guides you towards this new chapter in your life whether you are just starting out or you are running an established business. Together we will learn the necessary theory coupled with hard facts, examples and strategies from industry experts and most importantly those who have started and run their own successful businesses.
Fast Track Business Success Online Diploma
By taking this course you will learn the most cost effective and efficient way to develop and test your business idea, regardless of whether it is an entirely new business or a new division for your existing business. You will understand the facets of how and more importantly why, people buy. Discover how to identify and attract your ideal customer as well as how to sell in a way that is both persuasive and ethical. As part of the course, you will learn the skills of networking, negotiation, efficiency and more. Starting or improving your business begins with this course.
10 Core Classes – Essential Learning
This course consists of 10 core modules, building up your entrepreneurial knowledge step by step with practical examples to allow you to seamlessly incorporate this knowledge so that you can build your business. All lessons are presented online, in a structured manner in order to allow you to learn efficiently.
Qualified tutors will support you during each step of your educational journey. All lessons can be accessed 24/7 post your release date so that you can truly learn at your own convenience. Study when or where you please whilst also having full tutor support throughout your journey, making mastering and implementing this beneficial knowledge easier than ever.
Module 1: Business Fundamentals – Structuring for success
Running your own business is challenging for a lot of different reasons. A person has an idea for a product or service where they have spotted a gap in the market but they are unsure how to proceed. Questions to consider for your business:
These are fundamental questions for any person starting a business.
You must understand from the very beginning why you want to start your own business. This lesson will aid you in uncovering the reasons why you want to run your own business and detail how to use this information as a motivational tool that can be employed when initial enthusiasm begins to fade.
Commonly held ideas about what is actually needed to start a business are examined to be either confirmed or dismissed including where to begin the journey of starting or improving a business.
As part of this lesson you will make a list of all of your skills to use as a launch pad as well as a list of your deficits so that you have something aim for. This lesson is the genesis of a clear and focussed plan for business success.
Module 2: Foundation Research
In order to ensure that you are approaching your new venture in a logical and methodical way, this lesson covers how to qualify the business opportunity by considering numerous aspects of who is ultimately your boss - the customer base.
Build a picture of your ideal customer
Understand:
This last point is tied to ‘what is the problem the customer has?
Module 3: Business Effectiveness
The entrepreneur must spin many plates at a one time. You must be effective in:
so that there are less small decisions to be made. Effective automation is a key element.
We cover how to think creatively about a problem so that it is considered from every possible angle so that solutions are found quickly and without delay.
This lesson explains the best online tools that will free up your time to actually grow your business.
Module 4: Free Marketing
A business is never going to survive without other people. Whether those other people are customers, employees, business partners or even competitors. So this lesson is focussed on how to find other people to build mutually beneficial relationships. Entering a room full of strangers and striking up conversation after conversation is a daunting task.
How does one approach a group of strangers who are deep in conversation, interrupt them and somehow add value to their conversation?
This lesson explores the ideas around approaching individuals and groups. Tools such as
Networking can be seen as a necessary evil or it can be seen as a fantastic opportunity to meet like-minded individuals who can both benefit from a budding relationship. Networking in the right way with the right people can be a lifeline for a business. The approach to networking is determined by the individual. This lesson will provide you with an introduction to the skills necessary to network successfully.
Module 5: Negotiating to a win/win
The ability to negotiate successfully for any person in business is an essential tool for an entrepreneur to have. Like the previous session where a person has an aversion to networking some people can dislike negotiation. Usually negotiation is confused with confrontation. The general consensus about negotiating is that it is about taking up a position (e.g. a price point) and sticking to it until the other side gives in. Just like networking, negotiating is really about understanding yourself, building relationships and getting to a conclusion that both sides are happy with. Is this something that will be of use to you and your business?
Module 6: Successful and Fearless Presentations
At some point you will have to present your business or at least an aspect of your business to other professionals. And public speaking is the number one fear in the world. It can be mastered through understanding the perceived fears about how to do it and through building the correct strategies.
Quite simply this lesson reveals how to put an engaging presentation together so that every communication style in the room is catered to. It also covers how to keep an audience’s attention through use of questions.
Finally, we cover how to make friends with the inevitable nerves that go along with public speaking and how to use those emotions to your advantage.
Module 7: We’re All In Sales
One of the biggest perceived challenges facing an entrepreneur with a business idea is the attitude towards sales. Those that have no experience in selling either see it as an underhanded and pushy way of getting people to part with their money or it is a total mystery to them.
This lesson explains what is involved in making a sale. It covers how sales is really no more than a conversation where you, the salesperson puts forward your product or service in a way that the customer wants to receive it.
Modern selling is about a business positioning itself as the expert in its field and letting the customer know it exists. So when the time comes that the customer needs the product or service ‘the expert’ is the obvious choice.
An important aspect of this lesson is understanding the customers’ needs and deciding if:
Finally, covering the aspect of why the customer is willing to pay the entrepreneur is an excellent way for the entrepreneur to identify the weaknesses in their offering.
Module 8: Closing Sales
Selling is fundamentally about two or more people communicating to discover if one has a solution for the other. However, there are certain tactics that can be employed by the seller to determine the cognitive process of the potential customer. This will allow the seller to gauge their approach to the conversation. Selling is really about helping the customer discover that they want your product.
These tactics can be grouped into the following three headings:
1.Detect outlook
What is the customer’s world view? What are the things that they notice when walking into a room? For example; knowing that a customer is visual suggests that they will notice how the product looks or how using the service will be perceived by others. This information can be used to the seller’s advantage.
2. Build rapport
When the entrepreneur understands the customers interpretation of the world and hence the problem the customer wants solved the entrepreneur can align with this world view and offer the solution in a way that the customer wants to receive it.
3. Request action
When the seller has understood the customer, and offered the solution, most customers will still be hesitant to agree to the purchase. When a customer raises an objection this simply means they want more clarity and assurance. This is when the seller asks questions to determine the customers concerns.
The types of questions that can be asked is covered in this module.
Module 9: Precision Pricing
Understanding how to set the price point is essential when it comes to starting your business.
From this price point everything will be determined.
This module covers what to consider when choosing a price point for your product or service. What does it cost the business to acquire, sell and deliver the product or service to the customer? This lesson drills down into these headings and more so that the entrepreneur understands what it is that will draw profits away from the business. This is essential so that you can allow for these costs as much as possible to allow the business to flourish.
Coupled with this is understanding who the competitors are and how to reverse engineer their business model so as to gain an insight into their success.
Module 10: Remaining Focussed
Being an entrepreneur can sometimes be a lonely existence and it takes real resolve to stick it out to the point where success is becoming apparent. This module covers the building blocks of the individual and how they can galvanise themselves to the ups and downs of starting and building a successful business.
We discuss beliefs and values and how they can impact an individual’s approach to business. This module looks at how to set goals at different levels so that there is always a positive direction for the business to move in. As humans we are prone to distraction and wavering enthusiasm. This is part of the process and can be overcome with the correct strategies.
Emotional intelligence is a huge part of the make-up of an entrepreneur and coupled with a growth mind set the entrepreneur steels their resolve to handle challenging situations as they arise.
This module will also recap the entire diploma in entrepreneurial studies.
