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All business owners are finance experts, right? For some, yes. But for many, this is a lifelong learning experience. There is always more to learn, and everyone can agree that it’s a necessity to constantly improve your financial skills. After all, your competition is going to be doing just that.

However, you might also be laser-focused on other priorities, and financial education has been pushed lower on your list. How can you spend less time (and money) to improve your financial skills?

No problem.

Improve your financial skills by taking advantage of these five online resources and accreditations. Once you top up your skills, you should also show them off and update your LinkedIn profile and resume. And the best part…these courses are all inexpensive or free.

1. LinkedIn Learning – Finance & Accounting

LinkedIn recently purchased famous training site Lynda.com to beef up their LinkedIn Learning platform. Their “Finance and Accounting” section includes courses in corporate finance, small business finance and accounting, all designed for you to start with the basics and work your way up to more advanced topics. Learn about financial analysis, bootstrapping businesses, income tax planning, personal finance tips, managerial accounting and creating KPIs.

Cost:

• One month free trial, then $20 – 30 per month to access 1000+ business courses.
• Annual subscriptions available.
• Bonus: If you’ve subscribed to LinkedIn’s Premium membership, you already get LinkedIn Learning access for free.

Benefits:

• Stay on top of current trends in finance and a variety of other fields
• Learn outside the box: Brush up on marketing, sales and operations.
• Be more efficient in your job, whether that’s interviewing employees, building spreadsheets or persuasive selling.

Format:

Video content makes up the majority of this site.

Time commitment:

• Courses range from 5 minutes to 20 hours.
• Take it at your own pace: Start a course and LinkedIn Learning will hold your place until your next login.

2. MOOCs – University Level Finance

Yes, it’s a weird name, but it’s also incredibly valuable.

MOOCs are Massive Open Online Courses, and include university courses from reputable institutions that have been posted online, complete with lecture notes and quizzes. Outside of attending university in person, this is an incredible resource for learning.

Check out this list of finance courses from institutions like the Yale, Stanford, MIT and Caltech.

Cost:

Many courses are completely free, with a paid option for verified certification.

Benefits:

• Get a university level education for free.
• Stay ahead of the curve, and the new competition that will be hitting the job market.
• Access educational resources in other cities and countries.

Format:

Downloadable course materials, streaming video, audio clips and resource pages.

Time commitment:

• Aim for around 6 hours per week and 8 weeks on average per course.
• Each course displays the number of weeks and hours per week needed to complete.

3. Hootsuite Academy – Social Selling & Networking

As a business pro, you’re likely already a great networker, but it never hurts to brush up on your social networking skills.

The Hootsuite Academy offers a variety of beginner and intermediate social media courses to get you up to speed and in the groove when it comes to online networking. Learn how to optimize your social media profile, grow your followers, publish the right content and use advertising to connect with new customers.

As an added level of education, you can enrol in the Hootsuite Social Selling and Certification to obtain your status as a “Certified Professional” in social selling. “Hootsuite’s course on Social Selling teaches Sales Professionals to leverage social media to save time, drive a larger number of better-qualified leads, and increase deal sizes.”

Cost:

• Hootsuite platform and social marketing training are free.
• The social selling course costs $299.

Benefits:

• Improve your social networking skills.
• Proactively find new clients with the right conversations.
• Be discovered more easily by prospects.

Format:

Short videos, articles and interactive quizzes.

Time commitment: 

4 – 8 hours per course.

4. Google Analytics Academy – Digital Analytics

If you have a website or blog and want to learn more about who visits your site, why they visited and what they did on your site, then you need to know Google Analytics.

The simplest way to learn is through the Google Analytics Academy that offers training in every aspect of the platform. With four official courses to choose from, you can learn about the digital analytics fundamentals, the Google Analytics platform itself, e-commerce data decision-making and how to use Google Tags properly.

Google is about to launch revisions to their programs, offering even more incentive to get cutting-edge training. In the past, you could also obtain certifications for completion of your training, so keep an eye out for that to return.

Cost:

Free

Benefits:

• Get advice and lessons directly from Google’s experts.
• Improve your online discoverability.
• Understand who your customers are and why they are (or aren’t) finding you online.

Format:

Videos, transcripts, quizzes and blog posts.

Time commitment:

Set aside 6-10 hours to properly complete each course.

5. Alison – Financial & Economic Literacy

Alison offers a similar formula training to LinkedIn Learning, but all of their courses are offered free of charge. On the downside, you’ll have to watch brief ads before each course module, but they aren’t that obtrusive.

In return, you get access to a wide selection of course – in particular, check out the “Finance” section. The strength of these courses lies in their plain English approach so you can understand and retain the knowledge. They also offer study groups for those who like to learn alongside others.

To cap it off, they also offer certifications and Alison diploma courses.

Cost:

Free

Benefits:

• Real-world terminology.
• Join or create a group of like-minded learners to study together.
• Community hub provides extra motivation & success stories from Alison students.

Format:

Videos, slides, animations, interactive quizzes and assessments.

Time commitment:

Courses can range from 1 – 10 hours.

 

Daily learning can be a challenge, faced with time constraints, high costs of continued education and difficulty finding great courses or expert trainers. By starting one of the above online courses, you will hopefully find the motivation and material to improve your financial skills without cutting too far into your schedule or budget.

 

Capital is essential for any business, but sometimes our commercial credit becomes unhealthy. Unfortunately, when a commercial credit rating isn’t perfectly clean, sourcing a small business working capital loan or another form of finance isn’t always straightforward. You might be asking yourself, “So what exactly can I do to improve my business credit rating?”

Every savvy entrepreneur must smooth the peaks and troughs of revenue to keep up with payroll and inventory, while also financing growth toward future success. For most enterprises, this means accessing business funding from time to time rather than relying on reserves, whether this credit is taken through mainstream banks or alternative finance.

     Did you know? Factoring funding is NOT based on your credit rating. Learn now.    

To increase your chances of getting credit at an affordable rate, it pays to take steps to improve your business credit — and it’s simpler than you might think. Here’s what to do.

1. Get Your Books in Order

If you’re looking to obtain a new line of credit in the near future, it’s important to first assess your situation and then proceed with a little caution. Each credit application you make will be recorded on your file, and multiple rejections will count against your score.

If you’re looking to obtain funding in the near future, it’s important to first assess your situation and then proceed with a little caution. Each credit application you make will be recorded on your file, and multiple rejections will count against your score. Applying for a credit card can actually hurt your credit score, so it’s important to be strategic about it.

Before applying for any funding, spend some time getting your finances into good order, researching your options, and finding a credit source that’s likely to approve your application.

2. Separate Your Business Identity

When building your business credit rating, it’s essential to establish a business credit identity distinct from your personal rating.

If you’ve not already incorporated your business, then consider doing so, and also obtain a federal tax ID number (EIN in the U.S. or a BN in Canada) or equivalent registration. Make sure all your bank accounts and credit cards are in your business’s legal name, and that you don’t use any personal accounts for business purposes.

3. Build Your Profile

The three major business credit reference agencies keep their own files, and it’s important to ensure your profile with each is complete and accurate. Check that Experian, Equifax and Dun & Bradstreet all hold the correct details about your business, and that all your active trade lines are recorded on your file.

If you have any longstanding credit accounts with suppliers, add them as references on your profile. Even if they don’t actively report to the agencies, your good records with them will be taken into account. Going forward, regularly check your file for any errors, omissions or signs of unknown activity.

4. Arrange Credit With Suppliers

Each bill you pay on time will give a small boost to your business’s credit score, and you can increase this effect by paying bills early whenever possible. Even better, if you establish credit lines with your suppliers and stick to the terms, each transaction will add a positive to your credit profile.

5. Avoid Signals of Financial Distress

As well as being conscientious about paying bills promptly, you should avoid showing any signs of financial distress that could lessen your creditworthiness. Filing accounts and paying taxes on time will give your rating a boost, while paying down debts and avoiding using credit for routine expenses will send signals of stability.

Related: How to get start-up financing without a bank loan.

6. Cut Back on Credit Usage

Whenever you’re looking to obtain a major new line of finance, you should aim to present a picture of clean credit activity within your current circumstances. Ideally, your ongoing level of credit utilization should be no more than 30% on each account your business holds. Try and avoid unnecessary spending on credit or building up balances. You should also pay down what you can — and clear your borrowing each month when you do spend on an account.

7. Consolidate Accounts

If you have credit card accounts with zero balances, it may seem a logical choice to close them down and simplify your business’s financial situation. However, if you want to boost your credit rating, the smarter choice is to keep these accounts active so long as they’re in good standing.

Closing an established, zero-balance account will remove positive history from your file, worsening your rating. Instead, take the opportunity to balance any debts across multiple accounts, so that each has no more than the all-important 30% utilization of its credit limit.

Few businesses can be totally self-sufficient. However, accessing business funding doesn’t need to be expensive or complicated. Taking a little time to improve your business credit rating will make obtaining commercial credit easier and more cost-effective, leaving you free to concentrate on driving your business forward.

When it comes to cyberattacks, the targets are typically the behemoth companies and organizations you read about in the news. But according to IBM, small and mid-sized businesses are the target of 62 per cent of all cyberattacks – which equals about 4,000 attacks per day. The reason? They are an easy target.

Can your company or clients be under attack?

We hear a new story about cyberattacks almost every day. A business gets hacked — allowing sensitive proprietary and customer data to be accessed and compromised. The list of the world’s biggest data breaches is littered with recognizable names, including Anthem, JP Morgan Chase, and Target.

But don’t think for a second that hackers only target large organizations. In fact, small businesses are often just what hackers are looking for. Why? The main reason is that small businesses often have inadequate online security, and with sensitive data housed in the cloud they become an easier victim.

A quick night’s work for a hacker can mean disaster for your business. According to a report by the U.S. National Cyber Security Alliance, 60 percent of small businesses that suffer a cyberattack are out of business within six months.

Nobody will protect your business except you

Banks and the government haven’t done much to assist small businesses with hackers and data breaches. The recently introduced MAIN STREET Cybersecurity Act in the United States will help small businesses protect their digital assets from cyber threats, but it’s far from a silver bullet. Businesses of all shapes and sizes need to start taking data security seriously — proactively and with full accountability.

Now is the time to put together a solid security plan.

Don’t just go with the first solution you find. Instead, take the time to find the approach that fits your business, customers and industry. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. More importantly, don’t leave data security to just the IT staff. Get everyone involved — including your managers and all levels of employees. Train each of them on protection measures and show them how to stay compliant. For example, teaching employees to avoid opening suspicious email attachments can be a safeguard against malware that could easily creep into your network.

If your workforce is highly mobile, you may want to consider the rules around any bring your own device (BYOD) program you may have in place. Security Magazine explains how a BYOD program, whether formally in place or not, could create unintentional risk within the organization — simply based on the lack of awareness of such programs. The publication states that, “17.7 percent of survey respondents who bring their own devices to work claim that their employer’s IT department has no idea about this behavior, and 28.4 percent of IT departments actively ignore BYOD behavior.”

Once you start protecting your company, you must take the next steps to stay safe.

Obtain cybersecurity insurance, create a strong password strategy for your users, and utilize virtual data rooms (VDR). For in-house IT departments and office managers, it’s important to upgrade your tech as well. Start with this list of five tools and services your small businesses can use to protect against cyberattacks.

Taking cybersecurity to the next level

Want to dig deeper? Consider employing an ethical hacker — a cybersecurity expert who works within your company to locate weaknesses and vulnerabilities by duplicating the intent and actions of hackers.

Also talk to a company that specializes in cybersecurity protection. Many of these businesses will offer free vulnerability assessments to give you an idea of where your weaknesses may lie. They’ll also explain how they can help you manage those threats. If you don’t currently have an in-house IT team, outsourcing the work could be an efficient option.

As if all that wasn’t enough, here’s one more thing to consider. When crafting a data security policy, make sure you’re actually protecting data privacy by including the following nine elements in your policy, as detailed once again by Security Magazine. It’s crucial to consider your policy from all angles – after all, your data can make or break your business.

1	Ensure Data Security Accountability	All IT staff, workforce and management must be aware of their responsibilities.
2	Create Policies that Govern Network Services	How to handle remote access, IP addresses, routers and network intrusion detection.
3	Scan for Vulnerabilities	Have a routine in place for checking your own networks regularly for hacking vulnerabilities.
4	Manage Patches	Implement code to eliminate vulnerabilities that can help to protect against threats.
5	Create System Data Security Policies	Rules around company servers, firewalls, databases and antivirus software.
6	Have a Response Plan for Incidents	If a security breach occurs, have measures for handling the issue along with evaluation and reporting.
7	Educate Staff on Acceptable Use	Employees should understand and sign an acceptable use policy, which includes disciplinary action.
8	Monitoring Compliance	Regular audits to ensure staff and management are complying with the data security policy.
9	Account Monitoring and Control	Designate someone to monitor and control users, and keep track of active and inactive user accounts.

It seems like a lot, but it can be done. More importantly, it must be done. When it comes to today’s advanced hackers, organizations must be prepared for when — not if — they will have a data breach. Taking small steps now will ensure you’re not facing bigger problems down the road.

The success of a presentation begins with its very first sentence. Ask yourself what will be most interesting to your attendees. Is there new research or data within their industry that can help their businesses run more efficiently? Maybe there’s a recent success story that may impact their mindset about a new technology in the marketplace?

Not every presentation needs to be exactly like Steve Jobs would have done it, or in the style of a famous TED Talk, but there are some key points that will captivate your audience and keep their attention — helping you close deals. Follow the tips below to prep for your next presentation and stand out in front of the crowd.

What makes an amazing presentation?

Experts at CustomShow, a sales presentation platform, stress that capturing your audience’s attention with a strong opening will engage their minds, enabling the presenter to effectively convey his entire message. Their advice: “In general it is not a good idea to memorize your entire speech. It is, however, a good idea to memorize the beginning four to 10 sentences. This is critical because it allows you to feel confident and ride the wave of confidence as you continue your presentation.” For additional ideas, view How To Start A Presentation Tips And Tricks – 22 Powerful Strategies on their website.

The mechanics of speaking will in itself make a difference in the effectiveness of your presentation, too. Your voice speaks volumes about your confidence and will reflect, rightly or wrongly, on how you feel about the topic. Therefore, speaking clearly and confidently is important.

4 ways your speaking voice matters

You’ll find many useful tips for prepping your voice at SkillsYouNeed.com. Its primer on Aspects of Effective Speaking provides useful exercises on increasing your comfort in developing a speaking voice, using breath to improve your voice and the four important aspects of voice when making a presentation:

1. Accents
2. Finding your voice
3. The effect of breath on voice and speech
4. Vocal production

One example of how your voice matters is inflection. For example, when a person asks a question, the last word of the sentence typically goes up in tone at the end. Sometimes when speakers are uncomfortable with a subject or nervous about their situation they fall into a rhythm that ends every sentence on a high note, whether it’s a question or a statement. This leaves an impression of uncertainty. Practice your presentation, record it and listen for proper inflection. Strong statements should finish with a steady or lower tone. Make sure your voice varies appropriately.

Make the content memorable

Equally important, of course, is the content. You have earned a precious opportunity to stand in front of an audience that includes prospective clients. Show them how much you value their time and how you intend to make it pay off. Talk with knowledge about the audience’s industry or needs. Share important trends or information relevant to their needs.

While your talk may include a scripted explanation about your company’s services, make certain the bulk of your presentation offers in-depth information that makes for useful takeaways. When you do so you’ll build trust and that is the first step toward opening the door to business after the presentation.

And how to use failure as a guidepost.

At a recent business conference, a young professional walked on stage to deliver the final keynote. With confidence, he stated:

«Failure is the tool I use to figure out if we are really being ambitious enough.»

Jason Silver was speaking about his experience working with Airbnb as the Growth Lead for their newly expanding Canadian market. To launch his Airbnb career three years prior, he was flown out to the San Francisco headquarters to present his strategy in front of senior leadership (all of whom were also young professionals).

Silver was sure he had blown them away with his incredible plan to increase revenue by 10% in the next year. But those brash young execs turned him back and said he needed to think bigger, bolder and reimagine his strategy. His presentation had failed, but Silver was just getting started.

“If you fail and it’s not crippling to your business, then you’ll be improving and getting better at what your do. You’re trying something new and progressing.”

Airbnb wanted Silver to fail. They wanted him to feel the sting of defeat so that he could completely change his approach.

On his flight back home that same day, Silver scrapped everything he had been working on. He reinvented a completely new strategy from the ground up, and in that first year as Growth Lead their team proudly accomplished 9 times the growth they originally forecast. It was an unbelievable accomplishment. Silver had quickly learned that failing at Airbnb wasn’t the end – it was a tool to get to a better strategy.

Now, Silver advocates three steps to change the framework for failure – and it all revolves around being innovative.

1. Ask new questions.

“The right questions will lead you down a path that can change your business, industry or even the world.”

So what are the right questions?

These are not the conventional ones that everyone else is asking. Ask a question that reframes the problem, so you attack it from a completely different angle.

Twitter lit up with Jason’s quotes and advice, including user @ColleenMCole who tweeted the above.

When creating smartphones, Silver suggests that the questions may have taken a successful company like Apple down roads less traveled. A conventional question would ask, “How can we make a better mobile phone?” This would constrain the company to the status quo and make an incremental improvement. They would likely end up with a version 2.0 of the same phone.

But with innovative questioning, another company could ask, “How can I carry around the power of a computer in my pocket?” This forces the company into new territory, raising new and innovative questions, and ending up with a brand new product like the iPhone when no other devices on the market compare.

2. Imagine a vision, realize it with data. 

Imagine the world or your business as you want it to be, and then use data to realize that vision.

This can be seen as a form of goal setting – forcing you to dream and think beyond your standard goals. Be bold and envision what you’ve always wanted to achieve with your business. Don’t let real or imaginary roadblocks get in your way. Remember that your strategic creativity is capable of getting around any roadblock as long as you truly want to realize your vision.

Silver recommends using supporting data that can help you answer the innovative questions and realize the vision. Starting with a clear path that you believe in and using real world data points to find a solution will create a more successful reality. The reverse – starting with data points at hand and then developing your vision around those – will restrict your growth and put limits on what you can achieve.

3. Fail often.

“Business grows by learning from what doesn’t work,” Silver stated. “Embracing failure is incredibly difficult. The key is making mistakes and then always learning from that.”

Airbnb operates in over 34,000 cities and 19 countries, constantly adding more locations and dealing with incredibly challenging rental environments. With 100 million total travelers in Airbnb’s system, Silver explained that the company needed to fail to grow to that level. If the company was afraid to fail, they would absolutely fail.

“Don’t turn a blind eye to negative results,” Silver cautioned, going on to explain that the entire team from top to bottom needs to be on board with the culture to learn from failure. “Shareholders don’t like failure because they want to see ROI. Everyone has to be bought into this because the worst thing you can do is start down the path and then want to go back.

If you fail, and you should, go back to step one.

Ask more new questions. Use data and analytics to prove and disprove your theories, and to support your strong vision. Then never forget to fail again.