Managing a Business

Strong management skills are built over time through continued education and experience. To help you understand the basics about managing a business, SBA offers several free online courses. This self paced instruction includes many entrepreneurial topics, including taking your business global, using technology, preparing a business plan, entering into a franchise, planning for disasters, and preventing crime.

• Podcasts

  SBA podcasts offer expert insight and guidance about running your business. Managing a Business podcasts offer advice on topics ranging from marketing to sales, human resources, and the technology that you employ to keep your business ...

• Online Courses for Managing Your Business
  The success of your business is closely related to how well you manage it. Good management is the root source of business growth. We have provided some free online courses to help you hone your business management skills. About...
• Online Courses for Marketing Your Business
  Good marketing is critical to the success of your business. Marketing has many dimensions, including market research, customer service, advertising, targeting, packaging, pricing, e-marketing, and others. Investing in a good...
• America's Best: Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation
  Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation, Port Washington, Wis. Established in 1922, Allen Edmonds operates 32 retail stores in 17 states, and is among a small minority of companies continuing to produce the majority of their shoes...
• America's Best: Cerner Corporation
  Cerner Corporation, Kansas City, Mo. In 1979 the three founders, Neal Patterson, Cliff Illig and Paul Gorup, sat around a picnic table and decided to create a company. Today, Cerner Corporation is an industry leader in medical...
• America's Best: Columbia Sportswear Company
  Columbia Sportswear Company, Portland, Ore. Rescued from near bankruptcy, Gert Boyle took over operations of Columbia, started by her parents, and turned it into a $1 billion company. The business received an SBA-backed loan...
• America's Best: Gymboree Corporation
  The Gymboree Corporation, San Francisco, Calif. Joan Barnes created Gymboree in 1976 as a place where moms and their children could play and exercise. Since then, it has become a giant corporation that includes almost 600...
• America's Best: Radio One, Inc.
  Radio One, Inc., Lanham, Md. Among the largest African-American owned and operated media corporations in the United States, Radio One was started by Catherine L. Hughes in 1980. Radio One owns and/or operates 53 radio stations...
• America's Best: Ruiz Foods
  Ruiz Foods, Dinuba, Calif. Founded in 1964, Ruiz Foods is the top seller of frozen Mexican dishes in the United States.  Under the brand names of El Monterey and Tornados, it produces nearly 200 frozen Mexican foods....
• America's Best: Series Preview
  America's Best: Series Preview SBA and ADP® present America's Best: Their Stories, Their Ways. This trailer offers a glimpse into the inspiring personal experiences of successful entrepreneurs who are responsible...
• Strategies for Growth: Preparing for Growth
  You've proved you have the guts, passion and commitment to turn your dream into a reality. Next steps: evaluate how your customers react to your products and how money moves through your business. Are you ready to grow your...
• Strategies for Growth: Team Building
  Very few persons succeed or fail by themselves. One of the most powerful elements in creating success is a powerful team. The SBA/Dell Strategies for Growth series presents interviews with successful entrepreneurs and experts who...
• Strategies for Growth: Marketing
  These entrepreneurs listened to their customers and critics to learn how to better market their products and services. They use technology to reach new customers. Learn their secrets to increasing market share. The SBA/Dell...
• Strategies for Growth: Technology and Growth
  Are you taking advantage of the latest technology to save time and increase your company's efficiency? Improved communications technology for sharing information with employees and customers may be one of the things to consider...
• Strategies for Growth: Exporting Opportunities
  Does your product have potential in an overseas market? Small businesses can compete with larger companies in the global marketplace. Plan for the extra effort it takes to bring your product to foreign markets. The SBA/Dell...
• Strategies for Growth: Disaster Recovery
  SBA's disaster recovery program helped Mainstream Global, Inc., get back in business following a flood. Are you prepared? Do you have a preparedness plan to get your business up and running should disaster strike? The SBA/Dell...
• Strategies for Growth: Profiles of Success
  Do you know your company's vulnerabilities, and have you developed contingency plans to ensure growth? As a small business owner, are you using the distinct advantage of your personality and message to impact the local market?...
• SBA Delivering Success: Marketing 101
  The U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Postal Service bring you Delivering Success—video interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share the lessons they've learned about owning a small business. The...
• SBA Delivering Success: Promoting & Growing Your Business
  The U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Postal Service bring you Delivering Success—video interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share the lessons they've learned about owning a small business. The...
• SBA Delivering Success: Business Reality Check
  The U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Postal Service bring you Delivering Success—video interviews with successful entrepreneurs who share the lessons they've learned about owning a small business. The...
• Salon Red: Establish your Online Presence
  Salon Red provides a creative and compassionate salon environment in Decatur, GA. It excels in the services industry because it uses a website and local listings to help customers find its locations and book appointments.
• Make My Cake: Display Imagery on your Website
  Make My Cake is family owned and operated. It provides Harlem, NY, with great tasting baked goods in an intimate neighborhood setting. Its recent website redesign allows Make My Cake to display vivid imagery of its offerings and to...
• Lumus Construction: Engage Customers with a Website
  Lumus Construction designs, constructs, and renovates public facilities, and specializes in renewable energy and fire mist prevention. It uses its website and online maps to both research projects all over the United States and show...
• Fuego Mundo: Interact with your Community using Free Marketing
  Fuego Mundo creates a unique dining experience by bringing the flavors, spices, and culture of South America to Sandy Springs, GA. The restaurant uses social media to request feedback from its customers for improvement. Even its...
• Humphry Slocombe: Promote using Free Online Marketing
  Humphry Slocombe makes premium ice cream in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. With flavors such as Secret Breakfast and Pistachio-Bacon, it creates a vibrant social media following around the world. It uses social media to...
• Skaters Landing: Educate your Customers using Free Marketing
  Skaters Landing is a national retailer and e-tailer of products and accessories for the skating industry. Although located in CT and MA, it uses free marketing online to teach customers from all over the world about its industry....
• Mandy Scott Flowers: Grow with Paid Online Advertising
  Mandy Scott Flowers creates beautiful floral arrangements in its San Francisco, CA, location. As a premium boutique flower shop, she competes with national brands using paid online advertising. By only showing ads to a very targeted...
• TCHO: Measure Results with Web Analytics
  TCHO's start-up mentality, combined with its unique location on Pier 17 in San Francisco, CA, merges technology with chocolate production. It uses web analytics to constantly improve its website's layout, ensuring consumers...
• Where Will Your Next Customer Come From?
  Small businesses looking to grow should look beyond the U.S. borders to find new customers. Learn about government resources to help you begin or expand exporting.