Resources > Entrepreneur Development

Every successful business starts with a seed - a business idea - that needs hard work and nurturing. It also takes a generous amount of entrepreneurship before that seed can blossom into a growing, thriving, successful business. Entrepreneurship isn't something you're born with - it's a skill that you can learn and hone and once you've built it, you can never lose it. We've compiled what we believe is an excellent list of resources to help you build your entrepreneurial skills.

MyOwnBusiness.org  This website is an excellent resource for people who are seriously considering starting a home based or small business of their own. They offer FREE quizzes and a comprehensive 14 part online course. Their focus is clear and simple : Help people succeed in business. Report this link broken

U.S Small Business Administration  SBA's excellent website offers programs and services to help small business owners grow and succeed. Their Small Business Planner and Audio/Video resources help to build a solid foundation of knowledge for the first time business owner Report this link broken

Entrepreneurs' Organization Global Community  This is a global network of business owners with over 140 chapters in 40 countries. EO's 3-pronged approach to entrepreneurship development is Peer to Peer Learning, Once-in-a-lifetime experiences and Connection to Experts. The only reason we've given EO a 4-star rating is because membership is on an annual subscription basis, which may exclude small-budget home based business owners, but like anything in this world, sometimes you have to give to receive. Report this link broken

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship  Also known as the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, NFTE teaches entrepreneurship to young people from low-income communities to enhance their economic productivity by improving their business, academic and life skills. One of their many programs include the BizCamp, a two-week, intensive summer program for students ages 13-18 who are interested in entrepreneurship. Report this link broken

United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship  One of the great features of this site is their Forum which covers a comprehensive range of topics. The participants are people engaged in business in one way or another and learning comes from open sharing between peers. This is a private forum though, and participation is open only to members. However, they annual membership subscription is very affordable. Report this link broken

OCRI Entrepreneurship Center - Online Business Tutorials The Entrepreneurship Centre is an initiative of OCRI, dedicated to helping Ottawa entrepreneurs make educated decisions about starting and growing their businesses. They provide a series of free Online Business Tutorials that you will find helpful as an introduction to your role as an entrepreneur. The tutorials are professionally presented and include video and notes. Report this link broken

International Entrepreneurship - Free Video Series  The best feature of this site is the FREE series of videos on International Entrepreneurship and Importing. 2-star rating because the streaming videos seem a bit slow. You might want to download them to your computer and watch them offline. Report this link broken

Business Gateway  bgateway.com provides some excellent resources, help and advice on starting and growing a business. One of the great features about their site is the free templates that they provide. They also offer a Growth Action Plan designed for business owners. Report this link broken