Starting a business related to the tech industry – or getting a job in such a business – often requires a strong grasp of topics such as personal branding, project management, marketing, finance, and even law.

Don’t let this happen to you!

Every month, many businesses are shut down. Some of them are closed due to reasons which are beyond control, but a great many of them are simply not run properly. Being involved in a business requires a wide set of skills, which are crucial to the survival and ultimate growth of the business. Treehouse’s courses on business development teach the basics of marketing, finance, accounting, as well as the legal aspects of creating a company. There are more intermediate courses on topics such as marketing concepts and social media, usability, search engine optimization, video, and email marketing.

The more advanced courses focus on building a solid company structure, which serves to ensure future success. A business owner must have some technical background and know-how, in order to effectively manage designers and developers working for the company. To facilitate this need, there is even a course on building a simple web store.

Treehouse’s business development category has 11 courses, 5 workshops, 2 conferences, and a business learning track which provides students with the bare necessities for starting a business. The courses and workshops can be listed in chronological or alphabetical order, as well as by level of difficulty.

Examples of business development courses: Soft Skills, Research User Needs, How to Write a Business Plan, and Copyright Basics.

Course Review: How to Freelance

This course is instructed by Pasan Premaratne, a Treehouse teacher. Many people would love run their own business, set their own hours, acquire their own clients, and make money. One way of getting this done is by freelancing. It can be a very rewarding and fulfilling life, but it also takes a certain type of individual. This course explores how one might get started as a freelancer, where one goes to find clients, what kind of rates a freelancer should be charging, and project management for beginners.

The topics covered in this course are:

Instructor Pasan Premaratne

• Starting a freelancing business
• Finding work
• Writing proposals
• Pitching to clients
• Pricing your work (and getting paid on time!)
• Time and project management
• Effective client communication
• Brand building

This course runs approximately three hours, and includes six modules. Each module contains lectures and a short assessment quiz.

About the Instructor: Pasan Premaratne

Premaratne is an iOS specialist and iPhone app developer. He spends most of his time learning, and the rest trying to figure out how to pass that knowledge on to others. Premaratne is Treehouse’s chief iOS instructor.

Course Review: SEO Basics

This is another beginner business course, and it is instructed by Dan Gorgone. This course is an introduction to the world of search engine optimization (SEO). This is a general term for a process. It is not a function, but rather an outlook. SEO is something you should always have in front of you when preparing and creating the contents of your website.

After the site is launched, SEO is crucial to monitoring your website’s success over the long term. By being educated in the best practices to follow, the most powerful tools to use, and the most useful strategies to employ, students can create websites that doesn’t merely get properly indexed by search engines, but one that gets real traffic and has the potential to generate revenue and branches.

Instructor Dan Gorgone

The topics covered in this course are:

• How SEO works
• Creating SEO-friendly content
• Coding best practices
• SEO tools
• SEO analysis

This course runs approximately two hours, and it has four modules. Each module contains lectures and assessment quizzes. The section on coding also includes coding exercises.

About the Instructor: Dan Gorgone

Gorgone is a Web Design and Usability consultant and teacher. He has taught in the Internet Marketing program at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. He contributes articles on these topics to various blogs, and is a member of Treehouse’s teaching team. Gorgone is an experienced project manager and webmaster, who has worked on many websites in various industries – e.g. events, publishing, real estate, and energy – over the past decade.

The business world is a tough one. So many businesses are going under on a daily basis. It is a competitive and unforgiving environment, but by developing the right skills and making smart decisions, one can get a business not only to survive, but to grow and expand.

These skills are time-tested, and they remain valid and applicable whether it is for a small business or an enterprise. These skills and tools which are taught in Treehouse’s business category are what is referred to as ‘business intelligence’. These courses are what puts you ahead of the game, and what puts your business one step ahead of its competitors.

Don’t just stay afloat. Don’t struggle to make ends meet. There is another way! Let Treehouse’s experts take you to the next level. Let them guide you and your business in the right direction.