MBA -The Business fundamentals + 30 hrs of business concepts

Adopt a servant's mindset, share experiences, then solve the customer's problem to earn trust and elevate sales. Emphasize empathy, listening, and authentic connection over pushy tactics.

Build trust by connecting with customers through shared beliefs, then demonstrate understanding, present clear opportunities, and prove credibility to guide their buying journey from safety to decision.

Identify your ideal customer by focusing on the smallest market with the likelihood of solving a problem, then build personas using the ready, willing, and able framework to qualify them.

Identify customers' issues by using experiential questions and the four eyes framework to uncover issues, prioritize them, quantify impact, assess invasiveness, and address iceberg barriers.

Identify how price, value, quality, self-preservation, and social pressure trigger customer purchases, and tailor research and conversations to uncover which motivator most influences their decision.

Explore the awareness, motivation, and ability change equation and identify barriers to change, including anxiety, isolation, and loss, plus strategies: trust and one incremental change at a time.

Distinguish products from solutions and highlight that customers buy solutions, not products; identify the solutions your product offers and ask questions that focus on solving the customer's problem.

Learn to map customer problems to product features, define benefits and competitive advantages, and craft a compelling differentiating message through a top five problems and features exercise.

Explore five proof sources—expert, celebrity endorsements, user proof, wisdom of the crowd, and wisdom of peers—and learn how to communicate them to build credibility and reduce risk.

Implement a system with a sales quarterback as the account contact, cross-train sales, delivery, and customer service teams, and hold regular customer satisfaction meetings to drive customer loyalty for life.

Emphasize the value of a clear, consistent sales process as a playbook that delivers consistent results, strengthens brand credibility, and supports coaching to identify areas of improvement.

Navigate the three-stage sales process—pre-sales planning and preparation, an in-call flow to identify issues and gain credibility, and post-sales service to boost loyalty and cross-selling opportunities.

Design a tailored sales process across pre-sales, customer engagement, and post-sales stages. Build it around prospect knowledge, product mastery, and story-based engagements to achieve measurable outcomes.

Motivate and educate the sales team by clearly communicating the value proposition, target market, and customer analysis, then equip them with hands-on training, pricing strategy, and selling tools.

Drive value by aligning products with customers and outperforming rivals through a marketing strategy and plan. Adapt to trends, technology, and external factors while coordinating with operations, sales, and finance.

Explore the four-phase marketing planning process—analysis, strategy, tactical phase, and measurement—analyzing customers, competition, and market potential to segment, target, position, price, and promote products, and measure return on marketing investments.

Assemble a diverse cross-functional team across finance, marketing research, technical, design, sales, manufacturing, and external partners to develop and execute a marketing plan with clear roles and expectations.

Create a formal written marketing plan that captures market, competition, and customer insights. Use it to align the organization and coordinate programs with schedules and budgets.

Determine the marketing plan scope before planning, choosing to focus on a single product, a family of products, or the entire portfolio, guided by the customer perspective and brand identity.

Identify and analyze competition, including direct, indirect, and substitutes, to craft a winning strategy. Build a competitive matrix comparing strengths, resources, and delivery of service to gain market edge.

Analyze your product features by testing them against competitors to identify which perform best, and use insights to improve features and shape a marketing strategy that attracts customers.

Define your customers clearly to tailor reach and messages, assess their attitudes, perceptions, and brand loyalty, compare your product with competitors, address misperceptions, and guide future segmentation and strategy.

Explore the five stages of the buying process—need recognition, information search, evaluate alternatives, purchase, and post-purchase behavior. Learn how marketing supports buyers at each step and handles buyer remorse.

Analyze your market by classifying customers into four groups: exclusive buyers, multi-brand buyers, competitors-only buyers, and non-category users. Estimate total customers and conversion to your brand to craft strategy.

Learn how to segment customers into homogeneous groups to optimize marketing resources, focusing on demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic criteria to target and position effectively.

Identify the most receptive audience through segmentation, then target by attitudinal benefit, demographics, geography, and behavior to tailor your message. Define your market position to convincingly communicate your core offer.

Position your product by crafting a value proposition and a single-minded claim, supported with reasons to believe that shift current beliefs toward the desired beliefs and buying actions.

Set specific, measurable, attainable, time-bound marketing goals to guide resource allocation and measure progress toward business results. Connect goals to KPIs and ensure they are aligned with the marketing strategy.

Apply segmentation, targeting, and positioning to define your market, then execute the four Ps: product, price, promotion, and place, to bring the offering to customers.

Create the right products and services by linking features to benefits through analysis, market research, and the value proposition, guiding design, performance, and touchpoints for an authentic customer experience.

Set prices based on value, not costs, and use price as a signal of quality while considering competition and your value proposition to drive revenue.

Communicate price to your target audience and partners, emphasizing value, discounts, and terms at key touchpoints, online or in store, for clear, compliant pricing.

Set promotional objectives by selecting one of five communication goals from basic awareness to behavioral awareness, and align messaging with customer beliefs and your marketing strategy.

Set the objective for marketing communications, craft the message with a value proposition and reasons to believe, and select the audience, media, and market materials.

Apply the listen, join, and shape model to social media by monitoring mentions, engaging authentically, and shaping conversations to reinforce your value proposition and marketing strategy.

Navigate distribution channels by coordinating products, money, and information through partners, learn to manage channel conflict, pricing, and data sharing to reach customers effectively.

Explore how distribution channels deliver products by ensuring convenient locations, full inventories, fast service, and the right balance of direct and indirect channels.

Align the four Ps—product, price, promotion, and the value proposition—to support your strategy, avoid feature creep, and promote where customers expect to see it.

Lead with a customer success story, outline market changes, and present a concise marketing plan to win senior leaders with a clear roi and investment mindset.

Motivate and educate your sales team by communicating your value proposition, target market, and buying factors. Equip them with hands-on product demos, pricing rationale, and selling tools.

Explore how a well written creative brief guides vendors and agencies to produce marketing materials, outlining objectives, audience insights, value proposition, and success metrics.

Learn how to build a marketing budget using top-down or bottom-up methods, allocate funds to the most effective programs, and optimize spend across the four Ps.

Define measurable KPIs linked to your marketing plan, with targets and thresholds, to monitor progress and take action across goals, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and four Ps tactics.

Define your audience with quantitative and qualitative data, set smart sales or brand objectives, craft a clear message, and choose media placements; measure, test, learn, and optimize the ad cycle.

Set clear, measurable advertising objectives using the smart framework, align goals with a funnel stage (awareness, interest, activation, conversion, loyalty), and plan measurement with analytics, social metrics, and sales data.

Define your audience with precision by sizing the market with quantitative data, mapping geographic distribution and where customers are, and aligning access channels with TAM, customer segments, and personas.

Map the customer experience to show how they find, learn, engage, buy, and refer, then craft a creative strategy and a media plan prioritizing owned and earned channels.

Define the concept, visual design, copy, and call to action to guide any ad across media, emphasizing simplicity, brand fit, and testing throughout the creative process.

Discover affordable ways for small businesses to produce high-quality advertising without expensive agencies. Leverage digital, print, video, and retail channels, build trusted producers, and plan with a clear creative vision.

Discover how to map owned, earned, and bought media to reach customers across the evolving digital landscape. Learn to optimize touchpoints, leverage content marketing, and measure campaigns for cost efficiency.

Craft a concise brief that defines market need, product offering, and a primary objective; outline target audience, strategy, key proof points, deliverables, timing, and budget.

Apply a minimum viable plan, based on MVP concepts, to advertising by defining your base presence, a clear tagline, and a strong buy button across owned and paid media.

Clarify your digital presence across domains by securing your name and URL, and build a simple, customer-centered website with consistent social media handles and clear calls to action.

Identify geographic scope and channels to establish a basic advertising presence, then test and optimize across video, print, digital, and outdoor with concise, benefit-focused messages.

Track competitors in real time to optimize engagement and sales. Use moët dot com and simula web dot com with Google alerts to monitor messaging and promotions.

Learn how public relations differs from advertising, identify newsworthy topics for your stakeholders, and craft effective pitches, a basic press release, and a questions-and-answers framework with professional press training.

learn how content marketing and partnerships scale advertising cost-effectively by creating branded, advertorial-style content and value-driven partnerships that showcase your expert knowledge across media and live events.

Define your business and market, articulate your product, and map a go-to-market plan with an operating, financial, and SWOT analysis to anticipate risks.

Identify major customer and market trends, growth or contraction, and reactions; evaluate competitor positioning with a moon chart and outline go-to-market strategies and substitutes.

Spell out your value proposition with quantified benefits and meaningful differentiators, then map a product development roadmap from minimum viable product and prototypes to delivery channels and protection strategies.

Define and quantify your product's value proposition and differentiation. Map the product development roadmap and plan pricing, delivery, and support for a focused business plan.

Define a brand promise and customer value, then craft a cohesive business plan covering branding, pricing, sales, operations, leadership, and financial risk management.

Define your brand promise, why customers care, and how you will promote it consistently; outline differentiation, pricing, sales, and post-sale support in your business plan.

Define your people plan from demand factors to staffing, training, and costs, then align production and supplier strategies to manage risk, contracts, and growth.

Learn how to build a strong leadership team and advisory structure, map the organization chart, outline ownership and compensation, and ensure legal, tax, and compliance readiness before seeking investment.

Document assumptions and build a bottom-up monthly forecast driven by unit drivers for revenues, costs, cash, and the profit and loss statement. Evaluate best and worst cases and burn rate.

Use business process modeling to visually map how activities fit together, show current and future states, and identify gaps, responsibilities, and interactions among actors.

Explore the four core modeling tools: context diagrams, functional flow diagrams, cross-functional flow diagrams (activity and swim line diagrams), and process flowcharts, mapping external entities, stakeholders, actors, and workflows.

Align models with UML and BBM standards to create consistent, simple process diagrams with clear levels, labels, and annotations.

Explore how a context diagram shows an organization's place in the external world, highlighting interactions with customers, suppliers, banks, and contractors. Use this high-level model to guide analysis.

Frame context diagrams using entities, relationships, and processes; depict the organization as a circle and external entities as boxes, with arrows showing data flows for high-level interactions.

Start with the main entity in a circle on a single page, keep it high-level, add external entities as boxes, connect flows with right-angled arrows, and validate with stakeholders.

Use the functional flow diagram to map external interactions with internal areas, show how information and activities flow, and validate stakeholders before moving to the cross-functional flow diagram.

Map stakeholder-initiated interactions with a functional flow diagram, showing single-label data flows between internal and external functions, starting and ending with the initiator for clear, uncluttered processes.

Create a functional flow diagram by mapping the customer purchase interaction to the merchant, authorization, and billing functions, and validate stakeholders through high level workshops.

Understand how the cross-functional flow diagram maps activities from initial process commencement trigger to completion, showing how functional areas interact, and helps identify inefficiencies to streamline processes with predefined subprocesses.

Explore cross-functional flow diagrams by learning the six most common shapes, including circle terminators, process boxes, and diamond decisions, with connectors and arrows guiding cross-functional flow.

Map a cross-functional flow diagram by defining actors, triggers, and swim lines, then plot activities with process blocks and arrows to reveal the happy path, alternative flows, and exception flows.

Map current and future state processes with flowchart diagrams to identify inefficiencies, assess impacts, and create a single source of truth guiding training, testing, and process improvements.

Learn flowchart diagram features for a single-actor, start-to-end process, with isolated activities and subprocesses, using standard symbols like process boxes, diamonds, and connectors.

Learn the best order to build accurate flowcharts by tracing to the parent cross-functional diagram, using subprocesses, clear triggers, and consistent symbols like terminators and decision diamonds.

Explore how modern management focuses on performance, people, and business outcomes; compare leadership and management and apply flexible styles such as director, consultant, coach, visionary, and delegator to maximize engagement.

Learn essential performance management foundations, including goals, onboarding, coaching, feedback, and team collaboration, to drive organizational success.

Develop essential management skills by building trust, transitioning from peer to manager, and applying strategies for engagement, delegation, conflict resolution, and effective meetings in modern teams.

Master time management, project oversight, and budgeting within organizational policies and regulations, while developing decision making, emotional intelligence, and business acumen to lead and motivate teams.

finance involves deciding what to buy, where to obtain funds, and how to manage resources efficiently within a company, while considering investors and financial institutions.

Explore the balance sheet, income statement, and the statement of cash flows, apply key ratios to forecast next year, and guide financing decisions.

Plan and manage cash flow with a cash budget to prevent shortfalls, and obtain short-term financing when needed. Control receivables and inventory, and implement internal controls to safeguard assets.

Identify the five financial reasons new businesses fail: insufficient capital, poor cash management, poor record keeping and controls, improper product pricing, and uncontrolled growth.

Analyze risk and return in business, including price, credit, interest rate, exchange rate, and cash flow risks. Apply CAPM concepts like beta, the risk-free rate, and the equity premium.

Explore how long-term financing choices, debt versus equity, affect a company's taxes, risk, and value through capital structure and the weighted average cost of capital.

Explore the differences between stocks and bonds, including debt versus equity, and examine stock and bond markets, trading methods, price setting, and the role of IPOs.

Connect savers and entrepreneurs through banks, investment banks, investment funds, and insurance companies. They facilitate funding, underwriting deals, diversification, and risk management across markets.

Explore capital budgeting for long-term asset purchases, financing, budgeting, and risks of large outlays. Apply the time value of money to discount cash flows and compare projects using present value.

Adopt a prudent lifestyle and track spending to stay within your means. Budget by writing down a plan, minimize fixed costs, save for emergencies, and avoid risky investment schemes.

Identify your most valuable customer by analyzing your top clients, their demographics, and psychographics to tailor marketing and the customer experience.

Identify your most valuable customer (MVC) and attract them by aligning every touchpoint to their desires, advertising where they gather, forming partnerships, and pre-qualifying leads online or at the door.

Assess costs, including overhead, materials, and labor, to determine unit profit, then set price by quality, competition, and targeting the most valuable customer.

Assess inflation, costs, competition, and demand; watch for waiting lists; and run price experiments to find the most profitable pricing for your small business.

Apply the Sam cycle: systems, accountability, and motivation, to diagnose symptoms, define clear results, document processes, and align tools, trust, training, and follow-up with vision and values.

Learn how to turn familiarity into productivity when working with family and friends by setting clear ground rules, documenting them, and maintaining regular, action-focused meetings with a neutral facilitator.

Treat a one-page business plan as a navigational map that guides quarterly targets, key indicators, and a harvest strategy to keep your venture focused and growing.

Identify your most valuable line by comparing profit per unit, total profit, and values; then focus on that line, dropping lower offerings to minimize opportunity cost.

Launch a service business with little money by freelancing and selling before delivery. Work for free to gain referrals while managing cash flow with receivables, low overhead, and month-to-month contracts.

Explore four U.S. business entity types, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, and LLC, and weigh their advantages, disadvantages, and when to start, plus four steps to set owner compensation.

Master small business accounting by recording and reporting financial data, choosing an accounting program, tracking transactions, filing taxes, and generating income statements and balance sheets to guide strategy.

Identify your most valuable message by asking why customers chose you, then build a marketing palette—words, images, sounds, smells—to attract the right buyers.

Learn how small businesses choose social media platforms, test campaigns, and define a voice, schedule engagement, use tools, and respond to feedback to maximize return on investment.

Develop a competitive job description with clear pay and hours, then assess traits versus skills and conduct sar-based interviews to hire fit candidates.

Learn a simple, three-step sales framework—explore, present, and action—to convert prospects into customers, while addressing fear of rejection, sales stereotypes, and knowledge gaps for small businesses.

Develop a cohesive online marketing strategy by aligning three distinct strategies—business, customer, and marketing—with a focus on shared value, a strong return on investment, and a customer experience across channels.

Identify your mission statement, objectives, value proposition, and elevator pitch to focus your online marketing strategy. Build a big-picture view, maintain day-to-day channels, and refine toward the bullseye.

Reach the right audience to maximize roi by identifying customer segments, their goals, and preferred channels. Align business goals with shared value and kpis to guide the marketing strategy.

Identify an iterative online marketing strategy across paid, earned, and owned media, with tailored channels for each audience segment. Research, stay flexible, and refine with data.

Master core online marketing concepts such as call to action, bounce rate, click-through rate, impressions, conversions, CPA, and landing pages while evaluating channels by ROI, SEO, social, and video.

Maximize your digital real estate by building a mobile-friendly, fast, brand-reflective website that answers customer questions, showcases products, and aligns with your marketing campaigns across Google, Facebook, and blogs.

Select a domain name that is relevant, memorable, and usable, preferably short and with a common suffix like .com. Buy multiple variations and verify ownership to protect your brand.

Learn to find and vet designers and developers for your website, review portfolios and client reviews, discuss process, you will ensure responsive design, quality code, quotes, and timelines.

Drive conversions by designing goal-specific landing pages—teaser, squeeze, viral, and infomercial—featuring above-the-fold messages, strong calls to action, and performance tracking; avoid using the home page for campaigns.

Craft engaging web copy by knowing your audience, delivering concise, benefit-focused messages with clear headlines and bullet points, optimized for landing pages and search engines.

Learn how responsive design adapts layouts across screen sizes and orientations with block-based structures, scalable fonts, and a single code base managed by stylesheets.

Track data from your web site, campaigns, and social media to map digital marketing health, uncover untapped opportunities, and guide improvements with analytics across paid, owned, and earned media.

Learn how cookies and tracking pixels collect web data, link ads to user actions, and enable attribution from clicks to purchases through conversion pixels.

Explore how conversion funnels map the sales process, from product page to completion, track steps and drop-offs, and use Google Analytics to test pages and improve conversion.

Align KPI dashboards with your business goals to monitor online marketing performance at a glance. Track conversion rate, cost per acquisition, and total revenue to guide optimization.

Explore attribution models from last-click to fractional credit, balancing view-through conversions and multichannel funnels, and learn to test, optimize, and adjust cookie windows for paid ads.

Explore how search engine optimization boosts a site's visibility by optimizing technical setup and content. See how crawlers index pages and how ranking depends on topics, links, and mobile friendliness.

Develop a solid SEO foundation by ensuring crawler-friendly, text-based pages with natural urls, flat navigation, unique title tags, meaningful meta descriptions, headings, and sitemap usage.

Write content around your keywords naturally, avoid stuffing, and deliver value to users. Use the keyword in the heading once and include related terms to help Google infer page theme.

Evaluate your SEO landscape and hire a professional by reviewing audits and strategy, weighing costs, avoiding guarantees and red flags, and asking questions to ensure transparent, experienced guidance.

Create a social media marketing plan for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest that uses organic conversations and paid ads to boost brand awareness.

Explore how Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest suit different audiences with Pew Research data, revealing paid and organic strategies, engagement, and competitive analysis for business branding.

Learn how video marketing leverages YouTube to drive brand awareness and website traffic, with viral examples like Dollar Shave Club, and create engaging, SEO-friendly videos.

Create high quality targeted video content that speaks directly to your audience, highlighting your product's uniqueness. Keep videos short, visually polished, and naturally delivered, with clear calls to action.

Master email marketing by building an owned subscriber list, segmenting audiences, and using drip campaigns with strong calls to action to drive revenue and engagement.

Target the right audience, build a qualified email list with signups and lead generation, design content-rich, mobile-friendly email campaign with clear goals and a strong call to action.

Explore how content marketing creates articles and media that drive brand awareness, attract customers, and generate revenue by answering questions and adding value across the cross-channel customer journey.

Define your content plan by identifying the core audience and desired actions, publish consistent blog articles, and use long-tail keywords and interlinking to drive conversions and measure success.

Harness mobile marketing to reach the majority who use devices daily, using GPS, QR codes, text offers, barcode scanning, and hyper-local strategies.

Explore why mobile applications add value to your business, boost online marketing and exposure, and guide scope of work, design, prototyping, and choosing development options.