Growing Your Business

Mia McCormick sits down with Scott Kelby, the founder of Kelby Media Group, to discuss what it takes to start and grow your photography business in today’s ultra-competitive landscape. Scott shares his hard earned wisdom on topics such as choosing the right people to partner with, taking the right kind of risks to move your business forward, using social media for promotion and connection, how to become the kind of person people want to hire, and so much more. If you are just starting out in photography or thinking about making the jump to running your own business then this class made just for you.

Working with Clients (and Getting Paid!)

There’s a lot to learn when you’re breaking into freelancing, but the most important skills any freelancer will learn revolve around one thing: clients. Every successful freelancer will eventually need to master the ability to find good portfolio of clients, manage your relationship with them through the project, deliver in a way that makes them repeat clients, and (very importantly) get paid promptly. Wes McDowell of Deep End Design will walk you through every step of client management. Ready to turn your clients into your biggest fans? Let’s get started! Wes explains everything you need to know about working with clients,

Freelancing Fundamentals

In this course, author and seasoned freelancer Tom Geller shows you how to prepare for a transition to freelancing. Begin by taking a look at your career goals, the systems that will support you, and proper ways to plan for success. Find out how to marshal your resources, refine your portfolio for presentation to clients, and estimate your costs to avoid any surprises on the financial front. Plus, discover how to create invoices, manage your books and taxes, expand your client base with marketing, and grow your business.

Leading Productive One-on-One Meetings

Regular one-on-one meetings provide managers with an opportunity to head off problems and efficiently answer the many small, quick questions that arise during the workweek. In this course, Dave Crenshaw shows you how to establish a one-on-one meeting schedule and agenda, assign and review actions items, and assess the results of the meeting and follow up on promises. The course also explains how to effectively listen to employees’ needs and when to offer training and development.

Online Marketing Fundamentals

In Online Marketing Fundamentals, Lorrie Thomas Ross introduces web marketers, web designers, business owners, and executives to the world of online marketing. The course takes a look at the basis of any online marketing effort—a business’s web site—and reviews how the different components of the site can support the business’s goals, from SEO and SEM to social media, online PR, and content marketing.

Conflict Resolution Fundamentals

Improve your relationships with your coworkers, clients, and managers and find your way through conflict back to cooperation. In this course, negotiation consultant Lisa Gates shares the secrets of effective conflict resolution and reveals simple, repeatable techniques that apply in most business situations. She’ll present a six-step framework for exploring and navigating conflict resolution, including identifying the issue, separating the people from the problem, overcoming roadblocks to resolution, exploring cultural differences, and getting to agreement.

Effective Public Speaking

Develop the skills you need to prepare and deliver an outstanding speech or presentation with our public speaking training. Author Laura Bergells offers practical insights that can help presenters prepare, open, deliver, and close their speeches. Along the way, discover how to project confidence, storyboard a speech, take questions, respond with thoughtful answers, and develop the creative story that adds life to a speech.

Pitching Projects and Products to Executives

In Pitching Projects and Products to Executives, author Dane Howard interviews executives and product managers from renowned design firms and corporations like Google, Apple, and Adobe, who share their insider take on how to effectively move projects and product ideas forward. Video and multimedia producer Richard Koci Hernandez weaves the interviews together into a captivating visual narrative. The soft skills course shows the practical techniques, processes, and communication styles employed to sell to executives more effectively, and to bring ideas to life.

Sales Skills Fundamentals

In this course, author Christopher Matthew Spencer shares his techniques for effective sales. Because a sale starts with finely honed communication skills, the course begins with communication and listening skills, and then explores the application of sales traits in everyday life—an ideal primer for making deals in business settings.

This course also covers the basics of connecting with prospective clients, making convincing presentations, understanding and maximizing the sales cycle, measuring sales abilities, and practicing sales skills in role-playing scenarios.

Cloud Computing First Look

In this course, author David Rivers explains the essentials of cloud computing and answers the basic question: What is the cloud? The course then explores the benefits and drawbacks of cloud computing, including a candid look at balancing the sharing and privacy issues with the productivity gains of working in the cloud.

PayPal Essential Training

In this course, author Christopher Spencer shows how to send and receive online payments securely with PayPal. The course demonstrates linking bank accounts to PayPal, paying for purchases, generating professional invoices, and processing payments via text message. Christopher also explains how to download and review transaction reports, manage disputes, and increase charitable contributions online.

Building an Online Shopping Cart

By 2007, 77% of internet users over the age of 13 — about 131.3 million people — will shop online. In these tutorials, instructor Lawrence Cramer helps give business owners the tools to harness this market effectively. Using an in-depth case study and other varied examples, Lawrence demonstrates how to seamlessly create and incorporate a shopping cart and back end to support online customers. Building an Online Shopping Cartcovers everything from the general concepts of e-commerce to the nitty-gritty of setting up and customizing credit card and order processing features. The training also covers security, customer privacy, building a store, and developing and integrating customer service and policies.