Free Resources

Your small business can leverage all year round!

Successful entrepreneurs never stop learning about their industry, business, and customers. They look for ongoing training opportunities for themselves and their staff. Free resources for small business owners help you break into the global marketplace, assess economic growth, and identify new business opportunities.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)

You can explore export assistance programs and financial resources. Both help grow businesses and enable entrepreneurs to strengthen their market position. Or learn how to qualify for government contracts, get funding for your company, and explore business certifications.

Check out these SBA tools and content:

Small Business Development Centers: Attend in-person events and get individualized assistance from small business centers near you. Enter your zip code to find your local SBDC.
SBA’s Ascent: Explore Ascent—a free learning platform for women entrepreneurs—by choosing your journey and topics to master. Content options include fireside chats, self-assessments, discussion guides, and exercises.
Learning center courses: The SBA’s learning center video courses cover starting up to selling your business and everything in between. Most topics have several videos, with many around a minute long.
Boots to Business: If you’re a transitioning service member (including National Guard and Reserve) or a spouse with access to a military installation, check out the Boots to Business program. Alternatively, Reboot courses are available to veterans, National Guard, Reserve, and military spouses.
T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined: If you have at least one employee besides yourself, have been in business for three years, and have annual revenues of at least $250,000, consider the six-month T.H.R.I.V.E. Emerging Leaders Reimagined program. It provides MBA-equivalent knowledge, and you’ll create a three-year strategic business growth action plan.

HUB spot

HubSpot is a cloud-based customer relationship management (CRM) tool offering free and paid courses. It also provides the HubSpot Academy for ongoing education geared toward your entire team, including leaders, department supervisors, and employees. There are dozens of programs, including free online courses and longer certification sessions, and you can display earned badges on websites and company bios.

Achieve certifications through business courses, such as:

Digital marketing.
Inbound sales.
Growth-driven graphic design.
Content marketing.
Digital advertising.
Sales management.
Email marketing.

Also, check out HubSpot’s Website Grader. Enter your company’s website and email address and click “get your score.” HubSpot grades your site based on performance, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile, and security. It also provides a list of recommendations for site improvements.

service corps of retired executives

SCORE provides many great resources for small business owners, including webinars, interactive courses, business templates, and local workshops. SCORE partnered with Google and the International Downtown Association (IDA) to develop a free digital readiness series. Each module provides digital tools, webinars, and videos on how to grow your business with Google.

Recently, SCORE added The Startup Roadmap. It’s an excellent guide for individuals wanting to start a company. An entrepreneur can complete the step-by-step tutorial alone or with a mentor. It has 12 modules, which you can complete in any order. Each module offers actionable steps, free resources, and other online tools to complete the steps.

You can find SCORE events and workshops near you by entering your state or zip code and filtering the results according to business stage, topic, and format. SCORE also offers mentorship opportunities to any citizen or permanent resident who owns a business or wants to start one. The interactions happen virtually so that you can communicate with your mentor via email, phone, and video.

u.s. chamber of commerce

As the world’s largest business organization, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce advocates for business-friendly policies, supports local chapters, and provides free resources for entrepreneurs. You’ll find many virtual events and informative guides on small business topics and can network within your community by joining a local branch.

Check out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business page. It displays events, a Small Business Weekly Forecast, and current initiatives. Remember to register for CO—'s Small Business Day event featuring small business experts. It takes place on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at 1 pm ET.

Bookmark these links to stay informed with regularly updated content:

Local chapters: Get involved at the local level by finding a chamber of commerce in your area. There are thousands of local chapters in 57 states and territories offering community networking opportunities.
Chamber OnDemand: View videos, forums, and interviews with experts, business leaders, and government officials on the Chamber OnDemand platform. Browse by topic or series, such as technology, economy, and government policy.
CO—by U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Start your morning or end your day by expanding your small business knowledge on CO— by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. It delivers fact-based articles on best practices for how to start, grow, and run your company. Plus, you can get expert tips from industry leaders and small business owners.

linked in

LinkedIn is a professional-focused social media platform used by entrepreneurs globally. You can showcase your company and build relationships with business customers and future employees. It’s also a key spot to highlight your expertise as an entrepreneur in your personal profile. Get started with LinkedIn’s Action Plan for Small Businesses. It’s a five-page guide to completing your page, growing your follower count, and posting the right content.

But don’t stop there! LinkedIn has a small business resource center packed with free content. It offers virtual events, free online courses, and livestreams. The virtual sessions are geared toward entrepreneurs at all levels, including managers and leaders, talent acquisition professionals, remote workers, and sales teams. We recommend Boost Your Business With LinkedIn for existing businesses, as it’s a video guide to using LinkedIn for branding, lead generation, and hiring.

constant contact

Constant Contact is an online marketing platform tailored to small businesses. It offers various free tools and other resources for small businesses. Topics include email, social media, SMS texting, online stores, and websites. Constant Contact also provides educational webinars, seminars, and local events year-round.

This platform can help your team members level up their skills while improving operations. It includes small business resources for digital marketing tailored to your skill level—just starting out, up and running, or advanced marketer.

FDIC: Money Smart for Small Business

Boost your financial literacy with 13 modules for starting and managing a business. The materials and instructor-led curriculum were developed jointly by the Small Business Administration and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). You can download financial resources at Money Smart – Teach – For Small Business.

The lessons consist of:

"Is Owning a Business a Good Fit for You?"
"Planning for a Healthy Business"
"Banking Services Available for a Small Business"

MSSB is designed to be delivered to aspiring or existing small business owners by staff from financial institutions, small business development centers (SBDCs), women's business centers, city/county economic development offices and others. The curriculum is a tool for bank-community partnerships. No certifications are required to use the curriculum. Ideally, MSSB instructors have experience in the delivery of training, technical assistance or coaching to small businesses.