After a recent post on market research in our series for Demand Media writers, a reader mentioned that many (though not all) of these freelancers don’t have the basic business skills needed to take them from content mill work to targeting new specialty markets and landing new clients.

For those writers, I promised to post links to basic business resources to help them develop those skills or more easily plan and run their growing freelance businesses. Here are those free business resources — from free templates and worksheets to free online courses.

Business – General

• Owner’s Checklist for Starting a New Business (from SmartBiz.com)
• Business Selection Checklist (from SmartBiz.com)
• Small Business Success Course (free email course from About.com – Small Business: Canada)
• Improve Your Personal Networking Skills (free online course from the HP Learning Center)
• Building Your First Web Page (free online course from the HP Learning Center)
• Principles of Entrepreneurship (free online textbook from America.gov)
• Business Fundamentals (free online textbook from cnx.org)
• Business Communication for Success (free online textbook from FlatWorldKnowledge.com)

Business Plans

• How to Write a Business Plan (a free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Business Plan Outline (from Bplans.com)
• Sample Business Plans (from Bplans.com)
• One Page Business Plan Template

Market Research

• Conduct a Marketing Analysis (a free online course from Kutztown University)
• SWOT Analysis Worksheet
• Advertising and Marketing Psychology (free email course from About.com – Women in Business)

Marketing Plans

• One Page Marketing Plan Template
• Marketing Plan Outlines (from Mplans.com)
• Sample Marketing Plans (from Mplans.com)

Marketing / PR – Other

• Marketing 101 (free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Principles of Marketing (free online textbook from FlatWorldKnowledge.com)
• eMarketing Textbook (from Quirk.biz)
• Core Concepts of Marketing (from OERcommons.org)
• Press Releases Made Easy (free e-book)
• Social Marketing (free online course from The Open University)

Accounting

• Introduction to Accounting (a free online course from the U.S. Small Business Administration)
• Accounting I (free online textbook from peoi.org)
• Sample Business Balance Sheet (from FindLaw.com)
• Sample Profit and Loss Statement (from Findlaw.com)

If you have other favorite free online resources to help freelancers build basic business skills, please share them in the comments below.

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