Online courses help at-home businesses
keep a touch of class
By Dana Dratch • Bankrate.com

Your home-based business is growing, and now you need some formal training to take you to the next level. Relax -- the help you need could be just a mouse-click away.

For time-starved business owners, the trend toward Web-based learning is a godsend. Universities, professional organizations and for-profit training institutions are beginning to recognize the need to sharpen the skills of America's 24 million home-based business owners.

Small-business owners are finding training that suits their hectic pace and jam-packed schedules. They can opt for MBA programs, continuing education in their fields, or programs that fill a need or expand their skill sets.

Although it has far to go, Web-based education is beginning to level the playing field between corporate employees and their home-based counterparts.

"Most large corporations have educational development," says Bill Connors, a certified travel counselor and an executive vice president with the American Society of Travel Agents. "Web sites offer the opportunity to have the advantage of having a large corporate training department without having a large corporation."

Recently, ASTA started offering its own online classes for agents. From their homes or offices, travel professionals can earn specialty certificates in areas such as mature travel and family travel. Another industry organization, the Institute of Certified Travel Agents, is in the process of adding online education.

'Powerful' learning tool
Some colleges -- such as Jones International University, an online university based in Englewood, Colo., and the University of Phoenix, which offers both online and traditional, ground-based classes -- have fully accredited online degree programs.

"Everybody is starting to realize how powerful the Internet is," says Brian Mueller, the chief operating officer for the University of Phoenix.

For Jenny Reinke, who runs her own home business as an advertising and marketing consultant, Internet courses helped her get her master's degree as she was launching her business.

Three years ago, she was laid off from a mortgage company. "Getting laid off and starting my own business -- I just felt like I really needed to keep my mind occupied," says Reinke, 35. But she hated the thought of going back into a traditional classroom.

Instead, she signed up with Jones' business communications program. The 7-year-old university has an enrollment of 100 to 120 students, according to President Pamela Pease. The school has bachelor's and master's programs in business communications and MBA programs in e-business and entrepreneurship. Costs run from $600 per three-credit class for the bachelor's program to $725 per class for the MBA program.

Reinke devoted 15 to 20 hours a week to her studies, fitting them in around her personal and business schedules. "It didn't matter when I did my work, as long as I did it," she says.

Online learning's pluses, minuses
That's one of the biggest advantages to online classes -- you can study whenever and wherever you want. Some programs, such as a medical program affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago, allow students to participate on their own schedules. Others, such as ASTA's professional development classes, are in "real time" -- students "meet" at specific times and interact with each other and the teacher via the Internet.

Web classes have a downside, though. Because they are so new, offerings can be very limited. "It's a great opportunity for some, but it's still in its infancy," says Connors.

Small-business owners can pick up individual classes fairly cheaply. More sophisticated offerings, such as college classes, are likely as or more expensive than their brick-and-mortar counterparts.

At Phoenix, the master's program costs about $20,000 for a two-year program. At Jones International, tuition for an MBA can run $25,000.

One financial advantage to online study, says Mueller, is that "you don't have to quit your job and halt your income earning potential. From that standpoint, it's very efficient."

Be wary, though. Select your "school" carefully. One Web-based program bills itself as its industry's "leading training site." Unfortunately, leaders with that industry's largest research organization have never heard of the company or its classes. Don't hand over a check or credit card number just because a Web site looks good. Check out the program carefully.

Finding a good class
You wouldn't buy new equipment for your business without researching it thoroughly. Why should business training be any different?

Your best bet: Go with what (and who) you know. Call your industry's professional organizations and ask about Web classes. Many industry groups keep lists of reputable classes -- and some of those are probably online. Talk to other professionals in your business. Where are they going for training, and are they satisfied? Contact your local Small Business Development Center. They can put you in touch with a wealth of online information and may also be able to steer you toward a few good classes.

If you fall in love with a particular online offering, call the company or school and ask for references. When you talk to the students, ask specifically how the class helped their business, if the lessons were practical and if they would take the class again. What, if anything, would they change?

In addition, contact the Better Business Bureau and the state regulating agency in the state where the business or school is located. Have there been any complaints against the business? If so, what was the nature of the complaint and was it resolved? This is one case where it really pays to do your homework before you go to class.

Inside the Web classroom
With an Internet university, students either access private Web sites or have special software that allows them entry to classroom "discussions" via message boards, news groups and chat rooms. For special research projects, students sometimes call each other -- but otherwise all of the contact is through the computer screen.

"Your written word is your value," says Nancy Wendorf, who got her MBA through the University of Phoenix -- and ended up doing much of the work in the wee hours of the morning. For 25 years she had tried various brick-and-mortar MBA programs -- but none could survive her globe-trotting travel schedule. Finally, with Web-based study, Wendorf found a good fit.

"I got a quality education," she says. "It allowed me to get a toolbox to recycle my personal and business skills."

Dana Dratch is a freelance writer based in Georgia
To comment on this story, please e-mail the Bankrate.com editors

-- Posted: July 31, 2000