Rise x LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn learning offers over 16,00 skills-development courses, and you can access them all for free as part of your Man Met studentship (usual cost £29.99/month!) And thanks to our exclusive partnership, you'll automatically earn Rise points for completing them. Here's how to get started:

1. Go to linkedin.com/learning-login
2. Enter mmu.ac.uk - this step is important!
3. Click Continue to The Manchester Metropolitan University
4. Enter your username in the following format: MMUID@stu.mmu.ac.uk, eg. 12345678@stu.mmu.ac.uk
5. Enter your usual university password

Note: Rise points will be automatically awarded at 7am each morning, based courses that you have fully completed in the previous 24 hours

Discover what you’ll need to succeed as a business owner. Learn entrepreneurship essentials, from finding and testing your business idea and raising capital to marketing your business.

Learn what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur

Find and test your business idea

Market your business

Once you’ve completed the below courses head here to take your test and get your certificate! Don’t forget to share on your LinkedIn profile!

Entrepreneurship Foundations (8 Rise Points)

View Kim's LinkedIn Newsletter Join Kim Kaupe as she shares the steps to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Kim begins by providing a set of tools to assess a potential business opportunity, outlines some of the challenges you might face, and offers a formula for starting small and creating your new company. She covers how to raise funds and the importance of having the right tools available. She also identifies the important people in the process of entrepreneurship and how each plays a powerful role in your success. Finally, Kim shares how to find a tribe of supporters and how to scale your new business.

Guy Kawasaki on Entrepreneurship (4 Rise Points)

In this interview-style course, author, entrepreneur, evangelist, and venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki discusses a variety of topics centered on entrepreneurship. He shows how to focus your pitch and develop prototypes, predict new markets, and capitalize on social media. Topics Guy discusses include: The critical nature of prototyping The qualities of an MVVVP (minimum viable, valuable, validating product) The irrelevance of business plans The qualities of state-of-the-art pitches The replacement of marketing with social media

Entrepreneurship: Finding and Testing Your Business Idea (4 Rise Points)

The prospect of starting your own business from scratch can feel at once exhilarating and overwhelming. Before you launch a new business, it's critical that you validate and test your ideas to determine if they represent legitimate market needs. In this course, Dave Crenshaw helps you determine first which businesses are best suited to you as an entrepreneur, and then how to brainstorm ideas and identify which idea is a real opportunity. Lastly, he helps you create and execute a plan to test for validity before you start a business.

Understanding Business (4 Rise Points)

Learn the foundational concepts underlying all businesses, small to large. Arizona State University professor Eddie Davila covers all the basics, explaining concepts such as how revenues and costs influence a company's profit and which teams play a key role in any organization's success. He then provides a basic explanation of how finance teams operate in a business, so that you can better understand what drives financial decisions in an organization. He also reviews how companies communicate with customers via marketing and branding; how supply chains function in an organization; and how accounting, HR, and IT teams work to manage an organization's money, employees, and information.

Creating a Business Plan (8 Rise Points)

View Mike's LinkedIn Newsletter Looking to build a business or expand one you're already running? You'll need to build a business plan before you do. Experienced entrepreneur and consultant Mike Figliuolo walks through the process of defining your business, researching the market, and determining your product. Once you've figured out what your product or service will be, Mike provides guidance for thinking through your sales strategy, day-to-day operations, staffing, and financial forecasting. A sample business plan is provided, so you can follow along with the development of a real-world company.

Foundations of Raising Capital (6 Rise Points)

For many businesses, success is dependent on raising the capital necessary to fund the business to a point of profitability—and that capital can come from a variety of sources. In this course, explore several different methods for raising capital for your business, including loans, accelerator programs, crowdfunding, and venture capital. Instructor Jay Clouse sets you up for success by covering what to do before you pursue investment options, explaining who invests in businesses, why they do it, and how to convince them to invest in yours. Jay shares tips for constructing a presentation to support your pitch, as well as building effective relationships with potential investors. And throughout the course, he delves into both traditional funding options, such as banks and angel investors, and newer alternative forms of funding.

Finance Essentials for Small Business (4 Rise Points)

Manage your small business successfully with these finance essentials from accounting professors Jim and Kay Stice. They explain the five reasons so many small businesses fail and outline strategies—such as tracking your accounting, managing your operating cycle, and forecasting cash flow—that will help you manage your small business better. They also provide valuable perspective on pricing strategies and the dangers of fast growth.

Small Business Marketing (8 Rise Points)

Every small business is different; however, the common secret of successful small businesses lies in a solid marketing plan. In this course, Brad Batesole walks you through everything you need to know about marketing your service or product effectively—regardless of your team's size or budget. Brad explains how to identify your target market, formulate your brand message, and figure out the best marketing channels. He details how to identify your advertising options, including how to plan an initial social campaign, as well as how to measure your results. Plus, he provides guidance on how to decide whether to do your own marketing or hire a professional.