Practical Finance for Entrepreneurial Creatives (Coursera)

Beginning with the personal financial management-side of the equation, the course videos will take you behind the financial institutional scene to show you how to:

Develop personal and household budgets and manage cash flow

Acquire, manage and protect consumer credit products including loans, leases, credit and debit card transactions

Develop saving and investment strategies and plan for housing and auto purchases, rentals and leases

Evaluate personal, property and healthcare insurance products and overcoming financial adversity

With that solid foundation laid, you will then see how the fundamental concepts of personal financial management translate into an entrepreneurial setting as you learn how to:

Assess a venture’s feasibility and the entrepreneur’s ability to properly guide its development

Select the right legal, accounting, and talent management representation and support, and developing and monitoring business, strategic and operating plans and budgets for businesses and freelance activities

Manage risks, optimizing organizational designs and safeguarding intellectual property

Arrange for the right type of financing and investment capital for your venture, addressing the unique challenges of and negotiating practical solutions to financial adversity and reaping the financial harvest: selling, liquidating and transferring ownership interests

Develop a draft business plan for the venture you have in mind

The course also includes a series of self-assessment exercises with an answer key, an optional capstone project for those who are contemplating (or have already begun) an entrepreneurial venture, and an optional series of contemplative questions that are drawn from the digital text, Practical Finance – A

Straightforward Guide to Personal and Entrepreneurial Finance. The 6th edition, which is available on Amazon Links to an external site., is used extensively in the “live” version of the Rutgers course. It contains additional content and hundreds of links to freely available resources including reference material, topical articles and financial calculators.

One last note: A scant few of the videos reference matters--such as those involving tax law and the Affordable Healthcare Act--that have evolved with the passage of time and subsequent legislation. The digital text reflects these changes.

Syllabus

WEEK 1: Course Essentials

WEEK 2: Fundamentals of Personal Financial Management - Lessons 1 & 2

WEEK 3: Fundamentals of Personal Financial Management - Lessons 3, 4, 5 & 6

WEEK 4: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Financial Management - Lessons 7 & 8

WEEK 5: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Financial Management

WEEK 6: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Financial Management - Lesson 10 & 11

WEEK 7: Practical Finance - Thank You