Knowledge is the most powerful tool in any person’s tool belt. It is arguably more important in the hands of small business owners.

Entrepreneurs don’t just have other small businesses to compete with, but often are faced with behemoths like Amazon and other “Big Box” retailers/service providers, vying for the same profits. This places pressures on your business, and forces you to innovate. How are you to innovate with an empty cup? You must fill your cup with knowledge! So let us take a look at my Top 5 Learning Platforms that don’t kill your budget!

Fill your cup, so that you have the ability to spend that brain juice on new endeavors or more efficient processing.

But, Josh, you say: How do I fill my cup for cheap? And how do I fill it with Quality knowledge, not mumbo jumbo?

Well, reader, here is how you can most efficiently spend your dollars and guarantee a return on investment (investment being knowledge, which is again… POWERFUL!!)

A list of my Top 5 Low Cost – High Return Online Education Platforms

#1: Udemy

This is my go-to website for learning anything technical. For only $10 (most days, you have to watch for deals), you can get top of the line training courses on a variety of subjects. Anything from learning how to draw, to learning how to develop in a specific programming language, this website is for you!

Udemy has a rating system which provides you with the ability to filter out quality courses from the bad. It also allows you to preview course material and gives you an insight into what you’ll be learning.

Here are a few courses from Udemy that I personally recommend (note: each of these can be bought for less than $30 if you place them on your wishlist and wait a bit):

SQL for Newbs: Data Analysis for Beginners:

This course is truly a gem! The instructors are hilarious and cover the basics of SQL, including need to know queries as well as in depth explanations of said queries. Would-be analysts, entrepreneurs, or anyone dealing with a SQL Database or crunching a lot of different analytics would gain great value from this course.

How to Create a Website: An HTML Tutorial and CSS Tutorial:

This course, taught by Todd McLeod, really touches on the fundamentals of HTML and CSS. Being a tenured professor, he ingrains the concepts into your brain like a chisel. Bit by bit, you start to develop a generic skill set that can be applied across solutions. Whether it by WordPress, Bootstrap, etc. People looking to better understand the fundamentals of how websites are created and maintained would find great value in this course.

Complete Java MasterClass:

Tim Buchalka is an Australian genius. He’s comprised a course that is comprehensively the easiest Java course to start and finish, in my opinion. Here’s a great excerpt from his Instructor profile on Udemy:

Tim’s Java, Android, and Python courses, here on Udemy are of the highest quality as reviewed by his students. Ten’s of thousands of students, just like you, have taken his classes, thousands have left glowing reviews, and many have gone on to full-time jobs, or consulting/freelancing opportunities after completing one of his courses.

#2: Khan Academy

A small exhibit of what Khan Academy offers!

Khan Academy is a great option for learning or re-learning the basics of a variety of topics. They have courses in Math ranging from basic algebra all the way to Calculus. They also have engineering courses as well! This website is a nonprofit, so the only cost for these courses would be the time invested (unless you wanted to donate!)

#3: Coursera

Coursera provides free college courses, with the potential to pay for a certificate if you’d like! Is there a need to say more? Just look at the courses offered above! Wow!

#4: CBT Nuggets

I just recently learned about this website, and it’s awesome. It provides you a gateway to learning certification materials specific to the Information Technology industry. This is a really powerful tool for someone looking to get their foot into the IT Career Path. This website is also awesome if you want to build out your own systems at home or at work, or don’t want to get duped by shady IT Contractors. 🙂

#5: YouTube

YouTube. While not my favorite, there are a plethora of great educators on this cornerstone of the internet. Why is it not my #1? Because to me, YouTube is built for entertainment. The functionality around the educational videos does not support education, but entertainment.

Hence why I shared the video above of the Madman David Goggins (who’s super inspirational and a literal animal). If you try to use YouTube to delve into a new career, you will inevitably place a lot of time on YouTube, as opposed to a structured learning environment. This means more of your life used to learn and master the material you want. Obviously that doesn’t mean you cannot do it on YouTube alone, it just has inbuilt hurdles that you have to overcome, and requires much more of a self-study.