SANFORD - Anyone thinking about starting a small business can decide if it's the right move for them -- and even get a leg up on the competition -- with a free online course now being offered by the Central Carolina Community College Small Business Center.

Business Start-Up Foundations provides essential insight needed for success in the competitive environment. The new, self-paced course begins by asking if starting a business is right for you before moving onto other practical topics, including business structures, taxes, hiring employees, planning, marketing and much more.

Terri Brown, coordinator for the CCCC Small Business Center in Lee County, created the course entirely in-house to meet local needs.

"This is based on feedback from the community that I was hearing over and over again," she said. "People were finding it challenging to get information about how to start and grow a business, maybe because they were working full time in another job or had a family and couldn't step away for hours at a time."

Much of Business Start-Up Foundations is drawn from an existing small-business course, but broken into short video segments that can be viewed online at any time. "If 2 a.m. is the only time people have," Brown says, "now there's an opportunity for them."

Anyone who completes the course receives a certificate of completion from the college, but the assistance doesn't end there. Brown says the center continues to help small business owners with a portfolio of services, including seminars and one-on-one counseling.

Business Start-Up Foundations is free and available now online. To register for access, contact the Lee County Small Business Center at 919-718-7558 or tbrown@cccc.edu.