We don’t often think of home-based businesses as places to use learning management systems. Yet in most of these businesses, training and education are just as important or more so than they are in traditional office positions. Even if you work for yourself, there are always new things to learn, and if you work for a company, you will need regular training.
So what is a learning management system? It is essentially a software program that delivers, tracks, and reports completed education courses and training programs. Even if you work for yourself, you can design your own learning management system within certain software applications.
If you work for a company, this is often the best way to provide ongoing training and even the initial education of new employees. It is less expensive, and you can do training from home without the need to travel to a specific location.
Company Uniformity
One advantage of a learning management system is company uniformity. If you have several or even just a couple of employees working from home, it is important that work is uniform, and customers have a similar experience regardless of where they go or who they order product or services from.
Having a standard and mandatory training program through an LMS means that everyone provides the same service, experience, and uses the same terminology, vendors, and more. This company uniformity is vital to business growth.
Even if you own your home-based business, if you put something like this into place, as you hire new employees or have other people join your team, you will have the training in place to assure the continued success of your company.
Remote Learning Options
Home-based business means that when you are not home, are not working. This means remote learning you can do from home will save you hours of time, potentially lost revenue, and the cost of commuting for training. If you are paying for this yourself, those savings can be huge. If they are paid for by a parent company, the savings translate to better profits, which benefits everyone.
When it comes to home-based business, remote learning options are almost a necessity rather than a luxury. The very nature of work itself is based around being able to work remotely from a home office or base. This saves overhead, commuting time, travel costs, daycare, and many more.
Remote learning can also be self-paced, meaning the learner can proceed at their own pace, making sure they can understand and apply the material to everyday practice before they move forward to another topic. This self-pacing means better training results and higher knowledge retention.
All these factors make a learning management system a vital asset.
Developing Needed Skills
There are certain skills that must be learned regardless of the experience of the user. These skills can be easily taught through a learning management system. Educational courses can include video instruction, augmented and virtual reality courses, and other “hands on” training exercises.
This means that education can go beyond verbal skills and soft skills, to hard skills that are essential for any business. Virtual reality and video allow for role play, more personal instruction, and other distinct advantages.
The ability to develop essential skills for your home-based business at a distance makes learning management systems even more important.
Flexible Scheduling
One distinct advantage of a home-based business is that you never have to leave your house. The drawback is that you also never really leave work, and you have to set boundaries for yourself when you close the door to the office or shop and leave work behind.
It does mean that you can work at optimal times for yourself. Whether you are an early bird, a night owl, or you peak in the middle of the day, the best time for you to get things done is when you can work. This also translates to learning.
An LMS means that either you can work at optimal times and use down time for training, or, by understanding when you will learn best, you can schedule your education and training accordingly. Like working from home, the flexible schedule lets you decide when it is best for you to spend time learning.
Industry Understanding
Finally, an LMS allows you, as a home-based business owner, to gain a greater understanding of your industry and the current trends in training. Keeping in touch can be more challenging when you work at home, but a structured learning management program helps you break out of that potential pitfall and engage with instructors, experts, and other students.
One of the best things you can do for your home-based business is engage in networking, and online education courses and other training programs is a great way to do so.
While a home-based business is not the first place that comes to mind when we talk about an LMS and training, there are some great advantages to setting one up, and setting it up early. As you grow as a person and a business, a good learning management system may form one of the pillars of your success.
