Course Catalog / BMU 170 / Getting started
Getting Started: BMU 170 Start Your Business on a Budget
Welcome from BMU Learning
Welcome. We are glad you are here. This course was built for busy adults, so every lesson is short, plain, and practical. You can go at your own pace, and you can come back to any page as often as you need.
About this course
Many people have a business idea but are not sure if anyone will pay for it, what it will cost, or what the legal and tax steps are. This course shows you how to test an idea with real possible customers before you spend much money, work out your price and break even point, find the setup steps from official sources like the SBA and the IRS, and write a one page plan with a 30 day goal. The course makes no promises about income or profit.
Who it is for:
- You have an idea for a small business or side business and little money to risk
- You want to test whether people will pay before you spend or file anything
- You want plain steps from official sources, plus free mentors to check your thinking
Who made it: BMU Learning wrote and checked this course. There is no live instructor and no made up teacher. When audio and video are added, the narration will be an AI voice, not a real person, and captions and a transcript will be on the page.
How support works: BMU Learner Support answers questions about the course, your progress, and technical problems. See How to get help below.
What you will be able to do
- Describe, in one sentence about the customer, the problem a business idea solves, name who has the problem and who pays, and list at least two alternatives customers use now and what they pay.
- Hold and record at least 10 conversations with possible customers using open questions about past behavior, and sort what was heard into strong and weak signals.
- Calculate a price, cost per sale, fixed costs, and break even point (with a 10% buffer) using the SBA formula, and note the IRS self employment and estimated tax thresholds.
- List the legal and tax setup steps for a business (structure, name registration, EIN, licenses and zoning, records) from official, dated sources for the learner's own state and locality.
- Write a one page plan backed by 10 customer conversations, with an honest first customer plan that follows FTC advertising and review rules, a measurable 30 day goal, and a free mentor requested.
How to find your way around
- Start with the Pretest. It is not graded. It shows what you already know.
- Take the 6 lessons in order. Each one builds on the last.
- Inside each lesson, the parts come in the same order: why it matters and what you will learn, the teaching, a worked example, strong and weak examples, practice with feedback, a short check, and a recap.
- Do the Try it step in your real life. That is where the skill sticks.
- Finish with the performance task, then the Posttest.
Your map of the whole course is the syllabus. Words you may not know are in the glossary.
What you need
- A phone, tablet, or computer with internet. Keep your web browser up to date.
- About 15 to 30 minutes at a time. Printing is optional.
- No special software. Answers open with a tap. Pages work with a keyboard, a screen reader, and zoom.
- Prerequisites: none. If you can read this page, you can take this course.
Your Course Project: each lesson tells you which part of the Course Project it builds. The page checks each part for you and saves your work on this device.
How to get help
- Quick answers: the BMU Help Center can help with your progress, your certificate, billing, and tech problems.
- Ask a person: use the Contact BMU support form and pick a topic. Please do not send card numbers or passwords.
- Something not working: refresh the page and try a current browser. If it still fails, contact support, choose Technical problem, and tell us the page, your device, and your browser.
- In crisis: BMU support cannot respond to emergencies. Call or text 988, or call 911.
If you fall behind or get stuck
- There are no deadlines and no late penalties. If you miss a week, pick up where you left off.
- Start each return visit with the Quick review at the top of the next lesson.
- Missed a check question? Open the feedback, reread the section it points to, and try again. There is no limit on tries.
- Still stuck after two tries? Contact BMU Learner Support with the lesson name and the step. We will point you to the right part.
How you finish
To complete the course, you need two things: build your Course Project until every part passes its automatic check, and pass the Posttest with 80% or higher. The Certificate of Completion unlocks when both are done. You can revise the project and retake the Posttest as many times as you need. The survey at the end is optional and never blocks your certificate.