Business Computing for Total Newbies?

I have very little computer experience. I am starting a new business, part of which will include online sales (I have a Hip Shop here at the forums, see the link in my sig.) Eventually I hope to transition to a website, but I'm going to have to learn how, first.

It has also occurred to me that there may be business progarams available to help me keep track of expenses and inventory. I have Linux (Kubuntu - my brother gave me my computer free and it was, I suspect, a cruel joke. I'll be getting a second hard drive and windows soon, but I want to keep the Linux too and learn to use it if for no other reason than because he's so convinced I can't), but don't know what's available by Open Office.

Are there any free online courses or tutorials available for business computer skills and building and maintaining a commercial website? What about business software to assist with budgeting, inventory, and other organizational needs?

I've been computer illiterate for most of my life, and now it's obviously time to change that. (Besides it's occurring to me that joining a local Linux users group might be a good way to meet cute geeky guys ) Where do I start to learn?

 

There are various ways to build web sites and I'm sure others
can suggest alternatives. The most easiest way is to use ready
built templates such as www.freewebs.com, real easy even for
total amateurs.

Going more advanced, Macromedia Dreamweaver is the stuff to
create web sites with but it really helps if you know how to use
Adobe Photoshop in unison. Dreamweaver is not hard to learn, imo.
Tutorials on web design, on-line shopping carts, etc, are all over
the web. Further knowledgable geeks go to http://forums.techguy.org/

 

There are many ways that you could go about doing this, depending on your budget, and how much learning you want to do. You could hire someone to build a custom website that can do anything that you want to do, though this route would probably be too expensive for a small online store.

There are also open source(ie free) programs which you can install on a site which will probably have all of the features that you need. These are made so they are fairly easy to install, and there is a large community using some of them, so it shouldnt be hard to get help. A couple of such programw are Zen cart and osCommerce. The only thing youll need to run these programs would be a webhost which has php and mysql, which most, if not all, will have. A webhost will cost somewhere around $50-100/year