Free seminars offered through the Small Business Center

This 3-hour workshop will give you an overall understanding of the steps you need to take to make your dream of owning your own business a reality.

Speaker: Mike Collins

Many businesses require permits and licenses from local, county, state and even federal agencies. Federal and state tax requirements are not the only reason to keep good, up-to-date records in your business. While the last thing you want to do is have the IRS or State Depart. of Revenue hassling you, good record keeping habits will allow you to focus on generating revenue rather that worrying about catching up on your bookkeeping.

The business plan is a roadmap for your business whether you’re determining the feasibility for start-up, tracking your progress, planning for expansion, or applying for a loan. This workshop will discuss the narrative and financial aspects of the plan as well as give the student an opportunity to work with actual plans that have been prepared by others.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

An entrepreneur goes into business to make money. In order to accomplish this goal, it is often necessary to borrow funds. This 3-hour seminar will cover determining how much you need, where the money will come from, the 5 C’s of Credit, and preparing your loan package.

Speaker: Ruben Gonzales

Do you know your product or service upside down and backwards, but the numbers just drive you up a wall? This seminar will help you understand the difference between cash basis and accrual basis of accounting and single versus double entry bookkeeping. We’ll talk about calculating and recording payroll taxes and sales tax and you’ll get hands-on experience in preparing financial statements, including cash flow, income and expense statements, and balance sheets.

Speaker: Jess McLamb

This seminar will teach attendees how to get the most out of QuickBooks for their business. You will learn the basics to better understand your financial data. Topics include how to set your business, create invoices, pay bills, reconcile bank accounts, and create reports.

Speaker: Jess McLamb

Hootsuite is a program that can be utilized to manage your social media accounts in one place. In Hootsuite Part 1 you will gain a foundation with a basic overview of the program and receive instruction on how to create a social media marketing plan for your business. You will also learn different ways that a company can cultivate an online image such as How to Articles, Industry Updates, Promoting Specials and Sales, Providing Coupons and Deals, Celebrating Company Anniversary’s, Community Activities, Showcasing Company Culture etc. In Hootsuite Part II will execute your plan.

Google’s Hummingbird algorithm update to its search engine is one of the most profound changes in years. It is a transition from a keyword driven search engine to a mobile natural voice recognition answer engine. You need to know how to optimize your website, reviews, video and social media to maximize your business success with these changes

Speaker: Martin Brossman

Hootsuite Part 2 builds on Part I and is a hands on seminar that allows participants to setup their accounts in the classroom. (You CAN attend this seminar without attending Part I, however Part I is highly recommended) There will be a brief review of Part I followed by setting up your account using Hootsuite. This includes: how to add social media accounts to Hootsuite, introducing participants to the dashboard, and to Tabs, Streams, and Applications that can be added to Hootsuite, walk through composing a message, assigning the message to different social media and attaching pictures, links, and tags, as well as using Hootlet, Hootsuite Mobile, Keyword and Hash tag searches. NOTE: participants may need to bring their laptops or tablets to the seminar.

This seminar covers tips for prospective and existing business owners on how to learn more about customers, competitors, and overall market opportunities. In addition to defining a target market, you will learn the 4 components of the marketing mix and inexpensive and effective market research design.

Speaker: Mike Collins