Learn your target market, competition, business environment and how to write and implement a marketing plan.
Topics covered include:
- Who are the right people for my product/service?
- Where do I find these people?
- What’s the difference between marketing and sales?
- Now that I have a blog, what do I write?
- How do I use Twitter/FaceBook/Blogging to attract customers?
- How do I get people to come to my site?
- Am I saying the right words to connect with my audience?
- Defining your target market.
Presenter: Bob Gaynor
As a social media specialist, I help small businesses and schools reach out to find new customers and clients using LinkedIn, Facebook and other tools. I will help you grow your business and strengthen customer relationships by building, managing and promoting your business identity online.
Specialties: B2B marketing, marketing management, LinkedIn training, social CRM training, social media outreach, customer presentations, sales training, small business coaching.
Improve your knowledge and efficient use of QuickBooks so you can use it as a valuable tool in managing your business and improving profitability.
Learn the basics of QuickBooks workflow while you customize your QuickBooks file to fit your own business activity.
- Shortcut your navigation habits – avoid getting lost in the software
- Edit QuickBooks preferences – to fit YOUR company
- Use Accounts Payable features – manage vendor activity / forecast cash outflow
- Use Accounts Receivable features – manage customer activity / forecast cash inflow
- Download bank and credit card transactions – automate data entry
- Reconcile bank and credit card accounts – trust your accurate QB bank and credit card account balances
- Create reports – easy access to the information you need, etc, . . . (you fill in your need here.)
- Attend once for a first look at (or a refresher view of) the basic features of QuickBooks.
**Seating is limited and capped at 20. If you are unable to register due to a full roster, please call (727) 893-7767 to inquire about wait list registration**
Presenter: Janet Shellenberger
Janet has been a SCORE mentor for over six years. In addition, she has donated her time as a past chapter chair.
Since 2002 she has owned and managed a tax preparation and accounting business focused on small and medium sized businesses of all types and legal structures. This includes helping businesses determine the best legal structure for them and providing the services to incorporate.
Prior to 2002 she was with with Intermedia Communications as Director and Vice President leading the Sales Operations and Finance organizations, growing the technical sales support organization from 8 to over 250 employees nationwide
Her professional career includes fifteen years with Digital Equipment Corporation in Sales Engineering and Management. Specialties include hardware and software networking, VAX systems and software. Several years of software development – machine code, FORTRAN, COBOL, ORACLE Data Base systems; etc.
Education MBA from Florida Institute of Technology – finance and accounting focus, BS from Univ. of Mo. at Rolla in Computer Science, and Authorized IRS tax preparer.
Entrepreneurs are often so focused on the day-to-day operations needed for survival that they don’t take time to look at the business as a whole. Changes can be made in every business to stimulate growth, improve competitive position, and increase customer satisfaction. In this workshop you will receive practical advice about using the essential disciplines of Money, Marketing, and Management to build a better business.
Presenter: Cliff Sullivan
Cliff Sullivan – Chapter Chair Emeritus, in-person and on-line Business Mentor & Workshop presenter with Pinellas County SCORE Chapter 115.
Specialties: Small business management mentoring, retired IRS.
An accomplished businessman, author and speaker, Cliff brings a lifetime of real world business experience to this lively, fast paced two hour workshop.
Essential details, practical advice and unique tips for the business desciplines of Money, Marketing and Management needed to build a better business to achieve greater success.
It’s about working smarter-not harder.
Introduction to Business Taxes and Tax Savings Tips
Agenda:
- New tax law trends
- How is your business taxed?
- What happens if I have a loss/profit?
- How to pay yourself
- Commonly missed / red flag deductions
- Bank accounts
- IRS bookkeeping requirements
- How to build your business credit score
Presenter: Bert Seither
Bert Seither is the Vice President at Corporate Tax Network, a national accounting and business development firm. For over a decade, Seither has assisted thousands of startup and well-established small businesses with their business development needs. He has assisted clients in a wide range of industries, enabling him to gain insight into a multitude of fields. He has gained the knowledge of tax reduction strategies, compliance, bookkeeping, payroll and business planning – all keys he believes is instrumental to ultimately starting a small business that can grow over time.
With his tremendous entrepreneurial drive, Seither has also started up some of his own small businesses, and he constantly draws on this experience when working with aspiring and current business owners. He has been featured in expert interviews on television networks ABC, NBC, and Fox.
If you are doing your ‘homework’ to start a business, you will definitely want to explore the different legal structures that are available to you. Common legal structures include Sole Proprietor, Partnership, Limited Liability Company, or Corporation. Your decision will affect what kinds of taxes you pay and who can be legally liable for a business dispute. In this workshop you will learn the advantages and disadvantages of each type so you can decide which structure best suits your needs.
Presenter: Will Hurter
Will first joined Spartan Law Group as a law clerk in January 2011 and is the President and a shareholder of the firm. Will graduated from Stetson College of Law and passed the Florida Bar Exam in the summer of 2011. Will serves the clients of the Spartan Law Group using his broad range of legal knowledge and skills coupled with his dedication to our client’s needs.
While at Stetson, Will was a member of Stetson’s award-winning Moot Court Board. Will won multiple awards over several competitions, including a team victory at the 2010 United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims competition in Washington D.C. where he also won the Best Individual Oralist award. As a member of the Spartan Law Group, Will always seeks to focus his competitive nature into outlets resulting in the best solutions for our clients.
Today Will enjoys finding creative solutions to help clients’ achieve their goals efficiently without sacrificing effectiveness and long-term security. He enjoys playing golf in his free time as well as watching sports and spending time with friends and family.
Are you ready to start a new small business?
This workshop will lead you through the steps you should take to be successful.
Some of the topics for discussion are:
- startup myths
- critical success factors
- your roles as a business owner
- the most important business functions
- the critical importance of cash flow
- dealing with regulations
- finding good professional advisors
Sign up for this workshop to learn a no-nonsense approach to starting a business with a higher chance for success.
Presenter: Cliff Sullivan
An accomplished businessman, author and speaker, Cliff brings a lifetime of real world business experience to this lively, fast paced two hour workshop.
Essential details, practical advice and unique tips for the business desciplines of Money, Marketing and Management needed to build a better business to achieve greater success.
It’s about working smarter-not harder.
You’re not ready to hire a professional web design company, but you know you need something, right now.
In this workshop, you will learn everything you need to know to have a great web site this week. New tecnology makes it really easy, and the cost to get started can be surprisingly low.
We will discuss issues like:
- How do I get my web site going?
- What is the best technology?
- How do I get people to come to my site?
- What are Twitter, FaceBook and blogging all about?
- How do I create a blog and what do I write?
- How can I hire a web designer I can trust?
Presenter: Toby Martini
I’m Toby Martini, a communications specialist. A what??
Let me put it this way – I can help you figure out the right words for your right people. That includes the words on your website, the things you say on FaceBook and Twitter, and what you say when you meet actual people (gasp!) in the real world, either through networking or even in workshops or seminars.
I’ve been a web geek for almost 20 years. I was the webmaster for the CitiBank intranet, the webmaster for Danka Office Imaging, and worked on the Verizon Intranet, too. And I’ve run Digital Martini for just over 8 years, handling every aspect of getting people launched on the Internet.
Who doesn’t love the idea of being their own boss, controlling their own destiny?
This workshop is the first step for anyone who is thinking about going into a franchise business for themselves.
During this session you will learn about business ownership and be enlightened as to the numerous options available in the franchise world.
Topics covered include:
- Benefits of franchise systems
- Who is right for the franchise industry?
- How to find the right franchise for you
Presenter: Mats Bengtson
Mats is a certified business mentor and has been helping small businesses start–ups in Pinellas County, for the past 8 years. More recently he has started specializing in helping entrepreneurs finding suitable new business opportunities with franchising concepts.
Originally from Sweden with a MBA in Marketing and Macro Economics, he has spent many years developing markets for consumer products and as business owner in the IT environment serving Fortune 500 industries in the Caribbean and South America.
