Business roundtable series planned
PRINCETON — Business owners will have the opportunity to sharpen their business skills during a four-part “Open for Business” roundtable series.
The roundtable series is sponsored by the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Illinois Valley Community College, Oglesby. The series will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Fridays, Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28 at the Bureau County Republican community room, 800 Ace Road in Princeton.
The cost of the four-part series is $180 or $55 for individual sessions.
Illinois Small Business Development Center Director Beverly Malooley and Gina Czubachowski will serve as instructors for the course.
Malooley said the roundtable series will give a good foundation for the new business owner or the person considering starting a business, as well as provide a good refresher course for the experienced business owner. People can attend all four sessions or pick and choose as needed, she said.
• On Feb. 7, Part 1 of the roundtable series is titled, “Managing Your Business and Employees.” The session will focus on learning the basics of writing a policy manual and also learning how to write and administer constructive yearly performance plans.
On Feb. 14, Part 2 of the course is titled “Financial Literacy for Business Owners.” The focus will be to learn how to plan for purposeful, profitable growth and to improve business performance by knowing how to understand and utilize the financial outcomes from your business.
On Feb. 21, Part 3, “Retail and Service Businesses” will focus on learning how to assess the overall internal operations of a business by taking a close look at the appearance of the store or office; customer service skills; communication with employees, vendors and customers; merchandising and seasonal opportunities; and monitoring inventory and product mix.
On Feb. 28, Part 4, “Managing Social Media for Small Business” will focus on enhancing the business owners understanding of the Internet as a critical marketing tool and learning how to use the internet to maximize business goals. This session will also teach the business owner how to create a powerful Internet presence and how to correctly integrate online marketing with traditional marketing, thus creating interactive ads which engage consumers.
More information on the roundtable series is available through the Illinois Small Business Development Center at 815-224-0212. Pre-registration is required and can be done online at www.ivcc.edu/online.cec.
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