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April 1, 2010
Have you done your taxes yet? Maybe you have someone do them for you? Either way, being organized is a challenge for many of us.
Here are some of my favorite organization ideas for making tax-time a little easier:
- Establish and maintain a record keeping system.
- Designate a physical space in your home or office where you will keep your records.
- If you sort as you go it will take away a lot of the stress!
- Throw away all of those extraneous envelopes!
If you need assistance in learning what records you need to keep or how to organize your records, for example, and you are a small business owner, please contact us! |
| Events |
The Building Green Communities conference is going to take place all day Saturday (April 3). This is the fourth annual conference and is a fun and educational time! It starts at 8 AM and goes until 8 PM at the Arcata Community Center.
From the Fire in the Belly was so much fun! Business owners became storytellers, average people became outrageous, and the Economic Fuel elevator pitches were pretty cool too.
Speaking of Economic Fuel, did you know that 32 teams turned in Business Plans this year in order to compete for $117,000?!?
There will be Finalist Presentations on April 26th & April 27th from 6:00 - 8:30 PM in the Kate Buchanan Room at HSU, and the Awards Ceremony will occur on April 30 from 6:30 - 8:00 PM at the Wharfinger Building in Eureka.
Time sure does fly by! The competition officially opened on October 13th 2009, the entries (business plans) were due by March 22 2010, and the winners will be awarded at the end of April.
Good luck to all the contestants and good job to the Economic Fuel team!
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Save the date...
AEDC's "Spotlight on Success - Begin Again
in 2010"
is scheduled for the evening of May 18.
This year, in observance of
the North
Coast SBDC's
25th year serving businesses here in the Redwood Region, AEDC will
shine some of that spotlight on us. So plan to join in the celebration. Last
year was a blast!
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| People |
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Ben Cameron, a long-time manager with Coast
Central Credit Union in Crescent City, retired recently.
Concurrent with
that move, he decided to step aside as a North Coast SBDC board member.
For those who
don't know him, Ben is a true gentleman.
We thank him for his service and wish
him all the best in retirement. |
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From the desk of the Executive Director
In
the nonprofit grant world, it seems that you have to win business multiple
times. Often, you help a government jurisdiction write a grant application and,
together, you need to win the grant. Then sometimes you need to bid and win the
contract to do the work specified in the grant. Then you need to perform...that
is, you need to do the work that entitles you to bill the grant. The last is
the most like actually winning business. It takes some getting used to.
I
am happy to report that we have now won the bid to do the work under Humboldt County's CDBG microenterprise contract. This both funds us to serve small businesses of low/moderate income folks,
largely through our well-regarded "flight" model, and it serves as a key source
for the required matching funds to those from the
SBDC.
The
good news is that we know we will perform, so we will win that business the
third time.
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| News |
Governor's Conference on Small Business
and Entrepreneurship, to be held in Oakland on May 6.
Michael
Kraft and Janet DePace will join entrepreneurs and other
business-minded individuals in looking at California's small business
economy.
People from our area are welcome to attend!
For
more information on the conference go to http://californiasbdc.org/governorsconference
Attn: Employers
Summer intern opportunities abound at HSU
ARCATA - National and
statewide summer internship deadlines are just around the corner and the
Humboldt State University Career Center is looking for more local employers
interested in hosting career-related summer internships.
Each year hundreds of
HSU's top students look outside of Humboldt
County to get work experiences
needed for resume and career development.
However, many students would remain in Humboldt County
all year if more local businesses were able to offer similar or competitive
work-experience opportunities. The
benefits to the area include a higher level of student involvement in the
community, more dollars circulating in the local economy when school is not in
session, and an opportunity to get an enthusiastic employee with expertise in
their field without the long-term financial commitment of creating a permanent
position.
"So many small
businesses have difficulty securing new talent from out-of-the area because
they are not able to compete with metropolitan salary and benefit packages,"
said Ann Johnson-Stromberg, HSU Career Center Coordinator for Internships, Job Location
& Development. "By sponsoring
internships, local businesses are able to develop relationships with students
before they have one foot out the door.
We don't expect to keep all of our graduates in Humboldt County,
but wouldn't it be great if we could keep the best?"
Along with
advertising internships to students and faculty, the HSU Career Center also has an online job board that
allows local employers to post part-time and full-time positions for free.
For more information
on how you can develop a summer internship or advertise upcoming openings, contact
Johnson-Stromberg at 826-5453 or by E-mail at acj1@humboldt.edu
for an employer packet.
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Workshops
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If you are interested in using the Internet to promote your business you might consider these workshops: For friends, family, co-workers, or employees who want to begin using computers: Getting Started with ComputersThursdays starting April 15 for 4 weeks, 2:00-4:00 PM at the College of the Redwoods Eureka Downtown Site. Total cost: $63.00 For more information please call CR at 707-269-4000. Go to top |
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Grants & Programs |
Eel River Valley Prosperity Scholarship/
Microenterprise Flight
This is a last chance opportunity to apply to the 2010 Prosperity Scholarship/Micro-enterprise Flight!
The 10-month program will start soon! It includes extensive business training through one-on-one counseling and workshops, as well as a savings match program and lots of networking opportunities.
Find out more at www.northcoastsbdc.org/EelRiverSavings2010
If you are interested or know someone who might be, please don't delay in contacting us!
Bookkeepers Flight
We are gearing up to provide a new program for bookkeepers!
We will not be providing instruction on how to do bookkeeping, rather we will focus on making the business end of providing bookkeeping services easier and more productive.
In conjunction with the bookkeepers flight, reformulating a bookkeepers association for Humboldt County is in the works.
Please let us know if you are interested by calling 707-445-9057, and let others know of these new and upcoming opportunities!
The North Coast SBDC applied for
several grants, for which we will be notified very soon if they were
awarded.
They
are:
- Small Business Administration,
Portability Grant
- Headwaters
Fund, Innovation in Our Region
- Wells Fargo, Youth Entrepreneurship
Each grant has a different
focus,
yet all of them are aimed at increasing economic impact in our region by
providing services to current and future small business owners.
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| Stat for this month. |
Nearly 12,000 free tax preparation sites will be open nationwide this year as the Internal Revenue Service continues to expand its partnerships with nonprofit and community organizations performing vital tax preparation services. 
For tax preparation assistance in Humboldt County:Call 707-441-1001 for appointment availability. This Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Tax Assistance is sponsored by the Redwood
Community Action
Agency, the Humboldt County Library, and the RICHES Coalition. Humboldt State University School of Business offers drop in assistance Wednesdays from 5:30 PM - 8:55 PM at Siemens Hall Room 118. |
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In celebration of our 25th anniversary, look for our special newsletter next month!
 Sincerely,
Kathrine Bridgwater
Small Business Development Analyst
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