Western Dairyland
Women's Business Center
Newsletter for March 2008 |
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Greetings!
This month's newsletter is full of information! Under "Area Happenings", we have information on local business competitions, meetings, and links to great articles. Western Dairyland Business Center will be launching 2 new Inventors and Entrepreneurs Clubs in March and April (more details below). Also, there is still time to take advantage of our Free Tax Assistance. You will also want to check out our Women's Business Section for our next networking meeting and our 5th Annual Women's Business Conference.
Western Dairyland would like to wish Julie Bollinger, now representing Greener Grass Systems, the best of luck on building their family business. Julie's last day with Western Dairyland will be March 11th. We will all miss Julie's fun-loving attitude, her talent and her wonderful giving spirit. Her contributions to our Business Center and many other organizations are endless. Thanks again Julie for your amazing belief, support, and encouragement. You will be greatly missed.
Please enjoy our newsletter and don't forget to reply to this email with your suggestions, success stories, comments, and/or concerns.
Sincerely,
Sara Bates,
Western Dairyland's Business Center |
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New Inventors & Entrepreneurs Clubs!
INVENTORS & ENTREPRENEURS CLUB LAUNCHED IN JACKSON COUNTY
Individuals interested in starting a business or moving a new product idea forward are invited to join the Jackson County Inventors and Entrepreneurs Club. The club will hold its first meeting on Thursday, March 13th at Jackson Electric, N6868 County Road F, Black River Falls.
The club is open to anyone in Western Wisconsin who would like to learn from experienced professionals and discuss their ideas with other local inventors and entrepreneurs. Each meeting will feature a guest speaker who will share tips and techniques on topics ranging from market research and business planning to patents and trademarks. The goal of the club is to create a positive learning environment that will enable participants to successfully move forward with their plans.
The guest speaker for the first meeting will be Terry Whipple, Executive Director for the Juneau County Economic Development Corporation. Terry developed the extremely successful Juneau County Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club, which has had over 300 participants from numerous counties across Wisconsin and other states. Juneau County's Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club was chosen as one of Wisconsin's Top Rural Development Initiatives in 2004 and has since been a model for other clubs throughout the state.
The Jackson County Inventors & Entrepreneurs Club is a project of the Western Dairyland Community Action Agency. No registration is required to attend the monthly meetings and there are no fees to join.
The New Buffalo/Trempealeau County I & E Club will launch on April 17th. These meetings will be held at 6:30 on the Third Thursday of the month at at the Riverland Energy Cooperative (N28988 State Rd 93 in Arcadia).
For more information on either I & E Club call Karman Briggs at 800-782-1063 or 715-836-7511, ext. 174, or e-mail IandE@WesternDairyland.org. |
 5th Annual Women's Business Conference Online Registration is Now Open!
Learn from successful business professionals. Meet established members of the Chippewa Valley business community. Talk to business assistance providers. Network with other entrepreneurs. One day of education and networking could make an enormous impact on your existing, or future business.
You won't want to miss our Keynote Address by Peg Leinenkugel of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, and remember to bring plenty of business cards for networking.
Women's Business Networking FREE Monthly Meetings!
On Tuesday March 11th, 2008 Bethany Olson of Corporate Technologies will present a must-know session about how to keep your computer safe, and how to avoid a potentially devastating system crash. You will learn simple steps you can take to keep your computer running smooth, even if you are not a tech person.
We will not have a networking meeting in April. Instead we welcome everyone to come and attend our Women's Business Conference on April 17th at the Plaza Hotel & Suites in Eau Claire.
These meetings are FREE for women entrepreneurs! Attendees are encouraged to bring their business cards, and a lunch to eat during the meeting. All Women's Networking meetings will be held at 418 Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire and are from 11:00-1:00pm. Future meetings will be held on the 2nd Tuesday of the month. Mark your calendars!
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Tax Time is Here!
Free business filing assistance with your Schedule C!
If you are a small business owner who is filling out a Schedule C for the first time, or you just need assistance with your Schedule C, Western Dairyland's Business Center is offering one-on-one assistance with our Business Development Specialists.
Our staff will assist you in organizing and preparing your business information on your Schedule C. We will be available, by appointment only, on Monday afternoons until 6:30 through tax season. Just call 715-836-7511 ext 171 to schedule your appointment. You can also schedule your appointment a different time if Monday's don't work for you.
After completing your schedule C with our staff on Monday, you can step on over and file your taxes in our office for FREE on the same day! More details on filing are included in the next paragraph.
Please pass this information on to any business owner you know that could benefit from this FREE assistance. Free tax filing for qualifying individuals!
The UWEC accounting students, along with their professor, will be offering FREE business and tax filing for qualifying individuals on Monday nights through tax season. This FREE assistance is made possible through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. VITA, a special program of the Internal Revenue Service and Wisconsin Department of Revenue, provides free tax filing to taxpayers with adjusted gross annual incomes under $39,000. If you are a one to two member LLC, or Sole Proprietor business filing a Schedule C, the students can also file your return for FREE regardless of you income.
This assistance will be available Monday's from 4:00-7:00pm at Western Dairyland 418 Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire on a first-come first-serve basis.
Please pass this information on to any individual or business owner you know that could benefit from this FREE filing service.
Also, check out our new Tax Center located on our Business Center website. It has a wealth of information to help answer those burning questions about Small Business Taxes. | | |
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Wisconsin Common Market News and Tips:
Create a Customer Email List
When selling online, it can be very easy and beneficial to create an email contact list of your existing and potential customers. Communicating with your customers on a regularly basis via email is an inexpensive way to inform them about new products and to simply keep yourself in the forefront of their mind. Here are some steps to get started.
- Choose software. When starting out, you may be able to use your existing email account and internet service provider. However, you should check with your internet service provider to determine how many email addresses to which you can safely send at one time. Sending to several hundred email addresses at one time through your existing email account will likely result in your email being blocked by the potential recipients - possibly permanently. To avoid this, a quick online search for "bulk email software" will give a wide array of options such as Constant Contact and GroupMail.
- Know the law. The CAN-SPAM Act has some very specific rules and regulations to which all legitimate bulk e-mailers should abide. Namely, you can not rightfully "harvest" email addresses from unsuspecting individuals and you must give recipients an "opt out" option. For full details, click here.
- Collect email addresses. Anyone with whom you have an existing business relationship is an appropriate addition to your email list. When adding new, potential customers to your email list, make sure they know that they are "opting in" to receive future communication from you via email. Possible sources for collecting email addresses include networking groups, expos and even the upcoming Women's Business Conference. Although, this does not mean you should gather everyone's business cards when they aren't looking! If you have a website, provide an online form for potential customers to add themselves to your email list.
- Determine a schedule. The frequency of which you email your customers depends on you and your business. Unless your business has rapidly changing inventory and promotions, a weekly email will be more annoying than useful to your customers. Consider a monthly or quarterly email, instead. If your business relies heavily on holiday sales, it may be more effective to only email your customers prior to each major holiday.
- Create content. If you want your emails to be read, consider creating unique content specific to your business and your customers. Emails that only contain information about this month's sales are more likely to hit the trash bin than emails that contain useful, pertinent information and tips for your customers. For example, if you are in the food industry, include some recipes that correlate with the products you are currently promoting.
- Start emailing!
Karman Briggs, e-Commerce Site Manager
Wisconsin Common Market New Members:
Technical Writing Assistance Available:
A new UWEC technical writing intern is available specifically to assist WCM vendors with better search engine placement that will hopefully result in more sales! Because the intern's time is limited, preference will be given to vendors who have not yet been assisted by previous technical writing interns. If you would like help with improving the text of your WCM web page, please contact Karman Briggs.
Please contact Karman Briggs, e-Commerce Site Manager, with questions, comments or suggestions for future tips and topics. |
| Register for the Last Two Sessions! |
Michele Dalton of Digital Daisy Media is teaming up with Western Dairyland's Business Centers to offer a must-not-miss marketing series called "Bulls Eye Marketing". This series will consist of 6 different sessions from 7:00-9:00pm on Monday nights starting in February (there are two sessions remaining in the series). Price includes a Bulls-Eye Marketing workbook. You can still register for the remaining sessions for $10 each.
Week V - (Mar. 10th) - It Ain't Over
You've hit the mark and made a sale! But, it ain't over. What you do after the sale is almost more important than everything that came before it. In week five we will focus on several aspects of customer service, generating repeat business and creating word-of-mouth advertising/referrals.
Week VI - (Mar. 17th) - Hitting the Mark with Technology
The past 10 years have seen phenomenal growth in personal computing and business technology, but many small business owners cringe when they contemplate tackling gizmos, gadgets and google-ese. In week six we will explore several components of marketing with technology, including automated phone services , on-line resources and nanocasting.
Each session will cost $10. All sessions will be on Monday nights from 7:00-9:00pm and will be held at Western Dairyland, 418 Wisconsin Street in Eau Claire. For more details, or to register, contact Michele at 715-858-0315 or visit Digital Daisy Media. |
| Other Happenings you won't want to miss!
AREA HAPPENINGS:
ABWA - American Business Women's Association Meeting. The next meeting is March 12th with guest speaker Betty Cotton of The Quilt Yard in Osseo, WI. Betty is a local entrepreneur, business owner, and author. The meeting will be held in the University Room at the Holiday Inn, Campus. Chef's Choice Pizza Buffet will be catering, so please bring $12.50 if you plan on eating. Social hour starts at 5:45, meeting starts at 6:15, Betty will speak at 6:30, and the meal will be at 7:00. Any questions or to RSVP please email Kris Crnic or call 831-5448.
UPCOMING BUSINESS COMPETITIONS:
"Jump-Start Downtown" business competition is for entrepreneurs interested in starting a business in downtown Eau Claire. This competition is open to any type of business from hi-tech office services to specialty gift shops. Business pans must be submitted by May 31st. To assist you further with your business plans, there are 2 business seminars being held at Western Dairyland. Business Basics on March 13th from 12-2pm and Financials and Projections on March 27th from 12-1pm. click here for more details.
"Create Your Own Business" competition. This business plan competition is sponsored by the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Center. The businesses judged to have the best ideas, plans, management teams, and potential for success will receive a variety of awards. The 2008 pre-application deadline will be in May 2008.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST:
" 7 Tips for Turning Cold Calls into Hot Leads". Cold calling is hard. But turning cold calls into actual sales calls takes confidence as well as skill. As an infant enterprise with scant resources, a low profile, and a few (if any) client testimonials, you must practice "interruptive marketing" to get your message out. Here are seven expert tips to help you succeed.
" 7 Startup Tips for Women Entrepreneurs". Women owned companies are growing at nearly twice the rate of all businesses, according to the Center for Women's Business Research. If you're a women thinking about starting a business, check out these practical tips from women entrepreneurs across the country that can help you jump some initial hurdles.
OTHER INFORMATION:
Idea Pathway: Moving Ideas Toward Reality through the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corporation. Got a great idea for a new product or innovative service, but not sure what to do with it? Look no further than the Idea Pathway to bring your new concept into reality. The pathway is an interactive tool that gives you the information you need to move your idea toward reality, whether you're in the development stage, or finalizing your business plan. Click here for more details.
Internship needed: Young, hard working, athletic college student looking for a business internship around the Eau Claire area for summer of 2008. Looking for internship (preferably paid) to give a well-rounded experience of what it takes to create, maintain, and expand a business. I have started a mowing business and have operated and maintained it with a partner for five years. I was hoping for the internship to teach me how to run a larger scale business. Please contact Adam Bourget anytime at this number (715)-829-8971.
The Basics of Selling on eBay student handbooks for sale. Learn to sell like a pro! These books were updated in 2007 and are version 4.1. They are $15 and if you are interested, please email jbdassist@westerndairyland.org
Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Agreements for persons with disabilities will be made at all times in accordance with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 and associated amendments. Arrangements for persons with special needs will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. | |
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