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Small Business Connections                                                            July 2012 

Welcome to Small Business Connections! 

 

The Illinois Small Business Development Center at Waubonsee Community College is here to serve your small business needs. We offer free business counseling to entrepreneurs and business owners, as well as a variety of small business workshops.

 

Call us today at (630) 906-4143 to learn how we can help you start or grow your business.
Small Business Spotlight

Gracious Hall 

 

Just hearing the name of Rebecca Colburn's full service catering business, Gracious Hall, makes you think of the South. Rebecca grew up in North Carolina, and has worked in restaurants since she was 18. After spending three years in Germany, Rebecca returned to Chicago and enrolled in French Pastry School.

 

At Gracious Hall, Rebecca couples her Southern roots with the foods she encountered in Germany. You can tell she is passionate about food when she describes how she takes food from the past and translates it into something more modern, to create an elegant flair to her dishes. Everything at Gracious Hall is made in-house including breads, sauces and every dessert. Peruse her Facebook page and you will find mouthwatering pictures from some of her catering events, like gorgonzola crisps with wild mushroom ragout, or lemon cheesecake with macerated strawberries. Rebecca will tailor her menu to your event.

 

It is an important mission of Gracious Hall to provide food in a socially responsible way. This means using leftover bread to make a specialty like savory roasted tomato bread pudding and using traditional methods such as pickling and preserving to ensure nothing from the garden goes unused.

 

Rebecca has worked with the IL SBDC at Waubonsee throughout her planning process. "It has been such a pleasure working with Harriet and the SBDC. From helping me in the initial stages of focusing and refining my business idea, to constructing the plan, to understanding and compiling the financials, the SBDC has been there every step of the way. With Harriet's understanding of the process, endless lists of resources and ideas, the SBDC has been invaluable in helping me thoughtfully prioritize and organize my plan - turning my dream of Gracious Hall into a reality."

 

Gracious Hall's business plan calls for bigger things beyond catering. On July 9, Rebecca will launch Gracious Dinners To-Go, prepared dinners for families on the run. Her location at 321 Stephens St, Suite N in Geneva, close to the Geneva train station, is a perfect location for commuters to debark, grab dinner, and head for kids' sporting events or quick dinners at home. Gracious Dinners give a whole new meaning to fast food in Geneva.

 

Gracious Hall will be running a special menu for 4th of July.  Give Rebecca a call at (630)232-2117 or visit Gracious Hall online at www.gracioushall.com for a catering quote or  Gracious Dinners To-Go menu options.

 

 

Biz Buzz

Marketing Words You Should Know  

 

 When I say "Marketing", what is the first thing you think of? For many businesses, marketing = advertising. Others consider marketing to be collateral material like a brochure. Tech savvy businesses may equate marketing with social media. Some think marketing = sales.

 

As you can see, "marketing" takes on different meanings for different people. These are all correct answers, but even these definitions fall short of what defines marketing. Most business owners have blinders on when it comes to marketing their business. Money often gets spent without consideration of the goals in mind, or with blind hope for success. Meanwhile, opportunities are missed.

 

With this in mind, the IL SBDC at Waubonsee will be offering a full day marketing boot camp to help you create or shore up your marketing plan. Mark your calendars!!

 

While you are waiting, here are some terms to consider as you expand your marketing vocabulary:

  • Branding - Get your target market to recognize you. Not all marketing directly generates leads. It is important to put resources behind branding. A logo that fits your business and personality, messaging that succinctly communicates your image, and consistent use of colors, designs, and logos are just the start of creating a strong brand. Every time someone interacts with your business, they are experiencing your brand. If each interaction is different, or the quality is inconsistent, you are putting your brand at risk. Read more about how to create a strong business brand. 
  • Presentation - As a small business owner, you are a big part of your business brand. When you step out of your business (even if it's your home) and into the world of prospective customers, how do you present yourself? Consider getting some training on how to speak in public. Sharpen your wardrobe. Improve your networking skills. Prepare your elevator pitch and some interesting sound bites, so you are ready to make an impression when the opportunity arises. When the press calls, they will print what you say, so be prepared to say what you want others to hear.
  • Segmentation - Unless all your customers are alike, it's important to define the different market segments you serve, so you can craft specific marketing messages and activities to better fit each segment. We tend to ignore marketing messages that don't strike a nerve, so toss those generic pitches, and get specific.

Need more help with Marketing? Schedule an appointment with the SBDC, or sign up for one of our many marketing workshops. In addition to our standard offerings, here are two new workshops coming this fall.

 

SAVE THE DATE:

 

  Power Networking 

Tuesday, September 25

6 - 8 p.m.

Waubonsee Aurora Campus, Room 244 

$30

 

Marketing Success Boot Camp 

Thursday, October 25

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Waubonsee Aurora Campus, Room 160

$89 (includes materials and lunch)

 

Biz Bitz

 

Independent Retailer Conference   

 

Retail Minded and Independent Retailer Month invite you to join the nation's only Independent Retailer Conference.  Take your store to the next level by participating in interactive workshops to support your unique store and to help your business thrive!  The day-long event will consist of four interactive workshops led by leading retail experts, two keynotes, a networking lunch and a closing cocktail party. This is a fantastic event for retailers looking to grow their business and understand retail at large better.  Topics to be discussed include: Visual Merchandising, Retail Operations, Inventory Turn, Financial Overheads, and much more! 

 

Monday, July 16th

9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Merchandise Mart

Chicago, IL

 

For more information or to register  

please visit Retail Minded.   

  

 

Google Webmaster Academy

 

Google houses an incredible amount of information about how to get your site up, running and ranked in the dominate search engine. Between the Support pages, the information tucked away in Webmaster Central, the forums, and the content they share on blogs, any question a webmaster could have about their site has probably already been answered. However, because the content is spread out and so vast, it can be pretty hard to find the answer you're looking for, especially for small businesses who are not as familiar with terminology or concepts as they'd like to be.

 

Google is helping to solve this problem with the help of the recently announced Google Webmaster Academy.

 

The Google Search Quality Team, has announced the creation of the new Webmaster Academy which Google says is "designed to walk business owners through the information they need to get their site up and running in easy to understand steps". Finally, the answers you were looking for, centralized so you can actually find them.

 

As the name suggests, the content in Webmaster Academy will be laid out in a syllabus-style format where site owners will be able to navigate between 19 different subject lessons to improve their knowledge and increase their visibility in the Google search results.

 

There's a little something for everyone here as topics range from:

  • Ways to get online for free
  • Creating a Google Places listing
  • Using Google+
  • Adding your site to Webmaster Tools
  • Making your site easy for Google to crawl
  • What makes great content
  • And a lot more!

 

Once you click into any of the subject areas, Google will provide a tutorial on that topic, defining key terms and processes, offering links to inking off to additional Google resources, and providing video instruction, where applicable. To read more about it, please click here.

Get Smart: Small Business Workshops at Waubonsee
Starting Your Business in IllinoisWorkshops

Tuesday, July 10, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)  

Tuesday, August 21, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

Thursday, September 20, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Plano)

Tuesday, October 16, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)
Thursday, November 15, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Sugar Grove)

Wednesday, December 5, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora) 

 

Marketing For Small Business

Tuesday, September 11, 6 - 9 p.m. (Aurora)

Thursday, November 1, 6 - 9 p.m. (Sugar Grove) 

 

Social Media Marketing for Business

Thursday, July 19, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)  

Wednesday, August 29, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

Thursday, October 11, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Sugar Grove)

   

Is Franchising Right for You?

Wednesday, July 25, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. $30 (Aurora)   

Wednesday, October 24, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

 

Google For Business Wednesday, October 3, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

Facebook For Business - Secrets For Success
Thursday, September 6, 12 - 1 p.m. $15 (Webinar)
Wednesday, November 28, 7 - 8 p.m. $15 (Webinar)

Step Into Retail
Tuesday, November 6, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

Small Business Tax Basics
Tuesday, November 13, 6 - 9 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

Power Networking
Tuesday, September 25, 6 - 8 p.m. $30 (Aurora)

 

QuickBooks Test Drive

Thursday, August 30, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Aurora)

Tuesday, September 4, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Aurora)

Thursday, September 27, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Sugar Grove)
Tuesday, October 9, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Aurora)
Thursday, October 25, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Plano)
Tuesday, November 6, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Aurora)
Thursday, November 29, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. FREE (Aurora)  

 

Check seminar details for the full list, class descriptions, locations, ticket numbers, and pricing. To sign up, complete and submit the registration form. For additional  information call the Illinois SBDC office at (630) 906-4143.   

 

QuickBooks and Excel

A variety of QuickBooks and Excel classes are available to meet your small business accounting needs. Click here for complete class descriptions, locations, dates, times and costs. 

Illinois SBDC at Waubonsee Community College  

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.  All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA or DCEO.

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