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February 2012 |
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Flourishing in Retail: Planning for Success
Introducing FastTrac® Growth Venture for individuals in the retail sector beginning this month
Retail businesses face a unique set of challenges, especially in the current economy. The Women's Business Center is delivering a special FastTrac® Growth Venture program targeted to retail business owners. Major FastTrac areas of product/service, marketing, financials, operations, managing for growth and leading the organization will be discussed. This retail specific class will provide you with a confidential analysis of your current financials as well as feedback from a mystery shopper. Taught by a facilitator with an in-depth knowledge of the retail sector, the sessions also include presentation's by experts in the field of retail.
This series allows you to think beyond the daily business routine and gain feedback from peers experiencing the same issues you face each day.
When: Meets every Tuesday evening, 6:00 - 8:00 pm beginning February 21st for seven consecutive weeks.
Where: The Women's Business Center - 8527 Bluejacket Street, Lenexa, KS
Click for full program details & Online Registration
Contact Dorothy Browning at (913)-492-5922 for additional details or questions. This class will be open to both men and women. |
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Final Workshop! - Internet Marketing Workshop Series
Internet Marketing in the Digital Age
Using Google Analytics to Guide Your Strategy (Wed, Feb. 15th)
Know your customer and your market by using analytics and social listening systems. Your customer will tell you how to market to them - you just need to listen. We will teach you how.
8:30 - 10:30 am
Women's Business Center, 8527 Bluejacket Street, Lenexa, KS 66214
Class fees are $20 per class
Please register online at www.onekcforwomen.com.
Questions? Contact: Dorothy Browning, dbrowning@kansaswbc.com |
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Setting the Table: Successfully Starting and Managing a Restaurant
"As a restaurateur, my job is to basically control the chaos and the drama. There's always going to be chaos in the restaurant business."
- Rocco Dispirito
Kansas City is a great place for independent restaurants. Unfortunately, we have also seen many favorite restaurants come and go. Attend this seminar to get advice on strategies to start-up and succeed in one of the most challenging arenas of business. Lead by long time restaurateur Gary Warden of Piropos and Julie Deane of JDeaneJobs, a recruitment firm specializing in staffing for the restaurant industry, this session will include finding capital, selecting a location, controlling the most important elements of opening successfully, hiring the right people and preventing costly mistakes in the start-up process as well as other essential topics.
February 21, 2012, 8:30 - 10:00 am, $20
Women's Business Center, 8527 Bluejacket Street, Lenexa, KS 66214
Register Online: www.onekcforwomen.com/calendar/restaurantseminar/
Questions? Contact Dorothy Browning: 913-492-5922 |
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Reach 7 billion customers (or one manufacturer)
Interested in international trade and want some practical advice on navigating key parts of the export process? Do you believe your product has international sales potential, but don't know how to get started? Whether you're looking to make your first export sale or expand to additional international markets, the U.S. Commercial Service offers the trade counseling, market intelligence, business matchmaking, and commercial diplomacy to help you connect with lucrative business opportunities.
Join us and learn how the U.S. Commercial Service's Kansas City office can help you get started in exporting or increase sales to new global markets. We will also discuss how to find and vet a manufacturing partner overseas.
March 27th
8:30 - 9:30
Enterprise Center of Johnson County
8527 Bluejacket Street, Lenexa, KS 66214
Free, but registration required. Click here to register
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ECJC Workshops
Additional Seminars sponsored by the Enterprise Center of Johnson County
Email Marketing Workshop - February 16, 2012
11:00 am - 1:00 pm, $25 (includes lunch)
Blogging for your Business - February 23, 2012
11:00 am - 1:00 pm, $25 (includes lunch)
Advanced Facebook for Business - February 28, 2012
11:00 am - 1:00 pm, $25 (includes lunch)
Setting up and Running an Advisory Board - March 1, 2012
11:00 am - 1:00 pm, $25 (includes lunch)
Social Media Analytics Workshop - March 8, 2012
11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location
The Enterprise Center of Johnson County
527 Bluejacket Street, Lenexa, KS 66214 |
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NOTE:
If you are having trouble reading the small print in this newsletter, click to view as a web page (top of email).
Then, hold down the ctrl key while hitting the "+" key to increase the size as you need.
To return to normal viewing, hold ctrl key while hitting the "-" (left of the "+" key) |
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The Women's Business Center
The Women's Business Center offers mentoring, resources, and consulting to women in the Kansas City Metropolitan area who wish to become an entrepreneur or who are currently operating their own business. Through business consulting, classes, workshops, networking, and peer mentoring the WBC is the key to running a successful business for Kansas City's women.
Find out how the Women's Business Center can help you. Click here to learn more!
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Three Women and an Ovan
Doubling their retail space!
3 Women and an Oven is doubling their retail space (14852 Metcalf).
Construction should wrap up by mid-February. The expanded space will offer space for special event consultation, a seating area and free WiFi. The menu will also be expanded with the addition of Paris Brothers French Press coffee. |
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Influential Women of KC
KC Business just announced the Class of 2012 for this annual award
Congratulations to all of the women who were recognized for contributing to the Kansas City community. For a full list of recipients click here www.kcbcentral.com
A special shout out to WBC friends and family: Colleen White (Strategic Workplace Solutions), Laura Laiben (Culinary Center of Kansas City), Debra Ellies (OsteoGeneX) and our own Sherry Turner (OneKC for Women). Sherry likes to stay under the radar screen, good thing we don't let her edit the newsletter! |
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Fast Facts
The number of women obtaining patents is accelerating. In 2010 alone, almost 23,000 patents were granted to women, a 35% increase over the previous year. Historically, women have not been a large segment of this activity. An increase in IP ownership is likely a strong indicator of growth in women-owned businesses.
National Women's Business Council |
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Share the good news
Are you a Women's Business Center client or volunteer? Something exciting going on in your business? Let us know if you have added a major product or service line, expanded your territory or won an award. We will help you spread the word.
Email dbrowning@kansaswbc.com
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News from the Women's Business Center |
Mentoring Does Matter 
The WBC Mentor program began on January 30th, with six of the FastTrac graduates from the fall class being paired with an Advisory Council of experienced professionals for a nine month period. Graduates were either already in business or in the start up phase. Each graduate defined their areas of need and were matched with a team of experts to address those needs. Needs ranged from guidance on financials and sales and marketing to government contracting and commercial real estate. A big thanks to Aviva Ajmera for helping recruit talented mentors as well as serving on one of the councils.
The next FastTrac class will graduate in April and be eligible to request mentors. If you are interested in mentoring a woman owned business as part of an advisory council or being available for occassional one on one meetings, please contact Dorothy Browning to discuss your options. |
Microloan Powers Business Expansion
Glass of Milk Cake Company recieved the first microloan through the partnership with Justine Petersen and One KC for Women. Amanda Phillips and her husband, Josiah started the business out of their home while stationed in San Antonio, TX. When they moved back to Kansas City, they decided to expand the bakery into a retail shop. Amanda provides the creative power and customer service, with Josiah manning the back office. They are using their microloan to expand their on-line sales staff, and have already hired two people.
Visit them online: www.glassofmilkcakecompany.com or their retail location at: 6513 NW Barry Rd, Kansas City, MO. |
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Getting to Yes
In January, Breandan Filbert of SalezWORKS led a hands-on session on achieving your sales goals for 2012. Some of the many take aways for the group were:
- Only 3% of sales professionals actually write down their sales goals
- If you don't close 50% of your final proposal attempts, you are not qualifying your prospects during the initial stages of your sales process.
- Customers in the Midwest take much longer to change a buying pattern than on the coasts- at least 3 X longer
- The best sales people aren't always the big personalities, they just follow up relentlessly and pay attention to details.
- You cannot control whether someone decides to hire you; you can only control your behaviors. You need to cultivate behaviors that result in enough opportunities to close based on your performance averages.
- Know the numbers that matter: closing opportunities, needs assessment meetings, feedback from additional decision makers and key influencers, first conversations, and activity to lead to 1st conversations (either cold calling, networking or social media). These will lead to your success in sales in 2012
One of her picks of books to get you focused on successful selling: Endless Referrals by Bob Burg.
We paired the Listening To Your Business seminar held in December with this seminar as a venue to allow business owners to assess where their business was overall and then address one of the key drivers of success. Both seminars are designed to assist business owners in creating a specific and actionable plan for their business and both got excellent reviews from participants. Look for them again at the end of this year. |
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Sell to Schools!
The Purchasing Department of Metropolitan Community College in partnership with many other local and regional educational institutions, local and regional municipalities and state and federal government entities will be hosting a Procurement One-on-One Outreach Business Forum at MCC's Penn Valley campus from 8:00 am to noon on March 14th . Business owners can sign up for 10-minute sessions to discuss business opportunities.
If you are interested in signing up or would like more details on the event, contact Chris Kelly at Chris.Kelly@mcckc.edu or call at (816)-604-1106. |
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Social Behavior and Subcontracting
Want to grow your subcontracting business? Sure, being knowledgeable in your core business as well as areas such as estimating, knowing the clients requirements, and managing all the paperwork are important, but don't forget the social skills.
I sat in on a portion of the JE Dunn Minority Contractor Business Development Program (MCBD) a few weeks ago as Kay Saunders of Bellewether led a discussion on the importance of effective professional social skills. Her first challenge question:
"What are you going to bring to a customer that would cause them to choose you specifically?"
The established and growing business owners in the group had difficulty answering this question.
Kay believes that frequently the answer revolves around the social behavior of the company owner or whoever is the "face" of the company. The pursuing discussion and activities allowed participants to think about how their personal habits, interaction styles and view of the world can impact their success. The positive energy released in the room around this topic was palpable. This group, which has been together for almost a year, demonstrated the value of the JE Dunn Construction Company MBCD program in helping small business owners develop skill sets needed to thrive in the construction industry specifically and work world in general.
You can find more information regarding this free program by clicking here. |
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Not for women only:
Although some activities hosted by the Women's Business Center are for women only, all of our seminars are open to men. |
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 Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA
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