There are opportunities . . .

At the January 20 Stimulus Funds Workshop, forty business owners met, heard about, and discussed ways to move their business forward in 2010. From the feedback on the follow up survey, the conclusion is that the meeting was a success. Business owners learned:

• how they can get funding from the state for training,
• about SBA programs that are intended to help green and innovative businesses find funds to help them,
• how to access both the $9 Billion the state spends every year and the remaining 2/3s of the $85 Billion in stimulus money the state agencies will contract for this year, and
• how a business that owns real estate can obtain what amounts to an interest free loan that can be spent now.

Stimulus Funds
Wayne Gross, from the Procurement Division of the California Department of General Services, showed business owners how to get their small business certification. It takes about 20 minutes online. The five largest of the 29 state agencies post their contract opportunities in this space. In the six months between July and December there were 52,000 opportunities posted. 25% of the $9 Billion dollars the state spends each year must go to small businesses. Each agency has a designated small business advocate to help business owners put their best foot forward.

Wayne is coming back in March to help more businesses get certified and to spend three hours showing certified small businesses how to maximize their opportunities with the state bidding system. If you are interested in getting certified as a California Small Business or are wanting to coming to the three hour workshop in March, let me know via email so I can gauge the interest. To email me click here.

 SBA Funds
Hilda Kennedy, from AmPac Tri State CDC, shared how the Small Business Administration has eliminated many of the fees and increased limits for small businesses. She also said money was available. Business owners learned the SBA is seeking to promote green businesses and those working with green business to reduce energy consumption by 10%, create renewable energy, and to increase the lending limit for these businesses. To contact Hilda, click here.

Training for Sales People and Managers

Several business owners are talking about using state funds to train their people. The Sandler Training Center has agreed to provide 40 hours of free sales and sales management training over ten weeks to small business who qualify. The state will be paying for the training. Participating companies will pay a small registration fee for each person. There are forty slots in the first training period which begins in the March 16. Registration is underway for this program. To discuss further or to reserve slots for your people, click here.

Online Marketing Program

Because several business owners said they wanted help getting leads from online marketing, I have invited three national experts to help twelve companies.  In the six-week period starting February 24th, teams from organizations will design effective online marketing programs that will attract new customers and lead to conversations. To see more information or to register, click here.

Lots of opportunities  . . .

So what stands in the way? Every business owner today stands at a fork in the road. Taking the wrong fork will lead to non-existence. Taking no fork will lead to paralysis and non-existence. Being proactive, taking the risk that every business owner must take will  lead to new opportunities. This economy abounds in opportunities for those business owners who commit themselves to finding them. Taking steps to listen to the marketplace, improve the skills of sales people and other employees, spend money strategically, and focusing on business is the best guarantee of being in a thriving business twelve months from now.

There will be another Economic Stimulus Workshop for OC Business Owners in March.  Commit to finding the way to thrive. Those who do will have the highest probability of succeeding. What will help you insure your business will be here at the end of 2010?

To Your Success in the New Economy!