Simple Steps for Starting Your Business - Sessions 2 thru 5 

This is a comprehensive series of 4 three hour workshops designed to help you get ready to launch your new business. Experts will take you through the key aspects of starting a business:

• The concepts involved with assessing a business idea

• Marketing your product or service,

• Understanding business financials and how they work

• How to fund and finance your business

Each workshop is interactive with examples, supporting resources, and take-away assignments. SCORE mentors will attend and be available to work with you outside of class. 

Session 1: Start-up Basics (Free) - This Workshop was held previously

This introductory workshop focuses on the basics of testing your business idea and identifying the key factors that influence start-up success. Start-up Basics provides you with an overview of the skills and tools you need when deciding to start a business.

Preferably, you will have attended one of our earlier presentations of this Session 1 workshop, already been working on a business plan, or had face-to-face SCORE mentoring before registering for the Session 2 through 5 series. 

Session 2: Business Concept - Jan 21st

The second workshop focuses on your business concept and step-by-step guidance in researching your idea, your market, and your competition. At the end of the Business Concept workshop, you are able to: identify your target markets, describe your products and services, and collect key competitive information to support your feasibility plan.

Session 3: Marketing Plan - Jan 28th

The third workshop provides you with an introduction to marketing communication methods and tools to maximize your customer reach. The discussion in the Marketing Plan workshop covers pricing strategies, positioning, the difference between features and benefits, and different marketing strategies. At the end of this session, you will know how to: outline your marketing strategy, test your marketing message, choose the right sales channel, and exercise your marketing strategy.

Session 4: Financial Projections - Feb 4th

The fourth workshop uses exercises to help you better understand financial concepts. This session reviews sales and prices, financial risks and rewards, true start-up costs, ongoing operating expenses, setting benchmarks for tracking progress and the organization of all your financial information. Using a hands-on approach, you learn how to use our financial model to forecast sales revenue and build solid pro-forma financial forecasts.

Session 5: Funding Sources - Feb 11th

The final workshop offers information on how to finance your small business. In this session, discussions include sources of funds, accounting the six C's of credit, banking relations, ratio analysis, and monthly preparation and review of financial statements. A bank loan officer will give an inside view of how a banker assesses the merits of business plans and loan application. At the end of the series, you have all of the tools necessary to decide whether or not to launch your small business.

 

This workshop series is sponsored by SCORE and hosted by the Ocala Power Plant Business Incubator. Plenty of free parking is available. 

The total price for all 4 workshops is $95 which can be paid using credit card or PayPal account or by mailing in a check. Alternatively, you can register for individual workshops at a price of $30 each.

 

Register Now!