Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp

Find your business spark and hustle at this year's Pennsylvania Conference for Women on October 2.

The Pennsylvania Conference for Women has partnered with Tory Johnson, CEO of Women For Hire and Spark & Hustle, workplace contributor on “Good Morning America,” and New York Times bestselling author, to provide programming designed specifically for current and aspiring small business owners.

The Pennsylvania Conference for Women Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp will feature solo presenters, panel discussions, interactive exercises, structured networking, and vendor tables.
In this fast-paced, advice-driven track, you'll tackle only the most important topics for entrepreneurial success. In addition to a keynote session, Tory Johnson will lead a line-up of small business owners who will open their playbooks to share the real-world marketing tactics and strategies that work. You’ll leave with fresh ideas to formulate an actionable marketing plan, as well as new contacts—called “BBFs” (business best friends)—to help fuel your small business success.

Learn more about the conference and business boot camp: www.paconferenceforwomen.org/small-business-boot-camp/. (E-magnify is proud to be a Supporting Organization for the conference. Use promo code PACP98 to save on individual and table registrations.)

National Encore Entrepreneur Day (Oct. 2)

Join us in one week for National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day.  
Date: October 2, 2012
Location: Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA


What's an encore entrepreneur? 

Someone who starts a business after leaving or retiring from another career path. 

If you're over the age of 40 and interested in receiving free information on the nuts and bolts of starting your own business, join us for this no-cost even.

  

Featured entrepreneurs include a former Mrs. USA, a fashion designer, and a health service executive who have all started "encore" careers by entering the business world after celebrating their fortieth birthday.

 Come out to hear their stories and learn about starting your own business.

Featured Entrepreneurs: 

• Steve Cohen: Keystone By Design
• Laura Roy: Laura Roy's Doll House, The Comfy
• Melanie Patterson, Former Mrs. USA & Former Mrs. Pennsylvania: Retro Retreat
• Dawn Chamberlain: Jean Marie's Flowers & Gifts

National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day is part of a larger effort by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to promote entrepreneurship among individuals ages 50 and older. With one in four individuals ages 44 to 70 interested in becoming entrepreneurs and 63 percent of Americans planning to work during retirement, small business ownership is a good option. Small business owners with long-term counselors see bigger sales, hire more workers, and last longer.

There is no fee to attend this event, but please secure your spot by registering in advance.

Biobased Marketplace Online Seminar (Sept. 27)

Cultivating Opportunities in the Biobased Marketplace 
Discover the potential of the expanding BioEconomy. 
September 27, 2012 (1:30 - 2:30 EDT)

Attend this no cost, live seminar via streaming video or satellite downlink. Learn about business opportunities in the manufacturing and sale of biobased products, as well as Federal programs that assist you in meeting your business goals.

Experts will present information on the following topics: :

• Biobased product opportunities and growth industries
• An introduction to the USDA BioPreferred Program
• How the Federal Procurement Preference program stimulates demand for purchasing
• Federal resources available from the Small Business Administration, Procurement Technical Assistance Centers, and the Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program

This FREE training seminar is ideal for small businesses, entrepreneurs, agriculturally based organizations, U.S. manufacturing companies, and Federal agencies that support these endeavors. Presented by the USDA BioPreferred Program.

Learn more and register for the September 27 event.

Market Research for Your Small Biz

SizeUp is a new online tool from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that helps small business owners research data and analytics to start or grow a business. Use it to identify new customers and compare your performance against other businesses in your industry with data collected from hundreds of private and public sources.  

The SizeUp tool provides data analysis in three key ways:

• Benchmarking an existing business to see how it sizes up by comparing performance to all other competitors in the same industry;
• A mapping feature to see where customers and suppliers are located; and
• Finding the best places to advertise by choosing from pre-set reports to find areas with the highest industry revenue and the most underserved markets. Custom demographic reports can also be created.

Try it out at www.sba.gov/sizeup. 

Tomorrow: Alternative Financing Seminar (9/24)

Join E-Magnify and Sue Malone at this special event to learn how alternative financing can help you to start or expand your business.    

Date: Monday, September 24, 2012
Time: 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Administration Building, 3rd floor, Room 303, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA

Who should attend?  Those thinking about starting a business and current business owners

Meet Sue Malone
Sue Malone is the founder of Strategies For Small Business, and her sole mission for the last five years has been to help people obtain access to capital to start or expand their businesses. In doing so, one of her specialties has been small business start-up loans. And she has done so exceptionally well. She is the undisputed, number one SBA loan provider for the Community Express Loan Program in the nation. As of April 2008, she is responsible for closing more than 20,000 of these much needed loans.




Register today for just $10.
 
For more information, contact Debra Mason, E-Magnify Education and Training Manager, at (724) 830-4614.
 
This event is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Meet the Lenders Panel (Oct. 3)

Presented by the Center for Family Business, Eberly College of Business and Information Technology, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. 

Date: October 3, 2012
Time: 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
Location: Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex 
711 Pratt Drive, Indiana PA 15701

Do you want to learn what today’s lenders have to offer and how to match a lender to your business growth needs? Then bring your questions and meet the lenders. This informative panel discussion by lenders and business experts will be followed by personal roundtable discussions with WPA business lenders. Business owners and advisors are encouraged to attend. Roundtable hosts will include Indiana First Bank, Enterprise Bank, S&T Bank, FCFC, MC Bank, PNC, and SBA. Panel Experts will include Dave Miller, Enterprise Bank; Byron Stauffer, Jr., Indiana County Loan Fund; Jonathan Levine, S&T Bank; and Dan Rohal, Indiana First Bank.

Registration required: $20.00 per person. More information and registration is available at www.iup.edu/page.aspx?id=132629.

E-Magnify is proud to be a partner for this event. 

Free Business Teleclass with Tory Johnson (9/24)

September 24, 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Free Teleclass: 3 Success Secrets of Women Who Know How to Hustle
Presented by Tory Johnson, presenter of The Pennsylvania Conference for Women Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp.

Tory Johnson is one of more than 100 speakers at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women, which is coming up in Philadelphia on October 2. Whether or not you'll be at the conference, consider joining Johnson on this free teleclass as she shares her exclusive insider advice on everything from knowing your numbers to identifying ideal collaborators using example.

Johnson built her own small business into a multi-million dollar corporation, while also serving as a “Good Morning America” contributor, a New York Times bestselling author, and a contributing editor at SUCCESS magazine.

Learn more about the free Sept. 24 teleclass. 

Learn more and register for the Oct. 2 Pennsylvania Conference for Women in Philadelphia. (Use the E-Magnify promo code PACP98 to save on individual and table registrations.) 

E-magnify is proud to be a Supporting Organization for the conference.  

Are You an Encore Entrepreneur?

What's an encore entrepreneur? 

Someone who starts a business after leaving or retiring from another career path. 

If you're over the age of 40 and interested in receiving free information on the nuts and bolts of starting your own business, join us on October 2 for National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day. 

  

Featured entrepreneurs include a former Mrs. USA, a fashion designer, and a health service executive who have all started "encore" careers by entering the business world after celebrating their fortieth birthday.

 Come out to hear their stories and learn about starting your own business.

National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day is part of a larger effort by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) to promote entrepreneurship among individuals ages 50 and older. With one in four individuals ages 44 to 70 interested in becoming entrepreneurs and 63 percent of Americans planning to work during retirement, small business ownership is a good option. Small business owners with long-term counselors see bigger sales, hire more workers, and last longer.

There is no fee to attend this event, but please secure your spot by registering in advance.

Small Business Owner Stories

A new SBA platform lets small business owners tell their stories through video. “Small Business Owners Speak” is an interactive platform featuring videos by entrepreneurs from across the country who have started or grown a business with the help of the SBA. The videos featured on the "Small Business Owners Speak" website were submitted during SBA’s 2012 National Small Business Week video contest. You can search for videos geographically (via an interactive map) or by topic (such as capital, counseling, federal contracting or disaster loans).

Want to submit your own video? You can! Learn more about submitting your business story to "Small business Owners Speak." 

* * *

E-Magnify features successful local women entrepreneurs in the Success Stories column. Read some of their inspiring stories (and learn how to nominate yourself or someone else to be featured).

Alternative Financing to Start/Grow Business

Join E-Magnify and Sue Malone at this special event to learn how alternative financing can help you to start or expand your business.    

Date: September 24, 2012
Time: 3:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Reeves Theatre Administration Building, 3rd floor, Room 303
Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA [updated 9/21/12: please note venue change]

Who should attend?  Those thinking about starting a business and current business owners

Meet Sue Malone
Sue Malone is the founder of Strategies For Small Business, and her sole mission for the last five years has been to help people obtain access to capital to start or expand their businesses. In doing so, one of her specialties has been small business start-up loans. And she has done so exceptionally well. She is the undisputed, number one SBA loan provider for the Community Express Loan Program in the nation. As of April 2008, she is responsible for closing more than 20,000 of these much needed loans.




Register today for just $10.
 
For more information, contact Debra Mason, E-Magnify Education and Training Manager, at (724) 830-4614.
 
This event is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

QuickBooks Clinics

Learn QuickBooks this fall! 

E-Magnify is hosting three upcoming QuickBooks Clinics. Register for individual sessions, or save 10% when you register for all three. 

• Session I (Sept. 17) – QuickBooks Navigating, Accounting Review, Sample Company, Chart of Accounts, Set–Up QuickBooks, Working with Lists
• Session II (Oct. 1) – Sales-Invoicing, Payments-Deposits, Entering and Paying Bills
• Session III (Oct. 8) – Bank Accounts, Inventories Payroll, Estimating and More

Instructor: Maureen Ciarolla

Time: 3:00 - 6:00 p.m. (for all sessions)

Location: Maura Hall, Second Floor, Room 235, Seton Hill University, 1 Seton Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601

Registration (register online)

• Regular Rate: $50 per session
• Triple Session Discount: $135 for all three sessions (save 10%) 


• Student Rate: $40 per session

Learn more and register for any or all of the clinics. 

PA Conference for Women: Oct. 2

Are you attending the Pennsylvania Conference for Women on October 2? This year's theme is Imagine: Find your purpose, make a difference.

E-magnify is proud to be a Supporting Organization for the conference. Use promo code PACP98 to save on individual and table registrations.

Held in Philadelphia, this is the largest women’s conference in the state. The event offers community and connection, information and inspiration, motivation and momentum. In addition to dozens of breakout session speakers, this year's conference will feature the following keynote speakers:

• Barbara Bradley Baekgaard (co-founder of Vera Bradley)
• Charlotte Beers (advertizing mogul & former Undersecretary of State)
• Arianna Huffington (president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group)
•  Tory Johnson (fouunder & CEO, Women for Hire and Spark & Hustle)
• Sonia Sanchez (award winning poet, activist, and scholar)
• Cheryl Strayed (#1 New York Times bestselling author of the memoir Wild)
• Stanford Thompson (musician and educator)

Of special note for E-Magnify readers is the Spark & Hustle Small Business Boot Camp, which will be offered on the day of the Conference at no additional charge. The Boot Camp includes the main conference morning general session, the featured keynote lunch session, as well as specialized breakout sessions focusing on the needs of the small business owner. Breakout sessions will focus on branding, funding, pricing, social media, muscle marketing, public relations, sales and entrepreneurial success.

Learn more about the conference and the business boot camp, and register at www.paconferenceforwomen.org. (Remember to use promo code PACP98 to save on individual and table registrations.)