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Free Beer and National Women’s Business Month

In this week’s Must Know

  • National Women’s Small Business Month
  • CAMEO’s Hot Programs in LA in November
  • The Goodies: information on important opportunities like trainings, funding, scholarship programs. This week’s highlights are Free Beer and important information for SBA program participants. If you participate in the SBA Microloan, PRIME, or ILPP programs, make sure you read the end of fiscal year update for 2012.

National Women’s Small Business Month

Between 1997 and 2012, when the number of businesses in the United States increased by 37%, the number of women-owned firms increased by 54%, a rate 1.5 times the national average.

In October we celebrate the more than 8.3 million women-owned businesses in the United States that generate nearly $1.3 trillion in revenues and employing nearly 7.7 million people. To read more about the contributions of women-owned businesses, check out the second annual State of Women-Owned Businesses Report, commissioned by American Express OPEN.

Every Thursday in October, the SBA will hold web chats to address business topics from a woman-business-owner perspective. Web chat themes include: starting and growing your business, finding capital, government contracting, and opportunities for young women.

And check out our Facebook page, we will be featuring women entrepreneurs who have received help by CAMEO members. This week so far we’ve posted the story of Shirley Batchelor who turned down $1,000,000 for entrepreneurial training at Operation Hope to get Grandma’s Quick and Easy Gourmet Cornbread off the ground. CAMEO will keep the celebration going into November – see below.

CAMEO’s Hot Programs in LA in November

Save the dates for two CAMEO events in Los Angeles in November:

  • Think Big: A Women’s Symposium on November 7, 2012 and
  • Introductory Financial Workshop for Business Counselors the week of November 12, 2012.

Think Big! A Women’s Symposium: Join CAMEO at the L.A. Federal Reserve and become inspired! Think Big! Save November 7, 2012 on your calendar, more details to come. Anie Borjas, the executive director of the National Women’s Business Council, , who advises the White House, Congress and the SBA, will present their latest research on women entrepreneurs and success.

Introductory Financial Workshop for Business Counselors: Here is a heads up that Susan Brown, our trainer extraordinaire, will be in Los Angeles the week of November 12 to lead a one day introductory workshop that will cover the following topics: referring clients, eligibility, underwriting criteria, understanding financial statements, creating cash flow projections, best practices for making microloan referrals.

Staff should attend this workshop to learn how to develop loan-ready microenterprise clients and help business clients successfully qualify for a microloan. We will introduce what lenders want in a borrower, common eligibility criteria and how to determine a quality loan referral. It’s not too early to identify the staff members that you’d like to send in order to build financial, underwriting, and lending capacity.

Look for an invitation and registration information for each event over the next week.

The Goodies

New opportunities for trainings, conference information, funding, scholarships, and other information that have crossed our desks since the last Must Know: I have posted a running tab of current Goodies on the CAMEO website that lists items that were in past emails. Check it out to make sure you’re not missing anything, like grants whose deadlines are still alive!

For SBA program Participants: If you participate in the SBA Microloan, PRIME, or ILPP programs, make sure you read the end of fiscal year update for 2012. Hopefully it was emailed to you, if not it’s posted on our website. The message has important information on grants, reporting and training.

Free Beer For Fundraiser: Youth Business America has a big donor who has 100 plus trucks of beer that they need to offload. The donor wishes to provide it to nonprofits, at no charge, to help support their events and fundraisers. You need 1) to be able to accept an entire truckload at one specified location (can be anywhere) with a delivery dock to receive the truck and a forklift to handle these 24 palates of beer, which equates to 1,440 cases; to have a secured storage space, to ensure the beer will not get into the hands of those under 21; and 3) to sign an agreement document upon delivery saying you will not sell/barter the beer, and you will not distribute it to those under 21. If able and interested, Email Zach.

Capacity Building: Joanne Steele, who inspired those who attended our Rural Summit in June, has an online marketing ‘class’ – Take Control of Your Internet Marketing. In simple do-able steps, train your clients to manage their own Internet marketing, from online reviews to building their own website, social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc) for businesses, SEO, customer focused content and more. Take Control will partner with your organization to provide the training your clients need at a remarkably affordable price! Contact Joanne Steele – 530-235-4404 or email. Learn how you can use Take Control to enhance and expand your Internet marketing trainings and help your clients succeed.

Free Webinar: Attention trainers – this is a great webinar for you and your clients. State Controller John Chiang is hosting The Sole Proprietorship vs. LLC – Determine Which Tax Structure is Right for Your Business on Wednesday, October 10, 2012 from 10:00-11:00am PDT. Learn about the tax implications of each and how to determine which one is suitable for your business. Other topics include key tax filing requirements and additional resources that can assist you in setting up a business. Register for the webinar.

Free Webinar: Credit Builders Alliance Hosts Banking the Unbanked Webinar on Thursday, October 11, 2012 11:00am-12:15pm PST // 2:00pm-3:15pm EST. Looking for tools to help your clients open bank accounts? You’re not alone! 75% of nonprofits practitioners surveyed by CBA expressed dissatisfaction with their knowledge and ability to help their clients open bank account. Register and learn more.

Grant Opportunity: The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is a funding source for micro-business development. And if you’re a rural member there’s grant writing assistance available from The National Catholic Rural Life Conference. The application deadline is November 1, 2012. Learn more.

New Report: In Building Businesses by Building Credit, FIELD profiles the credit-building programs of two Vermont-based organizations and explores early learning around their experiences offering financial coaching combined with access to a secured credit card.

Archived Webinar: ShadeFund offers a new capital source for natural resource based businesses. Green micro enterprises are critical to the development of vibrant communities, resilient economies, and healthy environments.

For Your Clients: Fedex is the latest corporate sponsor to host a small business grant competition.

For Your Clients: CARAT offers free online trainings for small businesses through December. Check out their calendar.

New Report: California Financial Opportunities Roundtable (CalFOR) Handbook to Capital Access. Read more about how micro fits into the CalFORS effort on our websites.

Interesting Stats: The Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy has produced a new Fast Facts on the California Economy.

Interesting Stats: The Small Business Frequently Asked Questions from the SBA reports that 79.5% of all small businesses are non-employer and it’s an upward trend. The SBA also hosts a number of do-it-yourself webinars on financing your business.