Business Resource Spotlight: North Coast SBDC

$\"North$ “It takes a village to raise a child” and it takes a community to sustain a small business enterprise. Not just the community of customers or clients, but a community of well-informed, experience-driven, fellow entrepreneurs. Toward that end, the North Coast Small Business Development Center (SBDC) operates in Humboldt County as a mutual aid resource for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Their website is a starting place (northcoastsbdc.org) for acquiring new tools in the enterprise of customer acquisition and retention. You can also visit their offices in the Prosperity Center at 520 E Street in Eureka where they offer numerous lectures and workshops.

One of those on-site opportunities for learning and networking with fellow business owners is the “Fools for Cool Tools” brown bag lunch series, where a variety of local experts offer presentations on tools for growing your business. Strategic eMarketing’s Emanuel Rose has presented on several topics, including “Internet Marketing Fundamentals: Content to Drive Interest” and “Search Engine Optimization 1.” His next presentation will be on August 6, on “eBooks and White Papers.” The next scheduled event is on May 14 and covers “WordPress for Businesses.” The series began in January and continues through December, providing a total of 23 valuable presentations.

The SBDC’s Social Media Flight offers another series of opportunities to acquire business growth and maintenance skills. The Social Media Flight is a structured program of training that is on the fourth Wednesday of every month through November and covers an array of topics, including monthly business counseling, financial literacy training, peer networking and support, and several social media workshops.

For traditional business management skills like accounting and bookkeeping, the SBDC offers drop-in workshops on the first Wednesday of every month from 5:30pm to 6:30pm.

If you don’t have the time to take advantage of the live training opportunities, they also offer a wide array of 6-week online courses offered on the third Wednesday of every month, covering topics such as Achieving Top Search Engine Positions (SEO), Intro to Quickbooks, Intro to Microsoft Excel, and Accounting Fundamentals.

With all the training opportunities available at the North Coast SBDC that can enhance your money-making efforts, it only makes sense to take advantage of this community resource.