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Volume 1,
Issue 32
June, 2008
Upcoming Events
Tuesdays,
June 17 - July 8
CORE FOUR Business
Planning Course
Duluth
5:30-8:30 PM, $244
(Four evening sessions)
Thursday, June 19
Start a Business...
Here's How!
Virginia
6:00-8:00 PM, $20
Tuesday, July 8
Start a Business...
Here's How!
Virginia
6:00-8:00 PM, $20
Tuesday, July 8
Start a Business...
Here's How!
Grand Rapids
6:00-8:00 PM, $20
Tuesday, July 15
Start a Business...
Here's How!
Duluth
6:00-8:00 PM, $20
Tuesdays,
July 22 - August 12
CORE FOUR Business
Planning Course
Virginia
5:30-8:30 PM, $244
(Four evening sessions)
Fridays,
July 25 & August 1
CORE FOUR Business
Planning Course
Grand Rapids
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM, $244
(Two daytime sessions)
To
register for a
class or event:
1-800-422-0374
info@entrepreneurfund.org
www.entrepreneurfund.org
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Total Results Since
1989:
Program
Participants:
9027
Business Started,
Stabilized, or Expanded:
977
Jobs Created or Retained:
2500
Dollars Loaned:
$7,008,168
Results updated quarterly. |
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Special Announcements |
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Research Road Trip |
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The Northeast Entrepreneur Fund and
Itasca Economic Development Corporation are sponsoring a day
trip to the James J. Hill Library on Thursday July 17th. This
will be a great opportunity whether you are an existing
entrepreneur or an aspiring entrepreneur to do market research.
“The James J. Hill Library, located
in Saint Paul, Minnesota, houses a world-class collection of
practical business information resources and is considered one
of the most comprehensive business libraries in the country. It
was founded by one of the nation's true business pioneers, James
J. Hill, who used relevant and credible information to build an
empire and live his business dreams.” (Source:
www.jjhill.org)
The bus will leave Grand Rapids at
7:00 a.m. Research instruction and tours will be available from
10 a.m.-12:00. After lunch there will be additional time for
individual research as well as one on one with the librarians.
The bus will leave around 2:00 p.m., arriving back in Grand
Rapids around 6:00 p.m. For cost and additional details please
contact Jane at 218-326-9411.
To learn more about services
available at the JJ Hill Library visit their website at:
www.jjhill.org/About_Us/
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Speak Out! |
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If you live in the Duluth-Superior area and have previously
participated in our past networking or educational events you
may be receiving an email survey soon. The survey from
surveymonkey.com will be about twelve questions long and should
only take two to three minutes to complete. We thank you in
advance for your participation. Your feedback will help us shape
our future programming to better fit your needs.
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Women's Business Network Luncheon, Grand Marais
Just a reminder: our Women's Business Network
Luncheons in Grand Marais will not be
held in June, July, or August to allow our
participants to focus on their businesses during the busy summer
tourism season. Luncheons will resume in
September.
We
wish all of our networking participants a fun and successful
summer!
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Read All About It! |
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Success Through Confidence
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In her book, The Woman’s Advantage, Mary Cantando
writes, “Developing the confidence of your employees,
customers, prospects, and vendors is critical to your
business success, and this confidence is more important
today than ever.” Through her experience, Cantando has
discovered four primary components to creating confidence:
responsibility, reliability, relationships, and references.
Responsibility
Your business should have a mission that goes deeper than
your bottom line. Whether your mission is to provide older
adults with the best personalized care or help people live a
life free from back pain, by focusing on your higher purpose
sales tend to follow.
Reliability
By consistently providing quality, on time execution, to
your customers you will not need to expend as much energy
“selling” to these customers. Instead you can focus your
“sales” energy on gaining new customers. It is always easier
and less expensive to keep current customers satisfied than
to recruit an entirely new customer base.
Relationships
No matter how big or successful you are there is always room
for improvement. Cantando sites the example of Tana Greene,
CEO of Strataforce. Despite having two-thousand employees of
her own Greene personally meets with her major clients
quarterly. Greene’s favorite question is, “So how are things
really going?” Her willingness to hear honest and open
concerns and criticism has spilled over into all aspects of
Greene’s life and has lead to her ever increasing reputation
as a business and community leader.
References
Have you ever known a company to list a negative testimonial
in their advertising? This is not a likely practice for most
companies. You can instill confidence in your new clients
and customers by keeping a master list of clients who have
given permission to be contact references. Allowing new
customers to select two or three references to contact shows
you have faith in your ability to provide excellent service.
Adapted from The Woman’s Advantage: 20 Women
Entrepreneurs Show You What it Takes to Grow Your Business
by Mary Cantando
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This Month's Featured Entrepreneurial Resources:
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Got eight minutes to spare? Then you have time to do a business
reality check! This short video provided by the Small Business
Administration will give you quick tips on how to have business
continuity even in the aftermath of a disaster. Find out how
businesses stayed afloat even after Hurricane Katrina by being
resourceful and flexible.
http://imedia.sba.gov/vd/up/09_Business_Reality_Check.asx
Floods, fires, and tornados have already taken
hold this summer. To test your disaster readiness quotient (your
RQ) and the readiness of your employees go to the link below
provided by The Council for Excellence in Government. After
taking the quick one minute quiz you will be provided with
customized tips on how to prepare you and your business in case
of an emergency.
http://www.whatsyourrq.org/test_workplace.shtml
As a business owner you understand the importance of supporting
local business. Here is just one opportunity to do so this
summer. Click the link below to access a listing of area produce
markets.
http://www.mfma.org/mfma_members.htm
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