SCORE offers low-cost business training workshops and seminars for both start-up and in-business entrepreneurs. Workshops and seminars are open to all U.S. citizens over the age of 18. Training topics range from: writing a business plan to e-commerce to marketing—depending on the current needs of our business community. Workshops also offer an opportunity to interact with other local small business owners. Our workshop presenters are practicing professionals including accountants, lawyers, bankers and business mangers from diverse businesses and industries. Other facilitators are SCORE counselors who have years of industry and business experience.

Starting and Managing Your Business Seminars

The 2010 SCORE Starting and Managing Your Business seminars will be on January 30, 2010, April 24, 2010 and August 21, 2010.  The seminars will be held at the Bon Carre Business Center at 7249 Florida Blvd. from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This is an all day seminar consisting of a faculty of business specialists in their fields. Topics include Introduction to the business plan, Business taxes, Legal aspects of your business, Technology for business, Advertising & Marketing, Insurance necessary for your business, Banking Requirements and Insurance required for your business. This is a mini MBA in Business Management.

The cost is $85.00 for pre-registered attendants and $95 at the door. Reservations are recommended as space is limited. Lunch is included. Information and registration can be had by calling the SCORE office at (225) 381-7130.

If you'd like to register for this event, click here and download the registration form.

"QuickStart Core 5" Series Workshops

This series of 5 workshops is a deeper dive into several of the subjects in our "Starting and Managing Your Business" all day seminar outlined above. The Core 5 Series take about 2-2.5 hours each with the first one, Session #1, being a free over-view. Sessions 2-5 cost $125.00 for the rest of the series.  2010 Core 5 Workshops are scheduled for May8, May 22, June 5, and June 19th.  Register Now.

Session Subjects

Session 2 covers more detail about the Business Concept. Session 3 is devoted to figuring out your marketing plan. Session 4 relates to various financial analyses and forecasts necessary to operate a business. Session 5 concludes with a discussion about sources of funding, financial accounting software and a wrap-up.
For the purposes of these seminars a hypothetical business is used as an example. Then you can apply the lessons learned to your own business idea.

SCORE Mentor/Coach Assigned

To help you achieve the transition from the example company to your own business, SCORE will assign a SCORE volunteer to you as a coach or mentor. Your coach can help with answering questions, clarifying issues with real world examples and experience, helping with your homework (yes, there is homework to do), and applying the principles presented to your own business.

Reaching a Go/No-Go Decision

The goal for the end of the Core 5 Series Workshops is to enable you to arrive at a Go/No-Go decision for your own business. By the end of the seminar you should be able to write your business plan and explain your business to a potential investor or lender with all of the necessary marketing and financial data.

Registration

If you are interested in a more comprehensive look at starting your own business with the help of your personally assigned SCORE volunteer coach at a reasonable price, please click on this link to the registration brochure. Download it, print it out and fill it out and send it in with your check for the fee. You won't regret taking this action to improve your chances of successfully launching your own small business."