Original text

The Greater Aiken Chapter has developed five workshops called the Business Startup Series. These workshops were developed from the 12 modules from the Business Startup Roadmap from the SCORE.org. The goal of these workshops is to introduce you to the concepts you need to successfully start a business. More in-depth explanations will come from reviewing the Roadmap modules and by working with a mentor.

In these slides, you will learn the essential steps needed to start a business. Topics covered will include market research and analysis, developing a business plan, securing funding, and building a team. Additionally, attendees will receive guidance on legal and regulatory requirements, as well as tips on how to market and grow their new venture. Whether you're just starting to explore the idea of entrepreneurship or are ready to launch your business, this webinar will provide valuable insights and practical advice to help you succeed.

This slideshow is intended to alleviate the stress of business planning for entrepreneurs and small business owners. It walks you through the process of developing a clear and effective business plan, including tips on market research, financial projections, and developing a marketing strategy. This slideshow offers valuable insights and practical advice to help you achieve your goals with less stress, whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your business.

This slideshow is intended to assist entrepreneurs and small business owners in comprehending the financial aspects of running a business. It covers budgeting, financial forecasting, bookkeeping, and cash management, as well as practical tips for staying on top of your finances and making informed decisions. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand your business, this slideshow provides useful insights and advice to help you manage your finances and achieve your business objectives.

This slideshow is designed to help entrepreneurs and small business owners navigate the various funding options available to start or grow their businesses. It covers topics such as traditional bank loans, venture capital, crowdfunding, and grants, and provides practical tips on how to present a solid funding proposal, and how to choose the best funding option for your business. Whether you're just starting out or looking to expand your business, this slideshow offers valuable insights and advice to help you secure the funding you need to bring your business to the next level.

A successful marketing plan begins with understanding your target audience, defining your goals, and setting a realistic budget. It then requires researching the market, devising a strategy, and creating content that will engage your customers. Finally, it's time to test, measure results, and make necessary adjustments to the plan. This slideshow will help you create a marketing plan that will make your business successful.

This slideshow is intended to assist individuals in forming a non-profit organization. It goes over topics like mission, legal structure, budget, fundraising, and how to form a board of directors. The slideshow will also include information on non-profit legal and regulatory requirements. It will walk you through the steps of forming a successful non-profit organization.

This slideshow is intended for people who are thinking about starting a consulting business. It introduces the field of consulting, including the benefits and drawbacks of working as a consultant. The slideshow will also go over the setup process, including business structure, entity selection, and client acquisition via business development and marketing. Furthermore, the slideshow will cover running an ethical consulting business, such as creating proposals and contracts, understanding scope of work and non-disclosure agreements, important terms, and pricing strategies for fee structures and

This slideshow is intended to assist entrepreneurs and small business owners in understanding the fundamental financial concepts and terms associated with running a business. It covers topics such as income statements, balance sheets, cash flow, and financial ratios, as well as practical advice on how to use financial data to make informed business decisions. This slideshow offers valuable insights and advice to help you understand and manage your business finances effectively, whether you're just starting out or looking to grow your business.

"Plan Your Business on One Page" is a template to help you create a simple yet effective one-page business plan. It includes sections for business description, target market, competition, marketing and sales strategies, and financial projections. This template will help you plan and achieve your business goals on one easy-to-use page.

This slideshow is intended to assist entrepreneurs and small business owners in developing a straightforward yet effective one-page business plan. It includes a business description, target market, competitive analysis, marketing and sales strategies, and financial projections, among other things. The slideshow will also show you how to keep the plan concise and simple to understand, as well as how to use it as a tool for tracking progress and making changes to your business strategy. Whether you're just getting started or looking to expand your business, this slideshow provides valuable

This slideshow is intended for people who are thinking about starting their own business. It gives an overview of the small business environment, including critical skills and resources required for success. The slideshow will also cover how to start a business, from scratch to buying an existing one, as well as information on first steps to take and different business structures to consider. In addition, the slideshow will discuss important partners to have in a business as well as helpful workshops for new entrepreneurs. The slideshow will also include a list of resources that can be useful

The slideshow "Understanding Your Customers and Creating a Competitive Advantage" is intended to help entrepreneurs understand how to use customer research to create a competitive advantage. It discusses topics like identifying target customers, understanding their needs, creating a unique value proposition, and developing a customer-centric business model. The presentation will also cover how to measure customer satisfaction and make data-driven decisions to improve results.

The "Your Big Bold Brand" slideshow is intended to assist entrepreneurs in developing a strong brand, and it covers topics such as defining the brand's purpose, values, and messaging, developing a distinct visual identity, and cultivating brand loyalty. The slideshow will also show you how to measure your brand's effectiveness and make data-driven decisions to maximize results.

This slideshow is designed to help entrepreneurs understand the differences between marketing and sales and how they work together to drive business growth. It covers topics such as the role of marketing in creating awareness, the role of sales in generating revenue, strategies for aligning the two functions, and how to measure their effectiveness.

The "Product Positioning and Brand Identity Management" slideshow is intended to help entrepreneurs understand how to effectively position their products and manage their brand. It covers topics like identifying your target market, developing a unique value proposition, developing a consistent brand identity, and managing your brand across all touchpoints. The slideshow will also show you how to measure the effectiveness of your product positioning and brand management efforts and make data-driven decisions to improve your results.

The "A.R.T. of Relationship Marketing" slideshow is intended to help entrepreneurs understand the importance of developing customer relationships and how to use relationship marketing strategies to drive business growth. It discusses topics such as trust building, creating personalized experiences, leveraging technology and data, and calculating the ROI of relationship marketing efforts. The slideshow will also include suggestions for improving customer relationships and driving business growth.

Visual Tools:

• Adobe Spark Post
• Canva.com
• Diptic
• Bazaart
• Wordswag

Video Apps:

• Lumyer
• Animoto
• Animatron Wave
• Ripl
• Flixel Cinemagraph
• Flipagram

Stock Image Libraries:

• Adobe Stock
• Shutterstock
• Pixabay.com (FREE)
• Pexels.com (FREE)
• Flicker (Creative Commons)

These slides go over the basics of online paid advertising. Topics covered:

• Online Advertising Overview
• Search Engine Advertising
  • Google
  • Bing
• Social Media Advertising
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
• Planning for Success
• Q & A

This presentation on "How to Manage Your Online Reputation" is intended to assist people and organizations in comprehending the significance of their online presence and in managing their reputations in an efficient manner. Understanding the value of your online reputation, spotting potential dangers to it, creating a great online presence, and minimizing bad reviews. Additionally, the presentation offers advice on keeping an eye on and responding to online reviews.

This slide presentation on social media marketing puts emphasis on how critical it is to reach and interact with potential clients via social media platforms. It goes over the many platforms that are available, the best practices to employ on these sites, and what tools can be used to enhance and measure the effectiveness of your social media presence.

This slideshow, "Promote Your Business With LinkedIn," emphasizes the value of utilizing LinkedIn as a tool for business and offers advice on how to utilize it to its fullest potential. It sets out these functions for you to achieve on LinkedIn:  building a strong network, developing a strong profile, finding and joining LinkedIn groups, engaging with useful material, and developing a compelling company page. Get started with LinkedIn now!

The "Building Your Business Website" slideshow is intended to help entrepreneurs understand the fundamentals of creating a website for their company. It covers topics such as developing a website strategy, selecting a website builder, registering a domain name, designing and building a website, and best practices for developing a user-friendly website. The slideshow will also include suggestions for optimizing your website.

This Business Plan Cash Flow Template is a tool for managing your business's expected revenue and expenses.

A business plan outline covering your business's Executive Summary, Legal Structure, Product(s)/Service(s), Market Analysis, Competition, Business Strategy & Implementation, Organization, Financial Analysis, and Future Plans.

This outline is provided free by the South Carolina Small Business Development Centers.

Angel investing is a type of private equity investment where high-net-worth individuals provide capital to start-up or early-stage companies in exchange for ownership equity or convertible debt. The goal is to help these companies grow and achieve a high return on investment, usually through an eventual acquisition or initial public offering (IPO).

The presentation will cover the basics of angel investing, including how to evaluate investment opportunities, identify the right partners to accept investments from, and how to navigate the challenges and risks involved.

The SBA works to ignite change and spark action so small businesses can confident! Need Access to Capital? The SBA Can Help:

1. SBA Backed Loans
2. Private Investors
3. R&D Awarded Funds
4. Surety Bonds

Presentation slides from a SCORE and Aiken Chamber of Commerce workshop, "Working Capital & Cash Flow". The workshop went over the means to evaluate and analyze working capital and measures of cash flow.

Learn how to do business with Savannah River Remediation (SRR). Topics covered:

• What is SRR and its commitment to the community?
• How do I introduce my company to SRR?
• What is the best way to reach out to SRR?
• How do I register with SRR?
• and other Frequently Asked Questions...

SRNS and You: Partnering for Success. Savannah River Nuclear Solutions supports small business engagement, developing strong relationships,  driving collaboration with partners, and a commitment to great performance

Steps to Obtain Federal Contracts

• Do you provide goods or services that the government needs?
• Determine your North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) number (s) | www.census.gov/naics/
• Obtain a Dun and Bradstreet Number (DUNS) | www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/duns_num_guide.pdf
• Register with System for Award Management (SAM) | www.sam.gov
• Provide SBA Profile at Dynamic Small Business Search (DSBS) at | dsbs.sba.gov/dsbs/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm

A quick start guide for New Grantee registration provided by the SBA. What is an Entity? What do I need to get started? What is my Taxpayer Identification Number? The steps for registering for grants on www.sam.gov.

Useful Contacts | Government Contracting
 

US Small Business Administration (SBA) - SC Office

Carl Faison, Business Opportunity Specialist (not present) | carl.faison@sba.gov

Angela Brewer, Business Opportunity Specialist (not present) | angela.brewer@sba.gov

Savannah River Remediation (SRR)

Elizabeth Wooten, Small Business Program Manager | elizabeth.wooten@srs.gov

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS)

Alex Agyemang, Manager, Small Business Programs (not present) | J.Alex.Agyemang@srs.gov

Cheryl Hartfield, Lead, Small Business Programs | cheryl.hartfield@srs.gov

Presentation slides from, "Accounting basics for business owners," by Joel Stewart, CPA. Topics covered:

• Basic business entity types and the similarities and differences of each.
• Listing accounting systems and their value.
• The various reporting agencies in Aiken County for business ownership.
• A walkthrough of basic financial statements and their uses.
• Common business deductions
• And the common problem of employee vs subcontractor.

Slides from, "Business Insurance Basics," a presentation by John McMichael at Anderson Insurance Associates. Covers how business insurance can help protect your business, things you should consider before getting insurance, and the different types of business insurance: 

• General Liability
• Property
• Workers’ Compensation
• Commercial Auto
• Commercial Flood
• Commercial Umbrella
• Management & Professional Liability
• And Business Income/Interruption

Checklist and guide including what questions to ask a franchisor, questions to ask franchisees, information on the Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), and the different financing options for franchises.

Slides from "Franchising 101,' a presentation by Bill Reichardt, a SCORE mentor. Topics covered:

• What is a franchise?
• How do you know franchising is right for you?
• How to pick the right one?

Attached potential franchisee checklist below.

Slides from the course, "Concepts of Project Management," by Joseph Knick, a mentor at SCORE. Objectives of the course:

• Introduce Project Management concepts to general contractors, small building companies, small construction contractors, and individuals wishing to start similar businesses.
• Provide a basic understanding of project management terms used in contracts for the government project management environment.
• This workshop focuses on six key processes versus the 47 processes, 5 process groups, and 10 knowledge areas in the Project Management Institute (PMI) course material. It is

The mission of the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) is to "fuel South Carolina’s innovation economy by accelerating technology-enabled growth of academia, entrepreneurship, and industry." They seek to support businesses and entrepreneurs through mentoring, network & market support, investments, and other funding.

Presentation slides for the "Fraud Triangle" by Julia A. Walker, CPA. Covers the severity of fraud and its consequences for businesses in the United States. Utilizes a tool called the 'Fraud Triangle' in which there are three things to consider when suspecting an opportunity of fraud: Opportunity, Rationalization, and Perceived Pressure.

Presentation slides for, "Payroll Taxes for New Business Start-ups," with topics covered:

• Discuss basic payroll tax liabilities. 
• Discuss the basic steps in determining payroll tax obligations. 
• Discuss the procedures to determine who is an employee. 
• Discuss specific employer and employee payroll tax obligations. 
• Discuss good payroll recordkeeping practices.itunes

The document covers the different tax obligations for employees and independent contractors. Giving instructions on how to discover which are you, possible benefits, and what you need to fulfill your tax obligations.

Publication from the Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Service.

Presentation slides that explore the important differences between employees and contractors in the workplace, including responsibilities, benefits, tax implications, and legal consequences for misclassifications.

Slides from, "Protect Your IP: Intellectual Property for Entrepreneurs," a presentation from SCORE Greater Aiken and McNair Attorneys. Discusses the importance of understanding and appreciating intellectual property, the types of intellectual property, and how to receive intellectual property protections for your products.

Powerpoint of "Top 10 Legal Issues for Start-Up Businesses," a presentation by Kevin Pethick, the Managing Attorney at Austin & Pethick Law Firm, PC.

The Issues Covered:

1. Business Structure/Asset Protection:
2. Partnership Structure/Buy-Sell
3. Non-Disclosure/Non-Compete Agreements
4. Real Estate Decisions
5. Intellectual Property/Trademarks
6. Employment Matters (Independent Contractor vs. Employee Classifications)
7. Worker’s Compensation
8. Corporate Compliance
9. Licensing
10. Estate Planning