SMALL BUSINESS LEARNING SESSIONS Spring 2016

(1)

Register Today! Page 1

SMALL BUSINESS LEARNING SESSIONS

Spring 2016

If you’re starting or expanding a business and looking for direction, you can’t afford to miss these great training sessions designed to save you time and money.

Small Business Learning Sessions

Our sessions focus on four main topics: Bookkeeping, QuickBooks, Marketing, and Business Planning. All sessions on this schedule will be held at Community Futures Central Alberta. Our Presenters

All of our presenters are professionals in their field and knowledgeable about the topics in which they are presenting.

Registration

Pre-registration is required for all sessions. This allows us to prepare materials in advance for each session.

Red Deer Location:

Community Futures Central Alberta 5013 – 49 Avenue, Red Deer, Alberta For Registration:

Call us at (403) 342-2055 OR

(2)

Spring 2016 Schedule at a Glance

February 2016

DATE TIME TITLE COST

10 10:00-11:15 How to Sell to the Alberta Government (Business Link Webinar) FREE 17 12:00-1:00 BizStream – How to Land Big Contracts as a Small Business *NEW* FREE 19 9:00-12:00 Understanding Basic Bookkeeping $179.00 22 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Start Up Budget for Your Business Plan FREE 23 9:30-11:00 Getting to Know Your Market and Industry (Business Link Webinar) FREE 24 11:00-12:00 Social Media and Marketing Expert BizChat Webinar (Business Link) FREE 29 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Marketing Plan and Market Research for

Your Business Plan FREE

March 2016

4 9:00-12:00 Introduction to QuickBooks $179.00* 7 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Cashflow for Your Business Plan FREE 11 9:00-12:00 Beginner QuickBooks $179.00* 14 12:15-1:15 Lunchtime Learning – How to Set Up Your Company *NEW* FREE 18 11:00-12:00 Communications Expert BizChat Webinar (Business Link) FREE 21 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Start Up Budget for Your Business Plan FREE

*Bundle the Introduction to QuickBooks and Beginner QuickBooks courses for only $299.00, or bundle the Introduction to QuickBooks, Beginner QuickBooks, Advanced QuickBooks and QuickBooks Payroll for $549.00.

(3)

April 2016

4 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Marketing Plan and Market Research for

Your Business Plan FREE 11 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Cashflow for Your Business Plan FREE 18 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Start Up Budget for Your Business Plan FREE 20 1:00-2:00 Marketing and Branding for Start Ups *NEW* $25.00 25 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Marketing Plan and Market Research for

Your Business Plan FREE 27 12:00-1:00 BizStream – How to Land Big Contracts as a Small Business *NEW* FREE

May 2016

2 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Cashflow for Your Business Plan FREE 9 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Start Up Budget for Your Business Plan FREE 13 9:00-12:00 Advanced QuickBooks $179.00* 16 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Marketing Plan and Market Research for

Your Business Plan FREE 27 9:00-12:00 QuickBooks Payroll $179.00* 30 12:15-1:15 Lunchtime Learning – QuickBooks Tips & Tricks *NEW* FREE

June 2016

3 9:00-12:00 Understanding Basic Bookkeeping $179.00 6 12:10-1:00 Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Cashflow for Your Business Plan FREE

*Bundle the Introduction to QuickBooks and Beginner QuickBooks courses for only $299.00, or bundle the Introduction to QuickBooks, Beginner QuickBooks, Advanced QuickBooks and QuickBooks Payroll for $549.00.

(4)

LEARNING SESSION DETAILED INFORMATION

LUNCHTIME LEARNING SESSIONS

Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Start up Budget for Your Business Plan

Learn how to create a budget for your business plan. The staff at Community Futures Central Alberta will explain the steps to figure out how much money you will need to open your business and keep your business operating.

Presenter: Community Futures Central Alberta Staff Offered on: February 22nd_{, March 21}st_{, April 18}th_{, May 9}th

12:10pm - 1:00pm

Cost: FREE (Pre-registration is required)

Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Marketing Plan and Market Research for Your Business Plan

Learn how to create a marketing plan and how to gather market research. The staff at

Community Futures Central Alberta will explain what is needed for a marketing plan and why you should do market research before going into business.

Presenter: Community Futures Central Alberta Staff Offered on: February 29th_{, April 4}th_{, April 25}th_{, May 16}th

12:10pm - 1:00pm

Lunchtime Learning – Preparing Your Cash Flow for Your Business Plan

Learn how to create a cash flow statement for your business plan. The staff at Community Futures Central Alberta will work with you to make sense of why you need a cash flow in your business plan and why it is important to understand cash flow for your business. Presenter: Community Futures Central Alberta Staff

Offered on: March 7th_{, April 11}th_{, May 2}nd_{, June 6}th

12:10pm - 1:00pm

Lunchtime Learning – How to Set Up Your Company *NEW*

Learn the basics of how to get your company set-up to operate. Our QuickBooks instructor, Debbie Romkes will walk you through various processes such as how to get a CRA business number, how to set up your GST and payroll accounts, and various other tasks related to setting up your business.

(5)

Presenter: Debbie Romkes, Aggregate Financial Solutions

Offered on: March 14th

12:15pm - 1:15pm

Lunchtime Learning – QuickBooks Tips & Tricks *NEW*

Join our QuickBooks instructor, Debbie Romkes to learn some tips and tricks to navigating the QuickBooks software. This session is geared towards people who have some experience using QuickBooks and would like to be able to use the program more efficiently.

Offered on: May 30th

12:15pm - 1:15pm

MARKETING SESSION

Marketing and Branding for Start Ups *NEW*

Your organization’s brand is more than your logo. Your brand is what people think and feel about your organization—good or bad. It’s about like and trust. It’s that little extra that makes them choose you over your competition.

Once you have a clear idea about your branding you need to have the right marketing strategy in place. This is as important for start ups and small businesses as it is for bigger corporations. Join Kerstin for a one hour workshop about branding and marketing fundamentals:

In this seminar you will learn:

 How to create a marketing strategy for your business

 How to create a consistent message and visual design throughout different media types (i.e. social media, print, web)

 What makes a good brand and how to create it

 What media to use to reach your audience

Presenter: Kerstin Heuer, HeuerDesign

Offered on: April 20th

1:00pm - 2:00pm

(6)

QUICKBOOKS TRAINING SESSIONS

All of our courses use QuickBooks Premier 2015, which is installed on our computers. Please bring a flash drive so you can take a copy of your work home with you.

You will be provided with handouts of the information you are learning at each class. In order to attend any of the QuickBooks classes, you must have basic knowledge of bookkeeping. For example, you must know what the following functions are:

 Chart of Accounts

 Accounts Receivable

 Accounts Payable

 How to prepare a bank reconciliation

 The difference between a debit and a credit

Pre-registration is required for all QuickBooks courses and full payment must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. the Tuesday prior to class. In order to run QuickBooks sessions, a

minimum of four participants must be registered.

Customized QuickBooks Training *NEW*

In addition to the scheduled QuickBooks sessions being offered, we also now offer customized QuickBooks training to meet the specific needs of small businesses. Call us at 403-342-2055 for a quote.

Understanding Basic Bookkeeping

Join our certified Bookkeeper and QuickBooks trainer, Debbie Romkes, as she takes you through the basics of simple bookkeeping practices. Learn what a debit and credit is, explanations of the various areas in your financial statements, learn how to reconcile your bank and the importance of it, and basic transaction entering whether you are doing your books in an accounting program, or on a spreadsheet.

Offered on: February 19th_{, June 3}rd

9:00am – 12:00pm

(7)

Register Today! Page 7 Introduction to QuickBooks

Learn how to get organized and started in the software. Specifics about what you will be learning are:

1. Learn how to set your QuickBooks file up properly

 Initial file set up and activation

 Setting up your Chart of Accounts

 Setting your Preferences for the company

 Setting up your customers and vendors 2. Learn how to maneuver in QuickBooks 3. Backing up and restoring your file

9:00am – 12:00pm

Cost: $179.00 per class or bundle with Beginner QuickBooks for $299.00, or bundle all 4 QuickBooks classes for $549.00.

(Pre-registration is required and seating is limited)

Beginner QuickBooks

This course will begin after your file is set up and you want to begin processing your

bookkeeping documentation. You will be taken through the accounting cycle covering sales, payables/payments, banking and GST. Basic accounting topics will be discussed as well. The following is a detailed outline:

1. Sales Transactions: sales receipts, create invoices, credit memos, receive payments from customers, apply discounts and credits, and create statements

2. Accounts Payable: enter bills, pay bills, printing cheques, enter credit card charges, pay the credit card, enter bills you paid personally and reimburse yourself

3. Bank and other reconciliations: how to prepare reconciliations 4. File a Sales Tax Return

5. QuickBooks reports: how to find the basic reports you might want to view

9:00am – 12:00pm

Cost: $179.00 per class or bundle with Introduction to QuickBooks for $299.00, or bundle all 4 QuickBooks classes for $549.00.

(8)

Register Today! Page 8 Advanced QuickBooks

Individuals wishing to take this course need to have a background in using QuickBooks (taking the first two classes will help but there should be an element of practical experience). Join our certified QuickBooks trainer, Debbie Romkes, as she goes through some more advanced options in QuickBooks. Below is a detailed outline of some of the things you will learn in this course:

 Managing your “items”

 Setting up classes and using the job costing

 Using the purchase orders

 An introduction to using the inventory in QuickBooks

 Reporting

9:00am – 12:00pm

Cost: $179.00 per class or bundle all 4 QuickBooks classes for $549.00.

(Pre-registration is required and seating is limited)

QuickBooks Payroll

Learn how to set up the basic payroll file in your QuickBooks. You will learn how to do payroll item setup, employee set up, basic payroll processing, how to pay your CRA remittances and how to prepare ROE’s.

A subscription to QuickBooks Payroll is required to perform this function on your personal computer. This is available with Pro versions of QuickBooks.

9:00am – 12:00pm

Cost: $179.00 per class or bundle all 4 QuickBooks classes for $549.00.

(9)

BUSINESS LINK WEBINARS

How to Sell to the Alberta Government

The Alberta Government is looking for you – and your goods and services. With over 2000 purchasers, they buy everything from agricultural goods to professional services and everything in between. These opportunities are being posted daily for all sizes of business, even start-ups, so no business is too small. This webinar will teach you about the Alberta Government's buying practices - who buys what, how they buy, and where to find these opportunities.

Presenter: Chelle Busch and Marcy Soehn, Government of Alberta Offered on: February 10th

10:00am - 11:15am

Getting to Know Your Market and Industry

This webinar will provide an overview on the wide range of data products Statistics Canada offers business owners. Gain a basic understanding of selected standard geographic and industry classifications. Learn how to conduct basic market and industry research on Statistics Canada's website.

Presenter: Pamela Borland, Statistics Canada Offered on: February 23rd

9:30am - 11:00am

Social Media and Marketing Expert BizChat Webinar

This webinar will provide you with an opportunity to ask questions about how to use social media strategically. Find out how to identify your target market, what and when social media channels are best, and how to develop your marketing strategy.

Simply submit your question upon registration, and our social media marketing expert will answer as many questions as possible in the webinar. You can also type in your questions during the live group webinar via chat.

Presenter: Brian Siddle, Strong Coffee Marketing Offered on: February 24th

11:00am – 12:00pm

(10)

Register Today! Page 10 Communications Expert BizChat Webinar

Write a website that sells! The most common mistake business owners make with their website is thinking it should be about them. Your website is not about you! Let's go through a typical business website page by page, identify the most popular pitfalls, and then rewrite it to appeal immediately and powerfully to your target audience. This webinar will provide you with an opportunity to ask questions about website content in an online group session. Simply submit your questions upon registration, and our expert will answer them in the live webinar. You can also ask questions live in the group chat!

Presenter: Business Link Staff Offered on: March 18th

11:00am – 12:00pm

BIZ STREAM SESSIONS

BizStream - How to Land Big Contracts as a Small Business *NEW*

The staff at Community Futures Central Alberta will take you through what you need to know to meet industry requirements and be able to engage in contracts with oilfield, municipal government or bid on large project contracts. This is an information session on the BizStream Small Business Program. Participants will have the option to complete a Preliminary

Assessment and continue on with the BizStream program following payment of applicable fees and acceptance into the program.

Presenter: Community Futures Central Alberta Staff Offered on: February 17th_{, April 27}th

12:00pm - 1:00pm