IC Success: Back to School Business Academy
This free, eight-week webinar series will help you build and grow your business. Now is the time to invest your time and effort in yourself!
The BNMC’s IC Success: Back to School Business Academy webinar series runs every Tuesday from October 6th – November 24th from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm via Zoom. See below for the topic each week.
Zoom links will be shared after registration. We recommend attending all 8 sessions to get the most out of this series.
IC Success is an education series started by the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Inc. (BNMC) in 2019 as way to create pathways and building blocks for success in the small business community. BNMC is committed to helping all small businesses, including women, minority, and Veteran-owned businesses and enterprises to reach their full potential.
Attend all eight sessions and receive one free month at dig at the Innovation Center, the region’s best co-working space!
October 6th – So You Want to Start a Business – Now What?
20 questions to ask yourself, including: Who is my customer and how can I make them feel valued?; What is my product(s)/service(s)?; and What type of legal structure would be best for me to operate my business?
October 13th – Working through Start-up Costs
To properly understand if this will ultimately be a profitable business, we must do an analysis of all of the costs you will encounter to start and run your business. We will work through those on a provided worksheet. This will ultimately help us to determine what the price should be for your various product(s) and/or service(s).
October 20th – Creating Pricing and Revenue Projections – Will This Company Be Able to Make Money?
We will use provided Excel worksheets to determine fixed costs and variable costs to set a price for your products and services. From there, we can create revenue projections. Also, if the company is profitable, what are some investment options to manage the excess cash flow?
October 27th – Putting It All Together and Creating Pro-forma Financial Statements
We will use our Projected Revenue worksheets created in Excel and our Fixed and Variable cost worksheets to create the major pro-forma financial statements including an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow projections.
November 3rd – Marketing and Building Parts of the Business Plan
We will create a marketing plan including a definition of your customer and how to make those customers feel valued through customer satisfaction. We will include a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Opportunities, Weaknesses and Threats) for your specific business.
November 10th – Management/Operations/Human Resources, Completing the Business Plan, and Legally Filing Your Business in Erie County
We answer questions such as, “Do I need a license to operate my business,” and “How do I file a business name in Erie County?” And, operationally, “What software packages can help me operate my business?” In addition, we will go over the “Guide to doing Business in Erie County” that is on the Erie County website. We will cover the major laws that you will need to know about if you hire employees, and how to retain and motivate those employees.
November 17th – Local Guest Speakers who have had Business Success
Open questions for entrepreneurs in our area who have already had success! Ask them what you would like to hear about! Perhaps, “How do you manage the life/work balance with this business operation taking up so much of your time.” Ask anything!
November 24th – Panel of Subject Matter Experts, Including CPA, Attorney, Insurance and a Banker
We will cover basics of taxes and the legal structure of your business. And, “Do I need an insurance agent, an attorney and a banker?”
This series will be led by Kerry Collard, MBA, a former banking executive who has taught in the field of Business Administration and Entrepreneurship for over nineteen years at local colleges in the Buffalo area.
