Workshops and Classes
Learn new skills to manage your business.
Understanding business fundamentals, such as finance and marketing, as well as staying abreast of the changing business environment, is key to the success of a business.
Harper College SBDC offers low cost seminars and workshops to help you manage your business and to keep up-to-date on new business developments.
Workshop and Class Descriptions
Starting a Business: First Steps
Have you ever considered being a business owner? Do you have the characteristics and fundamentals to run a business? Find out if entrepreneurship is right for you. During the session complete a self-assessment questionnaire to determine if you have the personal characteristics, the financial fitness and the business readiness skills to own a business. Then score and interpret your own results.
Choose one session to attend:
- May 21, 9-10 a.m.
- June 18, 7-8 p.m.
- July 23, 9-10 a.m.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: Free.
Registration: To register for this free seminar please email sbdc@harpercollege.edu. Please include the following information in your email: name, contact information (email and/or phone) and class date.
Starting a Business: Next Steps
Starting a business requires pulling together many matters such as your strategy, marketing plan, start-up costs and sources of funds, and legal registration and reporting requirements. And timing matters! This course provides an overview of these critical tasks and helps the participants to create a timeline of critical tasks to launch.
Prerequisite: Starting a Business: First Steps or having an existing business.
Choose one session to attend:
- May 1, 2-4 p.m.
- June 5, 2-4 p.m.
- July 10, 2-4 p.m.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: Free.
Registration: To register for this free seminar please email sbdc@harpercollege.edu. Please include the following information in your email: name, contact information (email and/or phone) and class date.
Small Business Financial Boot Camp
One of the most challenging parts about starting and growing a business is financial management. In this series learn about small business financial management, how to “connect the dots” between your business operation and performance – and experience financial success. This consists of four workshops:
Understanding “The Books”: May 7, 2013, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Learn how to keep the necessary records for your small business, how to set up functional recordkeeping systems and review the financial statements of your business. Understanding “the books” is a key component to knowing how your company is performing, enabling you to spots trends that could be hazardous to your business’ health. We’ll show you the primary tools of financial analysis, and how to use them with ease.
Using QuickBooks to Successfully Manage Your Business: May 14, 2013, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Attendees will learn to maximize QuickBooks beyond basic bookkeeping. In this workshop, you will learn to how to dig into your company’s numbers to analyze the operating results and learn how they impact your bottom line, how to create effective reports to manage your day to day operations and analyze operating results with financial ratios.
Managing Cash Flow: Your Business’ Survival Depends on It!: May 21, 2013, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Business owners often focus on top line items such as gross revenue and sales or the bottom line - net profits. Cash flow often gets overlooked, yet is critical to your business’ survival. Rapidly growing, or contracting, companies can encounter serious financial difficulties when cash flow is not managed properly. In this workshop, you will learn how to calculate and accurately project your business cash flow and understand that your survival depends on it.
Budgeting and Forecasting For Small Businesses: May 28, 2013, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Business owners often neglect to determine their financial goals and objectives. Among the most important aspects of a business plan is the financial plan. Realistic financial goals and a plan for achieving them will keep your business on track for success. We will show you how to prepare a budget against which to measure your achievements, and how to make reasonable, useful forecasts.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: $50 each, $175 for all four workshops.
Hands-on class designed for entrepreneurs with little experience working with QuickBooks. Topics include: setting up a new company, accounts receivable and accounts payable transactions, bank reconciliation, credit card reconciliation, running basic financial reports, tracking and paying sales tax. Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to work on their QuickBooks file during the session.
When: June 11, 2013, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: $150 (includes box lunch and QuickBooks manual)
Small Business Marketing Boot Camp
Are you looking for more customers and increased sales for your small business? This overview series teaches key marketing fundamentals and practical applications for the small business owner. Recognize the importance of marketing and sales to growing your business and commit to budgeting time to focus on this by attending these workshops.
“Marketing”-What Exactly Is This and Why Is It So Critical to My Small Business?: July 16, 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Small business owners wear a lot of hats…director of marketing is one of them. This workshop helps you understand what marketing is and why having a solid marketing plan is critical to your business’ success
Define Your Target Market & Hone Your Marketing Message: July 23, 9:00-11:30 a.m..
Knowing who your targeted customers are, and their needs and wants, allows you to provide a better product or service. But it also helps you deliver your marketing message to them more efficiently. In this information age, your business is competing with a great deal of other information when trying to reach your targeted consumer. How do you get heard?
Effective Marketing on a Shoestring Budget: July 30, 9:00-11:30 a.m.
Logos, business cards and flyers are a start. But learn about many more effective ways to reach your targeted customers, including email marketing, testimonials, and power partners.
The Role of Social Media and Websites: August 6, 9:00-11:30 a.m.
The Yellow Pages days are long gone. Learn how to control your business listing on on-line sites and the role of the website in your marketing. On-line reputations are critical. Businesses need to take an active and strategic role in monitoring their on-line presence and on-line reviews, like Yelp. Facebook, Twitter, blogging and other social media strategies will also be covered.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: $50 each, $175 for all four workshops.
Getting Started with Email Marketing
Email marketing enables a business to communicate with customers regularly to stay connected, increase referrals, encourage repeat sales, and build unwavering customer loyalty. Are you ready to put these skills into practice?
In Getting Started with Email Marketing, see the Constant Contact Email Marketing product in action! You will see how simple it can be to:
Select an appropriate email template and create an email (...from scratch!)
Brand an email to match your website
Add images and links
Import contacts
Segment lists, and
Review and analyze reports.
Along the way, tricks-of-the-trade and other relevant best practices will be discussed. You'll have plenty of time to ask questions, provide feedback, share your experiences, and listen to how others are using Email Marketing to grow their business and establish lasting relationships with customers and members.
When: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 3-4:30 pm
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: $10
New! Small business owners have asked us to create a comprehensive Social Media Boot Camp that is simple enough for busy entrepreneurs to grasp yet robust enough it will affect their bottom line. From Facebook to Twitter, Google Local, LinkedIn and more, learn ways to generate leads and new customers from social media!
Small Business owners will learn how to use social media platforms, develop and manage social media campaigns and analyze results. The intended audience for this boot camp includes: small business owners, marketing professionals, and those who desire to implement social media efforts to drive sales, create customer loyalty and expose their product or service to a new audience.
Whether you are new to social media or already involved, you will come away with a better understanding of this marketing platform and have practical techniques to implement in your business.
Social Media Marketing: June 5, 2013 1:00-4:00 p.m.
This class is a great introduction to the fundamentals of the social media landscape and social media strategy. It covers demographics, plan development, content strategy, keyword search and more.
Social Media Engagement: June 12, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Learn best practices for creating a social brand for your business, creating communities and attracting "influencers". This class also covers how to use social media to manage your customer service and how to read and interpret very useful analytics.
Social Media Platforms: June 19, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
What are the best platforms for your specific business? This class offers an overview of the critical features of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and social advertising.
Social Media local: June 26, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Learn how to put your business on the map with Google Local. Whether your business is an auto mechanic, or a family-owned store with multiple city-wide shops, Google Local can help get your business found.
Where: 650 East Higgins Rd, Schaumburg, in the Harper Professional Center, (not on main campus) Suite 18N
Cost: $50 each, $175 for all four workshops.
