Experienced and Expanding
The Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba invites you to join other established women business owners for a series of insightful sessions aimed at helping you take your business to the next level.
Developing Your Business
On most Thursday evenings between September and June, the Women's Enterprise Centre offers seminars on a variety of topics. Each has been designed so that you can immediately apply the information to the operation of your business. Some of the courses are delivered by guest facilitators, others by WEC staff with expertise in a particular area. Sessions have been divided into topic areas for easy reference. $30/session + GST
BUSINESS FINANCE
Business Tax – What You Need to Know
February 9 (6:30 to 8:30 pm)
Designed specifically for self-employed individuals, this session covers a lot of ground in just two hours. You will learn which expenses are deductible and which are not; the taxation rules that apply to sole proprietors, partnerships and corporations; important considerations to evaluate when making buying vs. leasing decisions; and how to keep appropriate documentation (bookkeeping and receipt keeping). You will also be exposed to miscellaneous tax tips and traps and there will be discussion about GST, payroll deductions, and things you can do to be in accordance with all taxation requirements so that your return does not trigger an audit.
Business Sucess – Increase the Profitability of Your Business
February 16 (6:30 to 8:30 pm)
The objective of this workshop is to increase the profitability of your business by examining existing philosophies and considering new strategies that focus on service/quality rather than price. The session covers pricing; break-even point; fixed vs. variable costs; reading, understanding and using your financial statements; learning how prepare and use projections; dealing with difficult clients; and negotiating more effectively with clients and suppliers.
Introduction to Financial Management
February 23 (6:30 to 8:30 pm)
Understanding financial basics will help you gain and maintain control of your business. This session is the foundation for the Financial Management Series and looks at the sources and uses of funds within your business. You must be organized to track and document the movement of those funds. Learn what financial information you need to collect and how to develop systems for monitoring that information, including basic requirements for income tax, GST, and PST. You will also cover the key points of what to look for when hiring a professional bookkeeper or accountant.
It is important to understand how to develop a manual bookkeeping system that is straightforward and easy to manage. By the end of the session, you will have gained a basic understanding of accounting principles and how they relate to your business.
Accounting Software: Overview of Quick Books and Simply Accounting
Basic accounting principles will be used to demonstrate key activities in Quick Books and Simply Accounting software. By the end of the session, you will know how to complete basic transactions in accounting software with a general overview of payables, receivables and payroll functions.
You will learn financial analysis methods to read and understand your financial reports. Whether your statements are prepared by hand, electronically, or by an accounting professional, you need to know how to interpret the data. With correctly prepared financial statements you will be able to spot potential problems, capitalize on opportunities, and make appropriate decisions in accordance with the strategic vision for your business. By the end of the session, you will have the foundation for a financial monitoring system that you can tailor to your specific business.
MANAGEMENT
Time Management — Get Organized for Peak Performance
If time is money, how much are you losing in disorganization and disruption? Learn how to take control of your time and limit the interruptions that can derail your productivity. This workshop is divided into four sections: goal setting; guidelines for efficient planning; the four Ds (do, dump, delay or delegate); and learning how to manage your work by performing a workload analysis.
A Place for Everything: Organizing Your Office
January 26 (6:30 to 8:30 pm)
“A place for everything and everything in its place.” This is certainly easier said than done, especially if you have piles of paper all over your work space. Life as a business owner can become much more complicated if you are unable to take control of the paperwork your business is sure to generate. This session will provide you with the skills to sort and process documents, the tools to organize your physical space, and the ability to organize your time. You will leave the session with a flow chart to assist you with paper flow, visual aids to help you on your quest for organization, and sources of office products to get you going in the right direction. There will be time for questions.
Dealing with Performance Problems and Ending an Employment Relationship
March 8 (6:30 to 8:30 pm)
Dealing with employee performance issues can be challenging and time consuming. This session has been designed to help business owners develop processes to address employee performance problems. Participants will learn about ‘good, bad and ugly’ scenarios and how to avoid or prevent the latter two. The session will also cover the importance of documentation and guidelines for terminating an employment relationship.
MARKETING
Why Should I Buy From You? Positioning for Increased Sales
The most fundamental aspect of selling is determining how to position your offering to the customer. In order to do this successfully, you must have a strategy to assess how your offering fits into the marketplace and to whom it will be most valuable. You must also be able to communicate that value to potential buyers. Positioning is the most critical, and often the least expensive, marketing exercise an organization can undertake to increase their sales success. If you have ever struggled with communicating your offer to a stranger, this session is for you.
Public Relations: How to Get Started
Sometimes the best business promotion doesn’t cost a cent. You can use public relations (PR) to create awareness of your business, build your “brand” and deliver your message to customers, with little or no financial investment. All it takes is a little ingenuity and planning. Learn about the variety of PR tools available and how to plan an effective PR program for your small business.
Understanding Buyer Behavior and Closing the Sale
Sometimes the best business promotion doesn’t cost a cent. You can use public relations (PR) to create awareness of your business, build your “brand” and deliver your message to customers, with little or no financial investment. All it takes is a little ingenuity and planning. Learn about the variety of PR tools available and how to plan an effective PR program for your small business.
Use Online Content, Conversation, and Persuasion to Build Your Business
Writing for the Web is a lot more than just writing. It’s about knowing how to create new and original content for your blog and website, tying it in with your social-media presence, and being familiar with the basic principles of persuasion and online marketing. Be prepared for an educational and entertaining session that will deliver tips and tools to make your online content more interesting and effective.
Advertising for Small Business: What will work best for YOUR Business?
One of the oldest clichés in advertising is John Wannamaker’s Rule which states that only 50% of advertising works, you just don’t know which 50%. As a business owner you will be presented with many types of media on which to spend your advertising dollars. In this session you will learn to differentiate between the numerous and often confusing media options, how to target media to meet your advertising needs, discover important steps to successful advertising and common reasons why ads fail. Take away valuable tips and tools to help you make wiser media buying decisions and potentially lead to increased profitability for your business.
TECH TUESDAYS
$25 per session, light lunch included.
If you’ve done any research lately into technology options for your business, or simply viewed an ad for the iPhone 4S which touts iCloud functionality, you may be wondering what this cloud stuff is all about. In just one hour, you will gain insight into Cloud technology and learn about cost-effective ways that your business may be able to benefit from incorporating it into your technology planning.
Point of Sale Systems — A POS-tive Business Tool
Point-of-sale, or POS systems have evolved dramatically in the last decade. Now sophisticated features that can support your business are available at increasingly reasonable investment levels. With the multitude of options available to retailers, it may be difficult to know where to start looking and how to know when you’ve found a solution that will add value to your bottom line. Learn some of the features and functionalities that are available, typical cost scenarios, and ways that you can integrate a POS system into your business.
E-commerce Isn't Just for Amazon
E-commerce isn’t just the buying and selling of products online, it is the entire online process of developing, marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products and services. With advances in online tools, businesses of all sizes are now able to participate in e-commerce. For a minimal investment of cash and time, you too can transact online with your customers. In this session, you will learn about the leading e-commerce providers and aspects of online selling you may want to consider as you assess this distribution channel for your business.
Pardon us, that’s not a result of eating lunch too quickly…we really did mean ERP or “Enterprise Resource Planning”. This session is about efficiency, lost opportunities and profitability. Do your systems transfer information from spreadsheet to database, database to word processor, word processor to email? Are you missing sales opportunities because you don’t know if you have stock on hand or how long it will take to arrive if you order it? Can you determine immediately if the large project you just completed made money or do you have to wait a few weeks for all the costs to be accumulated and processed by hand and passed on to bookkeeper for entry into Simply Accounting or QuickBooks before you receive the answer? During this session you will learn about the benefits of ERP, and leave with criteria that will help you assess whether you should consider it for your business.
Mobile is an extremely HOT topic these days and for good reason. In 2010, there were 4.1 billion mobile phones worldwide. In 2011, that number grew to 5.2 billion and continues to grow exponentially. By 2014, mobile web users will overtake desktop web users and statistics show that mobile web searchers are more likely to act on their searches than desktop web searchers. “Are You Ready For This Mobile Revolution?” In this session, Leah Binkley will share the main areas of focus no matter your business type, tools you can use to “mobilize” your marketing efforts, and tips for the best ways to prepare your digital media for mobile consumption.
