Small Business and Community Vitality Conversations
As our new normal settles in you might be thinking about starting a new business. The Kansas City metro area is blessed with many resources for new entrepreneurs. Below are three resources that help as you consider the many steps involved in starting up a business.
One:
First Friday e-call supports small businesses and the communities who love them, created by the K-State Research and Extension Community Vitality Specialists. Registration is required only once for this entire series.
All sessions start at 9:20 AM (Central Standard Time) and the remaining dates are June 5, 2020, Aug 7, 2020, Sep 4, 2020, Oct 2, 2020, Nov 6, 2020, Dec 4, 2020.
On June 5, the topic will be on E-Commerce Essentials: Setting up a quality online sales presence in a hurry.
During this pandemic, we learn to do things that we needed to learn all along but now feel the urgency to do, which includes small businesses. Dr. Cheryl Boyer will share tips, tools, and platforms for setting up an online sales presence in a hurry. Online selling, with touchless transactions, sounds complicated, but in today’s world of easy-to-use platforms, it’s simpler than ever to accomplish. Think through your products, customer needs, and team resources to help devise a strategy for success.
Dr. Boyer has worked through the Center for Rural Enterprise Engagement to help small and medium-sized, often rural, agricultural businesses. Including businesses like nurseries and garden centers. They set up digital media, measure effectiveness, and make data-driven decisions for future efforts. This session guides you to resources for moving forward with your online presence due to a disturbance or business growth.
Two:
The Kansas Business Center has a wonderful tool called the KS Business Startup Wizard, found here. This is a six-step tool that processes through where you are in the startup phase. Provided at the end is information on the next steps, questions to answer, and websites specific to your request.
Three:
KCSource Link offers a plethora of business insight and resources for anyone considering starting a business, from how to create a business plan to finding office space. Their six-part “start your business” section found here. This will walk you through a variety of topics necessary when considering jumping into starting up a business.
