“Successful Small Business Management”

A Series of 7 Weekly Workshops, with Interactive Discussions
To Learn the Basic Skills of Managing and Growing a Small Business
Focused on Massachusetts + Cape & Islands Regulations & Trends

Topics covered include:

• Introduction to the course and how SCORE functions.  How to get organized.  Why businesses succeed or fail.  Choosing a business entity.  The role of insurance.   Projecting start-up costs.
• An overview of financial management.   Topics include the importance of learning how to read and use financial information to run your business better, managing working capital, and sources of short-term financing.  Human Resource Management is also discussed.
• Essential decisions to make when starting a business and useful tips and tools for managing a successful operation, including pricing strategy, break-even analysis, accounting, control and tax issues.
• How to prepare a business plan, a document that communicates a strategy for achieving your objectives.  Topics include the basic elements of a business plan, contents of the descriptive and financial sections, and how to identify critical success factors.
• How to create an effective marketing plan.  The program will focus on how to identify a target market, establish a competitive advantage, find niche opportunities and pricing strategy.  The sales process, advertising and sales promotion, and keys to successful selling are included in the program.
• The growing importance of E-Commerce, applications that deliver value and website attributes needed to achieve recognition and buyer approval are covered.

• Tax-related issues important to the small business owner.  Subjects discussed include choosing the business entity that’s right for you, the proper reporting of income for tax purposes and employee benefit programs available to the entrepreneur.

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