Mondays 9 to noon. Oregon Small Business Development Center and Portland Community College present ENCORE Business Builders to help you turn your experience into a rewarding small business.

What to Expect
Each week we’ll bring in subject-matter experts to teach on important areas. Sessions meet weekly for 10 weeks and are 3 hours long.

Through the 10 week program, you will:

Learn how to manage your business more effectively
Learn how to improve your business’s profitability
Network with small business owners
Gain clarity in your business
Dedicate time to work on your business
Work one-on-one with a business advisor
Learn from subject-matter experts
Take the Next Step in Building Your Business
Included in Program
Week 1: Mission, Vision, Goals
Week 2: Principles of Solopreneurship
Week 3: Models of Growth for the Solo Business
Week 4: Financial Recordkeeping
Week 5: Pricing for Profit
Week 6: Raising Money
Week 7: Legal Details for Your Business
Week 8: Branding and Sales for the Solo Business
Week 9: Getting Your Business On the Web
Week 10: Marketing with E-tools

For a detailed course outline, complete the form on this page | ENROLL NOW

At that last networking event you were standing in a corner, munching on quartered carrots and overripe grapes, refreshing your email feed for the tenth time.

But to be fair, you needed a break. You just had thirty minutes of your life hijacked by two narcissistic “me machines” intent on telling you all about their lives and their work.

While your marrow replenished the life that was sucked out of it, you saw a woman standing on the other side of the cheese platter who looked interesting but there is no desperation quite like pedaling a stranger for insight or an introduction, especially when everyone else at the event seems so put together, so connected, so successful.

Too bad she was the key to getting that new job you wanted.

If you only knew…

Magnet is here to fix that. And it’s free on July 23rd.

Magnet is not about who can help you but who you can help, because in the entrepreneurial/small business/side hustle world it’s not who you know, it’s who knows what you want.

What if the person who could further your startup was already looking for you?
​What if a room full of people knew the exact insight you sought?
​What if your knowledge could be someone else’s Eureka moment?

Welcome to Magnet. If you’re stuck, need to connect, or want to share your genius, grab a ticket, invite a friend and come on down on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Raising prices can be intimidating. Come learn how to increase your rates strategically and network with other women entrepreneurs!

You’ll learn:
* Why you should be charging more
* How to strategically raise your prices
* Best practices for communicating price changes to clients

Price: $18

Hatch Members: $13 ($5 off) with promo code: hatch5

Event Schedule:
5:30pm-6pm Networking & Appetizers
6pm-7:30pm Presentation Q&A

FAQ

1. Who can attend? Anyone who identifies as a woman is welcome! This is an inclusive event.

2. Why is this just for women? Because I believe that low rates are contributing to the earning disparity between men and women. This seminar digs into the unique challenges we face as women entrepreneurs and ways to overcome them.

3. Can I skip the networking and show up at 6pm? Absolutely! I encourage you to come to the networking but only if it works with your schedule.

Speaker

Melissa Barker is a business coach, digital marketing consultant, and textbook author. Along with first-hand experience negotiating price increases as a woman entrepreneur, Melissa specialized in negotiation during her MBA program. In addition, she received formal debate training and worked as a debate coach, where she mentored women in the debate community. Melissa is also a mentor for Five One Labs’ “Female Founders Fellowship” and helps female entrepreneurs in conflict-affected areas.

Getting Down to Business – Developing a Business Plan
This workshop is designed for those who are ready to start their business plan or who need to strengthen an existing plan. It covers all aspects of creating a strong, effective plan including: how to get yourself organized, writing about your unique business attributes, doing the marketing and sales forecasting, and producing the financial statements required for all successful businesses.

Although there is no one way to write a business plan, attendees will be taken through a simple structure for building their plan. In addition, participants will be exposed to business planning software that will assist them in completing the financial portions of the plan.
Sample Content:
* The need for a business plan
* The elements of a business plan
* Steps in financial planning
* Organization and management strategies
* Using your plan to measure progress and obtain financing
* How your marketing plan fits into your business plan

This workshop also features break-out sessions for exploring specific topics in more detail.
Two Presenters:
Steve Blanton
Worked 26 at Intel Management, Market Research and Business Planning.
Steve Jensen
Steve’s background is in Business Finance & Accounting.

NOTE: Proceeds from ticket sales for this workshop go to Lean Portland in support of our volunteer efforts with nonprofits.

Whether you work for a manufacturing company, work in an office, or provide customer service, Six Sigma can help you solve important and challenging problems within your organization, using a structured approach and data analysis.

In this Six Sigma primer we’ll address:
– How the DMAIC model and analysis tools increase the chance of solving problems
– The different Six Sigma belt certification levels (Yellow, Green, Black and Master Black Belt)
– Popular analysis tools such as graphical tools, designed experiments (DOE), measurement studies, statistical process control, regression analysis and statistical software
– How Six Sigma compares to Lean
– Examples of Six Sigma applied to sustainability (environmental and social)
– Exercises for measuring time and conducting experiments

Join Brion Hurley from Business Performance Improvement to better understand how Six Sigma can be integrated into your organization.

Roots of Six Sigma
In 1986, engineers Bill Smith & Mikel J Harry introduced Six Sigma within Motorola, as a way to improve business performance, and make it easier for employees to utilize effective quality improvement tools.

Why did Motorola come up with this program? It all began in the late 1970s, when a Japanese firm took over a Motorola factory that manufactured television sets in the United States. The Japanese promptly set about making drastic changes to the way the factory operated by reducing the variation from product to product. The factory was soon producing TV sets with 1/20th the number of defects they had produced under Motorola management, and this translated to fewer warranty claims and customer complaints.

Six Sigma refers to the ability of processes to produce a very high proportion of output within specification (without defects or errors). Processes that operate with “six sigma quality” over the short term are assumed to produce long-term defect levels below 3.4 defects per million opportunities.

After Motorola achieved tremendous quality improvements, the popularity spread to other companies. Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric (GE) made it integral to his business strategy in 1995, requiring his managers to achieve Green Belt certification if they wanted to get promoted.

By the late 1990s, about two-thirds of the Fortune 500 organizations had begun Six Sigma initiatives with the aim of reducing costs and improving quality. Today, Six Sigma continues to be practiced and implemented within many manufacturing, banking, healthcare, service and financial organizations.

BRION HURLEY
Lean Six Sigma Consultant
Business Performance Improvement LLC, Portland, Oregon
www.biz-pi.com | https://www.linkedin.com/in/brion-hurley-432192

Brion Hurley lean six sigma consultant portland oregon

Brion, a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, teaches Six Sigma Green Belt and Lean classes, facilitates workshops and kaizen events, performs statistical analysis, and mentors and engages employees through improvement efforts in the manufacturing and office areas, with emphasis on environmental impacts within a company. In addition, he holds numerous sustainability certifications, and has experience driving sustainability efforts at both the corporate and regional level by applying process improvement techniques to reduce electricity and solid waste. He volunteers his time with nonprofits to teach and coach Lean concepts through an organization called Lean Portland. He is the author of the book, “Lean Six Sigma for Good.”

Oregon Walks is our featured guest for Happy Hour this month! Our Happy Hour is open to Hatch Members and the Public! Please join us for some snacks (cheese/crackers and hummus/veggies – yum!) and learn how Oregon Walks is Protecting your Right to Roam!

Our Happy Hour will also be followed by Bridge City Media’s networking event! So feel free to stick around to mingle and learn 😃

Wed July 31st Hatch Happy Hour 4:30-6pm
Wed July 31st Bridge City Entrepreneurs 6-7:30pm

Oregon Walks Info:
http://oregonwalks.org/

Bridge City Entrepreneurs Tickets:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bridge-city-entrepreneurs-network-workshop-digital-marketing-trends-tickets-62179462446

Join us for this month’s networking event and panel discussion presentation on “Staying Ahead of the Curve with Digital Marketing Trends” with representatives from Columbia Sportswear, Wieden Kennedy, and Anvil Media
We ask for $10 at the door or online to help cover basic costs (free for HatchLab members).

At Bridge City Entrepreneurs, we explore topics and learn insights from each other to help our businesses thrive. We begin with a speed networking exercise allowing everyone to shake hands and get to know one another’s businesses. Then attendees get the chance to hear from a presenting speaker who will share their business expertise. The group will be encouraged to ask questions, voice their challenges and participate in helpful discussions.

This month’s topic will be “Staying Ahead of the Curve with Digital Marketing Trends”. We will spend a majority portion of the event with an engaging panel discussion between digital marketing gurus from local Portland companies, Columbia Sportswear, Wieden Kenndey, and Anvil Media. This discussion will cover much of the digital marketing world as we explore changes happening within social media, SEO, and creative design and arm entrepreneurs with tools to stay adaptable.