Type of Event: Education

** Registration Deadline Friday, 1/6/23 or until filled **

FOOD FINANCE BOOT CAMP: 4-Day Virtual Workshop (hosted by Business Impact NW and presented by the Food Finance Institute – FFI)

Getting Food & Farm Business Owners Ready for the Next Level!

Cost: $300 – Special Discounted Rate for the 4-day virtual workshop includes two attendees per business. Businesses are encouraged to bring two attendees.

* Limited to 10 businesses – register ASAP to secure your spot

• Wednesday, January 11th , 2023 – 9am-5pm: Business Models That Work for Food Companies (Individual Coaching Sessions)
• Thursday, January 12th, 2023 – 9am-4pm: Using Data & Fixing Financial Infrastructure (Market Research and Financial Fundamentals)
• Wednesday, February 15th, 2023 – 9am-5pm: Developing Your Financial Plan (Financial Packaging and Capital Structuring)
• Thursday, February 16th, 2023 – 9am-4pm: Preparing the Ask (Pitch Deck and Presentations)

Food Finance Boot Camp is a paid four-day workshop providing food and farm entrepreneurs access to industry-leading instruction and coaching focused on helping food businesses grow into strong regional and national brands. The boot camp is led by Peter Robertson, FFI Food Brand Expert in Residence and Sarah Larson, FFI Interim Director. Split into four, seven-hour sessions, the Food Finance Boot Camp’s intense finance training is designed to prepare food business owners to navigate an ever-changing food and beverage business landscape. More Information: https://businessimpactnw.org/food-business-resource-center/food-finance-boot-camp/

Direct Registration: https://businessimpactnw.ecenterdirect.com/events/7747

For questions or more info, please contact Henry Wong, henryw@businessimpactnw.org

Building a successful company is a complex process – making it easy to overlook the importance of effectively navigating the public sector and communicating your company’s value to Oregon decision makers in federal, state, and local government. Praxis prides itself on helping private companies stay ahead of the curve to find new opportunities and adapt to a changing regulatory environment. Join us for a quick, no-cost webinar on February 8 from noon to 1pm to learn more about how startups can benefit from public affairs support and opportunities to capitalize on policy changes coming in the 2023 Oregon Legislative session!

An Oregon-based small business, the Praxis team includes decades of hands-on work in politics, and a diversity of experiences as strategists, organizers, communicators, and more. We seek out new challenges and innovative approaches to achieve unexpected results, and are excited by the opportunity to work with entrepreneurs creating products and inventions that, if set up effectively for success, could change our ways of life.

Are you new to the importing business or plan to start soon? Do you need a refresher on your existing importing knowledge? This workshop will provide valuable insights to help you jumpstart your importing operation. Areas covered include but are not limited to the import process, the role of US Customs and Customs House Brokers, and your responsibilities as the importer on record. The workshop will also help you familiarize yourself with the differences between DeMinimus, formal, and informal entries. The basics of product classification using the Harmonized System (HS), the essential documents required by US Customs when you import, an introduction to the Incoterms 2020, and resources you can use to increase your knowledge about Importing Into The USA.

At the end of this workshop, you should be able to:

Identify the skill sets you need to start an import business.
Learn the steps in a typical import transaction process.
Understand your responsibilities before filing Entry documents with Customs as the importer on record.
Learn the basics of your product classification, admissibility, valuation, record keeping, marking, Free Trade Agreement, and Incoterms-2020.
Understand the difference between Informal & Formal Customs Entry and the essential documents required by Customs.
Learn what you should tell your exporter before you import.
Locate importing Into the USA resources.
Presenter Tekle Sebhatu, Ph.D., has over 24 years of domestic and international business experience. As a consultant and trainer, he has worked with private and public/private partnership organizations to help companies enter and expand into global markets. He has taught international trade, importing and exporting, and other business courses at several higher education institutions. He is a SCORE Portland mentor.

Learn how to become a great manager by setting your team up for success. Optimize your team’s strengths while minimizing their weaknesses and foster the growth of their talent.

Your job as a manager is to optimize your team’s strengths and help each team member grow. You will learn the five key attributes of a great manager: hire fewer people and pay them more; be proactive with recognizing team members and showing appreciation; set clear expectations and help them know how their efforts contribute to the organization as a whole; take away hassles, not motivation; and, discover and leverage strengths of each individual.

Presenter: Donna Capodacqua, PhD SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is founder and CEO of Chrysalis Partners LLC, a boutique business coaching firm.

Having served businesses in the greater Portland metro area for more than 25 years, sitting on the Board of Directors for four organizations, and a small business owner for 23 years, Donna has an extensive background. She has worked with multi-million-dollar companies with 2,500 employees to start-ups across a variety of industries and settings, including union environments and non-profit organizations. She has seen it all.

She knows what infrastructure systems, leadership and talent a company must have in place, but also understands that one-size solutions do not work. Donna offers practical insight and expertise to her clients, guiding them to find the right solutions that are translated into implementable tactics based on their purpose, values, goals and aspirations.

Donna took her PhD in business administration from Tourou University. She earned her MBA and BA from the State University of New York at Albany. When not working with clients, Donna enjoys spending time with her husband and friends, volunteering in the community, traveling, wine tasting, fishing, game nights, learning new things and meeting new people.

Do you know what’s working and what’s not on your website?

Google Analytics is a free tool offering a wealth of information about your website traffic volume, traffic sources, user behavior and audience preferences.

In this workshop we’ll review the most important reports to help you create a healthy, ongoing SEO strategy and build your Google authority:

1. Traffic Channel: Organic Search, Referral, Direct, Organic Social, Paid Search

2. Traffic referral source

3. Social media channels

4. Engagement rate

5. Geography: City, State, Country

6. Most viewed pages

7. Blog readership

8. Video views

9. PDF downloads

10. Tech: devices & browsers

Explore Custom Dashboards

Learn to build custom dashboards for easy access to key reports. Design a dashboard based on your most critical business goals, with visual data displays including tables, donut charts, line charts, bar charts and geo maps.

Transitioning from Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4

In October 2020 Google released a new version of analytics called Google Analytics 4 (GA4). GA4 is the new default analytics platform which replaces Universal Analytics (UA), effective July 1, 2023. In the meantime, you have the option to run both versions concurrently. It’s recommended to install GA4 immediately in order to start building history on the new platform. This workshop covers GA4 exclusively.

Prerequisites: This workshop will not cover Google Analytics account setup and installation, as the installation procedure varies depending on your website platform. Please seek out a YouTube video tutorial for your specific website platform or consult your webmaster for installation support. It is expected you will have your GA4 account setup and installed on your website prior to the workshop. No further experience required.

Presented by Stacey McCormack, Musimack Marketing

Stacey McCormack is the Founder and CEO of Musimack Marketing, a digital marketing agency in Tigard, OR. She specializes in website optimization and social media engagement for small business. Stacey is passionate about consulting with local business owners to navigate a variety of free online marketing opportunities to increase brand awareness and generate demand for their business. A 20-year marketing veteran, Stacey’s former life in corporate America includes experience across all major media including Radio, Broadcast TV, Cable TV, Newspaper and Digital Advertising formats. Today, she helps small businesses shine online through website design & development, SEO, social media and digital advertising.