Are Your Skills Keeping Up With Your Business?
Taking advantage of local resources can help you keep up with change.

By Trisha C. Pitts

You’ve heard this before, right? One of the constants for small business owners is the increasing rate of change. This is especially true in the field of technology, with continually-updated versions of existing software, new online applications, the changing methods and costs for search engine marketing, new opportunities for delivering services and messages and more.
Change is also a constant in financial management, where businesses must always be alert to adjustments in bank interest rates, tax laws and regulations, reporting requirements, insurance coverage and employee benefits, just to name a few. Then there is the always-in-flux economic climate and the ensuing uncertainty for both employees and business owners.

The good news is that Kansas City has a wonderful variety of educational resources for the small business community. And, resource providers are offering new classes and delivery mechanisms to keep abreast of the business owner’s need for information and training.

New Classes Available
There are many new classes available. Although the following list reflects those available through organizations located at 4747 Troost in Kansas City, many more are available throughout the metro area.

Among the topics covered through the new technology-based classes are getting ready for your Web site, search engine marketing fundamentals, e-mail marketing with newsletters, selling on eBay, doing market research online, and FastTrac Tech, which is a two-phase multi-session program created by technology entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.

Other business classes focus on such topics as bookkeeping basics for business start-ups, developing a marketing plan, using financial statements, controlling cash flow, identifying business risk, FastTrac for Displaced Workers (based on the traditional FastTrac curriculum), listening to your business, and winning government contracts. And although basic, the new Foundations of Marketing class provides in-depth information on customer and market knowledge, understanding the competition, customer relationships and satisfaction and pricing and promotions.

Three new courses planned for the fall cover planning for growth, succession planning and business valuation.

More Good News
Finding the available resources can be a daunting task for the already overburdened small business owner or entrepreneur. Who teaches what, when and where? The good news is that www.kcsmallbusinessclasses.net provides class listings, with all the necessary logistical information and an explanation of each class. To simplify searching for classes, the site is organized by category, including business startup, business planning, employment issues, financial and record keeping, government procurement, product development, taxes, marketing and sales, Web and a general “Other” category.

Another Web site, www.kcbizcalendar.com, is an online calendar of all kinds of business events, including classes, networking meetings, chamber activities, conferences and trade shows. Kansas City Small Business Monthly provides the oversight for this metro-wide online calendar.

The Ultimate Resource
Resource providers are often amazed that despite their best efforts, so few people in the metro area seem to be aware of their services. Their challenge is to get the word out in a way that makes it easy for small business owners and entrepreneurs. A new entrepreneurial support network has been developed to help entrepreneurs find the help they need.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) have launched KCSourceLink, a network that will link dozens of area entrepreneur support organizations. Any network partner will be able to assist the entrepreneur, whether through the partner’s own organization or through a referral to a partner more suited to the entrepreneur’s needs.

Network Online and Offline
To stay tuned-in and connected, do not forget such basics as attending networking events and Chamber of Commerce functions. Keep meeting people. And don’t forget to always carry your business cards!

Trisha C. Pitts is Director of the iStrategy Studio at the Entrepreneurial Growth Resource Center at UMKC. She can be reached at (816) 235-6072 or by e-mail at .