Tag: business

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Emerging Enterprise Center Announces Billy D. Productions, LLC as official videographer sponsor for all Finding Your Next Customer and Business Fundamentals workshops for 2017 at the EEC

The Emerging Enterprise Center (EEC) has officially announced that Billy D. Productions, LLC will be the official videographer sponsor for all Finding your Next Customer and Business Fundamentals workshops for 2017. One of the key missions of the EEC is to help businesses develop business skills to tackle not only the nuts and bolts aspects of running a business but also marketing, networking, and sales skills so that they can grow. Billy D. Productions has just recently joined the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce (affiliated with the EEC) and is looking forward to growing his business with the Chamber and the EEC. With this new sponsorship, the EEC can provide one more benefit to its businesses for attending the business education workshops.

The Emerging Enterprise Center wants you to join us for Educational Workshops and Networking! Find a workshop for you and your business at www.eecincubator.com. Register today at www.eecincubator.com. Contact Frank DeSantis at [email protected] or 302-737-4343 for more information on the Emerging Enterprise Center and its many programs that assist businesses in the community.

About Billy D. Productions, LLC:

Every video is a chance to tell a story and at Billy D. Productions I want to be the one to help you tell it. From eternalizing the love on a wedding day to introducing the world to your service or product, I aim to tell your story in a way that will captivate your audience and effectively grow your business.

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Emerging Enterprise Center Announces Costco Wholesale has agreed to Once AGAIN be the official breakfast sponsor for business education events for 2017 at the EEC

Over 60 business education events have been scheduled so far for 2017.

New Castle, DE: The Emerging Enterprise Center (EEC) has officially announced that Costco Wholesale will once again be the breakfast sponsor for the business education workshops in 2017. One of the key missions of the EEC is to help businesses develop business skills to tackle not only the nuts and bolts aspects of running a business but also marketing, networking, and sales skills so that they can grow. Costco Wholesale has been a member of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce (affiliated with the EEC) since 2004 and sponsored over 20 business education events in 2016. The EEC is thrilled to continue this relationship with Costco and to continue providing more benefits to its businesses for attending the business education workshops.

The Emerging Enterprise Center wants you to join us for Educational Workshops and Networking! Find a workshop for you and your business at www.eecincubator.com and register today. Contact Frank DeSantis at [email protected] or 302-737-4343 for more information on the Emerging Enterprise Center and its many programs that assist businesses in the community.

About Costco Wholesale:
costcoThe number one warehouse club offering a wide array of the highest-quality products available from around the world. We offer our members an unconditional guarantee of satisfaction on every item we sell. New Castle County Chamber members receive up to $20 Costco Cash Card when joining at the Executive Membership Level or $10 Costco Cash Card when joining a the Basic Membership Level.

About the Emerging Enterprise Center:
The Incubator is designed to provide business support services to entrepreneurs and associated companies in New Castle County, Delaware. The incubator is not merely about a physical building offering lower rental rates, but rather is a program intended to help new businesses succeed to the point of “graduating” from the program within a defined time period.

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New Workshop: Google Local Marketing Power Workshop to Help Small Businesses Succeed on the Web

Emerging Enterprise Center is helping small businesses grow their presence online by sponsoring a Google Local Marketing Power Workshop, which will feature a lesson about how to optimize their free google business listing to rise to the top of the search results.

The workshop will be hosted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2017 at the Emerging Enterprise Center located at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, 12 Penns Way, New Castle, DE  19720 from 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM EDT. Only 100 seats are available. Bring your laptops and get your business online.

Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map is a program from Google that brings community members, business owners, and civic leaders together to help small businesses succeed on the web.

 

“4 out of 5 consumers use search engines to find local information nearby, yet only 37% of businesses have claimed their listing on a search engine,” says Emily Harris, Manager of Google’s Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map program. “Small businesses are the engine of local economies and when they flourish, their communities do as well.”

Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map is a program that empowers communities to support their local businesses and encourage them to get on the map. Local businesses keep our communities strong; when we help them succeed on the web, they make our communities even stronger. The Google Local Marketing Power Workshop is a Google presentation hosted by Emerging Enterprise Center in cooperation with 360 Business Success, Official Google Partner.

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About Get Your Business Online

Let’s Put Our Cities on the Map is a program designed to empower communities to support their local businesses by helping them get on Google Search and Maps for free. Businesses that are online grow 40% faster than those that aren’t. Let’s help every local business get their information online. Explore our site to learn how you can join in, support businesses in your community, and put your city on the map: www.gybo.com

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Boost Your Spirit!

Nonprofit organizations are all around you. Each nonprofit has a specific cause that they are working to better. Today, there is a nonprofit for almost any possible cause you can imagine. These nonprofits function on your donations. Without your donations of money or time, some of these causes will never be confronted. Although it is hard to part with our hard, earned money, there are a number of benefits of donating to a nonprofit organization. There is nothing wrong with rewarding yourself with that money you earned but it might feel more satisfying to reward someone else with it. It’s about that proud feeling you get knowing that you have done something that may help others and support a cause you care abouboostt it.

A recent study by Harvard Business School faculty and graduate students titled “Feeling Good about Giving: The Benefits (and Costs) of Self-Interested Charitable Behavior,” explores the ways in which charity donations can benefit your psychological, spiritual and emotional well-being. So do yourself a favor, boost your spirits, help a cause, give yourself a tax deduction, and donate.

Did you know that the Emerging Enterprise Center (EEC) is a nonprofit? We are looking for donors like you to help us support our local entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs in New Castle County will help our local economy grow and bring more business and jobs to the area.
The EEC is designed to provide business support services to entrepreneurs and associated companies in New Castle County, Delaware. The incubator is not merely about a physical building offering lower rental rates, but rather is a profishbowlmoneygram intended to help new businesses succeed to the point of “graduating” from the program within a defined time period. The EEC provides mentoring, educational opportunities, networking events, shared office equipment, receptionist services, and other amenities that are vital to the success of a new business.

Participants have access to customized business and technical assistance geared toward the specialized needs of individual companies. The EEC provides an environment in which like-minded businesses accelerate their potential through interaction, partnerships, joint ventures, and other mutually beneficial collaborations.

Don’t you want to be a part of something that helps New Castle County and Delaware grow?
Donate to the EEC to keep the doors open, lights on, and programs going. Boost your spirit now by donating today.

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Website for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs – “Business First Steps”: There to help potential businesses find information on licensing and permitting in Delaware

Around this time last year, the State of Delaware launched a new website to help small businesses find information on business licenses, permits, and other State requirements. The site, called Business First Steps (FirstSteps.Delaware.Gov), is an index of almost 200 different industries, professions, and products that require State registrations, licenses, certifications, or permits. The goal of the site is to allow businesses to more easily find information on various requirements across State government.

“In Delaware, our state agencies work together to help small and medium sized businesses on a regular basis. Our State is well known as being business-friendly. Now the aspiring entrepreneur can find a checklist of steps to open a business in Delaware,” said Governor Markell.

This website is the latest effort designed to assist small businesses. New Castle County (NCC) Open for Business, is a monthly event that is open to the public, FREE of charge, to meet 12 to 15 resource organizations and agencies that provide business counseling, workshops, technical assistance, as well as information on how to do business with the State of Delaware. NCC Open for Business is always on the 4th Thursday of the every month from 9am-11am (open house style) at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, 12 Penns Way, New Castle, DE 19720.

In addition to state requirements, the Business First Steps site provides links to and information about, local Delaware governments that have their own licensing requirements. Businesses such as contractors (who perform site work in multiple towns and cities) must have appropriate licenses and permits in each locality where they perform work. Often, businesses are not aware of such requirements. The Business First Steps site can help them avoid that problem.

Companies, such as Delaware Green Mattress Disassembling and Recycling, LLC (DGMDR), were glad to see a clearinghouse for licensing and local permits, and encouraged new businesses to take advantage of the resource. Tanya Whye, owner of DGMDR, and a member of the New Castle Chamber of Commerce, remarked, “The New Castle County Open for Business program connected me with some wonderful mentors, and I am currently navigating the licensing and permitting process. The Business First Steps website is the perfect tool for a one-stop place for a wealth of information,” according to Tanya N. Whye.

Business First Steps is the result of many state agencies working together to share information; and it is the first state website to centralize information on business licensing and requirements for operating a business in Delaware across state government. It was designed and built by the Government Information Center (GIC), an office within the Delaware Department of State. 

“The Governor has made knocking down barriers for Delawareans to start businesses a top priority. This is why a clearinghouse for new businesses to find information about permits and licenses is so important, and why the Business First Steps website will be a great tool that Delaware can offer new businesses,” said Secretary Bullock.

“The Business First Step web site will be a valuable resource for all businesses seeking information concerning licenses and permits. It will save a great deal of time for small business owners and allow them to concentrate on their business.  The site also provides a wealth of information about a wide range of business assistance programs and start up information.  I think Chamber members will find the Business First Steps web site to be an invaluable tool,” said Mark Kleinschmidt, President of the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.

Organizations such as the Small Business Administration Delaware office, Delaware Small Business Development Center, Delaware SCORE, Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership, Procurement Technical Assistance Center of Delaware, Women’s Business Center at First State Community Loan Fund, and other state offices such as the Delaware Economic Development Office and the Office of Supplier Diversity were on hand to show their support for the new site as well.

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Investing in the Future: How an Incubator Helps Start-up Businesses?

Over the holidays, my mom asked me the same question that you may have gotten, “What exactly is it that you do?” I often get the question from some in the business community, “What is a business incubator?” And while I can glibly reply that the Emerging Enterprise Center provides Support, Access to Resources and Advice, so that start-up businesses can focus on Growing their business, Developing business skills, and Graduating with a sustainable and scalable business model, I’m not sure that I’ve really enlightened anyone about what an incubator is and what we do.

First of all, why would a start-up business need an incubator program? Starting up your own business can be exciting, frustrating, overwhelming and all-consuming, all at once. Not every entrepreneur is the same. All have different levels of experience. What they share is their passion for their grand idea. Most also share initially the fear about when they are going to get the next sale! This is part of the validation of their business. Does it solve a problem, and is someone willing to pay you for it? Each time you make a sale, you worry about the next one. As a result, many entrepreneurs find themselves in a vicious cycle. They are so busy marketing, networking, making sales calls….. then going back to “create or produce” the product or service that they are selling…. then handling the invoicing, paperwork, accounting etc. Being by yourself, in a home office or garage, or even in a rented space in some office building, it is easy to dive deeper into a hole, feeling alone, overworked and beginning to get burned out. At the Emerging Enterprise Center, you are not only surrounded by other entrepreneurs facing similar challenges or have survived those challenges, but you have our support in helping you navigate through these issues.

One of the things we talk about first is the sales process…… understanding the target customer, the pipeline and the time line from contact to contract. We talk about documenting the process so it can be replicated, consistently. This is hugely important when you begin hiring others to sell and represent your business. Your Brand is dependent on the consistency of the message and the experience. Once you have confidence that there is value in what you are selling and that there is a demand, you can shift from “where will the next sale come from” to “when!” That confidence moves you into a more operational mode of planning “how” you are going to achieve your goals!

In some shape or form, that is what we are doing throughout the entire two to three years of the incubation program. We help the entrepreneur develop a thought process that goes something like this…. What do I want to be when I grow up? (Long-term Vision and Goals) and What will it take to achieve that? (Operational, Tactical, Practical steps). With that context in mind, our quarterly meetings follow the same format: Which of your commitments did you accomplish or not? What did you learn from that? What are you committing to accomplish in the next quarter? What resources do you need to be successful? How can we help?

This isn’t a cookie-cutter approach because each business’ needs and issues are different. There are some businesses that are fortunate to have customers knocking down their door from day 1, but struggle with the capacity to deliver on the promise. Others underestimate the time it makes to close a sale, and the impact that has on cash flow. And others struggle with understanding when to hire someone to free themselves up to do something that is more important to the business. Sales is only one part of running a business. Add to that, pricing human resources, production, financial and funding issues, and much more. You can only ignore them for so long, but sooner or later you need to address all of them. It takes time, and you can see that skill levels grow day by day. But Ican tell you , when you see the light bulb go on, and it all comes together, you  can almost see the entrepreneur’s confidence in themselves and in their business bursting through.

So what is an incubator? It is a program that combines a nurturing environment, with a supporting entrepreneurial eco-system, and assistance in developing the requisite skills that helps start-up businesses enhance their chance of success. Come check out the Emerging Enterprise Center at www.EECincubator.com.

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The Emerging Enterprise Center Introduces Growth Wheel® Program with Funding by TD Bank, Through the TD Charitable Foundation

The Emerging Enterprise Center introduces Growth Wheel, a visual toolbox for decision-making and action planning for start-up and growth companies. “We are excited to be able to make the Growth Wheel tool available to our EEC companies, as part of their counseling in the incubation program,” says Frank DeSantis, Program Manager, EEC, “and also to the entire small business community, through workshops in our Business Education Program.”

Entrepreneurs learn pretty quickly that having a great idea, a great product or service, and perhaps some great customers are only a small part of the puzzle when starting a business. To be successful, a business owner needs to develop a lot of different skills and this can be somewhat overwhelming.

The Emerging Enterprise Center provides a comprehensive incubation program, in a nurturing environment for early stage businesses. “Support, Access to Resources and Advice” has always been the commitment that the EEC makes to the start-up companies in the incubator program.  This approach has enabled the EEC to focus on the individual needs of each of its start-up companies so they could concentrate on growing their business, developing business skills and graduating from the program with a scalable business model.

Business Counseling

Growth Wheel was designed around the observation that all businesses – in all industries and life stages – have four lasting challenges in common: They must create an attractive Business Concept, build a strong Organization behind it, develop lasting Client Relations, and do so while maintaining profitable Operations. Within each of those four quadrants are 5 Focus Areas, as indicated below, that contain the business skills necessary to implement a successful strategy.

According to Frank DeSantis, “Growth Wheel is the perfect tool for us to use with our EEC start-up companies. It helps our companies focus, set an agenda, make decisions and take action!” The process starts with a self-assessment by the entrepreneur, which gives them a 360 degree perspective on their capabilities within each focus area. It will provide structure and a framework with which to develop business skills.

Business Education

Besides being a valuable tool used in the individual counseling of companies in the EEC, Growth Wheel will become an integral part of the overall 2016 Business Education Program that the Emerging Enterprise Centers presents. In addition to the longstanding series; Finding Your Next Customer and Business Fundamentals, 2016 will include a 5 session Growth Wheel Series, starting in January 2016 with an Overview and Briefing, followed by a quarterly workshop from a focus area from one of the four quadrants.

The Emerging Enterprise Center offers several types of Business Incubation Programs: Residential incubation, which includes affordable office space; Virtual incubation, for those not requiring office space; International Soft-Landings and a Pre-Incubation program for those serious, but not quite ready to commit. To find out more about the Emerging Enterprise Center, its Business Incubation or Business Education Programs, contact Frank DeSantis, Program Manager at [email protected], 302-294-2056 or visit us on the web at www.EECincubator.com.