February 18, 2010 - April Gonzalez, Business Development Specialist, Small Business Administration

Real World Solutions to Small Business Questions  

Are you a small business owner? Are you thinking of starting a small business? If so, you are not alone. Did you know that small business employ 52% of private sector workers and provide 51% of the total private sector output in the United States? The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) can help. Learn about the different types of loan guarantee programs, counseling and technical assistance available to help you start or expand your business. Learn about flexible financing options available to the entrepreneur. Learn about free government services the Small Business Administration has to help start, grow and run a successful business. 

Major topics discussed: 

• Small Business Administration

• Resource Partners

• Business Planning

• Financing

• Government Contracting           

• Websites

• Contacts

April Gonzalez, a native New Yorker, gained most of her experience through the corporate sector. She brought her experience to the U.S Small Business Administration, where she serves as a Business Development Specialist. April provides valuable tools to clients seeking to start, expand and, grow their business. She is also SBA’s Women’s Business Ownership Representative and has assisted women in developing their entrepreneurial skills for over 12+ years. As a District Office Technical Representative, she monitors the activities of two women’s business centers in the state. 

January 21, 2010 - "Fewer, Better Things"

Carson Tate, CPO® is the founder and president of Working Simply, LLC, a productivity consulting firm that partners with organizations, teams and individuals to improve performance and profitability.  

Working Simply, LLC improves individual and company performance and profitability by analyzing and streamlining organizational work flow processes and enhancing individual productivity. The company offers work flow analysis, information management, individual productivity coaching, and group productivity seminars to individuals and businesses.

Carson is a Certified Professional Organizer (CPO) and an Authorized Consultant for the Paper Tiger Productivity Institute (PTPI). As a Productivity Trainer and Authorized Consultant (PTAC), she is formally trained in the organizing methodology developed by Barbara Hemphill, author of Taming the Paper Tiger at Work, Taming the Paper Tiger at Home, and co-creator of the Taming the Paper Tiger software. 

Carson is the winner of Charlotte Magazine’s 2007 BOB Award, “Best of the Best”, for Best Personal Organizer.  She was also recognized as a top young professional by The Charlotte Business Journal’s 2007 “40 Under 40” list. Carson also penned a weekly Charlotte Observer column, “In Closing,” focusing on sales. 

Carson is an active leader in her community.  She serves on the Girls on the Run Charlotte Board of Directors, Washington and Lee University’s Alumni Board and is a member of Women Executives.  Carson earned her B.A. in Psychology and Religion from Washington and Lee University. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband Andrew and two dogs.
 

Holiday Event - December 10th! at BLACK LION

Come have a 'wonderful' lunch in the 'Winter Wonderland' with LOTS of fun surprises!!

Leigh Coulter will be our special guest speaker!

Leigh Coulter will be sharing information with us about selecting food and beverages for holiday celebrations. She is the wine and food expert for www.wineislandvillage.com, a global wine-tasting party.  A supporter of and participant in the Slow Food movement and Farm to Fork Events, Leigh is a retired catering chef and was formerly a member of the management team at Dean & DeLuca's wine room.

November 19th - Aaron Terry, Attorney at Law

Legal and Eldercare Issues for Family Members and Ourselves – Considerations in preparing for our future years and that of our family members, and avoiding common pitfalls.

• Choice of Entity

• Business Licenses and Zoning

• Taxes

• What Agreements Do You Need?

• Business Succession Planning

Aaron Joseph Terry joined Booth Harrington & Johns in 2008. In his practice, Aaron deals primarily with elder law, estate planning, and estate administration. His experience includes tax planning for high net-worth clients and business succession planning. Before joining Booth Harrington & Johns, Aaron practiced in South Florida in the areas of estate planning and administration. www.nc-law.com

October 15th - Betty Reynolds, Juggling Your Way to Success – Tips to Help Business Women Keep the Balls in the Air!

Are you great at multi-tasking – juggling a million professional and personal things at once?  Most women are!  So the real question is, would you be interested in learning more efficient, empowering ways of managing the demands on your greatest resource - YOU?  Join Money and Life Skills Coach, Betty Reynolds, on October 15^th for tips on how to keep the balls in the air (and maybe let some go)!

Betty A. Reynolds: Money & Life Skills Coach 

Betty is a Certified Life Coach, speaker, writer, and creator of the “Wealth and Well-Being Series” for women.  She helps individuals discover how to be successful and satisfied with work and life, through her unique “Success Story” coaching method. Betty is especially proud of the many women executives and entrepreneurs she has empowered to take control of their lives and launch new careers – even in the depths of this recession. 

Betty brings a wealth of coaching experience to every session, plus draws upon over 20 years of prior business experience and specialized training. As a Certified Life Coach, she has helped people of all ages find direction and life purpose.  As the recipient of a Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Duke University and member of numerous non-profit boards, she has advised non-profit executives and boards.  As a former Smith Barney Financial Consultant who pioneered “Women and Money” and “Women in Transition” programs in her community, Betty has continued these vital programs to help women build more secure lives. As a Certified Senior Advisor who has studied aging and working with seniors, she has mentored women faced with the challenges of family caregiving.  Her passion for helping people, especially women, led one client to write, “Thank you for your support, encouragement and expertise – you are amazing!”   [Learn more about Coach Betty at www.TLCCoachBettyR.com]

For over 10 years, Betty has also been a guest lecturer at numerous colleges, professional women’s groups, community events, and private organizations in New York, South Carolina and North Carolina. When she is not coaching clients or playing with her adorable grandchildren, she is busy writing a new blog or working on her e-book.

September 17th

Dawn Leitner, Increase Your Productivity By Maximizing Your Strengths

Too often we spend our days doing “things” we think we should do or taking jobs that pay the bills but offers little reward. When we spend our time doing things we enjoy and have great talent in we are optimal in our performance. Knowing your strengths is essential to productivity, success and personal fulfillment. This session will focus on ways to tap into your strengths and how to include them more in your day to day living, both in your personal and professional life.

Dawn Leitner is founder and president of Coach U2 Lead, a company she formed to help professionals embrace their own charisma to achieve their vision. Clients turn to Dawn to find focus, define priorities, and organize their thoughts into actionable steps tapped with ongoing accountability until they reach their goals.

Prior to starting Coach U2 Lead in 2007, Dawn served in leadership and management roles for Computer Sciences Corporation. Her career with CSC spanned nearly two decades. In 2004, Dawn was asked to provide leadership and process management on a major outsourcing project for the largest bank in Malaysia.

Dawn was named Mecklenburg Times Power Player in 2009, is an instructor for  Efficio School of Business, and is a featured author in the monthly e-magazine, “Women with Know How”.

Dawn is certified by the Coach Training Alliance and is an active member of several organizations, including:

• International Coaches Federation, Charlotte chapter, Vice President/2010 President Elect

• Charlotte Film Festival, Operations Director

• National Association of Women Business Owners, 2009 Extreme Mentoring team member

• Business Leaders of Charlotte

August 20th

Janet Anderson, "Before you hit send….THINK! Best practices for communicating via email."

Janet Anderson comes from an education and technology background. With twenty years experience in computer training on a wide range of software packages and operating systems she has the knowledge and the education to provide the highest quality training to individuals, groups and companies.

Companies she has provided training for include Fortune 500 companies including SNET, Northeast Utilities, Hamilton Standard, Webster Bank, The Hartford, Dow Jones, Aetna and UTC’s Otis Elevator, Pratt & Whitney, CPCC and continues to teach at The Employer’s Association. At The Hartford Insurance Company she was the dedicated instructor for 5 years for their PC desktop training; providing help to over 5,000 employees. 

Over the years she has provided training for over 35,000 students on Windows 3.1 thru Vista, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and Outlook, well as a unique look at the use of those products. 

Having a degree in education, she offers individual and group classes using proven learning techniques to transfer knowledge that will stick, and she makes it FUN. Find out more at Anderson PC Training at www.andersonpctraining.com.

July 16th Annual Fun Lunch - Fellowship and Fun.

June 18th

Tamela Rich, Smart Business Communications
"Is Your e-Newsletter Legal?"

Tamela Rich, A Business Person who writes like an English Major

Over a 20-year business career Tamela Rich launched new products, opened new markets, pulled one company out of a ditch and sent another to the bone yard. Along the way she wrote copy, RFPs, business plans, white papers, case studies, presentations and funding proposals, all of which rely on analysis and clear language.  In a moment of midlife clarity she decided to harvest her love for language with her extensive business background, including an MBA from Duke, into a business communications consultancy.

Tamela provides CAN-SPAM-compliant newsletter services from copy and custom templates through turnkey mailing and robust analytics. Turn to her for business plans, white papers, case studies, presentations and funding proposals.

Tamela hones her narrative skills with magazine articles in Charlotte Magazine and is at work on her first novel, a business thriller based on her experience as an industrial and environmental cleaning contractor.

May 21, 2009

Gail Martin - "Reinventing Your Marketing for Reality"

Gail Z. Martin is an author, entrepreneur and educator.  She owns DreamSpinner Communications and is your “Get Results Resource” for marketing strategies that work.  Gail specializes in helping coaches, consultants, authors and solopreneurs get marketing results. Her teleseminars share powerful marketing techniques for growing businesses and her nonfiction articles have been featured in  over 40 regional and national magazines.  She is also the host of the Shared Dreams Marketing Podcast and the Ghost in the Machine Author Podcast. 

Gail is the author of the bestselling Chronicles of the Necromancer fantasy adventure series (The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven, and Dark Lady’s Chosen (coming in 2010) published by Solaris Books and distributed by Simon & Schuster.  Her newest non-fiction title is “The Thrifty Author’s Guide to Launching Your Book (Without Losing Your Mind)”, coming in 2009 from Comfort Publishing. She is also the author of two e-books (154 Power-Packed PR and Marketing Tips and Passion, Profit and Partnership: Entrepreneur Success Strategies).   Gail takes a very active role with marketing her books that includes podcasts, blogs, a dynamic social media strategy, live and virtual book tours, collaboration with other authors and global PR.

April 16, 2009

Master Coach – Tamara Bunte: "Turning Knowledge into Action"

Tamara advises and consults with Fortune 500 companies, executives, managers, success coaches and sales professionals in the areas of Peak Performance, Leadership, Organizational Behavior, and the Psychology of Achievement and Sales. Over the past 10 years, Tamara has excelled in the world of coaching, working with top peak performers and inspiring people to become the best version of them-self.

Tamara is the founder of The Institute for Advanced Results, LLC, and the foundation Focus on the Good. Master practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) – Certified Master Hypnotist – Time Line Therapy – Peak Performance Coach – Reiki Practitioner – Health Minister – Dale Carnegie Instructor – Trainer for Robbins Research International.

March 19, 2009  

Style 101 - The Untold Truth About Clothes and Business

Nicole Sinclair, Chief Artist, Style Sanctum

February 19, 2009 

It Takes Money to Make Money, Unless You Don't Have It

Sherré Demao; SLD Unlimited Marketing/PR

Sherré is founder and Chief Marketeer of SLD Unlimited Marketing/PR, Inc., a full-service marketing firm.  Since 1984, Sherré has been helping start-up, small to medium, entrepreneurial companies become smarter marketers through providing creative and innovative marketing guidance, solutions and services.  Her marketing expertise has been sought as a resource to business writers and her company has won numerous awards. Her business savvy has also been recognized with recognition as a small business advocate and among the top 50 Enterprising Women Business Owners in the Country by Enterprising Woman Magazine, for which she is now a contributing writer. In addition, Sherré is a monthly columnist in Business Today called Savvy Business Owner starting.  

Sherré has been resourced by local and national media including MSN.com and CBS-affiliate WBTV for perspectives on entrepreneurial business. Frequently sought after as a speaker on marketing and small business topics, her passion is helping business owners become more savvy marketers in order to realize the ultimate success of prospering in life and in business. A published poet, Sherré is currently working on a book based on her nearly 25 years working with entrepreneurs entitled, "Me, Myself & Inc: A Synergized World ... An Energized Business ... Living Your Ultimate Life" Sherré's goal is to make a difference in the lives of as many entrepreneurs as possible.

January 15, 2009 

What is on Your Mind as We Begin This New Year?

Debbie Peterson

President, Personal Cash Flow Specialist and Asset Management, Money Counts, Inc.

Debbie's background in project management and strategic planning, as well as her expertise in cash flow management, greatly enhances clients' potential for financial success. Debbie pioneered the concept of Cash Flow Management as a critical (and missing piece) of traditional financial planning. Her 18 years of experience as the senior manager of Trust Operations and Technology with a major bank in upstate NY provide a unique perspective for our clients in how banks use velocity of money concepts to increase profits and why these same principals will work for individuals.