From: Kate Gibson
Sent: Monday, February 01, 2010 8:33 AM
To: 'abc@123.org'
Subject: News from MERIT
|
|
|
|
News of MERIT |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Dear Marcia, If you know people who are considering self- employment, please forward
this newsletter to them. We start up a new group of training classes in
February in Salem, Independence and McMinnville. For more information about
MERIT, please visit http://merit.chemeketa.edu. Thanks for your support of MERIT! Forrest Peck
MERIT provides business planning services through our
MicroEnterprise Training course, which uses the nationally recognized
FastTrac® curriculum developed by the Kauffman Foundation. Orientation Sessions will be held in English and Spanish in
Salem on February 8th from 6-9 pm at the SBDC at 626 High Street NE. In
Independence, the orientation will be held on February 4th from 6 to 9 pm at
the Greater Independence Business Incubator at 414 South Main St in
Independence. The orientation session in McMinnville will be held on February
10th from 6-9 pm in the Housing Authority of Yamhill County at 135 Dunn
Place. Find out more about what MERIT has to offer by calling Forrest
at (503) 399-5088 or by visiting MERIT online.
Shelly attributes her success to her close, loving relationships
with the children and her unique child development program that focuses on
both school readiness and developing social skills. Shelly explains,
"There is a daily phonics-based preschool program along with science
projects, arts and crafts, etc. We focus on ensuring optimal growth across
all major developmental areas. My goal is to provide top- quality childcare
in a safe, loving home environment." Although she has been in business
for 18 years, Shelly continues to love what she does. Shelly attended the MERIT class in the Winter of 2009 in order
to complete the requirements for her IDA (Individual Development Account, a
matched savings program). She has been in business since 1992 caring for
children aged 2 to 8. Her center, located near Keizer Elementary, is open
Monday through Friday from 5 am to 6 pm. For more information about her
center, call: (503) 871-4466. But act quickly because Shelly's Kids is
popular! "My clients are extremely loyal and even these hard times I
have been able to fill my few openings quickly," Shelly says. The Best of Keizer competition is sponsored by the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce. It is an online poll of local residents to select the
top businesses in 30 categories. Voting was open in December and over 7700
votes were counted. The winners were declared in the January 1st Keizer Times
and will be posted on www.bestofkeizer.com this weekend.
Learn the ropes about social networking at the first monthly
Willamette Valley Business Forum. Next Tuesday morning (January 12th) from
8:30-11:30 am, Tim Fahndrich of The
Third River will present on how to use sites like Twitter, Linked In and
Facebook to promote your business. Learn about: building an optimized web hub
or portal, modern marketing in a web 2.0 world, driving traffic to your
website, turning visitors into leads and leads into buyers, tracking and
measuring and more! Get informed and get moving on important business issues. Willamette
Valley Business Forums are hosted on the first Tuesday of each month, these
3- hour programs are offered in partnership with the Regional Chamber of
Commerce and take place at the Chemeketa SBDC at 626 High St NE in Salem.
Cost: $59 ($39 for Chamber members) Contact the SBDC to register. Email us at
sbdc@chemeketa.edu or call 503.399.5088. If you have completed the MERIT class and would like to attend,
contact Forrest about scholarship opportunities.
Got a business idea? Not sure how to get started? If this
describes you or someone you know we have good news. MERIT has a class where you can test your business idea in an
informal, confidential setting. We call this Entrepreneurs 101, and we now
offer it monthly in two locations. Best of all it's free!
The class is held the second Thursday of every month in each of
these locations. In January, the classes will be held on Thursday January
14th at 12 pm in Dallas and at 2 pm in McMinnville. To register for the next
Entrepreneurs 101 class, please call the Chemeketa Small Business Development
Center at 503- 399-5088.
We are seeking volunteers to translate our marketing materials into
Spanish. This includes our brochures and fliers, as well as the content of
our website. We are also seeking established business owners to serve as
mentors to Spanish-speaking clients who have completed the MERIT class and
are in the early stages of starting their businesses. If you know someone who speaks Spanish as their first language
and would like to start a business, please refer them to our upcoming Spanish
MERIT class this February. For more information, contact Kate Gibson: kgibso17@chemeketa.edu.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
email: forrest.peck@chemeketa.edu phone: (503) 399-5088 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||
