Memphis Light, Gas & Water’s (MLGW) Supplier Diversity and Economic Development teams, along with Tennessee Small Business Development Center and Southwest Community College, will host the Business Owners Strategy Summit, known as B.O.S.S. Up, on Nov. 2, 2022, at Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Maxine Smith Campus. TSBDC will help representatives from 30 in-person and 30 virtual certified minority-owned, women-owned and locally-owned small businesses develop customized business plans. Participants also will attend business classes and network during the daylong event.
Featured morning sessions designed to spark ideas and business growth include:
- The B.O.S.S. brand: Marketing/branding your business at any size (how to present your business professionally – in print, video and more.
- B.O.S.S. Up your staffing: HR/staffing tips best suited for your business.
- B.O.S.S. strategies for financial growth: Proper bonding, insurance, and finance/accounting methods for economic stability and growth.
The afternoon workshop will guide in-person participants through business plan development using the TSBDC’s LivePlan software. LivePlan is the world’s leading software used for online business planning, strategic forecasting and financial management with more than 1 million users worldwide. Backed by over 30 years of experience in software development and created by real strategic planning experts, no other online planning solution is as easy, professional and complete as LivePlan.
In addition, LivePlan software maker, Palo Alto Software, has partnered with Small Business Development Center nationwide for the past 27 years with the common goal of helping people succeed in business.
“As we work together using LivePlan, we teach the principles of lean planning and how your business can benefit from both traditional planning and forecasting as well as modern lean planning methods to help you manage your business better through the ups and downs, good and bad, crisis and growth seasons of your business,” said Palo Alto Software’s Academic and Government Channel Sales Director Josh Fegles.
This year, the TSBDC aims to help launch 14 new businesses by providing free one-on-one consulting. Entrepreneurs and business owners are invited to make an appointment to speak with a TSBDC professional adviser. Advisers meet with clients at Southwest Tennessee Community College’s Maxine A. Smith Center and the Business Diversity and Compliance Entrepreneurs Network Center at 480 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., Memphis, Tenn., 38126.
The event is free; however a subscription to LivePlan and a laptop are required to participate. Seats are limited and registration is required. Click to register.
The TSBDC network, for more than 30 years, has helped small business owners, entrepreneurs and individuals with business ideas access the financial and technical resources to establish and grow businesses that compete in the global marketplace.
NaShawn Branch, D.BA., is the executive director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center. Passionate about helping small business owners succeed, he has advised more than 500 small-to-medium-sized businesses, including 54 startups, and has raised more than $4.5 million in capital infusion over the past 10 years.