Calendar

Overview of the Live Webinar

The following will be covered during this live webinar:

• Power of SEO and social media for attracting customers, including local SEO to precisely target your market.
• Website optimization for lead generation. How personas, message maps, and content calendars help to make your website and social media footprint more attractive when integrated.
• Social selling as an amplifier of your existing sales and marketing strategy. Learn to build an omni channel presence and customer journey for faster wins.
• What your digital channel strategy needs, to be effective in terms of content, technology and investment.
• How to effectively use paid media and advertising. Cost savings of optimizing your website and SEO to maximize paid media spend and ROI.

Speaker: Hussain Shah, Subject Matter Expert – Digital Marketing, Mason SBDC & Timm Johnson – Director, Mason SBDC

Co-sponsor(s) & Partner(s): Prince William County Department of Economic Development & Prince William Chamber of Commerce

Cancellation Policy: Contact the Center regarding cancellation 24 business hours prior to the event. Kindly email – help@masonsbdc.org (preferred) or call 703-261-4105 to notify the team.

Special Instructions: This live webinar will be presented via Zoom. Webinar access details (Zoom invitation) will be provided after registration.

Cancellation Policy: Kindly contact us (email – help@masonsbdc.org (preferred) or call 703-261-4105) at least 24-business hours prior to the event for cancellations Special Instructions: This live webinar will conducted on the Zoom platform. Please watch your email for the webinar access link – which will be sent only after registration.

Grab your lunch and join us virtually for the first Thursday of each month to learn more about SBA programs and network with other small business owners.

Finding funding for your business can be challenging if your credit score is weak. Join us as we discuss strategies to improve both your personal and business credit score.

Key Takeaways:

how your personal credit affects your business
how to improve your personal credit to benefit your business
how to improve your business credit over time
Speaker(s): Joey Pocan, Richmond SBA

Once a brewery has confirmed that it’s equipped to pursue international markets, the next question is where to sell its products. It can be daunting to assess the potential of the many markets and partners looking for American craft beer, and there’s no one size fits all approach for market selection.

In this webinar, breweries will learn about available tools and strategies to help weigh different opportunities and develop an export strategy that suits their specific goals.

Speaker(s): Hope Gayles, Associate Director, Communications & Outreach & Public Information Officer at Southern Virginia Higher Education Center

Co-Sponsor(s): LSBDC, GMU, SBA, VSBDC, SVHEC, GoVA

The Federal Government buys over $600 billion per year on goods and services, 23% of that spend is allocated for Small Business. This is a huge opportunity for firms, who qualify, to grow their business and become part of the challenging world of Government Contracting through set-aside opportunities. In order to get noticed by small business offices, you must first create a winning capability statement. This is the most importing marketing piece you will create for your business. A properly formatted capability statement will help you get noticed and differentiate you from your competition. In this presentation you will learn:

• Proper formatting of the statement
• Information to include and not include
• Differentiators, Core competencies and past performance content
• You will be provided an editable template to use for your own capability statement
• How to use the statement

Join Lisa Wood, Director of the Virginia Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), for this informative presentation – a “must” for those who are considering the Federal Government contracting market and want to learn how to prepare for/navigate this huge potential market.  This “beginners” class offers tips and tricks on how to win Federal business.

Speaker(s): Jeff Robertson, RRSBDC Team

The Federal Government buys over $600 billion per year on goods and services, 5% of that spend is allocated for Small Disadvantaged(8(A) firms. This is a huge opportunity for small firms, who qualify, to grow their business and become part of the challenging world of Government Contracting through set-aside opportunities. In this presentation you will learn:

• Eligibility requirements for 8(a) certification
• Understanding the Application Process
• Understanding how to prepare before applying
• Staying Certified

Speaker(s): Lisa Powell worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration at the Connecticut District Office from 1998 to 2019 as an Economic Development Specialist monitoring the HUBZone and 8(a) portfolios for the local office before joining the Virginia PTAC as a Procurement Counselor in January 2021. During her time at the SBA, Lisa worked closely with all of SBA’s resource partners to facilitate procurement workshops held at local Community Colleges, Chambers of Commerce and libraries. As a Business Opportunity Specialist, she was involved with the Government Contracting programs that the SBA provides and worked very closely with the purchasing agents for the Federal and State Agencies as well as the larger prime contractors while organizing SBA Matchmakers and assisting small business.

Join us as we discuss tips and tricks on how to address insider threats and social engineering!

Speaker: Quiana Gainey, Virginia SBDC Cyber Industry Expert

A confirmation email with the Zoom login information will be sent after registration – a day before before the event – please be on the lookout for it.

In this final episode, the hosts will discuss financing and logistics considerations that come into play when exporting craft beer. Attendees will learn the necessary steps to successfully execute and international order, as well as strategies for leveraging their relationships with freight forwarders, importers, and small business lenders in support of a sustained and profitable export program.

Co-sponsorship Authorization# 23-22-C. The SBA’s participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least 2 weeks in advance of this event; please send an email with the subject header ACCOMMODATION REQUEST to reasonableaccommodation@sba.gov.

Topic: Woman Owned Small Business (WOSB)

Grab your lunch and join us the first Thursday of each month to learn more about SBA programs and network with other small business owners. This workshop will explain the process and advantages of utilizing the Women -Owned Small business contracting program for federal contracting.

Learning Outcomes:

• How to self-certify as a women-owned small business

• The eligibility requirements to qualify for the WOSB program

• How the WOSB program can help your business compete for federal contract set-asides

Speaker(s): Carl Knoblock, SBA District Director Carl Knoblock currently works for the Small Business Administration and prior to becoming District Director, Knoblock owned a couple of small businesses from manufacturing to service industries. He served as C-Level executive for several innovative startups. Carl started as the district director for Virginia in June 2014. Before arriving in Virginia, he served as the District Director for the Western Pennsylvania District Office for 8 years. Under his leadership, his team helped a wide variety of businesses. Carl is very active in mentoring businesses and volunteering in his spare time. He has been an adjunct instructor for several colleges and has served as an advisor to several nonprofit organizations. Carl also served in the U.S. Navy.

The Speaker Eva Scott will review the different retirement plans available for entrepreneurs and explain the pros and cons of qualified versus non qualified plans. We will review the options of Saving for retirement with pre tax or after tax contributions and what it will mean in the future. A brief and basic explanation of the impending financial crisis brought on by the exponential growth of the US National Debt. How retirees can be impacted by the combination of bearish markets and increasing taxation. We will discuss the steps and proactive measures Baby Boomers can take to protect their retirement plans from the crush of higher taxes.

Key Takeaways:

The three different retirement buckets and the ideal balance to have in each one of them. Taxable bucket, tax deferred bucket and tax free bucket.
Social Security is a tax coming out of your paycheck now and how to keep it from being taxed in retirement.
How to reach zero tax liability in retirement
How to start saving in a tax free retirement plan? Is the Roth IRA, Roth 401K or LIRP right for you?
By registering for this webinar you are allowing the UMWSBDC to share your information with the speaker of the event.

Speaker(s): Eva Scott is a Financial strategist with 20 years of experience in Financial services. She is a member of NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) and has worked In the DMV area for the last 10 years with Premier Financial Alliance. Eva enjoys working with business owners and individuals starting their retirement savings journey by designing a suitable and manageable platform of benefit plans and tax free retirement strategies. She also helps retirees move and protect their accumulated savings from TSPs or 401K into safe and predictable accounts where they will not lose value in market downturns as the goal is asset preservation. Top producer in her company in the field of Fixed and Indexed annuities, a solution for market declines at retirement and the assurance of creating a lifetime income you cannot outlive. Eva also works with young families setting up college saving plans that are more flexible have higher returns and utility than the traditional 529 state sponsored plans.

Fee: No Cost

Refresh your knowledge to effectively market your goods and/or services! This live webinar (via Zoom) will cover the following marketing essentials:

• How to choose your target group(s)
• How to communicate with your target(s)
• Market Definition
• Market Segmentation
• Competitive Analysis
• Company Branding
• Online (SEO) and Offline Marketing

Speaker: Bernard Ferret – Senior Business Counselor, Mason SBDC & Serial Entrepreneur

Co-sponsor(s) & Partner(s): Prince William County Department of Economic Development & Prince William Chamber of Commerce

Cancellation Policy: Contact us earlier than OR 72 hours (3 days) prior to event. Kindly email – help@masonsbdc.org (preferred) or call 703-261-4105 to notify the team.

Special Instruction: This live webinar will be offered on the Zoom platform. You will receive a Zoom inivitation link after the registration.

Speaker(s): Eva Scott is a Financial strategist with 20 years of experience in Financial services. She is a member of NAIFA (National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors) and has worked In the DMV area for the last 10 years with Premier Financial Alliance. Eva enjoys working with business owners and individuals starting their retirement savings journey by designing a suitable and manageable platform of benefit plans and tax free retirement strategies. She also helps retirees move and protect their accumulated savings from TSPs or 401K into safe and predictable accounts where they will not lose value in market downturns as the goal is asset preservation. Top producer in her company in the field of Fixed and Indexed annuities, a solution for market declines at retirement and the assurance of creating a lifetime income you cannot outlive. Eva also works with young families setting up college saving plans that are more flexible have higher returns and utility than the traditional 529 state sponsored plans.