Fairfield and surrounding Jefferson County - Business Developement Needs Assessment Survey

“No eggs incubate without heat. The heat that drives small business development is the knowledge of all aspects of business.”

We’re excited to share the news that MUM received a grant from the USDA-Rural Development to provide free business training for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Fairfield and Jefferson County.

The MUM College of Business is gathering input to identify the training areas local entrepreneurs need most. Please take a 20 minute survey to tell us what you would like to learn most to help your business grow. We will design 15 one-hour seminars and 20 four-part workshops created from your responses.

Make your opinion count and directly benefit from these upcoming free or low-cost educational events.

We look forward to hearing your results and then providing you the heat to hatch your egg and become a more successful and self-sustaining part of our community.

Below is a list of topics that we are currently ready and able to teach, both for the ONE-HOUR Seminars and FOUR-PART (one hour each) Workshops. Please use the sliding scale to tell us your likelihood of attending this seminar/workshop. Your results will determine our line-up for these two series of seminars and workshops. Four-three month calendar will follow the analysis of this survey.

Thank you for letting us be a part of growing your business.

Here are the categories of business knowledge for the ONE-HOUR Seminars.
Business Planning and Development
Marketing, Sales and Strategy
Legal and Regulatory
Management and Leadership
Accounting and Taxation

Here are the categories of business knowledge for the FOUR-PART (one hour each) Workshops.
Marketing and Strategy
Legal and Regulatory; Accounting, Finance and Taxation
Management and Leadership

The seminars and workshops will be free of charge to all small businesses, which are defined by the USDA as companies having less than 50 employees and less than $1 million in annual revenues. Fairfielders who do not meet these criteria may participate in the programs but will pay a small fee.

Please give us information about yourself and your company.

Question Title

* 1. Contact Information

Contact Person's Name *

Company Names or Type of Business

Address *

Address 2

City/Town *

ZIP/Postal Code *

Email Address *

Phone Number *

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* 2. Choose partner who recommended you to this survey?

First is a list of 30 suggested topics for the one hour seminars.
Second is a list of 20 suggested topics for four-part workshops.

Seminars will be one hour long and held in various locations in Fairfield and in areas throughout Jefferson County.

15 - ONE HOUR SEMINARS

Business Planning & Development

Please indicate if the seminar/workshop topic is an area of business you and your company could benefit from (0 = not likely, 5 = very likely)

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* 3. Focusing Your Business Concept

Clear

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* 4. Nonprofit Entrepreneurship

Clear

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* 5. Understanding the Growing Green Economy

Clear

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* 6. Do you want to create your own business or create your own division within an existing company?

Clear

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* 7. The Business Side of Solo Computer Programming

Clear

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* 8. Buying or Selling a Business --- What to Consider

Clear

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* 9. Successfully Fund Your Business

Clear

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Sales, Marketing and Strategy

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* 10. Market Research Using Social Media

Clear

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* 11. How to start up a business with minimal risk by finding your minimum viable product (MVP), testing the market and tweaking your marketing mix and supply chain.

Clear

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* 12. Networking to Boost Sales

Clear

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* 13. Communication and Persuasion in the Digital Age

Clear

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* 14. The Psychological Triggers of Biz-to-Consumer and Biz-to-Biz Marketing

Clear

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* 15. Marketing Strategy & Planning for Start Ups

Clear

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* 16. Reaching and Selling Your Target Demographic: The Multi-Media Advantage

Clear

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* 17. Forming Local Economic Partnerships to Support Marketing and Recruitment

Clear

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* 18. Building Up a Consulting Business

Clear

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* 19. Marketing Methods for Consultants and Solo-preneurs

Clear

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* 20. Marketing Research in terms of calculating market potential and the use of business analytics

Clear

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Legal and Regulatory

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* 21. Protecting Your Ideas: The When and How of Intellectual Property Law

Clear

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* 22. How to Renegotiate a Bad Contract

Clear

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* 23. Employee vs. Independent Contractor: What’s the Difference? You may think you can get away with not paying Social Security taxes on a contractor’s bill, but the IRS could disagree

Clear

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* 24. Growing up: Forms, Payroll, and Other Things You Need to Know When Adding Your First Employee.

Clear

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* 25. Exempt vs Non-Exempt Employees: When You Need to Know about Unions

Clear

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Management and Leadership

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* 26. Management Techniques for New Supervisors

Clear

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* 27. Resolving Conflicts in the Workplace

Clear

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* 28. How to Evaluate and Reward Employees

Clear

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* 29. Hiring Employees: Behavioral Interviewing and Workforce Planning

Clear

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* 30. Creating High Performance Work Teams: strategies and tactics

Clear

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* 31. Fundamentals of Effective Leadership

Clear

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* 32. Effective Approaches in Leading Change

Clear

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Accounting and Taxation

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* 33. Organizing for the bottom line: accounting and tax considerations for maximum gain

Clear

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* 34. Quarterly Payroll Taxes—Again Already?

Clear

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* 35. Import-export Opportunities and Methods

Clear

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* 36. How Local Storefront Businesses Can Gain a Competitive Edge Against Internet Competition

Clear

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Four-part workshops will be held in various locations in Fairfield and in surrounding towns in Jefferson county.

20 FOUR-PART, IN DEPTH WORKSHOPS (One-hour classes held once a week.)

Marketing and Strategy

Please indicate if the seminar/workshop topic is an area of business you and your company could benefit from (0 = not likely, 5 = very likely)

Question Title

* 37. Social Media Marketing

Clear

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* 38. Metrics and Analytics to Drive Business Results

Clear

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* 39. Business Plans That Win Investors

Clear

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* 40. Pricing Your Product or Service

Clear

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* 41. How Local Retail Can Gain an Edge over Online Retail

Clear

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* 42. Writing a Business Concept Statement as Step #1 in New Business Planning

Clear

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* 43. Business Plans for Product Managers

Clear

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Legal and Regulatory; Accounting, Finance and Taxation

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* 44. Employment Law for Small Businesses

Clear

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* 45. Business Tax Returns: Sole Proprietor, LLC and S-Corp

Clear

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* 46. Entrepreneurial Finance

Clear

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* 47. Your Business Tax Return: Recordkeeping, Preparation, and How to Minimize Taxes Owed

Clear

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* 48. Learning QuickBooks for Small Business Accounting

Clear

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* 49. Understanding Financial Statements: Your balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement

Clear

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Management and Leadership

Thank you for your interest in participating in our upcoming Business Development training. You will be emailed the upcoming schedule soon.

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* 50. Understanding the Growing Green Economy

Clear

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* 51. Leadership and Conflict Resolution

Clear

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* 52. Leading Change and Organizational Renewal

Clear

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* 53. Leading a Global Business

Clear

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* 54. Lean Management for Small Manufacturers

Clear

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* 55. Nonprofit Organization and Management

Clear

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* 56. Hospitality and First Impressions to Your Customer

Clear

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This grant is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at How to File a Program Discrimination Complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: program.intake@usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

For further information or to suggest topics for the seminars or workshops, please contact David Goodman at 641-451-1793. The email address is: biztraining@mum.edu.

Biz Training
MUM College of Business - 1000 North Fourth Street - Fairfield, IA 52557