Follow up for Motivated Entrepreneurs - Pitch Deck Writing Workshop attendees
As a participant at the workshop on 10/17/2023, I found myself sharing a lot of resources related to the content shared by Prashante Bailey at the Women’s Business Center.
As a follow up, I wanted to share a few of these resources for my fellow participants and anyone else who may want a few business resources to help them out on the growth of their company.
pitch Deck
If you need a digital copy of the pitch deck we worked on, you can find it here.
Go to the main menu and select “file” then select “save as”.
From there you can download the PowerPoint (PPT) file. If you don’t have the Microsoft Office suite, you can upload the document into Google Doc’s and use it as a PPT or convert it to a Google Slides document for easier manipulation.
Resources for select Slides
1
Market Research, Including Target Market
This is the section where quite a few resources were thrown out - NACIS, DUNS, Google Search Console, PPIC, Pew, State of Sacramento/CA. I'll provide links below for all of these, but to find who your competitors are, you have to learn all you know about the industry you're in (or looking to get into). Prashante recommended a graph or infographic about the growth, opportunity or trends for your industry to show that the need is there!
2
Competitor Analysis
The purpose of competitor analysis is to differentiate yourself from others. There are many ways to identify your competitors, but typically a google search will suffice. Linked here is a great article from Small Business Association.
3
Timeline & Milestone
I mentioned that I hate making milestones and timelines because I suffer from time blindness. So my secret weapon is making ChatGPT (or Bard, or your choice of AI) do it for me! For example, I made my own plan to make $20,000 in 6 months with 6 new projects as a small consulting business. You can see the results here: https://g.co/bard/share/c56067c4437a
All the links & resources
- https://trends.google.com/trends/
- https://www.naics.com/what-is-a-naics-code-why-do-i-need-one/
- https://www.dnb.com/duns.html
- https://www.ppic.org/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/
- https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/city-manager/oied
- https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/city-manager/oied/scale-up
- https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/city-manager/oied/priority-projects-investment
- https://labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/data/industries.html
- https://www.ibisworld.com/united-states/economic-profiles/california/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/304869/california-real-gdp-by-industry/
- https://www.dir.ca.gov/public-works/prevailing-wage.html
- https://goblin.tools/
- https://www.sba.gov/business-guide/plan-your-business/market-research-competitive-analysis
- https://buffer.com/library/competitor-analysis/
- https://asana.com/resources/competitive-analysis-example
- https://www.similarweb.com/
- https://www.saclibrary.org/Education/Online-Learning
- https://calosba.ca.gov/
- https://sac4micro.org/
- https://sac4smallbiz.org/
- https://sachcc.org/small-business-resources/
- https://economic.saccounty.gov/Pages/default.aspx
- https://bera.house.gov/get-help/helpforbusinesses.htm
- https://www.cityofwestsacramento.org/business/business-resources/small-business-assistance
- https://startupsac.com/resources-and-programs-to-help-launch-a-small-business-in-sacramento/
- https://www.downtownsac.org/grow-your-business/business-tools/business-assistance/
- https://sacramentoworks.org/employers-business/small-business-assistance/
- https://www.saccounty.gov/Business/Pages/BusinessResourcesandNewBusinessAssistance.aspx
- https://www.csus.edu/college/business-administration/spotlights/small-business.html
- https://www.smud.org/en/Corporate/Do-Business-with-SMUD/Small-Business-Incentive-Program
- https://www.pge.com/en_US/small-medium-business/small-medium-business.page
Volunteering!
Serving on a Board
Serving on a nonprofit board allows you many opportunities. In addition to making a difference in your community, it provides a space for personal growth, networking, professional growth, and additional resources. It not only looks good, it feels good.
Why
Non-profit or charity entities ALWAYS need help, and there are a lot of resources available to these organizations. As I mentioned for example, Canva Pro is free for non-profits!
Where
There are a ton of local organizations that are always accepting new volunteers. Check out https://www.saccounty.gov/Government/GetInvolved/Pages/Volunteer.aspx or https://www.handsonsacto.org/ for a short list of current organizations looking for help.
My volunteer roles
I’m an active volunteer and I’m currently serving on the board of the West Campus Foundation for Excellence (Parent/Teacher organization) and the West Campus Music Boosters. I also have served on the American Marketing Association’s Sacramento Chapter Board, as troop leader and orientation specialist for the local Girl Scouts, and as President for the River Park Mothers’ Club.
With these opportunities, I’ve learned about IRS filings, been able to design and print a handbook, explored and purchased promotional materials, moderated panels, expanded my web coding skills, and helped influence grants and underwrite other programs in Sacramento. I love having the chance to learn something new, try things out and have different work than what my “job” would be.
Karen is Think4it
Interested in learning more? Let me help!
I love sharing resources and ideas with others. There’s a lot out there and my experience is wide and varied. I’ve produced local TV news, I’ve worked with large state agencies, I am a resourceful mom of 3 kids, have done nonprofit and community work forever and have had enough life experiences to understand how things work and how to fix them. An ultimate problem solver and curious person – the ultimate combination for the (nearly) perfect consultant & strategist.
