Another Successful Year for Business Boot Camp

Originally an idea sprouted last year from Chamber Board Member and Committee Chair, Nick Nelson of Keller Williams, Business Boot Camp was developed as an opportunity to educate current and prospective business professionals on different fundamentals of business – how to start, maintain, and improve one. Bootcamp 2019 enjoyed its second year during the last three weeks of May, and this time around, the Chamber acquired new experts to discuss three different topics through three 90-minute sessions: Social Media Marketing, Accessing Capital, and Strategic Planning.

For session one, Bob Clarke of Ruby Porter Marketing & Design shared his insights on social media marketing and the advantages of using it to develop your business and brand. He started off by having attendees guess what order of social media channels were the most used, and the true order was a surprising discovery for many; according to an article from December 2018, Facebook comes first, followed by Youtube, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, then Snapchat. Clarke went on to explain the main demographics of each platform, the advantages of using each one, and the necessity of a social media presence in order to grow your business. Many questions from the audience were addressed, along with tips and tricks given, such as how to respond to negative criticism and how to read into site analytics. This topic was a clear hit, having the highest number of attendees!

For the second session, a panel was held consisting of three different finance professionals to share their unique, valuable viewpoints of different manners of accessing capital, managing debt, taking out loans, and resources to get financial counseling. The professionals were Troy Reichenberger of Oregon Pacific Bank, Corey Deel of Community Lending Works and NEDCO, and Shane Johnson with Coast 2 Crest and RAIN Eugene. Each addressed the financial challenges of for owners and leaders in small business and offered varied advice according to their position; Reichenberger represented traditional bank lending, Deel offered a non-traditional lending perspective, and Johnson represented equity financing. Tips included the importance of having a good handle on bookkeeping/accounting, the flexibility of community development loan fund if your personal credit score isn’t ideal, and utilizing resources such as SCORE and SBDC to get more on track with your finances. These three speakers did a great job in making the world of finance seem more manageable and less daunting.

The third and last session was held by Gary Smith, faculty and coach at Lane Small Business Development Center (SBDC). Gary wrapped up the program by sharing his expertise on how to successfully go about strategic planning for business, from determining your priorities to setting and reaching goals effectively. He covered the difference between creating strategic and business plans, the importance of “surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you” in order to gain advice you need to be successful, went through a planning flowchart and SWOT Analysis, and “SMARTEST” goals, the cleverly-coined expanded version of SMART goals created by Smith himself with added categories. Smiths’ sense of humor only added more interest to his already insightful presentation, and kept the audience very engaged.

We’re proud to say that this year was another success for the Chamber’s Business Bootcamp, and we look forward to continuing this program in the future. If you missed it this time, make sure to keep an eye out around this time next year. Thank you to all of our presenters for sharing their wonderful expertise, and a deep thank you to our sponsor for this event, Kent Witham Air Inc.!