Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Presentation given to the Iowa Community Action Association Training Conference in June of 2012.
Citation preview
Resources for Iowa Small Businesses
Rob WilliamsMyEntre.Net Business Concierge
University of Northern Iowa Business Analyst
www.MyEntre.Net
• Online Community for Business Owners• 11,000+ Membership• Webinars, E-Newsletter & More!
MyEntre.Net Membership
Dream Big Grow Here• $5,000 Online Regional Grant Contest• $10,000 Statewide Grand Prize
www.DreamBigGrowHere.com
Business Concierge• ‘Ask Us Anything’ Online Information Service
http://bizhelp.myentre.net
Quality ReferralsWho can we help you connect with?
Good morning M,
Back in October, you posted a message on my bulletin board on MyEntre.Net (http://www.myentre.net) asking for assistance in potentially exporting to Africa and Liberia. I left you a voicemail, but did not hear back from you. We recently did a webinar with Patricia Cook on Exporting Essentials for Small Business and I thought this might be especially relevant to you. You can find a full copy of that webinar here: http://www.myentre.net/tabId/75/itemId/759/Export-Essentials-for-Iowa-Businesses.aspx.
More importantly however, I'd like to give you a personal referral to Patricia Cook. Patricia serves as an International Trade Specialist at the Des Moines office of the U.S. Export Assistance Center (http://www.buyusa.gov/iowa/). This email should serve as an introduction for you to contact her; I've copied Patricia to make it easy for you to follow up. Patricia's office provides free one-on-one consulting to small business owners like you who would like to get into exporting. Please give her a call or follow up with an email to set up a time to learn more about how they can help you get into exporting.
Patricia Cook, International Trade SpecialistU.S. Department of Commerce
Quality ReferralsWho can we help you connect with?Hello D,
My name is Rob Williams. I am the Business Concierge and part of the team at MyEntre.Net. Your email about the small business you are working to open in Hartley came to me and we are glad to be of assistance!
There are many ways we can help you. First, check out the other business owners on MyEntre.Net (http://www.myentre.net). There are more than 8,600 small Iowa companies online there and more than a few housekeeping businesses. Many small companies find they can easily seek advice from other small business owners on MyEntre.Net. I'd encourage you to use the interactive map under the 'Find A..." tab to search for other housekeeping businesses in the state and ask some questions. Most folks are flattered to be asked their opinion and you'll likely meet some other great small business owners doing exactly what you want to do. Most importantly however, I'd like to give you a personal referral to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) that serves small businesses in your region. Kelly McCarty is the SBDC Director who serves Hartley. This email should serve as an introduction for you to contact him; I've copied him to make it easy for you to follow up. Kelly's office provides free one-on-one counseling to small business owners like you. Please give him a call or follow up with an email to him directly to set up a time to learn more about how they might help you.
Kelly McCartyNorthwest Iowa Small Business Development [email protected]
Starting a business is exciting and difficult, but you've taken the first good step in joining the community at MyEntre.Net. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance as you get started. You can always reach me by clicking on the Business Concierge icon at MyEntre.Net.
Kelly McCarty, DirectorNorthwest Iowa SBDC
Quality Referrals Who can we help you connect with?
State Requirements:I called over to the Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade and spoke with someone in that office named Betty. Betty said that the group organizing this event should be getting you the tax documents. You might want to contact them right away to see what they say. Just in case they don't, I had her share with me what you will need to do for the state. The first application to check out is the 'Sales Tax Special Event Application' for the Colorado Department of Revenue. You can find that application here: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1214992372945&pagename=Revenue/REVXLayout. The document number is DR 0589. The tax return can also be found on that same page, under DR 0098, 'Special Event Retail Sales Tax Return'.
Local County/City Requirements:You will also be responsible for local county and city state sales tax. I called the City of Denver, Treasury Division (the option under 'Sales, Use, Lodgers, Occupation Priviledge,' etc- http://www.denvergov.com/ContactUs/tabid/424604/Default.aspx) and asked them about local county and city sales tax collection. I talked with Carla Galletti. She said you will need to fill out the special event packet (attached to this e-mail) and return it. If you have any questions about the local requirements, you can contact Carla directly at [email protected] or 720-865-7018.
From what Carla shared with me, you're going to have to collect 7.72% tax on everything sold; then give 3.62% of that to the city of Denver, and the remaining 4.1% to the state. I was assuming you are only selling t-shirts, so these percentages may be different depending on what you will be selling.
FIRST TIME HOME BUYERS
High Rent & Target Market Map
POTENTIAL PET PRODUCT BUSINESS
Objectives: - Determine feasibility for this product in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls MetroKey Facts: - ~60% Households own Pet, also know what subset own dogs - Business was profitable in Cedar Rapids market - Know the market sizes and differences between two regionsFindings: - Waterloo/Cedar Falls not a strong market for this product now
Connections
• Iowa’s First Comprehensive Database of People, Programs, and Organizations that Serve Entrepreneurs
http://connections.myentre.net
EntreFest! Conference• Traveling Statewide Conference for Iowa
Business Owners – http://www.entrefest.com
