It’s time to start drafting up your trail map for 2019 so you find yourself on the path to business success. No matter where you are along your entrepreneurial quest Mountain BizWorks is here to orient you and prepare you for the journey with cohort based classes. Whether you’re looking to sharpen your financial tools, master the business skills for your craft or farm operation, or you’re interested in viewing the worker owner landscape, this year’s core courses and special workshops are sure to peak you’re interest.
Explore all upcoming courses & workshops »
Goal: Get my business off the ground
Recommended main trek:
The “Foundations” Business Planning Class helps aspiring entrepreneurs to create comprehensive business plans in order to start-up, expand, or enhance their businesses. In 18 hours over six weekly sessions, participants will gain a clear aerial perspective of their business operations, financials, research and development, and marketing strategies. They will leave the course with a comprehensive business plan, a clear vision for their business, and concrete tasks for future work.
Recommended Side Trails:
Appalachian Grown Farm Business Initiative
Through a partnership with the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project, Mountain BizWorks provides tailored business coaching and workshop for beginning and existing farmers across the region.
Goal: Fine-tune my existing business
Recommended Main Trek:
A course specifically designed for existing entrepreneurs that want to continue improving their business in a five week course offered within a peer-to-peer learning environment. The Alpine course gives you the opportunity to assess how things have been going, while also visioning for the future. This process will reconnect you to the “why” of your venture and help create in-roads to meeting both your short and long term goals.
Financial Tools for Small Business
An introduction to the basic financial management principles that all small business owners should know. Participants will walk away with the tools to understand the basics of business finance so they can make informed decisions on what they need to do to be on a solid footing for organizing and managing their business finances.
QuickBooks for Your Small Business is geared toward owners and employees of start-up or existing small businesses who manage their own bookkeeping. The class offers an overview of the QuickBooks line of products to help you determine which is best for your business, guides you through generating and understand financial reports, and provides an introduction to payroll and taxes.
Recommended Side Trails:
Boost Your B Corp Certification
Put turbochargers to your B Corp certification process by joining a working group of peers and a representative from a local B Corp to spend an hour refining your companies B Impact Assessment.
The next Craft Your Commerce series will be launching in Spring 2019. This is series for makers and craft-based companies in partnership with Center for Craft and UNC Asheville. Stay tuned for more details.
Cooperatives & Worker Ownership
Whether you’re interested in starting a cooperative business, transitioning your business into a worker-owned company, or using cooperatives as your business exit strategy, these labs are a great place to start, explore, and dig into worker ownership principles and how they can be integrated into your work place. Gain an understanding of the power that worker ownership has to transform communities, retain employees and build better businesses.
Goal: Go big and make it to the next peak.
Recommended Main Trek:
ScaleUp WNC is a cohort-based program of 15 peer CEOs that receive tailored services to measurably advance their business and achieve significant business development milestones. Program elements include: growth-oriented entrepreneurship education curriculum, business advisers and mentors, access to a network of a variety of capital sources, and fostering valuable business connections.
Potential Side Trail:
Investment Crowdfunding Course
Last year, the State of North Carolina passed new legislation making it possible, for the first time ever, to raise money for your small business from average people – and not just “accredited” investors. Following interest from many clients, Mountain BizWorks launched a new course, called Invested, that assists small cohorts of interested business owners in designing, preparing for, and launching an investment crowdfunding campaign.
Goal: Plan out the end of the journey.
Recommended Side Trails:
Cooperatives & Worker Ownership
Do you need a little freedom from your business? Are you looking for the right exit strategy? Did you know you can sell your business to your employees? Whether you’re interested in starting a cooperative business, transitioning your business into a worker-owned company, or using cooperatives as your business exit strategy, these labs are a great place to start, explore, and dig into worker ownership principles and how they can be integrated into your work place. Gain an understanding of the power that worker ownership has to transform communities, retain employees and build better businesses.
Succession – Coming Soon
Finding qualified buyers and/or new management can take longer in smaller communities. These workshops emphasize the importance of the how to’s of succession planning and legacy building. At the workshop information on several succession methods are discussed, from business sales to partnerships or employee ownership.