Business Owners Seminar Series Topics Survey

Please check up to three (3) topics that you would like to see B.O.S.S offer in the Winter/Spring of 2009.


Michigan’s Economic/Business Outlook
Get the latest economic outlook from the premier business news publisher in the state and what’s Lansing trying to do to you now from a small business lobbyist.  What the current business and economic trends for Michigan businesses and what does it mean to you?.  What is going on in Lansing that will have an impact on your business this year.
Protecting Your Business from Risk
Every business experiences two kinds of risk - business and financial.  Business risks are the risks resulting from the nature of the products or services you sell and from the degree of operating leverage employed.  Financial risks are the risks over and above the basic business risk, resulting from using debt.  Both kinds of risk can be planned and managed. In this seminar, you will learn new strategies to protect your business and personal assets from risk from both a legal and insurance perspective. 
How to Get Your Company in the News
Getting visibility for your company in the news is a good way to gain new business.  With publicity you don’t pay for an ad, but it still costs money to plan and execute a good public relations plan.  In this seminar you will learn how to develop relationships with publishers, radio and TV stations, the when, what and how’s of press releases that will get your name in the news, and become a quotable source in articles relevant to your business.
Succession Planning: How Do You Exit from Your Business? 
If you founded or have owned your business for a long time, you become emotionally attached to it.  If you are looking to retire, want new challenges or for whatever reason it is time to leave, what are your choices?  Turn it over to someone in the family?  Your employees?  Sell it to an outsider?  In this seminar you will learn the pro’s and con’s of your options, the realities of the transition and critical issues you must consider.  This is not a lecture of the checklists and steps needed to prepare your business for sale, but a holistic strategic approach to a big decision you may be facing.
Total Compensation: The Benefits and Pitfalls
Attracting and retaining high quality employees while controlling costs is becoming harder and harder. Big changes are coming in health insurance, PTO and organized labor laws.  In this seminar, learn the benefits and pitfalls of total compensation policies from wages/salaries/bonuses to health insurance/benefit programs.
Protecting a Priceless Asset – Your Company Data Records
In today’s competitive economic environment, your company’s data is a priceless asset.  If you had an IT disaster or an IT security breach, could you rebuild all the information you needed?  How much would it cost?  In this seminar you will learn about Small Business Technology and IT Security Best Practices, and How to Protect Your Data from a hardware and software point of view.
Everything You Need to Know about IT as a Business Owner
Too many business owners put all of their IT eggs in one basket, blindly trusting what their “IT Guy” tells them.  Are you willing to simply assume your data is safe, your system is backed up properly or that your wireless internet is not broadcasting your company financials to everyone around you? Are you kept informed as to what’s possible with current and leading edge technology that could be critical to the success of your business?  In this seminar, you will become “dangerous” by learning what questions you should be asking, avoiding the 5 Biggest IT mistakes that small companies make every day and more…
What’s on your mind or your top 3 business concerns? (please describe)
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Thank your for your input.  Please visit us again in mid-December for the Winter/Spring B.O.S.S Seminar topics and speakers.