SBDC Hosting Business Success Extravaganza 2016

Winthrop Region SBDC 

wishes to invite you to attend its

Business Success Extravaganza 2016 ..... undoubtedly the

best value in a small business seminar you'll find!

Great speakers .... great topics .... great ideas!

And we'll even feed you! 

Register online at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2016-business-success-extravaganza-tickets-15949132284 

To see the great reviews on last year's Extravaganza, visit our reviews page

14 Reasons We’re Sweet on Small Business

The Small Business Administration sent us a Valentine this weekend to let us know why we should all love small businesses .... we thought you'd enjoy it too ..... isn't it nice to know that someone notices all you do?

14 Reasons We’re Sweet on Small Business

By ngoriel, SBA Official

 Published: February 12, 2016

Small businesses are the heart of America’s economy. This Valentine’s Day, the SBA is sending small business owners this valentine with 14 reasons why we love small business. Small businesses in the United States:


1) Care about their communities – The 28 million small businesses in the U.S. contribute directly to local communities.
2) Provide opportunities – Small businesses make up 99.7 percent of U.S. employer firms.
3) Create jobs – Two out of every three net new jobs created in the U.S. are from small businesses.
4) Grow the global economy – 97.7 percent of exporters are small firms.
5) Represent the diversity of America – Last year, SBA achieved record lending of $23.5 billion under our flagship 7(a) loan program, with loans up 23 percent to minorities.
6) Value military experience – One out of every 10 small business owners is a veteran.
7) Contribute to sales – Small businesses account for 54 percent of all U.S. sales.
8) Employ about half of the workforce – Small businesses employ about 56.1 million of the nation’s private workforce.
9) Produce goods and services for our government– In fiscal year 2014, $91.7 billion were awarded to small business contractors, resulting in the support of approximately 550,000 total jobs.
10) Lead the way for female entrepreneurs –According to Census data from December 2015, women’s ownership rates are up 27 percent, employing 8 million workers.
11) Direct local industries – Health care and social assistance; accommodation and food services; and retail trade were the three industries with the most small business employment.
12) Drive innovation – Small patenting firms produce 16 times more patents per employee than large patenting firms.
13) Create opportunities for flexible work and lifestyles – Home-based businesses account for 52 percent of all small businesses.
14) Inspire us – Small business owners work countless hours, sacrifice their personal time, improve their communities and follow their dreams.

Winthrop Region SBDC Director Explains Our Process on WRHI Radio Interview

Click below to listen to our Winthrop Region SBDC Director, Larry Stevens as he answers general questions about the SBDC and the many services we provide. It's very informative and will show you exactly how we could help your small business. Then give us a call .... we're happy to work with you to get your small business growing!

Your SBDC Newsletter

The Rock Hill Area of Winthrop Region SBDC serves five SC counties: York, Chester, Lancaster, Union and Cherokee.
Call us for free business consultation, assistance in developing your business plan, help with marketing ideas and direction, a free financial analysis for your existing business, and more!  We're here to help!

How Do You Measure Success in Business?

 One of the things we LOVE about working for the SC Small Business Development Centers is watching our clients grow and truly succeed in the businesses they've opened.  We've seen that the most successful small businesses in the community are those whose owners started out by learning what they didn't know about running a business .... then implementing what they had learned .... and finally being extremely watchful of what was working and not working for them, to quickly make changes and add or subtract elements of the business as necessary. They listen to their customers and make sure they offer what those customers are looking for.  It's great to do what YOU want as a business owner, but adding the extra customer service of new products or services that your customers request creates a win-win situation that benefits everyone.

   What IS a successful small business?  It's very possibly not what you may think.  Success is a relative thing, not always measured the same way.  Some people have huge dreams of wanting to be CEO of a giant conglomerate; but others have a much simpler dream to work in a business they love and earn enough money to take care of their families and enjoy a good life with them. Whatever dream you have,  the SBDC will be happy to walk through that dream with you, make suggestions, give you advice on where to start, or how to grow an existing business to the next level.   Truly successful people know that it's best to run ideas past a mentor before implementing them.  Often others can suggest or see things that we can't see ourselves.  So, we aren't just about start-ups, as you may have thought -- we're very much a resource for growing enterprises as well!

   We'd like to feature all of our successful clients in our newsletters.  If you'd like us to feature your business, call Carol at (803) 323-2283 and update her on how and what you're doing, and why you're a business a success!

Featured Business:

Anna Carter, Owner of Tree of Life Studio in Rock Hill is a great example of a business owner who didn't rush to open her business. She planned well and followed her plan.

Anna's Tree of Life Massage and Facial Studio offers therapeutic massage and facials providing her clients with a variety of medically beneficial massages, massages for sports or traffic injuries, pregnancy, and stress relief massage.  Before opening, she made sure she had all the legalities taken care of, understood the business type she had chosen, got herself certified in all areas of her business and encouraged her husband, Hal to get his massage therapy certification as well.  With both of them certified, it created the opportunity for the business to take on more clients, especially doctor-referred patients in need of deep tissue massage, and couples wanting to come in for "spa night" massages together.  

Anna took the right steps at the right time to ensure steady, continuous growth of her business .... and she keeps in touch to get our opinion from time to time.   Now, since Tree of Life Studio opened 2 1/2 years ago and is doing well, she's getting ready to move to a new location with more space for both clients  and new products, but with the same friendly, cozy atmosphere of her current location. Tree of Life will re-locate on November 1st to 860 Cherry Road, Suite #102 in Rock Hill, right behind Hers and His Hair Stylists.   She's planning an Open house, so be sure to watch her website or Facebook page so you don't miss it!

Anna loves her business, loves her customers, loves the skin care products she offers and loves being able to work with Hal.  In Anna's book and ours, that's a business success story! 

Great job, Anna -- We love having you as part of our SBDC family of small business owners!

Upcoming Events:

October 19, 2015:

   This is a FREE workshop, sponsored by the IRS.  This training will be held
 in Room 415 of the Thurmond Building (College of Business) on the Winthrop University Campus, corner of Park Avenue (off Cherry Road) at Memorial Circle.  Room 415 is on the 4th floor, and is elevator accessible.   Parking passes for the day will be emailed to registrants the day before the workshop.

Sign-in will begin at 8:30 am, and the workshop will begin promptly at 9 am and end at noon.

Agenda includes:

• What you need to know about federal taxes when hiring employees/contractors
• Employee vs independent contractor
• Payer responsibilities
• Identify payer-related forms
• Verify employee information
• State New Hire Registry
• File Forms W-2 online
• FIRE system
• How to manage your payroll so you withhold the right amount from employees
• Wages subject to employment taxes
• Accountable vs. non-accountable plans
• What you need to know about Federal Unemployment Taxes (FUTA).
• Define FUTA wages
• Deposit rules
• Forms & filing

 Resource materials will be provided for:

• South Carolina Department of Revenue
• Registering a business in South Carolina
• Reporting and collecting sales tax
• Withholding tax
• South Carolina Department of Employment & Workforce
• Unemployment Insurance Tax and Claims
• Tax Liability
• Legal entities
• Wage report
• Independent Contractor

Register

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October 27, 2015 

 8 am - 2 pm:  "A Woman's Business" conference ..... 

An interactive seminar for women business owners and managers, non-profit directors, and aspiring women entrepreneurs looking for mentoring, business advice, suggestions and creative input.    Click through for details and registration information, as well as a list of participating sponsors, facilitators, and women panelists.  

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Do you need ideas, advice, analysis to help you expand your business?  Call us. Consultations and most services are are free (except for seminars and websites). We have answers to your questions, or can find someone who does ...... we're here to help! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Winthrop Region Small Business Development Center Located at Winthrop University College of Business Rock Hill, SC (803) 323-2283  WinthropRegionalSBDC@gmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Get our newsletter in your email through Constant Contact:                                       Subscribe to our SBDC Newsletter  LIKE us on Facebook for daily business information in your newsfeed Follow us on Twitter!

"A Woman's Business" ... Interactive Conference for Women in Business

We are happy to announce that Registration is Now Open for our newest event here at the Winthrop Region's Rock Hill SBDC Center .... "A Woman's Business" seminar, specifically created to bring together a wide variety of women business owners, non-profit directors, and community leaders to talk, share experiences, network, and create opportunities for growth in their businesses.

DATE/TIME:  Tuesday, October 27, 2015 from 8 am - 2 pm
PLACE:  Winthrop University, Carroll Hall (Ebenezer Road at Cherry Road, on campus)
COST:  $35
Go to our site's Registration Page for more details and to register now.  Don't wait!  Space is at a premium, so seats are limited for this event.

Women's Conference -- Save the Date!!

SAVE THE DATE!    SAVE THE DATE!    SAVE THE DATE! 

October 27th here at Winthrop University ....  A few details still to work out, but this is a definite "GO" and we're really excited to be offering it! Watch and LIKE our FB page to see updates as we go (http://www.facebook.com/SCbusinessassistance) or our website at http://www.winthropregionalsbdc.org.   Just don't miss it!  We've brought together a wonderful and diverse group of women business owners and community leaders to guide you and answer your questions.  You'll love it!!

SC's New GITI Tire Plant Is Seeking Interested Vendors/Suppliers

Interested in possibilities of being a supplier for Giti Tire in SC? Come meet and ask questions at the Giti Tire Supplier Outreach Event on September 30, 2015 at the Gateway Center, 3200 Commerce Drive, Richburg, SC (at Highway 9 and I-77), 4:00-5:30PM.

This is for the operational portion of the Giti Tire project only, (not construction related).

A flier for the event is attached. No pre-registration will be required; however, attendees may want to arrive a few minutes early to sign-in.