#SBDC

Small Business Saturday Small Business Listing

Nov 8, 2017
1 min

Small Business Saturday Small Business Listing

The Iowa Western SBDC is putting together a list of Small Businesses in the Council Bluffs Area for Small Business Saturday and beyond. The idea is to get these lists back to you so you can share them with your customers on Small Business Saturday and during the busy holiday season so that customers who love shopping small are aware of the many small businesses we have in the area and what great things they have for the Holiday Season. If you are a Council Bluffs small busine

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Sue Pitts

Nov 2, 2017
1 min

Crowdfunding: Pros and Cons

With the age of the internet, transparency and an ability to communicate in ways we never had before, nontraditional financing has become a very popular way for small businesses and entrepreneurs to raise funding for their ventures. Tyler Raymie, with The America’s SBDC Iowa state office writes about the pros and cons about crowdfunding for your small business. Read more at www.iowasbdc.org or contact the Iowa Western SBDC to sit down with one of our counselors to discuss d

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Sue Pitts

Dec 15, 2015
1 min

Our Office is Closed for Winter Break!

Our SBDC office is closed for winter break until Monday, January 4. We’ve been busy planning for 2016, and look forward to sharing new resources, workshops, and events with you in the new year. Until then, have a happy and safe holiday season! Sue Pitts Jennifer Kalstrup Director Assistant Director (Photo credit: Bunches and Bits {Karina} / Flickr) #SmallBusinessDevelopmentCenter #iowawestern #hours #SBDC #iwcc #Iowa

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Sue Pitts

Mar 3, 2011
3 min

Don’t Try to Trick the Search Engines!

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the practice of optimizing the content of your webpage so that your site is easily and readily found by your potential customers who are using search engines to research their purchases. SEO is necessary and although time consuming, can be done fairly easily. Whether or not you choose to tackle your own SEO on your website or you choose to hire an SEO to do it for you, you need to know that there are good, ethical SEO practices (White Hat)

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For Goodness Sake, Interview Before You Hire!

Sue Pitts

Feb 24, 2011
2 min

For Goodness Sake, Interview Before You Hire!

Today I was sitting with a client who is a successful business, running a successful commercial service. He told me that hiring the right employee was the toughest thing. He had gone through many employees, each with their own horror story . As we were talking, I happened to ask how he hired. His answer was through referrals from friends and occasionally he used Craigslist. I then asked him if he held formal interviews with candidates. He did not. Interviewing before hiring s

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Inc.com Features the Iowa Western SBDC as One of the Most Helpful in US!

Sue Pitts

Feb 22, 2011
1 min

Inc.com Features the Iowa Western SBDC as One of the Most Helpful in US!

www.inc.com article featuring what they label as 10 of the most helpful SBDC’s in America (inlcuding the IWCC SBDC in Council Bluffs Iowa.) We are so proud to be a part of such a great and rich national network whose main mission is to help businesses thrive and grow! Thank you to our partners and clients for making us the best we can be! Here are the links! Inc.com’s 10 most helpful SBDCs Iowa Western CC SBDC Feature picture credit to: By soylentgreen23 Christopher Walker #S

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Sue Pitts

Feb 17, 2011
3 min

Is Your Small Business Idea Feasible?

As you know the first thing that needs to be done is a Business Plan. But where do you start? How long does it have to be? At what point do you see if this small business possible? I advise for businesses to start with numbers. You want to know how much you will have to make in the business to pay your bills and make enough money for it to be worthwhile. Since you are working with a new business it is all new and the numbers are all guesses, so how do you know if the busine

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Help with the government procurement process

Sue Pitts

May 20, 2010
1 min

Help with the government procurement process

by Julie Mierau Nothing — truly, nothing — is more frustrating than trying to figure out how to access the government procurement process. And yet government contracts can be extremely lucrative for small business owners. His expertise includes government business development as well as teaming with federal agencies in new product design and introduction. He has leveraged management of vendor and sub-contractor compliance issues dictated by product, corporate and government

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Sue Pitts

May 19, 2010
2 min

Coupon Customer Service

I am a big coupon user and have many experiences with coupons. Some of these are bad experiences and they have determined if I will ever return to a business. I recently went into a chain store type business where they have weekly ads with coupons. I like to stop by and check out the weekly specials, even if I don’t need something. I often pick up a bargain or stock up on some things that I use a lot of. Who doesn’t in this economy? During this visit, there was already a

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Iowa Western Community College Receives Grant to Help Small Businesses

Sue Pitts

Jan 26, 2010
1 min

Iowa Western Community College Receives Grant to Help Small Businesses

In an announcement from Governor Chet Culver, we learned today that Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa is among 44 Iowa recipients of grants designed to create jobs by helping businesses get started or expand in rural areas. Governor Culver highlighted these awards from the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. IWCC Entrepreneurial Center and Economic Development will use these funds for a revolving loan fund. Low interest loans will be availa

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Sue Pitts

Oct 20, 2009
2 min

What Can Facebook Do For Your Business?

Hopefully at this point you have at least a facebook account where you socialize with friends and family. You may also have a Linked In account where you “network” with colleagues in the community and industry. If you don’t have these things I would suggest getting these things going and start building those natural contacts with the friends you already know. Setting up basic profiles and socially participating is the easy (and fun!) part. Now you want to determine how to use

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Can Social Media Marketing Work For Your Small Iowa Business?

Sue Pitts

Oct 19, 2009
2 min

Can Social Media Marketing Work For Your Small Iowa Business?

How do you buy products and services today? What is the first couple of things that you do to begin the process? I am guessing that some type of internet research was very close to the top of your “to do” list. The fact of the matter is that the evolution of technology has completely changed how we as consumers make purchase decisions. So if consumers have changed the way that they buy products and services, small businesses need to change the way that they market to their cu

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Sue Pitts

Sep 24, 2009
1 min

Stat of the week: Who’s got the cash?

On NPR’s “Marketplace” this morning, the host asked a simple question: Who has more disposable income — Gen Y’ers or Baby Boomers? The answer surprised me. Studies show that the Gen Y population has more disposable income than their parents, the Baby Boomers. The Millennial Generation, also known as Generation Y, generally refers to those individuals born between the mid-1970s and the late 1990s. If you haven’t considered how to market your products and services to Gen Y, sta

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Sue Pitts

Sep 3, 2009
2 min

5 businesses for today’s economy

I do a lot of reading, thinking and brainstorming on ideas for small business in small communities like Council Bluffs and across southwest Iowa. Here are three ideas that are definitely not innovative or for that matter, new… but just may work in today’s economy. The main thing to think about in starting a business today is to keep start up costs AND overhead/operating costs low. Keep them low until you can develop a market and generate sales. Then start thinking about buy

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Sue Pitts

Oct 28, 2008
3 min

Getting Funded in an Economic Downturn

We know what the economic downturn has done to our 401K’s. But how is it affecting the decisions of our commercial lenders/banks in Southwest Iowa? To find out I sent out a quick survey to many of our commercial lenders in Council Bluffs and other surrounding cities within our 7 county region. Here is what they said. Q: Is it a good time to start a business or to invest in growth for an existing business? A: Yes or Depends was the common answer. The respondents collecti

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