The Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida announced today that Robert Myers and Cathryn Hagan have received their Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) Designation from Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII), whose certifications are recognized worldwide as the professional credential in business continuity management.

In order to obtain certification, applicants must complete a two-part process that includes a qualifying examination and an application that is reviewed by a panel of experts in business continuity. DRII’s CBCP certification is reserved for individuals who have demonstrated knowledge and skill in the business continuity and disaster recovery industry. Additionally, regular recertification requires an ongoing commitment to continuing education and industry activities.

Myers and Hagan are the first in the Florida SBDC network to earn the designation and are among only a few in the ASBDC national network.

About Robert Myers: Joining the UNF Small Business Development Center in 1992, Myers is responsible for management assistance efforts in Duval as well as surrounding counties. Being a former business owner, he has over 20 years experience in sales, finance, marketing, product development and computer information systems. In his business career, he was involved in startups, acquisitions, divestiture, venture funding, small business loans and many other small business matters.

About Cathy Hagan: As an Area Director for the SBDC for over 16 years, Hagan facilitates workshops and meets one-on-one with existing and potential business owners. She serves on the Florida SBDC’s statewide Business Continuity & Risk Management Team, helping small businesses prepare for and respond to disasters. Hagan earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Emory University and her Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida. Prior to joining the SBDC, she worked in the field of marketing and training in both the health insurance and banking industries. She is a member of Oceanside Rotary and a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville’s Class of 2002.

About The SBDC at UNF: Since 1976, the Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida has helped over 30,000 small businesses in an 18-county area. The SBDC at UNF provides assistance through management advice and technical training with little to no-cost to the potential, fledgling and/or well-established small business owners. For additional information, see www.sbdc.unf.edu.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

SBDC at UNF employees receive CBCP designation

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

SBDC small business counselor featured

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Pet Shots Cheap Partners with Winn Dixie to Provide Pet Clinics

Business consulting has never been in greater demand so learn the secrets of new consulting for business firms.

New Consulting For Business Firms Secrets From The International Business Guru #1 Business Consulting Free Business Listings

With the advent of the Internet and its accessibility even in the most remote parts of the world, a vast number of opportunities have opened up for businesses throughout the world.

While large businesses earmark bigger budgets for marketing and advertising through different media like print, television and the Internet, small and medium enterprises may find it difficult to spend huge sums on advertising.

Many small and medium enterprises have found the Internet as the best medium for promoting their businesses through many innovative features.

Business consulting free business listings is the theme followed by a large number of businesses throughout the world for attaining business growth and generating higher revenues.

A large number of business consulting firms and business consultants have their presence on the Internet to advise small and medium enterprises on how to get the best out of their Internet presence.

Many sites offer free space for advertisements or concepts such as pay per click, which can be effectively used by businesses to market themselves.

In case the business is a franchise, then the parent brand owners themselves may provide ad’ space for promoting franchises.

Many trade promotion bodies and government and semi government organisations encourage small and medium enterprises to list their businesses on their websites for free.

As emphasized by the international business guru businesses need to fully explore the potential of the Internet to increase their reach to a larger audience since the number of opportunities is large and benefits of online listing are huge.

It is predicted that, with technological innovations, Ecommerce and online businesses will see exponential growth in the near future and businesses who have a strong presence on the Internet will gain tremendously from the explosive growth in the number of Internet users.

It is therefore necessary that every business however small, realizes the importance and the potential of listing on the Internet as an important business development strategy.

New Consulting For Business Firms Secrets From The International Business Guru #2 Small Business Free Business Plan

A business plan is one of the most important documents that speaks about the business in totality and demonstrates the ability of a business to generate returns on capital employed consistently in future.

Large business organizations engage services of business consultancy firms and business consultants to formulate and document the detailed business plan which is bankable.

One of the main objectives of a business plan is to market the organization effectively to the bankers and the probable investors. Hence the business plan should be able to meticulously present all aspects of the business to the financial institutions to raise adequate financial resources.

Small businesses though, may not be in a position to spend huge sums on business plans and therefore depend upon business plans which are either devised in house or those available for free.

The article small business free business plan is making an attempt here to assist small businesses in devising a bankable business plan and also some of the online resources which will be of good use. The business plan should correctly describe the background of the organization and its promoters, the unique opportunity the business has and how the business plans to generate revenues.

The business plan should also reveal the assets of the business, the cash flow projections and its plan to repay the debt.

For small businesses, websites like bplans.com provide useful help in this regard. This website has several business plans displayed for different categories of businesses and the business plans are freely available on the site which helps the small businesses in devising plans which are unique to their business model.

The international business guru advises small businesses on devising bankable business reports and business development strategies.

A business plan is one of the first documents generated in a business organization and hence needs a great deal of attention from the business leaders. The business plan can also be used effectively as a tracker to track actual milestones in business growth against those projected in the plan.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

2 Secrets From The International Business Guru

Business management consultants have a very varied and interesting career, and are in great demand. Whereas managers in a traditional business situation are tied to one place of work, consultants get to work in a variety of situations. Many are freelance, which will also appeal to people who want to gain more control over their working life, and who want to create a small business of their own. Some kind of background in commercial management will be highly desirable, but even that is not necessary if you can demonstrate the right skills.

When you are in business on your own account, and looking to serve corporate clients who are averse to taking risks with the company’s money, it is essential that you can demonstrate competence in your chosen field. The best way to do this is by having a respected qualification after your name. If you are worried about the possibility of studying, be assured that it is much easier than it once was. There is no longer any need to physically attend a college campus.

The world of online learning has totally revolutionized the education industry. For so many years, people were frustrated about their lack of opportunity. While they were desperate to train for a new career, they were also in need of the income from their existing job. Many also had young families which meant that studying anywhere away from home was completely impossible. Now, this huge sector of the market is being served, both by the established institutions we know so well, and by new players who have come into the market purely to serve the need for online learning.

Personal business management courses are among the most in-demand, but online learning means there is plenty of opportunity. There is also plenty of opportunity for skilled managers in the job market. Although there will be many qualified people as a result of the increased opportunities for learning, the business sector will be increasing at an even faster rate. The largest growth will be coming in the small and medium sized business area, and there will be many opportunities for qualified people to be earning good salaries.

There is no doubt that the small business sector is going to play a major role in helping the country to emerge from the economic downturn, and there is no doubt that management in business is going to vitally important in helping this to happen. Good management means efficiency, and efficiency means getting the most out of every resource available. Whether that resource is the employees of a company, or whether it is working hours or equipment, a good manager can get the most from them. Most managers in business would benefit from the guidance of an expert consultant, so there is going to be a lot of opportunity in the coming decade for business management consultants.

Resource http://www.businessmanagementinfo.com/articles/business-management-consultants.php

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Why Business Management Consultants Are In Such Great Demand

How to Become a Strategic Planning Consultant

By Angela Stringfellow, eHow Contributing Writer

Strategic planning consultants help businesses evaluate their abilities and goals in comparison to the trends of today and the future. Strategic planning consultants then help businesses create a plan of action that will allow them to make the most efficient use of their resources for the most impact and profit. Strategic planning consulting can be a lucrative career path for those with expertise.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

• A three-ring binder or other materials for creating a portfolio

How to Become a Strategic Planning Consultant

1. Step 1

   Evaluate your educational background to determine if you would benefit from additional courses or certifications. To have more credibility, you should have a degree or certification in management, leadership, planning or business administration. Online programs are available that would allow you to further enhance your skills while still working at your current job. Some of these programs even offer strategic planning certifications.

2. Step 2

   Gain some valuable experience in the industry. To be a successful consultant, you’ll need to be able to draw from real-world experience. Try getting some experience in management or administration at a couple of different organizations before breaking out on your own. More varied experience can be more impressive to potential clients. You may even be able to get a position with a strategic planning firm.

3. Step 3

   Develop a portfolio of achievements. Keep track of your accomplishments at all of your positions, and keep any records that prove your successes. Put together an attractive portfolio that includes your artifacts and a description of how you used your expertise in strategic planning to achieve these results.

4. Step 4

   Create business cards and a business website. You can try to do this yourself, using a program such as Microsoft Office Live Small Business, or you can hire a freelancer or design firm to create your materials for you.

5. Step 5

   Begin networking with your business contacts and acquaintances. Let everyone know that you are now offering your expertise as a consultant, and ask them to share your information with anyone they know who might benefit from your help. Contacts you’ve made through your previous employment are a logical place to start.

6. Step 6

   Develop a consistent style. You may not have a good feel for your style until you’ve worked with a few clients, but you should try to identify something unique about your approach. Use this information to build a brand identity for yourself, including information about your personal style and approach to solving business problems in your website and other marketing materials.

7. Step 7

   Work on building your business by offering your expertise through seminars and writing articles related to strategic planning. This will help make your name more recognizable and will start building your reputation.

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Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

How to Become a Strategic Planning Consultant

Colorado Springs Business Journal, Jan 15, 2010 by Rebecca Tonn

Organizational development is the ability to build healthy and high-performance organizations, and to successfully manage change.

The concept might seem simple enough, but experts say leaders sometimes forget the fundamentals.

“Organizational development is literally the field for the times,” said Donald Warrick, professor of management and organizational change at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ College of Business. “In times of dynamic, nonstop, unrelenting change — the ability to build healthy high performance organizations and managing change will determine the competitive advantage and even the survival of most firms.”

Yet few leaders appear to have an awareness of organizational development.

“Consequently, 70 percent or more of organization changes fail,” Warrick said.

Even when leaders do the right things, they’re likely to fail if it’s done the wrong way, he said.

“So, training leaders in the fundamental principles of organizational development can have an immediate payoff for the company, the teams and people working within the company,” Warrick said.

Organizational development primarily focuses on developing four things — high impact leaders, gold-collar workers, high- performance teams and world-class organizations.

High-impact leaders have emotional intelligence and know how to manage change. They model civility in the workplace by treating people right.

Gold-collar workers are those at any level who have been trained to be highly competent, up-to-date and are willing to champion the necessary changes, he said.

And high performance teams are the byproduct of individuals who have been trained to collaborate.

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“One of the hallmarks of organizational development is to start with developing people, then teams and teamwork within and between teams, and then throughout the organization,” Warrick said.

As for world-class, “If you can define it, then you can build it,” Warrick said. “Define what world-class is (for your company). Create a simple process to get there and involve people throughout the organization to get there.”

Locally, Leadership Pikes Peak offers training programs that encourage people to become leaders in the community. But many of the skills that help people with their community leadership are also necessary in a corporate environment, said Susan Saksa, executive director of LPP.

“In our curriculum, we do a lot of things to help people understand their own leadership style — their strengths and weaknesses — and how to effectively work with teams,” Saksa said.

And as leadership styles shift from command-and-control to interconnectedness, effective team building becomes even more important.

Ideally, “we envision a leader as a convener — someone who is constantly inviting others to the table — not a top-down style,” Saksa said.

Research has shown that a company can perform two to 10 times the industry average by implementing organizational development. And this can be accomplished without massive hiring or firing or a significant financial investment.

So, why don’t more companies do this?

Leaders and executives are not trained in organizational development, Warrick said, and rewards are usually based on individual performance — not for the process of “building” a high- performance organization.

For any change to be effective, the CEO and top leadership teams must be committed to the process, first.

Not training leaders in organizational development is “like building a house on sand,” Warrick said. “The foundation is weak, so it will eventually collapse.”

Bibliography for: “Use organizational development or lose your company”

Rebecca Tonn “Use organizational development or lose your company“. Colorado Springs Business Journal. FindArticles.com. 11 Apr, 2010. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4190/is_20100115/ai_n48696321/

Copyright 2010 Dolan Media Newswires

Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Use organizational development or lose your company

What are your reasons for investing in the African Stock Market?

The most important reason is that I believe that it has some of the biggest bargains anywhere in the world. There is a lot of value there and [people don't realize that] because, especially here in the U.S., the perception of the risks of investing in Africa is much greater than the actual risk. The media portrayal of Africa is one of a dangerous volatile place where only fools would send their money and hope to get a return. In our experience and looking at the numbers, it’s actually, on a risk-adjusted basis, a great place to invest. You have economies that are growing five to six percent annually and it’s common to find stocks that are trading for five to six times earnings which is unheard of in the U.S. market where the economy is growing at a much slower rate. You can often find banks that are trading for less than book value. There are a lot of hidden gems there.

So the perception of risk is essentially keeping people from investing?

15 of the 18 African stock exchanges have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past three years in U.S. dollar terms. That’s something I like to point out to people that question the level of risk involved in investing in Africa. Where is the real risk? This past year the Johannesburg stock exchange is up 92 percent in U.S. dollar terms and I think the S&P 500 has only been up 27 percent. There are definite returns to be had in these markets and it’s something that I think investors should take a close look at.

How did you come to start investing yourself?

I had lived in Lesotho for a number of years. There were definitely problems there and other countries I was visiting but the markets were still functioning and business was still being done in spite of the political problems. That’s what sparked my interest. I was a volunteer working with a human rights organization and I started to become disillusioned with the aid industry and it led me to wonder ‘What is the most appropriate role for an outsider in Africa?’ I was getting more and more uncomfortable with the idea of aid creating dependency and crowding out local entrepreneurial initiatives. After I returned to the United States and as I was investing my own portfolio in the U.S. markets, I got to thinking about how I could try to put my money to work there. There wasn’t a whole lot of resources online telling you how you can invest in these markets. I saw that there were stock markets but didn’t know foreigners could invest and how they could go about it. I started sending emails to local stock brokers and seeing what they would tell me about setting up an account and trying to ask them for references from other investing firms overseas and what their experience had been. As I started getting comfortable with it, I started sending my own money and, luckily, I had some success early on and I caught the bug.

You were at one point producing a newsletter called Investing in Africa – how did that come about?

I later decided to put my lessons in writing and thought that maybe other people would find them helpful as well. Through the process of writing the newsletter, some people said ‘you know this is great, it looks like some good returns can be generated from investing in these markets.’ Africa is lumped into one big place and it is a disservice – there are 20 different stock exchanges in Africa and each one is very different. You have everything from the South African market where there are hundreds of stocks and local brokers and you can basically trade online like you can in the States and then you have some markets like in Mozambique and Rwanda that are just starting up and where they only have one stock listed. Some markets are open for only one hour a day. There is a whole range of markets which range in sophistication, size and liquidity.

After an amateur investor has done his basic research and decided what market he’d like to invest in, what are his next steps in getting started?

You would first find a reputable broker. Most of them have websites. You can send them an email and ask them for info on how to set up an account. They generally require a short form and a copy of a passport. There is a leap of faith in giving someone in another continent some personal information about yourself but if that’s something that you’re okay with, it can really open up a lot of markets for you.

Where’s a good place to start? Where’s the ideal market for beginners?

Generally, I recommend starting in a place like South Africa because the experience is very similar to opening up a brokerage account here in the States. As someone gets more comfortable with making wire transfers from their banks to the brokerages accounts in South Africa, maybe they’ll feel comfortable going to a place like Botswana or Kenya or some of the other more developed markets next.

What is your fund, the Kivuno Fund, investing in?

Right now, we have a large holding in Kenya and we’ve been investing in tea. Kenya is one of the world’s largest producers of black tea and there is actually a shortage of tea at the moment. There are a few listed companies on the Nairobi stock exchange. Although their output is down this year, the price of tea has gone up so much at market that they’re producing some great earnings. We are also looking at the Ghana stock exchange which has been hit hard in the past year but which we think is prime for a rebound. We like certain stocks in Botswana and Zambia. We just bought a position in a bank in Uganda. We are pretty well diversified.

So Ghana is a potentially great place to invest in now considering you think it’s going to reap the benefits of an economic rebound?

I really do like Ghana right now. It has a stable political environment and there is the prospect of oil coming in, which comes with a lot of risk for corruption but the government is taking that risk seriously and trying to put in mechanisms that will make sure those oil revenues benefit the whole country and not just a few elite. The prospect of that oil will prop up the currency and allow the government to invest in a lot of infrastructure and education. I like the direction that Ghana is going politically and I think its market is hugely undervalued. A lot of their banks are trading for less than book value, which is always a great sign for me as an investor. When I’m buying a bank for 75 cents on a dollar in a growing economy, it really makes me feel very bullish on the market.

What investments do you currently have in Ghana?

We’re invested in a company called Sand Milk. They’re the largest ice cream and frozen yogurt producer in Ghana. It’s a very well run company, has no debt on its books and it trades for six times earnings. There are a lot of very well-managed businesses in Ghana. The down side is that the markets tend to be illiquid. When you start looking at frontier markets, you tend to see that word a lot. It basically means only a few shares trade on a daily basis. This is a reason that U.S. banks don’t invest in Africa because they need to trade to make it worth their while. They need to trade shares at a million dollars each and a lot of African stocks, especially in Ghana, only trade $10,000 dollars a day if that at all. It’s a great advantage for a small-time investor because you are competing with other small-time investors and you’re not competing with big banks that have inside contacts with companies. It’s a more level playing field and it’s one reason that you can find a lot of bargains. The markets are under-researched so if you could find a good advisor who knows the markets well, they can point you in the right direction

How has the Kivuno Fund performed?

We launched in September 2008 when everything was crashing here. We’ve actually outperformed the indexes by a large margin since inception.

What are other ways that U.S. based investors can go about exposing their portfolios to African stocks?

One vehicle that would be the simplest way to get some exposure to Africa in your portfolio would be to invest in the Market Vectors Africa Index ETF. If you had a TD Ameritrade account, you can invest in it easily through that. The ticker symbol is AFK and what they do is invest in some of the largest African companies. I think they have about 50 different companies in the ETF and through it, you’ll be getting a lot of exposure to Egypt, South Africa and a bit of Nigeria. It is the most accessible vehicle for U.S. investors to African markets

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

How To Invest in Africa

Coaching and mentoring schemes are recognized as a highly effective way to quickly ramp up an employee’s performance. The IPD ‘Training & Development in Britain 1999′ survey of 800 Training Managers suggests that around 87% of businesses in the UK utilize coaching and mentoring.

The character of such schemes will vary widely between organizations but may adhere to the following structures:

Personal coaching programmes employing external or internal coaches
‘Traditional’ or peer-to-peer mentoring schemes
Buddy schemes, a form of two-way peer-to-peer mentoring

The best model will depend largely on objectives, which may range from the development and fine tuning of specific job-based skills through to a more holistic approach including career planning or work/life balance. The company’s culture also needs consideration: there is little point in introducing an isolated buddying relationship between two individuals if their working environment does not recognise the value of mutual support, perhaps in a highly competitive sales environment where staff are measured only on their individual performance.

Whichever approach is adopted, it is essential that an appropriate relationship and working style is established between the coach/mentor and recipient, particularly in internal schemes where the coach, mentor or buddy role is ’secondary’ to the employee’s primary function. In this scenario, the employee may be unaware of the responsibilities of the role and the skills they need.

To ensure the success of a programme the organisation should take ownership for:

Developing the culture, processes and procedures to support such programmes
Redesigning jobs so that the coaching / mentoring function is integrated into the individual’s role and awarded sufficient time and priority
Undertaking skills assessment of their coaches, mentors and buddies and for providing these individuals with appropriate ongoing training and development
Ensuring that these staff appreciate the responsibility they are assuming for their colleague’s professional development, and that they are suited to this role in terms of attitude, emotional maturity and motivation
Defining the scope of the relationship and where it fits within a broader development programme. This may include defining boundaries, objectives and key performance indicators as well as offering guidelines for how the programme should be delivered.
Monitoring, measuring and recording effectiveness at both individual relationship and programme-wide levels, through implementing comprehensive feedback and review procedures.

Many companies employ coaching skills as a means of providing ad hoc one-to-one training but only a small percentage adopt coaching as their core strategy for ongoing staff development. Indeed, for every company that achieves this there are a number whose programmes never made it off the paper or whose success was short-lived and unquantified.

However, by ensuring that coaching programmes are properly designed and implemented, well-monitored and integrated into the corporate learning culture, business in the 21st century can look forward to developing a workforce better able and motivated to meet the ever-increasing demands of working life.

Copyright © 2009 Small Business Resource

Coaching and Mentoring – A Strategy for Success