In 2014, we scaled our BusinessAdvising.org small business mentoring and advising platform nationally. Since then, we’ve advised hundreds of entrepreneurs, helping them to grow their revenues and add jobs at 167% of the national average. At the same time, expert business advisors have volunteered tens of thousands of hours to help local businesses create jobs for working people across the country. Want to find a mentor, or sign up to be a volunteer advisor? Get started here.
LISC Small Business Has Teamed Up With BusinessAdvising.org
LISC Small Business borrowers can now access BusinessAdvising.org’s pool of expert business advisors for free! LISC’s clients across America are the backbones of their communities and the drivers of job creation, innovation, and economic opportunity. As part of our mission to combat inequality through small business entrepreneurship and bolstering local economies, we couldn’t be more excited about this partnership! LISC has been a community development leader in America for over thirty years: Working with local leaders to invest in housing, health, education, public safety and employment — all basic needs that must be tackled at once so that progress in one is not undermined by neglect in another. They offer working capital loans up to $250,000 — and small business real estate loans up to $5,000,000. But as a fellow Community Development Financial Institution, they know that money alone doesn’t guarantee success. The actual day-to-day needs of making a business … Read More
Our Latest Impact Report Is Here!
BusinessAdvising.org’s parent nonprofit — Pacific Community Ventures — has fueled the economic and small business recovery since the end of the Recession five years ago. Our programs have created 1,297 jobs for working people in underserved communities, and empowered 867 companies across 25 states (thanks to BusinessAdvising.org). The small business owners in our BusinessAdvising.org network saw a 29% job growth, and the ones in our broader PCV network saw 12% job growth — vs. the U.S. average of only 2%. [gview file=”http://businessadvising.pcv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/PCV-Impact-Report-2014.pdf” save=”0″] Head here to download our impact report > Traditional small business lending from banks has slowed since the end of the recession, leading CDFIs like PCV to step up and fill that need. In 2014 our parent nonprofit doubled its small business lending from the year prior, providing $886,000 in working capital to help California small businesses create new quality jobs. But we also know that small businesses need more than … Read More
Webinar: Is Debt Or Equity Right For Your Small Business?
In this webinar, host Sherry Bijan (a seasoned veteran of the securities industry) walked small business owners through strategies to understand whether debt or equity was the right move for their businesses. Sherry covered topics like: Debt or Equity: Which is right for my small business? How to create an investor pitch deck What do funders look at when they’re looking at your business? You can watch the recording here: Sherry Bijan is a seasoned veteran of the securities industry, in the practice of investment advisement and management. She offers years of experience and devotion coaching investors in the capital markets as a Registered Investment Advisor. She strives to implement sound financial planning that is aligned with consumer’s interest and the need for advise, having helped develop informed self-directed entrepreneurs and consumers. Her experience is diverse and varied. In conjunction with her work as an advisor, in 1994 she helped launch and manage a family … Read More
Free Webinar On June 26 — The Road To IPO And Beyond
Join us on Friday, June 26 for a free webinar on strategies and practices to take your small business from its conception through to an IPO. BusinessAdvising.org will host Noah Alper, founder of east coast supermarket chain Bread & Circus, and west coast chain Noah’s Bagels. This webinar is intended for small businesses — especially those in the food and restaurant industry —looking to build and grow. You can start with a great idea, and take it all the way to a successful initial public offering (IPO). Noah Alper did just that. In just 6 1/2 years he took Noah’s Bagels public after opening his first store in Berkeley, CA in 1989. He eventually sold the business for 100 million dollars. Learn how he did it, and what he learned along the way! Click here to sign up. Friday, June 26, 2015 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM (PDT) The presentation … Read More
Webinar: How Healthy Is Your Small Business?
In this webinar, host George de Bruin (an executive with 30 years of experience in the consumer goods industry) walked small business owners through ways to measure the financial health of their companies. George covered topics like: Does your company have a business plan, a long-term growth strategy, and a sustainable path to get there? How can you measure the health of your business? What should you look for when it comes to payroll and overhead? As in personal nutrition, understanding and measuring the health of your business is about sticking with a goal and being persistent. And: this applies to all businesses. In this free webinar, you’ll start planting the seeds and get a firmer direction on how to ensure you’re building your small business for sustainable growth in the long term. You can watch the recording here: George has provided the following Cashflow Template for small business owners to use. … Read More
Free Webinar On May 22 — Debt or Equity: What’s Right for My Business?
Join BusinessAdvising.org and Sherry Bijan — a seasoned veteran of the securities industry — for a webinar on understanding whether debt or equity is the right move for your small business. This webinar is free, and intended for small businesses looking to grow. We’ll cover topics like: Debt or Equity: Which is right for my small business? How to create an investor pitch deck What do funders look at when they’re looking at your business? Click here to sign up. Friday, May 22, 2015 from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM (PDT) This presentation will be followed by a Q&A, where you can ask your questions and get advice. Sherry Bijan is a seasoned veteran of the securities industry, in the practice of investment advisement and management. She offers years of experience and devotion coaching investors in the capital markets as a Registered Investment Advisor. She strives to implement sound financial planning that … Read More
A New Matching Loan Program Open To Our Entrepreneurs
Our partner Kiva Zip is teaming up with LISC to provide more loans and expand financial opportunities to the small businesses in our network! This partnership means that small business borrowers endorsed by PCV will only have to raise half of the total loan amount from the crowd on the Kiva Zip website. LISC will provide a matching loan for the remaining amount! This will help you to fundraise easier and faster, and increase the likelihood of executing a successful Kiva Zip campaign and secure the funding needed to grow your business. To get started, head to https://zip.kiva.org/borrow and sign up. This is a two-month pilot program, so enroll now if you’re interested! If you’d like to have a Pacific Community Ventures / BusinessAdvising.org endorsement on your Kiva Zip page, please contact us. We’re happy to help! One of our companies just concluded a successful campaign. Check out Kuli Kuli’s success and … Read More
Listen In! Small Business Podcast From Advisor Nancy Lin
Stay up to date on emerging trends and business innovations that could transform your industry – and the small business industry as a whole — with Business Reinvention. This podcast featuring BusinessAdvising.org advisor Nancy Lin keeps you engaged and in the know. The show helps you make sense of new technologies and business models, and helps you to understand their implications in an accessible way. Nancy’s in-depth interviews with experts empower you as an entrepreneur to think differently amd innovatively when it comes to your small business, and offer you inspiration and targeted business lessons. “Business Reinvention with Nancy Lin” is broadcast live every Tuesday at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel. Listen here: http://www.bizreinvention.com/ Nancy is an executive coach and a business consultant. Through her business radio show and her consulting practice, she offers her clients and her listening audience innovative thinking about emerging trends, as well … Read More
Local Money For Bay Area Small Businesses
The Sustainable Business Alliance, in partnership with the East Bay Express, has produced a new guide on “Good Local Money for Your Good Local Business”. This guide has all you need to find out what kind of money (loan? investment? crowdfunding?) you can get for your local business. It also includes lots of great information, including listings of local providers (like our parent nonprofit Pacific Community Ventures) and our partners, how much money you can get, and what the requirements are. It’s a great resource for Bay Area small businesses of every type, industry, and stage of development. Read on! [gview file=”http://businessadvising.pcv.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/04/upload-4722960365254482686.pdf” save=”1″]