Seminars aimed at helping small businesses

By CHARLES W. JOHNSON / News Editor for the Southern Standard

CHRISAWN

The McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce will be presenting the first Small Business & Industry Development week June 3-6 in order to provide help and information for local residents who may be interested in starting their own business.

The seminars and roundtable discussions will be held Tuesday through Friday next week from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the TSU Nursery Crop Research Station on Cadillac Lane. The cost for each seminar is $25 which will include lunch and handout materials. The Chamber asks that reservations be made in advance for each of the seminars.

“We’re doing this in conjunction with the Business and Industry Appreciation Golf Tournament, which will be on Monday, June 2,” said Chamber president Lea Chrisawn. “And then we’re going to host the seminars throughout the week.”

Tuesday, June 3 will be Starting Your Own Business. “This is for small business startup,” Chrisawn said. “We need the small businesses just as much as we need the big businesses.”

The seminar on Wednesday is called Emerging Business Technology where representatives from Tennessee Tech will provide advice on how to use advances in technology to benefit small businesses.

Thursday, June 5 will be Developing A Business Plan. “Every time you go to a bank to get money, you have to have a business plan,” Chrisawn said.

Friday’s program will be a roundtable discussion called Women in Business. “I think this will be very interesting because we’re inviting women who have been in business to come and we’re going to have a short session to let them inform the group where they were and how they got to that position, what they needed to get there and what are some of the hurdles they had to go through,” Chrisawn said. “This is a way to encourage women to step out there.”

To make reservations or for more information, contact the Chamber at 473-6611.