Presenter: TJ Daniels, WBC Program Director & Alex Polzin, Dir of Finance & Administration Date: June 29, 2022 Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm Location: Online Register: Here As a small business owner, you won’t ever really know the unexpected challenges or opportunities that await you in life and business. Always Ready: Financials is a working session for you to learn how to financially prepare your small business for the next step in your journey. The Iowa Center staff will show you what you need to do to always be ready to make financial moves in your business, including applying for a loan or buying/selling new goods. This class is especially for you if you’ve ever been denied a loan or need a helping hand to get your financials on track. About our speakers TJ Daniels is the official cheerleader of The Iowa Center. She’s a vibrant supporter of our mission, programs, clients and staff. As a Certified Credit Counselor, she assists clients with their credit, budget, financial statements and so much more. She also works with our lending programs assisting clients from start to finish, and often times well after the loan has closed making many friendships along the way. Alex is responsible for Iowa Center accounting and governmental reporting, he also helps with lending and education programs provided by the Iowa Center. Click here to register!  

Date: Begins Monday, July 11, 2022 Time: Mondays & Thursdays from Noon-1pm Location: Online Registration Fee: $80 Register: Click Here You don’t need to be a financial expert to own a healthy and whole small business, but you do need to understand your financials to feel clear and confident in making sound business decisions. Join The Iowa Center and local financial experts to increase your awareness of best practices for financial management and learn action steps and strategies to become a better and more savvy business owner. In this 8-class series, you will gain practical knowledge to implement expert strategies in the following areas of your small business: Budgets Financial statements Business financing Cash flow Recordkeeping Banking Credit Reports Tax Planning This is the right course for you if managing your small business financials is completely out of your comfort zone, you’re starting a new business and want to start off on the right track, or you need a refresher on basic financial management practices. **Please note that this is an educational series--there are a total of 8 hour -long sessions . Please find the full schedule dates/times below.** All classes will be held online from Noon-1pm for four weeks on Mondays and Thursdays starting Monday, July 11, 2022 Classes will be meeting the following days: Monday, July 11: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Thursday, July 14: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Monday, July 18: 12:00 - -1:00 pm Thursday, July 21: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Monday, July 25: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Thursday, July 28: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Monday, August 1: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm Thursday, August 4: 12:00 -- 1:00 pm To register click here.   

Presenter: David Zhonghong Dai Date: July 12, 2022 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm Location: Online Registration: Click Here What is a gig worker? Gig workers are independent contractors or freelancers who typically do short-term work for multiple clients. The work may be project-based, hourly or part-time, and can either be an ongoing contract or a temporary position. While there are plenty of perks to being a gig worker — being your own boss, setting your own hours and working on projects you’re passionate about, to name a few — there are multiple things to consider before pursuing work as an independent contractor or freelancer. Join us as we discuss the 10 things you should know when being a gig worker--from taxes to financial documentation! *** About Our Speaker... David Zhonghong Dai David is a student of the class of 2023 at Grinnell College (Grinnell, IA) majoring in Economics and Political Science with Statistics concentration. He has enjoyed working at Iowa Center of Economic Success this summer as a Microfinance Intern. He has been working on loan projects and Salesforce projects. He is excited to share the most important tips gig workers need to know on July 12th. Click here to register!   

Presenter: Russ Dale, PM of Classes + Coaching and Jose Venales, Director of Microloans Date: July 13, 2022 Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm Location: Online Register: Here Turn your dream into a plan with this small group, one-hour business planning class. The Iowa Center staff will help you kickstart your business plan by providing you a road map on completing your plan and taking the next steps towards business ownership. Also connect with other aspiring small business owners to refine your business ideas as you put them into real plans. About our hosts Russ Dale is our Classes and Coaching Project Manager. Russ spends his time working with clients, assisting them through their entrepreneurial journey. Russ also manages the IT initiatives for The Iowa Center, assists with the loan department as needed, and manages our CRM database. Russ is proud to say that he's the intern that never left!  Jose Venales is the Director of Microloans. Jose manages, develops, and implements The Iowa Center microloan programs. At the same time Jose has the responsibility to maintain a healthy loan portfolio to ensure the availability of these resources for future entrepreneurs.  Click here to register! 

Presenter: TJ Daniels, WBC Program Director & Alex Polzin, Dir of Finance & Administration Date: July 27, 2022 Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm Location: Online Register: Here As a small business owner, you won’t ever really know the unexpected challenges or opportunities that await you in life and business. Always Ready: Financials is a working session for you to learn how to financially prepare your small business for the next step in your journey. The Iowa Center staff will show you what you need to do to always be ready to make financial moves in your business, including applying for a loan or buying/selling new goods. This class is especially for you if you’ve ever been denied a loan or need a helping hand to get your financials on track. About our speakers TJ Daniels is the official cheerleader of The Iowa Center. She’s a vibrant supporter of our mission, programs, clients and staff. As a Certified Credit Counselor, she assists clients with their credit, budget, financial statements and so much more. She also works with our lending programs assisting clients from start to finish, and often times well after the loan has closed making many friendships along the way. Alex is responsible for Iowa Center accounting and governmental reporting, he also helps with lending and education programs provided by the Iowa Center. Click here to register!  

Presenters: Impact Fitness & Nutrition Date: August 5, 2022 Time: 12 – 1pm Location: Online Register: Online Come and listen to the stories of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community members making their mark in Iowa. As you create your own story, treat yourself to this time each month to rekindle your entrepreneurial spirit and connect with others. Join us as we listen to the story of Impact Fitness & Nutrition About Our Speakers... Impact opened its doors in December 2018 but the idea was conceived much earlier. Pushing my body beyond its capabilities and getting injured in the process wasn’t fun and not keeping a consistent workout schedule only made it worse. Losing my corporate gig earlier in 2018 was the impetus to begin a journey of creating better movement and better strength in ways our body intended to move.  People get caught up in just doing exercises and not movement patterns. It limits how our body can perform. When we improve in movement patterns we get stronger in those patterns but also stronger overall. We blend group (and personal) fitness with training in 3 movement planes. We live in those movement planes so why not train in them? We use kettlebells, resistance bands, suspension trainers, lever bells, and of course the almighty sandbag to improve the efficiency of our movement. We don’t do our style of fitness to be different. We just do it differently.  Growing our business meant exploring new business opportunities including aerial yoga with Autumn and more importantly our popular nutrition program. It was a natural extension of our programming to help our athletes and others to understand the positive influence of the holistic approach to living a healthier lifestyle. We won’t use the word “diet” but we help people understand the proactive steps to...

Presenter: Sierra Smith, Client Services Coordinator & Jordan Lloyd, Client Services Coordinator  Date: August 10, 2022 Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm Location: Online Register: Here Turn your dream into a plan with this small group, one-hour business planning class. The Iowa Center staff will help you kickstart your business plan by providing you a road map on completing your plan and taking the next steps towards business ownership. Also connect with other aspiring small business owners to refine your business ideas as you put them into real plans. About our hosts Sierra and Jordan spend their time at The Iowa Center meeting with new clients to help connect them with the best resources and events for education and advancement. They work to make sure people are aware of the countless opportunities available at The Iowa Center and in the community. Click here to register! 

Presenter: Amanda Elliot, Founder of Letters From Elliot Date: August 23, 2022 Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm Location: Online Registration: Click Here Join us as we discuss marketing strategies, promotions, and finding your market--and how to tun that information to turn a niche/unique hobby into a successful business. *** About Our Speaker...Amanda Elliot Hi, I'm Amanda Elliot and I am the artist and calligrapher at Letters from Elliott located in Muscatine, Iowa. I create custom hand lettered designs that are perfect for nearly any occasion. I offer many personalized products and can letter on just about anything! My passion is creating handmade, one-of-a-kind items with a personal touch. My husband Nick and I live in a very small town in southeastern Iowa with our dog Juno and our cat Pete. We both grew up here and our roots are sewn deep with our family and businesses in this area. We love our small town life but also enjoy traveling as often as we can and always have a trip planned. We have season tickets to the Chicago Cubs and spend a lot of time in Chicago watching them play at Wrigley Field. Many weekends in the summer, you will find us enjoying the big city taking in a game or two while we're there. We also spend several weeks a year at my family's vacation home in Negril, Jamaica. Nick and I visited Jamaica for the first time in 2009 and fell in love with the island and the people who live there. We were married there in 2012 and have visited countless times since. We are so blessed to be able to call Jamaica our second home and have friends there who are more like family. When I'm not working or traveling, I enjoy cooking, reading, taking glorious naps, shopping,...

Presenter: TJ Daniels, WBC Program Director & Alex Polzin, Dir of Finance & Administration Date: August 24, 2022 Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm Location: Online Register: Here As a small business owner, you won’t ever really know the unexpected challenges or opportunities that await you in life and business. Always Ready: Financials is a working session for you to learn how to financially prepare your small business for the next step in your journey. The Iowa Center staff will show you what you need to do to always be ready to make financial moves in your business, including applying for a loan or buying/selling new goods. This class is especially for you if you’ve ever been denied a loan or need a helping hand to get your financials on track. About our speakers TJ Daniels is the official cheerleader of The Iowa Center. She’s a vibrant supporter of our mission, programs, clients and staff. As a Certified Credit Counselor, she assists clients with their credit, budget, financial statements and so much more. She also works with our lending programs assisting clients from start to finish, and often times well after the loan has closed making many friendships along the way. Alex is responsible for Iowa Center accounting and governmental reporting, he also helps with lending and education programs provided by the Iowa Center. Click here to register!  

Presenters: David Tracy, Founder/CEO of Northgate Marketing Inc. Date: September 9, 2022 Time: 12 – 1pm Location: Online Register: Online Come and listen to the stories of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and community members making their mark in Iowa. As you create your own story, treat yourself to this time each month to rekindle your entrepreneurial spirit and connect with others. This will be our first event back IN PERSON at The Iowa Center! Join us in person to see our new space, network with local small business owners, and have a treat or two! (There will be a virtual registration option for those who can't attend in person.) Join us as we listen to the story of Northgate Marketing Inc. with Founder and CEO David Tracy. About Our Speakers... David Tracy is an award-winning marketing and advertising strategist with a global perspective whose specialty is to curate effective, in-depth marketing campaigns that bridge international and cultural gaps. He is the Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for the American Marketing Association of Iowa and has traveled to over 40 countries, gathering a multi-cultural and multi-lingual team that push creative boundaries that fuse styles and perspectives. David is well equipped to dive deep into consumer psychology in order to understand why people from many backgrounds gravitate toward certain aesthetics, design, and marketing messages and translate that into effective brands and marketing strategies. As a result, he has attracted clients like Swiss investment brokers wanting to target clients throughout Latin America and businesses in Asia seeking to export and conduct business in North America. For clients in Des Moines, David’s multilayered approach has opened a welcomed broader perspective. Register here!  The Iowa Center Women's Business Center is funded in part by U.S. Small Business Administration.

Date: September 12, 2022 Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am Location: Online Registration: Click Here Work for Yourself@50+ is a webinar to help you gain the knowledge, support, and resources you need to make informed decisions about working for yourself and take the right first steps toward successful self-employment. The decision to start your own business can be both exciting and daunting. Work for Yourself@50+ breaks the choices down for older adults in an approachable way through five steps: 1. A careful consideration of the potential benefits and risks of working for yourself 2. Exercises to help develop the self-employment idea 3. A realistic overview of what it takes to pursue a self-employment opportunity 4. Guidance to help avoid pitfalls and scams 5. Ways to find trustworthy support and services This is an online webinar. In order to access the webinar, you will need to use either a computer, tablet for smartphone. You will receive instructions on how to join the webinar in your registration confirmation or your reminder email that will go out prior to the webinar. Please do not share the webinar access information with anyone who is not already registered. Click here to register!    The Iowa Center Women's Business Center is funded in part by U.S. Small Business Administration.

Presenter: Sierra Smith, Client Services Coordinator & Jordan Lloyd, Client Services Coordinator  Date: September 14, 2022 Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm Location: Online Register: Here Turn your dream into a plan with this small group, one-hour business planning class. The Iowa Center staff will help you kickstart your business plan by providing you a road map on completing your plan and taking the next steps towards business ownership. Also connect with other aspiring small business owners to refine your business ideas as you put them into real plans. About our hosts Sierra and Jordan spend their time at The Iowa Center meeting with new clients to help connect them with the best resources and events for education and advancement. They work to make sure people are aware of the countless opportunities available at The Iowa Center and in the community. Click here to register!