Are you considering starting a business? Have a great idea but not sure where to start?
If so, check out this list of pre-business workshops designed to help determine what you know, what you don鈥檛 know, and what you need to learn to do to successfully build your new business.
The workshops start Sept. 22, running from 8 鈥� 8:45 a.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. You can chose the day that works for you.
Tickets are $20 for Chamber of Commerce members and $30 for non-members, available at www.comoxvalleychamber.com/events. Workshops take place at the Chamber office at 2040 Cliffe Ave. in Courtenay.
The Chamber is taking an active role in developing an entrepreneurial culture by offering these workshops. There is a worldwide trend of returning to an older style of entrepreneurism with a few new twists. This became evident in Silicon Valley with dot.com startups. A few select universities across North America started pulling together materials to teach business students how to be entrepreneurs, which was different from the typical MBA program.
The workshop series is based on the book Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, which gives us The Business Model Canvas, a strategic management and entrepreneurial tool. It allows you to describe, design, challenge, invent and pivot your unique business model. Visit www.businessmodelgeneration.com/canvas/bmc
The BMC is broken down into nine building blocks. We will discuss a different building block each week so you can pick and chose which one best suits your needs.
Karae White, the instructor, has assisted people with career transitions for 20 years. In her work with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation鈥檚 project Prince鈥檚 Operation Entrepreneur 鈥� core funding from Prince Charles 鈥� White travelled across the country helping military members transition to starting a business. Using the Business Model Canvas as the foundation, she gathered business building information from schools that have chosen to specialize in entrepreneurial programs like Dalhousie University, University of Regina and Royal Roads, as well as Stanford and online Uda City in California to create the series.
Workshop Dates:鈥⊿ept. 22 or 23 鈥� Decision Making鈥⊿ept. 29 or 30 鈥� Identifying a Business Opportunity鈥∣ct. 6 or 7 鈥� Business Model Canvas overview
Oct. 13 or 14 鈥� Decision Making
Oct. 20 or 21 鈥� Value Proposition鈥∣ct. 27 or 28 鈥� Key Partners, Activities and Resources鈥∟ov. 3 or 4 鈥� Customer Relationships, Segments and Channels鈥∟ov. 10 or 11 鈥� Cost Structure and Revenue Streams鈥∟ov. 17 or 18 鈥� Elevator Pitch
Nov. 24 or 25 鈥� Introduction to Marketing
