Orientations offered by PCC’s Small Business Development Center (at no cost!) are a great way to learn about the opportunities we offer to help you turn your business idea into action. A typical orientation includes a small group of future entrepreneurs – but may also include sole-proprietors and small business owners seeking to find efficient, practical and effective solutions to common business-related challenges. You’ll leave our 2-hour orientation having identified new resources, and with an action plan to guide your next steps.

Developing your value proposition is critical to successfully moving forward with your business. By learning how to create a value proposition you will be making a commitment to appeal to your target audience and draw in new customers. These customers will help ensure you are reaching profit goals and seeing the results you desire.

We get it, not all companies can be Google, offering complimentary laundry services, haircuts, gourmet meals, nap pods, swimming pools... We can go on but you get the idea. Google discovered early on that a happy employee is a productive employee. When you can hold on to great employees, it means less time and money spent on recruitment and training. And keeping those employees happy? That will translate to your bottom line. Read on to discover why company culture is MUCH more than just a mission statement.

How many times have you heard someone say that they have a “million dollar idea” that actually sounded like it could be turned into a viable business plan? Some of the best entrepreneurs were observant of a problem that needed to be solved, or a demand for a product or service, and decided to take the leap to create a business out of it.

Becoming a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP) can increase your value as an employee and open the door to new opportunities. Just consider the fact that 70% of the world’s purchasing power lays outside the United States — this certification proves your proficiency at international trade, which is extremely useful and highly sought after in today’s economy. Today’s post will provide an overview of what global business certification is and how to become certified.

Running a restaurant successfully is a difficult endeavor, and it requires effective restaurant management to help your business thrive. Diners expect quick and excellent service from staff that strive to ensure they have a pleasurable meal. The best way to provide that is through an efficiently managed restaurant.

Successfully run restaurants require a myriad of things to run properly and smoothly, including your management, wait and cook staff, and even the layout of your restaurant can have an impact. Without each of these things operating cohesively, your restaurant as a whole could suffer. We’ve put together four steps to strengthen each of these areas and improve performance.

Updated June 1, 2022

The theory behind the left brain versus the right brain is rooted in the notion that the two halves of the brain control very different functions of our minds. The left brain is believed to control language, sequencing, math, and logic, while the right side of the brain is the more creative side; where feelings, imagination, and artistic abilities reside.

If you’ve ever felt like now is the time to start your own business, you’re not alone. Even if it feels like you’ve done all your homework and are on solid financial footing, it’s tough to know when you’re ready to make the leap.

Leveraging social media as a marketing channel has become unavoidable, but they also require business owners and marketers to utilize them in the best way possible. That means much more than ensuring you have the best content and add value with images and video. Hashtags in social media marketing are critical for topic discovery, audience engagement, and much more. In today’s post, we’ll take a quick look at how to leverage hashtags for business, starting with answering the question, “What are hashtags?”

Differentiating your brand is imperative to thrive as a business in the long term. This tasks can seem impossible for a small business, especially if you’re in competition with a larger global brand or your product or service is available online. Globalization and the Internet have certainly made it harder to stand out from the competition, but there are still many ways to differentiate your brand.