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  • you served your country, then the transition back to civilian life and began serving their communities.

  • And for two and 1/2 1,000,000 of you, that meant starting a small business.

  • Your business is for hiring fellow veterans, military spouses, their supporting charities, giving your communities a sense of community.

  • Sure, it hasn't always been easy.

  • You're doing what you've always done, putting in the hard work and learning as you go.

  • So to help Google has created one place where your veteran own small business.

  • Get a step by step guide to reaching customers worldwide at a veteran lead badge to your Google listing and let the world know that you all two and 1/2 1,000,000 of you are open for business.

  • Visit US Online to get started.

  • Hi, everyone and thank you for joining us today as we celebrate National Veterans Small Business Week with today's Lifestream Connect with local customers on Google.

  • My name is Donald Allen, and I'm so excited to be here with you today, so running a small business could be a great second career.

  • After serving in the military, we believe that digital skills training for veteran owned businesses like building a website.

  • Preparing a business plan and honing a marketing an audience strategy will be beneficial as veterans tried to grow or start their businesses this year for National Veterans Small Business Week.

  • We want to celebrate businesses who identify as veteran lead and help them grow their businesses through digital tools and training.

  • After the presentation will be hosting a Q and A where we'll answer your questions live.

  • So throughout the wood, the Lifestream submit your questions.

  • Using the hashtag hash vet lead Livestream on Twitter.

  • We'll also be joined by Northern California v.

  • Bach advocate Karina Conley to ask her about free tools and programs that V.

  • Bach and SP A have to offer for veterans.

  • All right, so first, a bit of background.

  • So in 2017 we launch Grover Ghoul, an initiative to help people across the United States grow their skills, careers and businesses by providing the best of Google's training and tools.

  • Specifically, we've launched products and programs that help the veteran and military spouse community, and we'll be sharing some today as well as resource is to learn more at the end of this life stream.

  • In today's session, we're going to talk about a free tool that businesses can use right away to get started.

  • Connecting with customers online is called Google My Business.

  • And if you're new to Google my business, don't worry.

  • That's why we're here today, and I'll start by sharing an overview.

  • So Google my business offers business is a way to manage how their information appears across Google Search and Maps there what is called a business profile?

  • All right, so try to picture this.

  • When we first moved to the Bay Area a few months ago, my family wanted to go out to eat.

  • All right, so here we are.

  • We're in the Airbnb.

  • We have no food in the house, new to the area.

  • And just like so many of our many PCs adventures, we had no idea what was around us and keep in mind, I've had a family of six, so we can't just go anywhere to go eat.

  • So I opened Google Maps and typed in restaurants near me, and when I came, what popped up was a bunch of business profiles for businesses that were local to our area.

  • And so we found a quaint French comfort food cafe and had pictures and ours directions and a phone number, which is important because I needed to call them to see if they could accommodate my large family.

  • I'll just leave it to say that we went, they could accommodate us.

  • We had a great time and is now a favor.

  • Ours that we now follow and we get updates from all of that was through these business profiles.

  • So research shows that over 90% of customers looking for business information through search engines are looking for specific information like business hours, promotions or available appointments.

  • This is important because how a business is information appears and search results can impact win how or why potential customers engage with you in context of our discussion today of how businesses can use a business profile to connect with local customers.

  • Uh, so I'll add that not only our customers looking for specific, specific information about a business they're looking for specific information about local businesses.

  • There are billions of local search has made every month, and Maur than 30% of all mobile searches are related to location.

  • So what does this mean?

  • All right, you have customers who are looking for specific information and largely looking for this type of information about a business in their community.

  • So today we're going to discuss how to connect those dots using features available through Google, my business.

  • But before we dive in, it's important to note that Google, my business, was designed for businesses who have a physical location or do business face to face with their customers.

  • Okay, but if you have a business or thinking about starting one that doesn't meet one of these two categories, you're fine.

  • There still be opportunities to gain tangible takeaways through today's topic.

  • All right, so this is the part where I tell you what I'm about to tell you in today's workshop.

  • We're going to discuss how businesses can use Google my business, to establish a local online presence, build a loyal customer base highly what makes a service or product unique, and use insights to help Dr Mawr in store or online traffic.

  • All right, so you have options available to this is where having a free business profile on Google can help customers, or 38% more likely to visit and 29% more likely to consider purchasing from businesses that have complete profile information before diving into the features of which can help your business connect with customers locally.

  • Let's first take a review that anatomy of a business profile on Google When a customer discovers your business profile, the initial view they see is your business overview.

  • In a business overview, consumers confined info about your business like address, contact info, hours of operation business, logos, photos and more.

  • This overview allows potential customers quick access to the best ways to connect with your business through Google.

  • My business.

  • You have access to a manager dashboard where you can update all the information shown here.

  • So 96% of customers are more likely to visit a business that has hours of operations on a Google search or maps.

  • Results page.

  • 90% of customers are more likely to visit a business.

  • I had a phone number on a Google search Map results page, and 90% of customers are more likely to be more likely to visit.

  • A business.

  • Has photos on a Google Search on Maps Results page.

  • Ensuring this information is actively managed can help increase the odds of connecting with new customers.

  • A recent update to business profiles on Google allows for businesses the opportunity to include branded images like logos in their profile.

  • Through this update, verified businesses can create a short name or custom name for their business profile to make it easier for customers to find them when business is shared.

  • This short named Earl, customers can enter into the browser search bar using the g dot page slash your custom name to go directly to your business profile.

  • Another great way to stand out to local customers is by using attributes.

  • Attributes like customers.

  • See what your business has to offer, such as whether a restaurant offers WiFi or indoor seating.

  • Some attributes, like women, lead or outdoor seating can be highlighted.

  • His badges when customers find your business on mobile For a veteran led businesses watching today, we create a specific veteran.

  • Lead Business Attributes Toe.

  • Let your community know that your business is run by a veteran, so all of these features are great.

  • But what if a business doesn't have a website for consumers to visit?

  • Once they found your business profile, It's okay, Google.

  • My business includes the option to create a free, simple website generated with the information from your business profile.

  • So it's a great starting point of being online perfect for small businesses who don't do not yet have a Web presence and creating a website with Google.

  • My business takes about five minutes.

  • There are three steps to creating a website with Google, my business one click website from your Google, my business dashboard.

  • And once you do this Google, my business will pull the information from your profile to populate the website.

  • You have the option.

  • Then customize some elements of the site, including, like the theme tax and photos, and when you're ready to go live, you click the publish button.

  • These websites also come with a free you earl and hosting.

  • You can customize your website address by entering the first part of the domain name, and it will automatically be followed by dot business DOT site.

  • So if you enter the name stations bakery, your website address would be stations bakery dot business dot site.

  • Alternatively, you can register your own domain name.

  • This option is not free, and you'll need to register domain through Google domains.

  • But if you already have a registered domain name, even with the registrar.

  • Other than Google, you can use it for your new Google side as well.

  • Okay, let's discuss a couple of creative ways.

  • Businesses could use the website feature in Google.

  • My business.

  • If you wanted to build a website for a hair so long, you would first consider how you would want your customer to engage with this.

  • Some of the questions you might ask yourself include whether the what are the deciding factors that potential customer would use when choosing a salon?

  • Do they want to see before and after photos?

  • Do customers like to read reviews?

  • Uh, the customers prefer to make appointments or just walk in.

  • What customers prefer to see pricing on individual service is these are all the things that can be solved through the website template.

  • For example, you could showcase before and after photos and include reviews from your business profile on Google so customers can see proof of the quality work that you d'oh Next.

  • You could include a book now called the Action Button.

  • So it's important to note one out of two customers that want to schedule an appointment when searching for business online are looking for a way to schedule that appointment.

  • So So one of the things that really came out to me was when I first got out of the military.

  • I need to get a haircut.

  • I couldn't just go on base and go get my hair cut like I had been had to go find a real barber.

  • Uh, and so I actually use the Google search and found a profile for a business near me.

  • And the one that I chose for me was the one that I could schedule the appointment right there in the in the profile.

  • It was great.

  • And Google works with third parties scheduling software provider Sorry.

  • Google works with third parties, scheduling software providers to enable online booking through Google Surge maps and reserve with Google, a service that allows people to book appointments and reservations directly within the search engine.

  • Found at google dot com slash map slash reserve And the last feature that you could use to utilize would be pricing information to include info about the cost of service is another thing that you can do is use photos and bright and vibrant ones are best to showcase products in the gallery On this slide, you can see how a bakery showcases examples of how the food looks me personally.

  • I definitely prefer more pictures of doughnuts.

  • And if I were still thinking of the hair salon, I may want to show before and after pictures to demonstrate my good work.

  • Choosing the right photos can go a long way in helping customers feel confident that the service types and quality of work you provide a line with their goals.

  • Another future that I want to point now is custom domains guru.

  • My business will allow you a free domain, which includes a dot business dot site.

  • At the end of the business name.

  • However you can.

  • You may decide that you want to purchase a custom domain, which is shorter, and when thinking about which domain is best for your business.

  • A few the best practices include making it easy to type, keeping it short, using keywords that your customers are already using to find you, avoid numbers and hyphens and be memorable.

  • Those are just a few ways that you can customize a website for your business through Google.

  • My business.

  • In addition to the features I just mentioned businesses can also customize their website using a pre designed templates.

  • These templates come in a variety of layouts and color schemes, allowing you to select one that supports your brand guidelines.

  • All right, so in this section we're going to discuss ways to help you build a loyal customer base using welcome offers.

  • All right, so when people follow your business, they become a follower.

  • Um, and they will see your updates and offers and photos across Google, and then therefore you feed.

  • When you go into maps, business owners can check out the customer's tab to learn more about their followers into Google.

  • My business app.

  • The benefit here is that this creates an additional channel for business owners to reach their customers.

  • And then you have the welcome offer.

  • You can attract people to your business with the welcome offer.

  • Now what this is is when they click, follow our maps or search, they'll get an offer, such as $5 off your first meal, and then they can redeem it in person.

  • The benefit here is you're giving users another reason to visit you again, going back to the O.

  • R.

  • Stat, which said that 90% of customers are looking for business information through search engines are looking for specific information like business hours, promotions or available appointments.

  • Promotion serve as a great way to capture consumer attention and convert them into customers.

  • Here's what that process looks like for your customer, so a user follows a business that has a welcome offer set up.

  • The user is informed of what it means to follow your business via pop up.

  • The user can choose a, dismissed the offer or choose to save it.

  • And then the user can go back to the business profile and view the offer when they are ready to use it.

  • All right, there's three ways that we can create an offer.

  • All right, so the 1st 1 is Click the Creator Welcome offer from the home screen.

  • I find that to be very aptly named The Second Way is to set up a welcome offer in the profile editor screen, and the Third Way is a click Create offer during the first time.

  • Used problem.

  • Now that we've decided to create an offer when we've navigated our way to the starting point, they're just four steps in creating the offer.

  • The 1st 1 is to enter information about the offer.

  • Next, you want to add a photo.

  • Uh, and then third, you wanna add a title and description toe.

  • Which offer is the last one is Thio.

  • View the welcome offer and double check the details and then click publish another useful feature in Google.

  • My business is a post feature, which allows merchants to post live updates directly on their business profile.

  • We briefly discussed post earlier in this workshop post Serve as, ah, great way to keep loyal customers up today on new products or service launches or other good information for your business.

  • So when customers have more access to your business information and updates, they can make better decisions.

  • As a Briles.

  • This allows you to directly communicate with your local customers to improve your customer experience with timely information to promote your sales special's special events, news and ah, and new offers.

  • This also allows you to engage with your customers through videos and photos.

  • Post can be created from your computer or from your phone on your computer.

  • Sign in to Google my business or open the Google my business app on your phone or tablet.

  • If you have multiple locations after you sign in, you're going to need to select a location you'd like to manage and then click posts from the menu at the top of the page.

  • Choose the type of post you'd like to create from the options.

  • Given the options that photos, videos, text events, offers and a button to your post appear there, click each filled and enter the relevant information to see a preview of your post quick preview.

  • And if you're happy with the preview in the top, right click publish.

  • And if you'd like to change your post in the top left, click back.

  • Edit your draft until you're ready to publish and then click Publish.

  • A few ways to use post, though, are like a What's new post.

  • What's New post is one that provides general information about your business.

  • You can include a photo video link, a call to action button or other information.

  • For example, a restaurant could make opposed to promote a new menu item or, in this example, honest soul yoga.

  • Announced the new yoga studio of location product pose our post that emphasize a specific product that your business sells product posed require a title, a photo or video UH, you Ca NW, then also include a call to Action Button and other information.

  • And then we have offer pose.

  • Offer posts are ones that provide promotional sales or offers from your business offer.

  • Post require a title and a starting in day ah view offer called the action button, is automatically added to the post, and you can also include a photo of video, a coupon code, a link as well as terms and conditions.

  • Would that pose?

  • This is a great seasonal.

  • This is a great method for getting seasonal offers out there.

  • One more idea.

  • You can use post a highlight important business information.

  • This last post shows on its soul yoga's hours of operation, and you can create a post like this and include additional information that might help customers.

  • So, for example, um, last year, specifically my family on Black Friday we were out trying to do some shopping.

  • You know, getting early start to the season and trying to figure out the hours of operation for not just stores but also restaurants that we were in the vicinity of was really difficult.

  • Unless you went to the store and saw the sign in the window, but that using this post, you can announce to all your followers what your hours of operation are.

  • On the special days, posts appear in your business profile in search and maps.

  • You can create post from Google my business app on your phone or tablet or from the Web dashboard using a laptop or desktop.

  • You can also see how posts are influencing potential customers by reviewing their activity from the Google.

  • My business dashboard, which dropped, brings us to our last topic today.

  • So our final topic today is how business can use the insights feature in Google.

  • My business to drive in store and online traffic.

  • Many customers find businesses through Google Search and maps.

  • Google.

  • My Business Insights focuses on how customers find your listing on search and mapped and what they do after they find it.

  • Think of this as an understanding, the story of your customer, where they're from and how they come to interact with your business.

  • Okay, so there's a lot of different types of insights.

  • Some of the insights provide you different ways.

  • Understand how customers in Iraq with your listing.

  • So the 1st 1 how customers find your profile?

  • It shows how many customers found you in a direct search.

  • In other words, they search for your business name or address versus a Discover research, which is where they search for a category, A product or service, and your profile happened to appear.

  • The next one is search Queries, which is available on the Web virgin but not available on the AP.

  • The view Search queries show you the queries that were used to find the business on Google, where customers found you on Google.

  • Google Search versus Google Maps.

  • Uh, the next one is customer actions.

  • So this shows you what searchers did once they found your profile on Google.

  • The actions include the day visit your website.

  • Did they request request directions that they call?

  • You didn't just do your photos.

  • The next one is direction requests.

  • You'll see your location pinned on the map and a heat map that shows the most popular places from which people ask Google maps for driving directions to your address.

  • The total number of requests broken down by city or neighborhood are displayed as well.

  • The next ah insight is phone calls, when and how.

  • How often searchers called your business via the Google business profile On Google, you can view trans by day of the week or time of day, and then the last one we'll talk about today's photos.

  • This is a number of photos associate with your profile and how often they're viewed compared to photos of business is similar to yours.

  • All right, so we're gonna dive in a bit, ah, into three of these available insights.

  • And so, in the insides tab, you contract common terms and search trends for your business.

  • These queries should help you create better post with Google and even adds to engage your customers.

  • Search queries Focus on the terms that your customers used to find your business on local search and maps.

  • You'll see the quarries used in the last week, last month or even the last quarter.

  • But to protect user's privacy, you'll only see the queries and meet our privacy threshold.

  • All right, so the next section here shows how customers behave after they found your listing on Google.

  • The graph shows you how many customers completed the following types of actions.

  • When viewing you're listening the day visit.

  • The website.

  • A customer views your website and this is displayed as website actions on the book report.

  • Did they request direct directions?

  • This is what a customer requested directions to your business and this is displayed as directions.

  • Actions on the book report Did they call you?

  • This is clearly where a customer called your business and displays as phone call actions on the book report.

  • And then there's a total actions the total customer actions for website directions and phone to view how many customers completed in action on specific day, you simply need thio select the day you're interested in and so on the desktop.

  • You just place your cursor over the day and I'm mobile.

  • You just tap the day and to the right of the graph, click The checkbox is to turn on or off the various filters.

  • No, the graft this way is a total number of times Anyone clicked one of the actions, so whether they just clicked, request directions or place a call, this is going to show you anyone that clicked it.

  • So this means as single user can request directions to a business 100 times in a single day and we would show you that Ah, 100 requests were made in that one day.

  • The next section here shows where customers are when they request directions to your business.

  • It's on the map displayed.

  • You'll see your location pinned in the popular places your customers are women are when they ask Google master directions to your address.

  • The total number of requests broken down by city or neighborhood are displayed as well.

  • You can zoom in and out on the map using the controls in the bottom right corner.

  • No, the graft displays a number of unique users in each source location, so by postcode, or city or even country.

  • So this means that a single user can request directions tow business 100 times in a time period.

  • But we would only show one request for that person.

  • OK, in today's workshop, we discussed how businesses can use Google my business to establish a local online presence, build a loyal customer base, highlight what makes a service or product unique and help Dr Mawr in store and online traffic for hands on support with any of the topics we discussed today.

  • Visit the small business pros dot com and a schedule of one on one with a small business pro today, Small business Pros offers a quick and easy way for you to optimize your all night service is use your existing data to make more strategic decisions and resolve your issues in real time.

  • You can find more free online business tools that grow dot google slash veteran lead as a reminder.

  • If you have questions, you can get those questions answered using the hashtag hash vet lead.

  • Live Stream For a chance.

  • I have your questions answered live.

  • Next up, we'll chat with Karina Conley from the Veteran Business Outreach Center, which is partially funded by the Small Business Administration, about the importance of national veterans.

  • Small Business Week.

  • An additional tools and resource available to the veteran small business community.

  • But first, let's take a look at a veteran lead.

  • Small business story featuring Chris Nolting, Army veteran and founder of electric bike company Propelled Bikes.

  • My name's Chris Nulty and the founder of Propelled Lights.

  • Throughout school, I didn't really have all that much direction.

  • I thought the idea of going into the military when I returned from overseas, I return with a back injury.

  • I really spent most of my time at home just kind of feeling broken.

  • A friend of mine got an electric bike, built one up for myself and then suddenly I'm mobile again.

  • So I ended up starting this electric bike business, and I knew that if I was to grow this business, so I was gonna do it all on the Web.

  • Recently, we added the vet lead attributes.

  • You've actually seen an increase of business specifically for people that want to support Veteran on business is the first year we sold about 25 bikes, and last year we sold about 1000.

  • Everybody that found us, they found us on Google.

  • What I do today, it's very fulfilling.

  • It's kind of a new mission for me and welcome back And wow, that wasn't an awesome story.

  • Congrats to Chris, and all of his success would propel bites.

  • Now we want to welcome our special guests.

  • Karina Conley, who serves as a chief executive officer for the Veterans Business Outreach Center serving California and Nevada eso welcome crane in, Uh, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

  • The Small Business Administration, your work with the Bach and the importance of national veterans.

  • Small Business Week?

  • Absolutely.

  • And thank you so much for having me on today to celebrate the National Veterans Small Business Week.

  • You know, it's just a little fun fact that there's over 2.9 million veteran business is out there in our great nation.

  • That contributes over $1 trillion over $1 trillion with the revenue to our local economy.

  • So imagine that is a whole on DSO again, I am really humbled and honored to serve as the CEO for the veterans business at Re center.

  • We are 501 C three nonprofit organization where partially funded to the U.

  • S.

  • Small Business Administration and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development.

  • Our program is really designed to be able to assist veterans in their initiatives to either start sustained or expand a small business initiative.

  • So the services that we offer our complimentary because they're paid by your public tax dollars and there's three forms of service is that we offer.

  • The 1st 1 is we offer complimentary 1 to 1 small business consulting service is so let's say, for example, your veteran and you're coming to our organization and you're looking to either start a business.

  • So what our process is is that we are designed to take a look at you as a person as a whole on identify what you're learning.

  • Style is, and then our counselors are trained to adapt to what you're learning.

  • Style is.

  • The reason why we do that is because of the fact that we want to alleviate.

  • Starting a business can be really stressful and with stress is fear, right?

  • So we want to be able to alleviate that emotion called.

  • We call it the false evidence that appears really mentality so we can adapt to whatever you're learning stylist to assist you in your endeavor to to do the valuation of reality therapy of starting a business.

  • Or if you're in existing business and you're looking to grow or just insane, or to put together succession plan.

  • We will also adapt to whatever your business needs are and our consultant service's are done in a couple different capacities.

  • The 1st 1 is it could be telephonically done, or we could do We use our Web X where we can actually face time with you right.

  • So then you can face up the information that you're reviewing with the counselor and also through that consultation review class flow projections, creating a strategic plan, building a website, whatever that initiative is that we're doing with you on, and then the other one is obviously in person.

  • So we have an office, which is our law office is located in Sacramento, California So that's why we offer the different platforms, because everybody has most Everybody has a smartphone, a computer where they can go ahead and log on, and it's more effective for them to do that.

  • The other service that we offer is over 200 trainings on an annualized basis.

  • One of the signature programs is created by SP A.

  • It's called the Boots to Business Program.

  • Yes, you went through that during your transition.

  • Yes, So as you know, then that program has eight modules and it really walks you through the conceptual idea of starting a business right to the fiscal financial management piece of it to the operational piece of it to creating that that strategic plan or that business plan, depending on what generation you are right and issue a snapshot view, so it allows you to be able to identify if entrepreneurship is something that is right for you.

  • So it really just opened your eyes up to say Okay, this is something that I think that I might want to be able to dio.

  • But when a person goes through that program, wherever there they were ever there, home bases after they come out of the military, then they can contact one of the 22 V blocks that are nationwide, which could be easily accessible on the S B, a Dhaka website.

  • And so each one of those programs of those V box centers will tailor their service is to whatever your specific needs are.

  • And then the last service that we offers, we host conferences, which are 123 day conferences, and they have a community based focused.

  • So, for example, we just had a a small business and DVB East Summit, DVB and the government.

  • You know, we used lots of acronyms, which means disabled veteran business enterprise.

  • And so it was a small business one day summit and it was part of the National Veterans Small Business Week celebration.

  • And so with that, we had our best practices.

  • Businesses that have come through the Veterans business out re central program.

  • Some of them are still small businesses, and some of them are actually medium sized businesses.

  • So we help them grow and foster their business through either that neo fight level, all the way to succession planning.

  • So that's what the V but programs D'oh.

  • So with that best practices, the audience had an opportunity to engage based upon their industry sector.

  • What we're best practices, what they would have done differently.

  • Um, and what worked well for them than the other component that we had is we had an economic future.

  • Forecasting, which talked about what the economic trends, which is so viable to a small business owner when you're creating your strategic plan or direction, is if this is what my business initiative is going to be, then how is it gonna fit within the marketplace in the demographic area that I serve?

  • Or if it's global, then how does that fit globally as a whole s o.

  • It's interesting.

  • And one of the things that came up so I'm a veteran, you know, and thank you for your service.

  • Thank you.

  • Uh And so I know we've got a lot of veterans who are watching today s 01 of the things that comes up a lot, especially during a transition, is the idea that we're not quite ready yet.

  • And so at what stage from ideation creation.

  • You know, like that I have an idea.

  • When I started business, too, I'm actually operating.

  • What stage should I come see you in your your team?

  • That's an excellent question.

  • So to be quite frank, it doesn't matter what stage in the game you are because the veterans business outreach centers are designed to assist you on wherever you are specifically on, whatever that cycle of starting a business or growing a business.

  • So at any point in time you can connect with your local V box office, they'll do a needs assessment to figure out where you are specifically.

  • So if you're a start up right, we want to vet the concept that the idea we want to determine whether or not the idea by doing some market research is gonna fit within the demographic area that you're looking Thio to host your business.

  • So let's say you're gonna be starting I don't know.

  • Pick something underwater.

  • Basket weaving.

  • Okay, leaving.

  • Right.

  • And you wanna have a retail site, that is.

  • And so you're gonna be able to tank this whole retail facility.

  • So what we want to do is we want to take a look.

  • At what?

  • Businesses?

  • And what economic am Trans is going to impact your business number one.

  • So that's the first thing.

  • So with your local municipality, what is the five year plan for that?

  • For that infrastructure for that municipality that's going to support your business?

  • Or is there another business that similar?

  • That's a box chain that's gonna come in that's gonna have the same business initiative that you're going to d'oh!

  • And is that going to be your direct competition?

  • And was, What's the mile radius of that?

  • The other part of it is that taking a look at the economic research, we have access to a phenomenal program that s B A provides tu estas the boxes called IBIs world.

  • An IBIs word world allows us to pull economic trends so we can assist you and give you the information that you need to be ableto value your business concept and order idea.

  • So that might be an ignition, A marketplace of what you're doing.

  • But we want to make certain wear your sales gonna come from.

  • Are you gonna Are you going to foster your relationships and do contracts with corporations?

  • Are you looking for the general population sector, or is it a culmination of how you're going to generate that revenue?

  • And what is that strategic plan?

  • Look like?

  • Operationally, financially, to your marketing, to your branding, to your succession planning as well.

  • So one of the things that comes up is going back to my underwater basket, weaving so in my head, I'm going to do $5 billion of revenue in the first week.

  • If I bring that plane to you, are they gonna help me gauge some of that?

  • So we're gonna give you reality.

  • Therapy is what I'm gonna call it.

  • Reality there.

  • Right.

  • So we're gonna take a look at your industry sector, right?

  • And what is reasonable cash flow that you're going to generate?

  • So if you come in and you tell me unless you have a contract with, maybe it and major healthcare or a for profit organization, that's going to say we're going to give you a contract for that dollar amount, and that's gonna solidify your revenue, right?

  • But it also depends on the terms and conditions of that contract.

  • So we we sit down with you and we take a look at what your owner's infusion is, right?

  • Because you have to have working capital.

  • You have to have sustainability.

  • And so that's why your cash flow projection is really important because it talks about you're different revenue streams, right?

  • And you can't start out of business with five million.

  • I mean, what were you could contract?

  • You have something that supports that in evidence that because more than likely, if you're going to start out of business, is gonna have $5 million.

  • You said within the first year, First week, first week, that's you know what, That's very interesting.

  • So you must be using Google, right and analytics to help you with that.

  • So what we will do is we needed to make certain that you have enough money to cash for your business.

  • Right?

  • So you have a $5 million contract, you're gonna perform it in the one week.

  • So how are you going to afford to have money in the bank.

  • That's either your own owners infusion or a line of credit established, or some kind of funding to support that contract.

  • Because more than likely contracts don't get paid until 90 to 180 days out, depending on the where it where it starts.

  • So what we're gonna do is take a look again at your industry sector.

  • What is reasonable in that industry sector?

  • What are some past performance?

  • Who's your competition?

  • So at many MBA program, we call it the SWAT analysis.

  • Right.

  • What are the strengths?

  • What What are the weaknesses?

  • What we're gonna call it areas of improvement.

  • Right.

  • What are the opportunities for your business?

  • And what are the threats to your business?

  • So swat now?

  • Yes, yes.

  • And so we're gonna take a look at that and determine what is a reasonable cost for the service is that you're offering or the products that you're offering.

  • So, for your basket weaving business, is it just gonna be isolated to a certain demographic area, or is it going to be our national?

  • Well, I just presumed that I would put it online and make my $5 million a week.

  • So again we'll take it back to reality therapy.

  • So what would happen is all of our consultants in our program have an M.

  • B.

  • A.

  • We have some that are CPS as well.

  • So we'll have you sit down with the consultant, take a look at your industry sector and put together a cash flow projection.

  • That's reasonable.

  • OK, right, we're gonna give you That's what I call it the reality therapy.

  • And though the service's air complimentary, you're not going to do the work for you.

  • We're going to mentor you and guide you through that process.

  • So the energy and effort that you put into it is the rate of return that you're gonna get out of it.

  • We have a lot of people that come in and they want us to do the work.

  • But if we do the work for you, then how are you going to successfully own and operate your business?

  • Fair point.

  • But that brings me Thio Inner interesting question.

  • S O.

  • I know a lot of veterans are thinking about starting my own business as they get out.

  • Yes.

  • What were the value that you see that a veteran brings to starting up their own business.

  • That's a really an excellent question.

  • So you being a military member, you know, the Department of Defense spends billions of dollars or training military members right with their standard operating procedures and also how to be able to handle situations that are stressful situations, Right?

  • You have a ready action plan.

  • So that's what makes the veteran owner business owners so successful.

  • I think you're at the top 90 percentile of success ratio of them succeeding, and it's also predicated on the industry sector as well.

  • But because they've been trained and it's how they take.

  • So let's say you're a veteran.

  • You recently transitioned out and you're looking to start a business or you're already in a partnership in a business, right?

  • So what we want to do is take a look at what they needs assessment or with your business, where you're gonna grow it, or how you're going to start it, and we're gonna take that experience.

  • Maybe you're starting to business, and whatever experience you have in the military, you want a transition that experience into corporate America to start your business, and we've had many, many, many clients through that threshold from they come in to have a conceptual idea.

  • This is what I did in the military.

  • I was in charge of supply that supply chain.

  • And I know that I could get supplies from point A to point B.

  • So we actually have a client that that came through this program about four years ago.

  • They started out with a conceptual idea, and now they're running over $22 million in contracts.

  • But we were, but they allowed us to do our job by guiding them in mentoring them through that whole process.

  • So, um, so any business can be successful, right?

  • If you if you plan and you strategize.

  • But that plan is just uses a barometer.

  • And because of the fact that things happen in business when you're when you're an entrepreneur and you start out you were many, many hats, you might be the CEO.

  • But you're also the janitor, right?

  • Which every job is equal important.

  • You could be accounts payable customer service.

  • You could be the sales department as well.

  • And you could be your to own human resources department as well.

  • So what?

  • We take a look at really is what your band within what your skill set level is and to help you to tiu those areas that you don't have that bandwidth to feel those areas, either with collaborative partners or resource is that will give you what you need to have a solid foundation.

  • But it's up to you to take the advice and to implement the advice.

  • We could only give you the advice, and we don't make decisions for you.

  • Sorry.

  • That's good.

  • I know this sounds really great about, especially about guiding us through in a non judgmental way, like that's really important.

  • What if my idea is super brand new secret?

  • I don't want anyone to know about it.

  • Confidentiality?

  • Absolutely.

  • So like I mentioned earlier.

  • So the consulting service is that we offer our confidential just like a bank, the douceur relationship.

  • So when you register for service is with our organization, we have a confidentiality statement, and also in there it describes to that with that level of confidentiality is all of our consultants and all of our staff members also have to sign a confidentiality statements on an annualized basis, and we train what that confidentiality means so Let's say you start, you're starting a business and you have a friend who's starting the same business.

  • And that friend calls in because they want to find out about your business initiative.

  • So what we're going to do, just like what a bank does, Or just like if you have a medical care provider, they're gonna verify that it's you.

  • So we will ask them a series of questions like the last four years, your soul security number.

  • What branch of military?

  • So there's certain Q questions that we ask them because we have access to that information to verify that when we're doing a telephonic consultation or were doing or someone's just calling in that we know that we're connecting with you and speaking with you.

  • Okay, so s O all right.

  • This one is on behalf of my wife?

  • Yes.

  • What options are there available for military spouses?

  • So So they're the same opportunities for military spouses for Entrepreneur Training service is to the V block programs, as if you the veteran that came through, a simple is that so we support veterans of all heirs.

  • Transitional meant military members, reservist guard members and spouses, and so If your spouse is going to be in business with you, we will have you sign an authorization of release form because we serve the veteran right?

  • And then your wife would register for service is well, and we would onboard her the same way that we onboard Jew and so the same thing.

  • If you're a veteran business owner and you have a key management team, right, your key management team would register for service is you would sign an authorization form for each one of them, and then we would work with you as a team.

  • That doesn't mean that they can receive the service's in lieu of you is the veteran.

  • It's in collaboration so we could build capacity for you and your business or with you, I should say right.

  • So Okay, so what if my business isn't $5 million a week?

  • What if it's really only about 20 30,000 year?

  • Do you still help with that?

  • So, yes, So, again, we it doesn't matter the size of your business.

  • Whether you're a micro business or you're a small business or you've generated no revenue whatsoever, we're here to guide you to mentor you and to support you if you're starting, growing, sustaining and all the way to an exit strategy and even through the exit strategy, if you're looking to bring in another veteran to take over your business, we mentor both of you in that transition period, right?

  • Cause we want to make certain that it's fluid and that its successful for both of you.

  • And we also help with evaluation of an acquisition of a business.

  • So our servicers air really broad.

  • So it's just not business planning, right?

  • In strategic planning, it's all about acquisition.

  • With acquisitions and mergers, Access to capital is a big one.

  • So my next question so access to capital is one of the greatest hurdles that small businesses have, right?

  • So cause it's all predicated upon at the business itself.

  • What is the owner's infusion?

  • What cash do you bring to the table?

  • Not you going out and getting a credit card taking a cash advance?

  • That's not cash, right?

  • So what accounts?

  • But it's not true.

  • Owners infusion what collateral ization.

  • So there's different types of financing that's available.

  • But financing for a small business is unique to the business.

  • It's not like you're gonna go buy a house and you're gonna give them your W tubes in your last year's W two's, your 30 days bank statements and your last 30 days pay stubs.

  • It's different.

  • It's uniquely designed and underwritten based upon the industry sector, your business, what you say in your strategic direction or your plan, what your business is going to dio.

  • And with those cash flow projections again, I'm gonna go back to the fiscal wheelhouse.

  • Whatever those projections state, are they reasonable with the industry sector?

  • And do they make sense based upon what your marketing plan in is your branding analysis and whatever those different revenue streams are going to be?

  • So we take a look at not only you as a person as a whole, we take a look at your business as a whole as well.

  • And then that's how we guide you.

  • So it doesn't matter if you're starting, sustaining, growing.

  • We've had people, their survival mode right.

  • We've had veterans that are deployed, and we're helping them work with their business owner back in the States, and we're doing it telephonically or e mailing, as so their businesses sustainable when they return Okay, so this is my last question for you.

  • Hurry, Move on.

  • Uh, so I know you're with the Bach.

  • Yes.

  • No, all of our viewers are here in California.

  • Yes.

  • How they go about getting access.

  • Can they get access?

  • Is absolutely, absolutely So s D A.

  • Is a is a federal agency.

  • It's called the small US Small Business Administration.

  • And S p A has a numerous programs for for small people or individuals that are looking to start sustainer expand a small business initiative.

  • Because small businesses are the economic engine of our great economy.

  • At the at the end of the day, it all boils down to that.

  • And with that being said, if you go to the website at www dot s b a dot gov, that's w w w dot s b a dot gov and then the Office of Veterans Business Development is the program that funds and is responsible for the V box centers nationwide.

  • Okay, well, great.

  • So thank you so much, Karina on if you don't mind staying with me while I was in a s.

  • So now we're gonna take a few questions.

  • Lie from Twitter as a reminder If you have questions, you can get those questions answered using the hash tag.

  • Hash vet lead Lifestream on Twitter.

  • All right, let's hop into our first question went excited.

  • What's the 1st 1 Who?

  • Okay, this soon is from the borough of Manhattan Community College.

  • Um, what would you recommend?

  • A founder's do not have a physical location and want to use grow with Google.

  • All right.

  • So, unfortunately, you cannot use Google my business as an online only business.

  • But you can market your business using s CEO and Google ads.

  • Uh, we've covered, but these topics in depth and our previous life streams, which you can access at g dot ceo slash grow slash life streams.

  • All right, that's an excellent question.

  • All right, let's see here.

  • What else we got?

  • Um, question number two, number two.

  • Um, we'll see.

  • Okay, here's one for Ukraine.

  • It.

  • Uh So this one is What's the difference between v.

  • Bach and S B A.

  • So the veterans business outreach centers are partially funded from the U.

  • S.

  • Small Business administration. 01:

you served your country, then the transition back to civilian life and began serving their communities.

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