Network News - November

Greetings LA Team Below is our November wrap-up of the accomplishments, events, and program announcements in the LA SBDC Network. If you have any questions, or news you'd like to share in our next newsletter, please get in touch. Enjoy the holiday season!

Metrics Update We're almost there - we need just one last push to meet the long-term clients and new business starts goals. Please reach out if you need help logging any business starts.

Business Recovery Support

Thanks to our SBDC teams at EDC and COC for their disaster recovery support for businesses affected by the fires. If you encounter a client who is dealing with physical or economic loss as a result of the fires, You can share this Business Recovery Guide or simply refer them to: Business Recovery Hotline 805.409.9159 Alondra will be there to answer the calls - thanks Alondra! Check out this news clip with Ray Bowman supporting business recovery outreach in Malibu.

Statewide SBDC Professional Development Conference Wrap-up

Many of us had the opportunity to attend the Statewide SBDC Professional Development Conference in Sacramento earlier this month. Big thanks to to the NorCal SBDC Network for organizing the event. Also, thanks to Kat for leading the post-it note feedback exercise during the LA network's breakout session, and to Elianne for transcribing & organizing the notes. Here is a summary of the likes and ideas for improvement, or you can view the detail in this online doc.

Top pluses: Opportunity to network & collaborate Sharing best practices ***Honorable mention: "emcee Brad" Top deltas: More training for Admins, Advisors, NeoSerra (17 hours was not enough?) More opportunity to learn from other centers, e.g. networking, sharing successes

Top improvement request (w/in LA network): Ability to share advisor expertise among the LA service centers. (We're working on it! Coming soon. )

Accolades

Congratulations to our network colleagues who took home the following awards from SBDC Professional Development Conference: Charlie Lowe (Long Beach & ECC): Highest Number of Loans - 33 loans Martha Castro (East LA & PCR): Most Business Starts - 30 business starts Karen Scuncio (missing from photo) (EDC): Highest Total Capital Infusion - $25,053,000 Max Ordonez (Long Beach) State Star - LA Network Nice job!

Important Dates Finance: Directors - please report an estimated figure of unspent CY2018 funds no later than December 15th to Pat Nye and Diane Duarte. Also, third quarter SBA invoices were due Thursday, November 1st. Holiday: The Lead Center will be closed for winter holidays starting December 24th, we'll be back to work on Jan 2nd.

New Assets Available Fillable 641 PDF Form (eliminates the need to complete the form by hand) -- now available in NeoSerra New Customer Success Story -- Corte Studio -- Jennifer Kalil (PCC) Need a marketing flyer or other asset? View our library of available assets here. Looking for something different? Let us know what you need and we'll make it happen.

Business Advisor Spotlight Charlie Lowe (Advisor at Long Beach & ECC) Started consulting in 1999 at El Camino College Has advised over 3,000 clients Bilingual -- English/Spanish “What makes my job worth it are the clients that stick with us -- they listen, they want to improve, and we teach each other."

New Additions -- Welcome! Cynthia Salguero @ PCC . Working part-time to support the center's operations and also preparing to open her own family day care...She's not only the new admin, she's a client too! Stephanie Gonzalez @ EDC. Client Services Specialist who will help with client intake and scheduling.   Sonia De Los Santos @ Lead Center. Marketing student assistant who helped create this newsletter, and works on flyers and updates to the centers' event calendars. Added bonus: Sonia speaks Spanish. Bienvenida Sonia! David Garibay @ Lead Center. Student assistant who speaks Spanish and is working with Claudia Shah to help grow the East LA initiative. Mucho gusto David!