The West Central MN SBDC Newsletter
West Central MN SBDC
We serve in Becker, Clay, Douglas, Grant, Otter Tail, Pope, Stevens, Traverse and Wilkin counties in West Central Minnesota, offering no fee one-on-one business consulting services to start-ups, existing and expanding businesses.

In order to protect our consultants, the Concordia College community and our West Central MN region, we are only meeting remotely at this time. Please contact us at sbdc@cord.edu or 218.299.3037 to see how you can meet with your consultant virtually. We appreciate your patience as we navigate changing conditions during the pandemic.

You can register for consulting services by clicking the "Register" link on the home page of our website.
Honoring Our Workers
The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York city on September 5th of 1882. The picture above is from that day. The Labor Day holiday was signed into federal law by President Grover Cleveland on June 28, 1894.

Peter J. McGuire, co-founder of the American Federation of Labor, suggested setting aside a day for a "general holiday for the laboring classes" to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

According to the Department of Labor "History of Labor Day" page, "Many Americans celebrate Labor Day with parades, picnics and parties – festivities very similar to those outlined by the first proposal for a holiday, which suggested that the day should be observed with – a street parade to exhibit 'the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations' of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. 

However you celebrate Labor Day, it is clear during our current labor shortage the impact our workers have for our small businesses. With that in mind, our team at the WC MN SBDC has cultivated a series of webinars designed to assist you and your workers through this labor shortage.

In our Strategies webinar, Deb McGregor will walk you through strategies that you can implement right now to help you through this time.

Shannon Berns will discuss tools and technology that can automate some of the work your employees do, so that they can focus their time on more critical activities in Automation.

In Creating Efficiency, Bill Schalow will dive deeper into how employees can focus their time on the most meaningful activities.

Matt Magness will share with you how to create a workplace culture that will make your employees want to stay and encourage them to invite their friends and peers to apply at your place of business in Retention.

In our final webinar for this series, titled Resources, we've asked MN DEED workforce strategist Chet Bodin to share resources offered by MN DEED to help you support your employees.

We hope that one of the ways you honor your employees this year is with us, in our webinar series designed to help you support your workforce.
WC MN SBDC Workshops and Events
Adapting to the current labor shortage will take a multi-pronged approach utilizing both short term and long term strategies. Our team has cultivated our fall webinar series to give you strategies to get you through our current labor shortage. All webinars are free of charge this fall
 
Webinar registration links can also be found on the Events page of our website.
 
Labor Shortage – Strategies 
Learn what you can do today to find relief from the labor shortage. Presented by MN SBDC Consultant, Deb McGregor.
Wednesday, September 8, 11:00 am - Noon
 
Labor Shortage - Automation
Learn how automation can help your small business decrease menial activities in order to increase your labor capacity. Presented by WC MN SBDC Consultant, Shannon Berns.
Wednesday, September 22, 11:00 am - Noon
 
Labor Shortage - Creating Efficiency
Learn how to prioritize and align tasks to increase work efficiency and gain capacity. Presented by WC MN SBDC Consultant, Bill Schalow
Wednesday, October 6, 11:00 am - Noon
 
Labor Shortage – Retention 
Develop a workplace culture that encourages employee retention. Presented by WC MN SBDC Executive Director, Matt Magness
Wednesday, October 20, 11:00 am - Noon

Labor Shortage - Resources from MN DEED
Learn about resources that MN Department of Employment and Economic Development has for Employers. Presented by MN DEED Regional Labor Market Analyst in Northwestern Minnesota, Chet Bodin.
Wednesday, November 12, 11:00 am - Noon

#WCSBDCBusinessWorkshops #LiveWideOpenMN #MNSBDC #OnlyinMN
Business Builders Workshops
We've teamed up with our North Dakota SBA partners (ND SBA, ND SCORE, ND SBDC and ND WBC and VBOC of the Dakotas) to provide monthly Business Builders Webinars!

Doing Business with the Federal Government
Learn what is required to do business with the Federal Government, e.g. SAM registration, Business notary, NAIC, Representation, and Certification as well as how to find business opportunities with the Federal Government. Presented by Graham Pritchett, Director of Business Operations, GF Air Force Base, and Queen McCartney, SCORE Grand Forks member. Additional information provided by Dave Kleppe, ND PTAC Program Manager.
Sept 14, 2021, 3:30 - 4:30pm
 
BONUS: Shop North Dakota
As part of National Small Business Week 2021, register for this BBW bonus to find out how easy it is to access new customers online with the ND SBDC’s ShopND.com marketplace. Additionally, Greg Syrup will share details on how to make the most out of your eCommerce channels, marketing tips, and other valuable resources available from ND SBDC. Greg will demonstrate the media kits that are available to borrow for free, which includes a photo light box for product photography and all the tools you need to start creating your own content. The possibilities are endless! (Only North Dakota based businesses can sell on the ShopND.com marketplace.)
Sept 15, 2021, 10:00 -11:00am

Maximizing the Value of Your Business
This workshop will provide an overview of the aspects of business operations to have in place in order to add the most value to your business and who can help with those processes. Whether looking to grow your business or getting things in place for eventual exit planning (retirement or sale of the business), learn how to get the most out of this organized approach. Presented by Mary Beth Votava, Minot Center Director with the ND SBDC.
**Note variation of date from our regular schedule (normally the 2nd Tuesday)
Oct 5, 2021, 3:30 - 4:30pm

#SBA #BusinessBuildersWorkshops #NorthofNormal #LiveWideOpenMN
WC MN SBDC Regional Supporters
We want to thank our supporters for their donation to our Matching Funds Campaign! Did you know that SBDC’s provide no-fee one-on-one business consulting services? We can do this because the SBA funds 50% of our costs. The State of MN matches some of those funds, but we are required to find local donations to match the rest of our operational costs.

  • Barnesville Economic Development Authority
  • Bell Bank
  • City of Moorhead
  • City of Perham EDA
  • Midwest Minnesota Community Development Corporation
  • Northwestern Bank
  • Offutt School of Business, Concordia
  • Roll-A-Ramp
  • Security State Bank, Fergus Falls
  • United Community Bank
  • West Central Initiative
  • West Tool & Design, LLC

Thank you! We couldn’t do this without you. 
West Central MN SBDC
901 8th St. S.
Moorhead, MN 56560
(218) 299-3037
Subscribe to the WC MN SBDC Newsletter
Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and regional support partners. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the program sponsors. Programs are open to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance by calling 218.299.3037.