Business News for January 13, 2022
Today's message includes the following news, best practices, and online courses:
  • Looking to Hire Graduating UW-Madison Students?
  • Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and NFTs
  • Free Tools for Business Development Webinar from Madison Public Library
  • Food businesses: FFI Fellows Program Now Accepting Applications
  • Four Questions Every Effective Business Plan Should Answer

Client Features
  • Slide Gourmet Potato Chips
  • Millennium Geospatial

Upcoming SBDC Learning Opportunities - Spring Catalog Coming Soon!
  • Launch into Leadership
  • Positive Power Plays
  • Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP)
  • Balancing the Leadership Scale: Maximizing Team & Individual Productivity
  • And view our full class calendar for Spring/Summer 2022!
Business News, Updates, and Best Practices
Looking to Hire Graduating UW-Madison Students?
Reasons to Participate in a UW-Madison Career Fair
Did you know that UW-Madison hosts 21 career fairs throughout the year? Below, learn several reasons why you may want to join in.

Connect with engaged and passionate students who are ready to help your company grow
A recent study showed that, compared to other institutions, UW–Madison students exhibit strong leadership outcomes, such as leadership capacity, complex cognitive skills and a sense of belonging, especially those who do community service or participate in student organizations.
UW–Madison was also the highest ranking national public university in Washington Monthly’s 2021 College Guide and Rankings, which is based on three key criteria: research excellence, social mobility, and—you guessed it—community and national service.

Network with hundreds of prospective employees
You’ll be able to meet one-on-one with a large pool of potential applicants, cutting through the clutter of online job searches. Hear directly from students about their career interests and what they’ve accomplished during their time on campus, even before their cover letters reach your inbox. If your company still has work-from-home policies in place, UW–Madison offers online career fair options, too!

Boost your brand awareness
In a highly digital world, there is still a place for visual marketing. Attending a career fair means that your company’s name, logo, and company culture will be in front of thousands of eyes, potentially connecting you with a new audience for the first time. Participating companies will also get an extra boost thanks to marketing materials from the university and on-campus advising offices.
Tools for Business Development Webinar
Learn how Reference Solutions and Gale Business Plan Library can help you start and market your business!
Looking to explore a business idea, research competitors or generate marketing lists? Reference Solutions has visual tools, data on comparable businesses and consumer information.

Working on a business plan, financials, projections, etc.? Find sample business plans for actual businesses in Gale Business Plans Handbook.

  • Tuesday, January 18, 2022 - 12-1:30pm. This event will be hosted virtually through Zoom. Register at this link
  • Wednesday January 26, 2022 - 7-8:30pm This event will be hosted virtually through Zoom. Register at this link

Both sessions cover the same content.
FFI Fellows Program - Now Accepting Applications!
deadline to apply is January 30
The Fellows Program is designed to create investible business models and sound financial plans for food-focused businesses to grow and scale. Fellows are paired with a coach who works with you through all key areas of your business. Plus, you'll be in a cohort of up to 15 like-minded businesses from all over the country!
Four Questions Every Effective Business Plan Should Answer
from the Small Business Administration blog
In our Center, we often receive questions about how to write an effective business plan. In this article excerpt from the SBA (rest of article linked below), learn what questions a business plan should address to be an effective tool for potential investors, partners, third-party reviewers, and more.

  1. What does your business do? It’s important to explain precisely what your business does, elevator pitch-style. Being descriptive can help you gain additional clarity about the vision of your business.
  2. Who is your target customer? You’ll want to make sure your business plan outlines in detail who your target customer is, getting specific in terms of demographics. This step may require you to do some extra market research, but it will pay off in showing potential funders that you do your homework.
  3. How will you make money? Banks and potential investors will want to see financial projections and pricing plans. If your business is brand-new, they’ll want to know whether you have existing funding sources in place or if you’re starting from scratch. It will also be important to outline the costs of running your business.
  4. What niche are you filling? What sets you apart from the competition? Answering these types of questions will allow you to take a step back from your business and validate why someone would choose you over a competitor — and help you explain to potential funders why they should choose you over your competitors, too.

Blockchains, Cryptocurrencies, and NFTs
webinar recording hosted by the Wisconsin Alumni Association
Amid the rise of cryptocurrencies, there is another new trend in the digital world that came to prominence in 2021: non-fungible tokens (NFTs). What exactly are NFTs and how do they work? What advantages and disadvantages do they present to artists and content creators? Do NFTs prevent intellectual property theft or exacerbate it? Are NFT valuations justified and likely to endure or are they part of a bubble fueled by speculation and a lack of alternative uses of cryptocurrency?
Client Features - Slide Gourmet Potato Chips and Millennium Geospatial
Christine's Kitchens Featured in InBusiness Magazine
SBDC client business is no small potatoes!
Christine Ameigh has seen extensive changes within her small business - now Slide Potato Chips - and has worked to support other small businesses throughout the pandemic and beyond by adopting a mindset that "rising tides raise all ships." Her current potato chip business builds on the success of her prior food cart and now serves a specialty flavor to guests visiting Lambeau Field, shoppers at 34 Festival Foods stores, and more.

Read more about Christine's Kitchens in the January InBusiness Magazine!
Millennium Geospatial
building an employee pipeline through students
With so many businesses struggling with workforce challenges, one way to cope is to build a potential employee pipeline through student internships and Work-Study positions.

Thank you so much to Millennium Geospatial, one of our current Success Stories and featured in our Spring/Summer 2022 Class Catalog for sharing your experience and for providing such a wonderful learning opportunity to University of Wisconsin-Madison students!

Upcoming SBDC Learning Opportunities
Below, you'll find a few examples of upcoming classes we are offering to help you START your business, MANAGE your business operations, and GROW your leaders. To see all of your options, view our full Spring/Summer 2022 class calendar. We look forward to seeing you in class soon!
Launch Into Leadership for New Supervisors
February 22-24, 2022 (online)
Taking on new supervisory responsibilities is a great opportunity and challenge. Many in supervisory roles have learned either by trial and error or by following what was done by their predecessor. In most cases, this is not a very effective strategy. This virtual online series will start you in the right direction with fundamental leadership skills and ideas for how to continue your growth as a supervisor and leader.
Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) for New Businesses
starts February 10, 2022 (online and in person components)
ETP is an intensive business-planning training program. The focus of the program is to help you complete a comprehensive rough draft of your business plan in the form of a written workbook. Each session will help you work toward putting your ideas on paper so that, by the end of class, you have made significant progress toward launching your business or writing a more comprehensive business plan.
Balancing the Leadership Scale: Maximizing Team & Individual Productivity
starts February 15, 2022 (online)
As leaders, we are responsible for the success of our teams, but we also have our own projects and responsibilities. How do we ensure we’re maximizing the return on the investment of our limited time, energy, and efforts? What can we do to ensure we’re focused on high-value work while providing those we lead with opportunities to grow and develop? This course is designed for leaders and managers who are responsible for both individual and team-level results. Learners will gain valuable insights into creating a team-level culture of accountability, delegating for success, and implementing daily practices to enhance their personal leadership effectiveness.
Positive Power Plays: Skills for Conflict and Negotiation
February 16, 2022 (online)
All leaders must navigate conflict within their work. However, conflict can serve as a tool to bring different viewpoints to the surface, increase creativity, and allow the team to develop win-win resolutions. In this course, you will learn listening strategies, emotion management, anger resolution techniques, steps to planning a negotiation conversation, conflict styles, and stages of conflict resolution.
Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact the UW-Madison SBDC office at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu or 608-263-2221 to request accommodations.

The Wisconsin SBDC Network is a proud part of the Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship in the University of Wisconsin System. It is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.