I can’t believe I forgot to mention this here. In April, I started a class offered by the Concord Small Business Development Center, funded by the federal Small Business Association, called New Venture Training. The goal of the course is to work with small business owners and those comitted to going into business for themselves to develop a complete business plan. Sure, you can read a book or buy some software, but the folks running the NVT course walk you through every aspect of your plan’s - and, therefore, your business’ - development.
I learned how to perform actual market research by using the demographics information found at my local library. I learned how to come up with a solid financial plan and figure out where the money will come from and how to keep it. More than anything, though, I gained a vital pin-point focus on my goals and what I want to accomplish with my business. I was sort of all over the board on what I wanted to offer to my clients when I started the class 12 weeks ago. Now I can clearly describe to you what it is TechKnowMe does. (See the end of this post…)
A big, big thanks to the other folks in my class, both those who stuck it out through the end as well as those who had to drop out in the middle as their own businesses began to take off to the point where they couldn’t spare the time. By holding open discussions where everyone shared their experiences, opinions and views, everyone gained a great deal.
And a big special thank you to our instructor Jeff Hall. In addition to being a fantastic, highly trained and motivated teacher as well as a successful businessman in his own right, Jeff’s incredible thoughtfulness and energetic support provided just the right amount of encouragement to make us all believe in our ideas. He gently guided us down paths that led every person in our class to have confidence in their idea and create for themselves a clear path toward success. There’s this idea called the Pygmalion Effect I learned about recently where if you use words of encouragement and unwavering fatih in someone that they will overcome their weaknesses and, because they don’t want to let you down, will often either consciously or subconsciously work to rise to the challenge and succeed. I’m not sure if Jeff is actively applying this concept to us or whether he’s just a genuinely encouraging guy, but I do know that his words of encouragement and belief in me have become a serious driving force behind my desire to succeed in my business. In a year, I want to go visit Jeff and be able to tell him how much TechKnowMe has grown and become one of his success stories.
If you live in Contra Costa County and are seriously committed to starting your own business or already run a business and want to make it run even better, you need to sign up for New Venture Training. I can’t recommend it enough.
TechKnowMe provides web site consulting, design and development services for small businesses in Contra Costa County. Founder Rob Zazueta has served as a freelance web developer in addition to his full time web development jobs for many years, and has continually heard the same complaints from all of his clients. They found someone to build their web site, paid them quite a bit of money and, more often than not, the person developing the web site either didn’t deliver what the customer expected or simply disappeared after it was complete. When the customer goes back to the developer months later to expand or fix the site, the developer is nowhere to be found.
TechKnowMe knows that your website is an integral part of your business’s success and is comitted to ensuring it continues to meet your business goals and grow and expand as your business grows and expands. We work closely with you to make sure your site continually meets your expectations and provide detailed analysis of how successful your online efforts are in meeting your goals. We don’t burden you with technical details or confound you with geek jargon. Instead, we show you exactly how your online efforts are performing so that you know what’s working, what isn’t and find new ways to market and expand your business that you may not have considered. We give you the freedom to focus on your number one priority - building your business.
If you have a website that isn’t delivering the results you want or need to develop a new online strategy and want to start off right, give TechKnowMe a call at (925) 246-5449. TechKnowMe is Your Web Team.
