Global Entrepreneurship Week Missouri 2021

This annual professional development event highlights resources, issues, and practical concerns that artist and other creatives need to navigate as they develop and maintain their professional practice. Participants have the opportunity to hear from art professionals from the region discuss opportunities and challenges on the business side of their profession. MSSU design students will also have an opportunity to participate in a separate breakout portfolio review session.

This annual professional development event highlights resources, issues, and practical concerns that artist and other creatives need to navigate as they develop and maintain their professional practice. Participants have the opportunity to hear from art professionals from the region discuss opportunities and challenges on the business side of their profession. MSSU design students will also have an opportunity to participate in a separate breakout portfolio review session.

Entrepreneurs, small business owners, companies and anyone in between is invited to attend Morning Coffee Kickoff parties being held at coffee shops throughout the Kansas City Metro. Come out, meet someone new and plan your week of celebrating local innovators and job creators. The coffee’s on you but the networking’s on us!

To participate, register here and stay tuned to the GEWKC website (https://www.kcsourcelink.com/gew/home2) for the coffee shop locations. Then, choose a location, grab a coffee and use the hashtag #GEWKC to let us see your networking in action!

Join The Freelance Exchange at GEW to learn how to work with freelance creatives who are committed to helping you grow your business with their talents. Writers, designers, photographers and more will answer FAQs, share best practices and industry standards and offer enlightening commentary on what to expect and how to find the right freelancer for you. Bring your questions and engage with these talented self-employed professionals by way of a moderated Zoom panel. Whether your needs are for Art Direction or Website Design—or anyplace in between—The Freelance Exchange can help. Learn more about the organization.

Have an idea for a business but don't know where to start? This session will give you actionable steps to start the process of making your business idea come to life. Get real-life tips and tools based on proven experience helping entrepreneurs start and scale their ventures. Helpful even if you’ve started but want to make sure you’re on the right track. Participants will have the option of joining a startup group that will meet monthly to continue the process of building their business.

Entrepreneurs, small business owners, companies and anyone in between is invited to attend Morning Coffee Kickoff parties being held at coffee shops throughout the Kansas City Metro. Come out, meet someone new and plan your week of celebrating local innovators and job creators. The coffee’s on you but the networking’s on us!

To participate, register here and stay tuned to the GEWKC website (https://www.kcsourcelink.com/gew/home2) for the coffee shop locations. Then, choose a location, grab a coffee and use the hashtag #GEWKC to let us see your networking in action!

Entrepreneurs, small business owners, companies and anyone in between is invited to attend Morning Coffee Kickoff parties being held at coffee shops throughout the Kansas City Metro. Come out, meet someone new and plan your week of celebrating local innovators and job creators. The coffee’s on you but the networking’s on us!

To participate, register here and stay tuned to the GEWKC website (https://www.kcsourcelink.com/gew/home2) for the coffee shop locations. Then, choose a location, grab a coffee and use the hashtag #GEWKC to let us see your networking in action!

Learn why having the right mindset is important, the characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset, how to cultivate the right mindset for success and how to be unstoppable.

Owning a business takes careful planning and strategic execution to have a chance at being successful. Join us to learn how to identify your "why" for getting into business, how to gain support and how to navigate the different frameworks of business ownership.

The agenda for this meeting:
- Why business ownership
- Options for getting into gusiness (start a business, buy an existing business, franchise)
- Risks rewards of business ownership
- Myths and realities of franchising
- How to identify the best business option for you
- Building your personal business model

This workshop will focus on training and developing your next generation of supervisors. We will discuss the interpersonal skills required to be an effective leader, building trust, motivating teams, problem solving, facilitating, conflict resolution along with training and developing your workers.

If you are writer, maker or artist who would rather create than sell, this class is for you. In this informative and interactive presentation with an experience marketing coach who specializes in creative entrepreneurship, you will discover:
1) How to get unstuck and have fun selling the things you create
2) Business and marketing plans that are easy for creatives
3) How to combine online marketing with in-person events
4) What to do today to grow your creative business.
Join us and break free from the dread of marketing and sales!

Does working a day job and starting a business sound too good to be true? If so, register for this franchising workshop to learn about semi-absentee franchise ownership as a way to start your business. Learn about some recession-resistant and/or essential service models that franchising has to offer. You will learn: What is semi-absentee ownership? How to decide if franchising is right for you Examples of semi-absentee franchise concepts Examples of recession-resistant and/or essential service models How to find truly semi-absentee franchise opportunity

This training will be a demonstration of QuickBooks Desktop and how to best utilize the program and its features. This training will be a free, one hour training via Zoom. You will be sent a link to Zoom after you register for the event.

Establishing Second Chances Through Work program is for youth who face felony charges or have pending cases. We want to give our youth a second chance in life, no matter their background.

While there are tons of self-help books about it, Cami explains why true work-life balance is actually impossible. "Work-life balance" implies not only that work and life are separate, but that both parts are always equal and need to be in stasis. This couldn't be farther from the truth! Audiences will learn… • How a work-life balance can be the death of creativity, • What's better to strive for than balance, and… • How to survive and thrive using real-world examples and techniques.

Building a team, hiring talent and getting people on board can be daunting. Do you contract with employees? Hire them outright? Discussion will focus on pros, cons, compliance and risks associated with getting people on board with your new venture.

The Regnier Institute's Regnier Mentor Program will host a panel to share with business owners what the program has to offer and how they can get involved.

Those aiming to scale their business will learn the tools they need to be successful, like communication, cascading priorities throughout the organization and an external guide that holds the team accountable and keeps the momentum going.

Are you constantly nagging or berating yourself for what you should do, or what you haven’t done? It just might be your inner critic! We all have one, but it can sometimes be hard to recognize it… much less make it work for you instead of against you. Attendees will learn: • More easily identify your inner critic’s voice • Pinpoint and combat self-limiting stories • Use tools to tame that inner critic beast and make it your creative ally

Many entrepreneurs have an idea for a revolutionary product or idea. Or they think they can do something better, cheaper or faster than their competitors. This great idea is the source of the passion and commitment they need to take the risk of entrepreneurship, but it is not a leadership vision. In this session, we will learn how to build upon your business idea to create a leadership vision through a functional approach to leadership. Each participant will leave with a draft story of vision, ideas where to find the words and practice telling the story of vision with feedback.

When it comes to your business being successful or failing, there’s one thing that only you can do to set the stage for continued success: adjust your mindset! Easier said than done, right? How can you reap all the benefits of a positive mindset and still be your authentic self? Attendees will learn: • The common denominators that all successful businesses share • How to recognize and deprogram self-sabotaging thoughts and behaviors • Daily science-based practices that help you create tangible success

As a social entrepreneur, you don't go to work each day for the fame and glory. You do it because you believe it’s your responsibility to help make the world a better place.

And while you're doing amazing work and changing lives, your needs can fall by the wayside. In this workshop, you'll learn everything you need to bring more grace, ease and joy to your life—all in less than 15 minutes a day!

Are you ready to have the physical, mental and emotional energy to get through each day while still retaining a positive attitude? I'm ready to show you how!

Owning a business takes careful planning and strategic execution to have a chance at being successful. Join us to learn how to identify your "why" for getting into business, how to gain support and how to navigate the different frameworks of business ownership.

The agenda for this meeting:
- Why business ownership
- Options for getting into business (start a business, buy an existing business, franchise)
- Risks rewards of business ownership
- Myths and realities of franchising
- How to identify the best business option for you
- Building your personal business model

Review the four key areas of how to prepare for applying for small business loan.

Attend NetStandard's virtual webinar, where we will discuss some of the recent high-profile cyber attacks such as Colonial Pipeline. You will receive real actionable items to implement in your business right away and keep from becoming the next victim.

As humans, our innate tendency to make observations, form opinions, and shape judgments within seconds of meeting someone; this activity can, and does lead to assumptions. Through familial socialization, previously learned behavior, and lived experiences, our assumptions can result in developing cliques and (unconscious and conscious?) exclusionary behavior.

In this workshop, participants will learn about discovering their target markets and gaining a better appreciation of why businesses need to understand their customers. Participants will also learn the steps in registering their business with the federal, state and local agencies. Participants will learn the basics of understanding the importance of cash flow projections and various funding alternatives.

Access to the internet is critical to the success of emerging entrepreneurs and small business owners. The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to implement services to support digital access and digital equity for this sector of the KC entrepreneur ecosystem.

The pandemic has caused rapid evolution to our workforce, and if your hiring practices haven't evolved along with it, you're already behind. In today's world, recruiting and hiring goes beyond HR – leaders of companies of all sizes need to think creatively about sourcing the best and brightest junior talent. During this session hosted by LaunchCode, you'll hear from the region's top tech leaders on "new-normal hiring" and leave with tips to transform your resume reviews into a strategic talent strategy that will allow your company to thrive in this swiftly-evolving world.

You're ready for some help, and you can hire a contractor. Yea! But how do you know whom to trust? There are quite a few people who are more than happy to provide you with services. But you've heard the horror stories about those who will never actually do the work you paid for. This class will give you 10+ actions you can take to help you protect yourself from the bad actors. Nothing is ever guaranteed, but using some of these tools might help you sleep better. Why is a company that makes shark repellent teaching this class? Been there. Done that. Wanna help you NOT go there and NOT do that.

Stressed? Decades of research suggest that setting aside time for mindfulness and meditation can improve concentration and reduce stress. Yep, by doing nothing. Don't know how to get started? No worries. Join this regular meditation leader at Unity Temple on the Plaza and former meditation and mindfulness instructor for Hallmark and TVH North America headquarters.

You started your business for the freedom that comes from running your own company; the freedom to earn what you deserve, to work for whoever you want, when you want, and from wherever you want. This powerful workshop will get you on track to gain the freedom you envisioned to have as a business owner! Time: 2.5 hours

This session gives participants insight into being young and limitless. During the presentation, we will discuss barriers to opportunities in entrepreneurship and reflect on why entrepreneurship is needed in the 21st century. They'll cover why we need for more eship opportunities for youth and examine the impact for them and their communities.

Need to give a presentation that moves your audience to pay attention? To donate? To sign up? To fund your big idea? Attendees will learn: • the worst mistakes from presentations gone wrong • examples of the best presentations • and the formula proven to MOVE audiences into action!

This will be a facilitated panel discussion featuring 2-3 family members working in their family's business. Each panelist represents either a 2nd (or 3rd) generation family member. The discussion will explore both opportunities and challenges by sharing real-world experiences from these "next generation" family members. Q&A will follow the panel presentation.

KC Velocity is hosting a happy hour networking event from 4:45pm to 6:00pm where entrepreneurs can meet and mingle. Cocktails and light appetizers will be served.

Fast track your invention, and turn years into months with a guided proven path, with coaches, mentors, free KC resources, funding, marketing and much more.
This session is followed by a Q&A on patents and copyrights answered by a panel of patent attorneys.

"Perfecting Your Value Proposition" will include both a information-filled presentation followed by an interactive exercise during which participants will practice communicating their Value Proposition.

KC Velocity is hosting a happy hour networking event from 4:45pm to 6:00pm where entrepreneurs can meet and mingle. Cocktails and light appetizers will be served.

If you dream of getting your food product onto store shelves, let Xander Winkel from the Ennovation Center’s food incubator help you realize it. Learn the regulations, how to price your products, how to work with grocery stores, how to market your product, and how to scale your business to keep up with demand. This program is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. To view this class, visit the Food Ed Facebook Account at https://www.facebook.com/mcplfooded.

Mickey Parker, CPA at Accelefund, will discuss a little known strategy for investing your 401(k) or IRA in your own business, without paying taxes and penalties on a retirement plan distribution. Join Mickey to learn more about this business financing option that has been around for decades yet very few people seem to know about.

Successful business ownership doesn’t have to be a solitary endeavor. Join Dr Patricia Eisele for a 90-minute Zoom seminar on creating a sustainable business with your closest partner. Dr Eisele’s landmark research into entrepreneurial couples who founded and managed businesses as equals for more than 20 years revealed a successful model of harmonized business, family and personal domains. 60-minute presentation followed by a 30-minute question session.

Hear from students from Wyandotte High School about operating a business while in high school, on campus. Suite 1886 is the first co-working space in a high school, in the state of Kansas. Come out and visit the space and learn about the rich history of the historical site.

Many businesses assume that direct mail in marketing is dead or ineffective. However, with the right strategy, direct mail is highly effective. For a growing business, mail can provide your customers with a unique, personalized experience that helps your business stand out from the crowd. And when combined with digital or other marketing methods, success only gets better. Learn the benefits of direct mail, and how to create a strategy that works.

Join Savvy Salon KC for an in-depth panel discussion with successful local beauty entrepreneurs from different walks of life to help you unlock amazing concepts that will take your business to the next level. They will dig in to strategies and best practices to help you thrive during these trying times as a beauty entrepreneur.
Topics will include:
-Identifying your "why"
-Online marketing and branding that works
-World class service: What does it mean?
-Thinking outside of the box
-Knowing your numbers

Learn how to handle payments from international clients and offer services around the globe while maintaining correct accounting and tax procedures; payment processing options for U.S.-based contractors, employees and international providers; accounting software; setup and efficient use; tax needs and up-to-date 1099 requirements.

Join us at 9am CST for a Zoom meeting or follow along via Facebook live at our page: https://www.facebook.com/1MCColumbia.

What does the public library have to do with business?! More than you know! Join Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Kansas Public Library and Mid-Continent Public Library for a deep dive into the data that can help your business level up. Public libraries have invested in multiple databases so you have free access into the information that can give you the edge over your competition. Let us show you the data! This program is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. To view this class, visit https://www.facebook.com/mcplsquareone.

Join Missouri K-12 after-school/summer enrichment programs and youth-serving organizations in the “fish bowl” as we talk entrepreneurship after school. Hosted by the Missouri AfterSchool Network (MASN), school-age care providers network, exchange ideas and learn directly from each other through monthly Peer Learning Community (PLC) meetings. In this open PLC session, Kansas City-area nonprofit leaders and after-school ambassadors highlight how they are engaging students in entrepreneurial learning during out-of-school time, toward a more K-12/youth-inclusive ecosystem.

Do you find yourself with great ideas but less-than-great follow through? Have you struggled with self-doubt? Ever wonder what it would take to get past your own procrastination? This session is for you. Attendees will learn: • The basic science behind why change or breaking bad habits is so hard • Ways to uncover origins of self-limiting beliefs • Ways to stay motivated even through things like a pandemic

Startup Grind is the world's largest community of startups, founders, innovators and creators. Therese Gamble, chapter director Jacksonville, will talk about bridge building and connecting the dots for entrepreneurs and the local ecosystem. You'll also have an opportunity to hear from two metro area resources that are free and available for entrepreneurs, innovators, small business owners and creators. There will be an opportunity to break out and connect with other business owners and leaders in the community to learn, share and succeed together.

Learn how to create a fundable business model that will help you attract the funding you need before you start the business.  This is called Entrepreneurial Financial Literacy (TM).  Lenders and Investors expect you to know these things.  Let the Entrepreneurial Resource and Training Center teach you the Language of Business which is Financial.      

One of the biggest things that the BBB brings to the table is direct customer feedback in the form of complaints, business reviews and analytics. With this valuable information, we have built our BBB Build to Win program based on these basic pillars: accounting, finance, human resources, sales and marketing, technology and operations. Our workshop will be focused on helping all stages of businesses create or recover, and maintain a successful business.

This session helps women understand the importance of being smarter with their money, bu speaking to the issue of how intimidating the world of finance can be for women. Learn about helpful tools to help navigate financial stability in today's world regardless of your age. Listen to the learnings of collegiate women who started and grew a stock trading experiment (Her Investment House) on campus. They will share their fears, their experience and their passion about helping women protect themselves by understanding their money.

Learn about free resources available through the U.S. Small Business Administration to help you plan, launch, manage and grow your business. We will also talk about Entrepreneurial Development, Access to Capital, Government Contracting, Small Business Certifications, Disaster Recovery, and International Trade.

Need help with your business? Take a look, it’s in a book. But, don’t take my word for it. Come share your favorite business books with other small business owners. What book made you a better leader or helped you understand a difficult business concept? What is the best business audiobook to listen to on your commute? Which entrepreneur biographies have inspired you? Share your book recommendations and find a few new titles to check out at your local library.

Join Spark Coworking Director Shervonne Cherry as she discusses how coworking benefits members and the community during changing times. A study conducted by Fundera in the fourth quarter of 2020 reported that over 80% of individuals claimed to be happier after joining a coworking space and have expanded their professional networks. How are you utilizing community to thrive in a changing environment? Join us as we share how to embrace the benefits of coworking communities and keyways to creatively include Future of Work trends in your professional goals.

We all want to be successful. And while you may know your craft and do it well, something that’s often not talked about is the mindset part of things.

Yet, so much of getting ahead has to do with mindset! YOU are the one who determines if you succeed.

So, take control and boost your chances by learning how to:
• take your business seriously
• get—and stay!—motivated
• establish healthy boundaries

It’s time to treat your business like a business, not like a hobby.

You ready? Join Julie Cortes at GEWKC and walk away confident, empowered and ready to take your solo business to the next level.

Submit a pitch video describing your business, your team and how you are taking your business to the next level. Your idea will be entered into the running for an opportunity to present during the Closing the Deal live pitching event of the AltCap Your Biz Pitch Competition during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The top three businesses will receive a cash award of up to $10,000 as well as access to our business advisory resources.

2024 will be here before you know it, and now is the time to prepare for growth and profits. This workshop gives participants tools to assess their current reality and where they want to be in the next three years. Assessment sheets will be sent to attendees after the program.

Having the right customer avatar is key to the success of your marketing. A fully conceived customer avatar will help you find better customers, fine tune your brand and say all the right things to make the sale. In this workshop, Kim Beer will walk you through the five essential categories you need to know to attract the perfect customers to your business. Plus a resource librarian will help you discover library resources that will lead you to the data you need to know your customer avatar even more completely.

When it comes to ROI for your business, email marketing is the queen bee. For every $1 spent, the average return is $42. Furthermore, when someone voluntarily shares their email address with you, they’re giving you permission to contact them directly. They want to hear from you. That’s gold for your business. But how do you get started, or improve, email marketing for your business? Get the answers to these and other questions from Marie Newell, designer turned marketer with over 11 years of industry experience!

Content marketing is the most powerful tool at an entrepreneur's disposal, but how do you know where to start? Join the folks from No-Where Consultants for a walk-through of how to organize your thoughts, capitalize on your unique opportunities and build a content library that helps to move the needle on your business.

How do you find the balance of running your own business while having children at home? With entrepreneurship in our blood, we cannot help but be a CEO. Sometimes motherhood seems to take away our life calling; however, there is a way to do both!

This live virtual lecture will examine the costs associated with inventory, common inventory control methods, types of inventory, formulas for determining stock levels, focus on cycle counting and just-in-time inventory and much more.

According to Seth Levine and Elizabeth MacBride, authors of The New Builders, "the dominant image of an entrepreneur as a young white man starting a tech business on the coasts isn't correct at all. Today's American entrepreneurs, the people who drive critical parts of our economy, are more likely to be female and non-white." Hear from two "women-to-be reckoned with" (India Wells-Carter, Fresh Factory KC and Elle Steadman, The Pink Dinosaur) on their success as partnering pop-up businesses and how communities can courageously support locally-owned, women-owned and black-owned business in KC.

Is your business model working? Join Kimberly Beer to learn how to stop the chaos and create meaningful direction in your business while ensuring your business idea is solid. Ideal for new entrepreneurs looking to define their concept and seasoned business owners who want to prevent the dreaded three- and five-year business slumps. This program is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Viewing Format: Zoom link will be provided. Registration is required to receive the packet with supplies for this activity-based class.

We are often told as professionals to "network", but no one is really taught why and how. This session breaks down the importance of networking, how to make yourself more comfortable with groups and small talk, and setting expectations for success in network at any event, at any career level, for anyone.

What does your business do and why? What do you want most to accomplish? Who do you serve? A clear vision (for you, not your customers) is a master guide that will help you answer these questions, stay focused, make decisions and direct capital. In this hands-on workshop, you will write a new or clarify your current business vision that builds in you the fire to win.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we engage with associates and teams. There are now a lot of teams who work in a hybrid or virtual environment. Games are a unique tool that can be used to bring together teams, teach new skills and help us adapt to the modern workplace. This is especially important for Millennials and Generation Z who have spent their entire lives playing games and want to see them in the workplace. The presentation will provide an overview of the history of games, explore team building games and share best practices for using games at work.

Your branding matters. And too many entrepreneurs create a brand without thinking about what they can (and maybe more importantly, cannot) do with the branding the create.

In this virtual session, attorney Chris Brown with Pixel Law, will walk entrepreneurs through the most important trademark topics they should know, including what makes a good trademark, how to protect your trademark, how to avoid infringing the rights of others and more. The presentation will take about 20-25 minutes, allowing for plenty of time for Q&A.

Starting a business is exciting, but where do you start? Let’s ask some pros! We have a panel packed with Veteran Business Owners, led by VetBiz’s Mitch Fitzpatrick, who had all the same startup questions you do. After the panel we will use breakout sessions to explore key foundational business issues like funding, marketing/branding, and tax formation. Join Square One Small Business to share your stories and ask your questions! This program is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

With the Entrepreneurial Operating System, you and your team can get on the same page and move in the same direction so you can grow your business. During this session, you'll learn how to get the right people in the right seats, create the right metrics to monitor progress, run an effective weekly meeting to keep your team on track and solve issues permanently.

With the rise of online shopping and the ease of internet advertising, it is important for any company to distinguish itself from what may seem like an endless list of competitors. The first step in this endeavor is to select a strong trademark that consumers will remember and use to identify your particular products or services from those of others. This session will provide basic strategies to strengthen your brand name, as well as an overview of measures available to protect the trademark value associated with your brand.

Many startup founders do not have a background in sales and sales leadership. Consequently, when they hire for sales positions, employees are often terminated after just a few months because they don't produce results. The root cause lies in the inexperience of the founder. Don't let this happen to you! During this event, we will review all the right steps a founder must take before hiring a first salesperson. These steps will ensure success for both the business and the salesperson.

The Entrepreneurial Equation Seminar gives ideas for putting banking, retirement and insurance tools to work to build and protect your business.

This roundtable forum will host three local entrepreneurs as they tell their story about their ups and downs from their experience in launching and growing their small businesses. There will be time for an open Question and Answer forum at the end.

Trade Shows are coming back with a vengeance! Are you ready?

What are the hacks to maximize your tradeshow spend? What email techniques will drive sales directly out of your tradeshow booth? Find out the tips and tricks to maximize your exposure before and during the tradeshow.

Anxiety is a growing challenge that leaders and entrepreneurs must address to retain and attract top talent. Understanding how to address anxiety and mental health is essential to success. During this session, we will review how analytics can help leaders measure the level of anxiety within their workforce and identify the actions they can take to directly improve employee well-being and performance.

Any business starts with an idea: an invention, a brand, a creation. These inventions, brands and creations can be valuable intellectual property for a business, but they often must be protected before you even start your business. So, what steps should you take to protect your intellectual property? This session will teach attendees the basic modes for protecting their intellectual property, such as patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets. Factors important to startups will also be discussed, including deadlines, costs and common pitfalls.

Celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week with us at East Forty Brewing After Hours Connecting Events. Here is a chance to connect with business owners and representatives of all different levels and sizes.

InnovateHER KC is bringing together some of KC's most innovative female founders to learn about what they're up to and celebrate their accomplishments. This event is an opportunity to celebrate the awesome products and companies these women-forward organizations are leading.

Join InnovateHER KC for some virtual fun, startup successes and incredible #innovatehers on November 12th as they champion female founders in Kansas City.

Navigating the sea of vendors, whether it's digital marketing agencies or dev shops in and around the nation, can be overwhelming. Especially if you're just starting out. Join us for a discussion about what you, the customer, need to know to improve your chances for vendor success!

The Comeback KC Ventures program is designed to highlight new solutions that have emerged in response to COVID-19 and to support entrepreneurs as they develop these solutions into products, service lines and businesses. The 18-month program is led by KC Digital Drive and the UMKC Innovation Center. Our first Demo Day will allow early participants in the program a chance to show off what they have been working on. We will also provide an overview of the program including how others can participate as either startups, advisors or mentors.

This live virtual lecture will discuss selecting the right LMS, common functions, creating content as well as structure and time of courses and modules.

With health risks and vulnerabilities in global supply chains affecting our lives like never before, it warrants a discussion about what steps we can take to increase resiliency here in KC. In order to create a sustainable future for ourselves, our community and our planet, we must create simplified and accessible ways to make it easy for residents of our region to take the most sustainable actions. The Kansas City Wellness Club invites you to join a panel of local community leaders, business owners, and experts as they discuss solutions in the recently renovated and rebirthed historic Kansas City Club building! 

"What You Need to Know to Market Your Entrepreneurial Venture" will be a facilitated panel discussion during which local entrepreneurs will share 'what they needed to know about marketing their business'. They will share what marketing initiatives they did implement as well as those initiatives they wish they had!

Entrepreneurs create over 60% of the net new jobs in the KC regional economy year-in and year-out. Programs that support entrepreneurial growth are providing a 4:1 ROI in the form of economic activity taxes (EATs) to local and state governments. Meanwhile, the economic development incentives paradigm in the KC region continues to favor business attraction incentives that have been proven to negatively affect the tax base of both Kansas and Missouri state and local governments. Join us for a discussion of how the Entrepreneur Support Strategy Group, an entrepreneur-led initiative, is changing the conversation with policy makers and economic development agencies towards supporting locally-owned small businesses and locally-grown entrepreneurs.

This session will focus on how you can be true to yourself when starting or building a business.

This session looks at the connection between purpose and profit as a catalyst for growth and positive impact. We'll cover four steps of a proven model.
1) Defining your purpose (the impact you want to have);
2) Identifying the potential (market fit and scale);
3) Modeling for profit (delivering return on investment/impact); and
4) Developing your plan (roadmap to align and act regardless of venture life stage).

In this workshop, participants will learn about the different platforms of social media and how to utilize those for their individual marketing needs.

The Sewing Labs was founded by women entrepreneurs who realized the power of a sewing machine and how it can lead to a life of financial dignity, creativity and entrepreneurial success.
Come learn the HERstory of this organization and how the Sewing Labs is a welcoming and inclusive community teaching the legacy of sewing for employment, entrepreneurship and enrichment. Meet successful students who completed training with this nonprofit and are now successful entrepreneurs. The Sewing Labs will host panel discussions to inspire you.

Have you wanted to work in the startup ecosystem and help early-stage founders, but not sure how to break in? Join this event where we'll talk through some beginner information about the startups and founders and how you can begin to offer your time and expertise to entrepreneurs in one of the more innovative and agile spaces.

Current CEO of Innovare Social Innovation Partners, AJ DeLeon is defying odds by growing his edtech business during an unprecedented year. Currently, only 2.4% of Black and Latinx founders receive venture capital funding in the United States. This dismal reality has made it difficult for entrepreneurs of color to grow their businesses. During a year that tested all entrepreneurs, AJ DeLeon was able to raise $3M dollars and also grow his company’s revenue from $800K to $1.2M. Join us to learn more about how AJ DeLeon is scaling his social impact business as a Latinx entrepreneur, and learn tips to scale yours.

Join speakers Father Justin and John Tyler at a fireside chat as they discuss the meaning of social venture.

Join us for a fireside chat with Father Justin and John Tyler.

In this panel discussion, social venture founders in Kansas City share their drive to make a positive impact in the community and beyond. From seeing a societal problem that needs a solution to create opportunity and make life more equitable, to launching and scaling their venture to fill the gap. Learn from perspective and experience what the journey is like to follow your passion and drive change, both personally and professionally. Registrants will have the opportunity to submit questions in advance for discussion.

Discussion on why virtual events are not going away any time soon and why hybrid events will be the new "normal."

Speakers: Global Prairie, CEO, Anne St. Peter No-Where Consultants, CEO, Larissa Uredi Barkley, TBD – Jim E Recommendation Travios, President, Phil Glynn Moderator: TBD

This would be a quick announcement of the LaunchKC + Keystone Social Venture Studio and the details of the program.

Happy Hour to introduce folks to the Innovation District and building.

Society can paint a different picture when it comes to business, specifically in the world of entrepreneurship, but even more for men of color. Hear from guest panelists from Blakk™, a members only gentlemen's club, as they discuss some of the challenges, barriers and resources they've experienced firsthand as entrepreneurs and business owners.

Two mothers will share their experiences as parents of young business owners. The dialogue will be open for participants to engage in the conversation.

¿Quieres poner en marcha un camión de comida? ¿No estás seguro de por dónde empezar, o quizás, de cómo terminar lo que empezaste? Únase con nosotros en este evento de 2 horas diseñado para brindarle las bases para planificar su cocina, equipo, modelo de negocio, marca, finanzas (incluida la financiación) y, por supuesto, para responder a sus preguntas. Su menú puede tener que ver con su estilo personal, pero cuando se trata de administrar un camión de comida rentable, asegúrese de conocer los hechos.

Are you an Entrepreneur 14-18 yrs of age.  Let's work through the process of becoming an Entrepreneur MasterMind.  How to structure your Mindset for Success and implement success strategies.  Learn what it takes to be a successful Young Black MasterMind in Business.  

The purpose for the business gets to the heart of why the company does what it does, helping to guide business decisions by creating a framework that enables the organization to achieve its mission (the what) and vision (the where). This session will help guide youth and families to lay out the organization’s purpose that will help them guide the company into the future.

This event will be structured around artists of all disciplines, whether they're currently working as, or aspiring to build an art career, and how they might prepare and work through the current economic climate we're in. Ben will share some of his experiences during the pandemic to shed light on the topic.

You are encouraged to come a few minutes early if you wish to purchase food & Drink prior to the meeting.

Traditional economic theory stresses that people support new ventures based on the cold logic of rational self-interest. But is this true? Recent research reveals people think as much with their “heart” as their head when they hear a pitch, whether for a social venture or for private enterprise. How do we translate our personal values, often key to our venture, into language that funders might recognize based on their own moral/emotional intuitions? This workshop explains the importance of emotions for decision making, the five basic social categories (following Jonathan Haidt’s research) that govern most moral/emotional commitments, and how to communicate ones vision to articulate, not manipulate, the personal values of potential supporters of your venture.

The federal government is the world's largest consumer of goods and services. This session will discuss the federal government contracting opportunities for small business owners and will teach you how to position your company appropriately to bid on federal government contracts. The federal government allocates approximately $500 billion dollars annually for procurement government contracts. More than 20% ($115B) is set-aside for small businesses.

Do you have a software or startup idea that you want to pursue, but not sure where to begin? Join us as we talk through how to be in the right mindset to pursue your idea and work toward success. At the end of this talk, you will understand the lean startup model and how to move forward with your business.

Are you a small business seeking growth? Have you considered international trade? Join us for this event with guest speakers Joshua Kaplan and Rebecca Nace. Joshua Kaplan is the Office Director of the U.S. Commercial Service, Kansas City Field Office. He will be discussing the following: 1. Introduction of federal government resources available for exporters; 2. Overview of the U.S. Commercial Service Kansas City office; 3. Discussion of research tools available through the Rural Export Center; and 4. Listing of upcoming events and programs, both virtual and in-person. Becky Nace is the Assistant Director and Project Manager for the Mid-America Trade Adjustment Assistance Center. She will be discussing how to access Technical Assistance using cost share funding from the U.S Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administrations Trade Adjustment for Firms Program. This program is a no pay back, cost share funding for up to $150,000.00 in eligible projects.

Missouri exported over $469 million worth of goods and services to Japan in 2020 and Japan was the United States’ 4th largest goods export market in 2020 – representing numerous opportunities for Missouri businesses. Japan is a larger market, importing over $102 billion of United States products and services per year. With trade agreements and favorable economic policies, Japan is a country worth exploring. Learn more about the many opportunities and assistance available for any business interested in exploring international trade with Japan.