Saturday, March 13, 2010

This years theme: Re-igniting your Business and Positioning Yourself for Sustainable Success

Women Entrepreneurs Institute (WEI) is hosting their 4th Annual WEI Educational Summit on at the Wharfinger Building, #1 Marina Way in Eureka and creating an exciting forum for women business owners to gather together for support, encouragement and inspiration to succeed and thrive in their respective businesses.

Keynote speaker Susan Wilson Solovic, internationally acclaimed author, speaker and business owner with a law degree, will be inspiring and motivating with her experience and practical ideas on taking our businesses to the next level of success.

Solovic is the author The Girls' Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business which is consistently ranked high as a great resource for women in business and is listed as a "must read" in Entrepreneur magazine. Solovic made her debut as an author with The Girls' Guide to Power and Success. Solovic's books are being published in Korea, China and Thailand. She is CEO of SBTV.com - Small Business Television. SBTV.com, the first and only video news and information destination site for America's small businesses.

Social Networking For Your Business

Description:
Social networking is a critical component of marketing your business and maintaining professional relationships. In this session, you'll learn how social networking tools such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs can help you promote your business and attract new customers. The session will include a basic overview and instruction for how to get started and make the best use of social networking sites.

Bio:
Daria Topousis leads the rollout and maintenance of engineering communities of practice for NASA. In her 14 years working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, she has worked on information systems design, collaborative technologies, and social networking. She is primary author on several papers on collaborative technologies, which have been presented at the International Astronautical Congress and the IEEE Space Mission Challenges for Information Technology conference, among others. She is also President of the Board of the Redwood Technology Consortium.

WELLNESS . . . Essential for YOU and Your BUSINESS

Description:
This interactive workshop will focus on intentionally claiming your natural state of Wellness and reinforce the value of maintaining and sustaining a healthy career life balance. Tangible strategies and exercises for staying healthy and strong will be demonstrated-balancing exercises from Gi Gong and the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Resources and practical tools will be shared to help you embrace and sustain your overall Wellness.

Bio: (2 facilitators)
Jessica Baker, LAc.,owner of Jade Dragon Medical Spa in Arcata, has an avid interest in herbal and plant medicine and believes "when energy flows, wellness grows. She has trained with Jane Bothwell, the Dandelion Herbal Center in Kneeland;completed a Community Herbalist Certification with Christopher Hobbs; and received certification as a, LAc in Southern Oregon, studying Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic techniques, theories and herbs. Jessica is a certified Medical Qi Gong Practitioner.

Laura Guerra is a Holistic Health Care Practitioner with a licensed RN and Family Nurse Practitioner background combined with in-depth study and certification in classical homeopathic medicine. She is passionate about Wellness and guides others in maintaining a healthy body, mind and spirit. She is a life-long learner in homeopathy, energy medicine, Yoga and Qi Gong.

Increasing Your Business Cash Flow

Description:
Managing your financial operating cycle for more efficiency and profit is essential for your sustainable business success. In this workshop, you will gain valuable insight for better understanding your business financial reports and learn important distinctions and relationships in the financial operating cycle. This understanding will allow you to make more efficient use of your capital and increase your cash flow.

Bio:
Sharon Taylor is the owner of Reflections Jewelry Inc., a sterling silver jewelry company that has international wholesale and local retail operations. Before Reflections, her career has included managerial and executive positions in several local retail and wholesale organizations. Her background includes many years in retail merchandising, marketing and management, as well as wholesale jewelry management encompassing all phases of product development, manufacturing, sales, marketing and operations.

Making Your Website Work for You: Tips, Tricks and Must Have Information to Help You Succeed Online

Description:
How can your website do more of the work for you? What is SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and why is it important to your business? In this workshop we will discuss how your website can improve your customer service and marketing strategy as well as the importance of optimizing your business website to help you increase your rankings in search engines. Whether you have created your own website or have had it done professionally, it is important to understand and make the best use of your website and SEO. We will offer practical ways to increase your visibility, draw more customers, and share valuable resources and links to help you understand what is behind your website to give you a competitive edge.

Bio
Penny Schafer is the owner of Taraluna - Fair Trade, Organic & Green Gifts, an online retail business opened in 2005. Taraluna realized profits the first year and has grown each year using online marketing, SEO, newsletters, social marketing and online retail outlets such as Amazon.com. Penny has experienced first hand the benefits of doing business online, keeping up with technology and finding free and low cost resources and marketing tools that she will share with you.

Two Outstanding Women in Business Being Honored

WEI is very excited this year to be honoring two (2) outstanding women in business who have had a positive economic impact in Humboldt County - Barbara Groom, Owner/Brewmaster of Lost Coast Brewery in Eureka, and Larona Farnum, Owner/Manager of Timber Ridge Senior Assisted Living in Eureka and McKinleyville. Come join us in celebrating these dedicated local Entrepreneurs.

Both Honorees are seasoned business owners and have started and succeeded in establishing successful businesses in Humboldt County. They continue to thrive in tough economic times and know what it takes to be innovative in uncertain times. They both actively give back to our community with their community involvements and are making a real contribution to Humboldt County.

After seven years of the high life in the City, Barbara moved to Humboldt County to take a job at Bowman's Drugs in Fortuna. In 1989 she started the Lost Coast Brewery and Café. Under her guidance Lost Coast Brewer moved from being a small brew pub to becoming a national and international award-winning regional brewery.

She is a member of the Board of Directors for Access Humboldt, Humboldt County Visitors and Convention Bureau, Humboldt County Workforce Investment Board, Humboldt Botanical Garden Foundation, Mobile Medical, and the Timber Heritage Society. She is a past Board member of the Ink People, the Eureka Theater, Eureka/Nelson, N.Z. Sister City, Eureka Chamber of Commerce, and Eureka Main Street.

Barbara served as Treasurer of the Northern California Master Brewers Association and Vice President of the California Small Brewers Association.

Larona Farnum was born in Long Beach, California and graduated from Downey High School in 1968. She attended Cal State Fullerton for 3 years and in 1971 moved to San Francisco with her new husband, Dan Farnum. Over the next few years Dan pursued his medical career, eventually becoming an Orthopedic surgeon. They had their first child, Daphne in 1972. A little boy, Shane in 1975 and in 1977 their 3rd child, Erica was born.

In 1981, Dan had finished his residency and had the opportunity to work in either San Diego, Santa Maria or Humboldt County. After flying into Humboldt County on a beautiful, sunny, winter day and seeing the green pastures and meeting the people, they were hooked and knew they had found their new home.

Dan soon decided to open his own practice. Larona joined him and together they built a viable orthopedic practice. In 1995 when Dan merged with other orthopedics to open a joint office, the other surgeons insisted that Larona be included in the merger and come to work for them as one of their office managers before they would agree to close the deal.

Over the years Larona played an active part in building the orthopedic business while at the same time raising three children. She was surprised to find she had a talent as an entrepreneur when she and Dan began successfully investing in various businesses in both Humboldt County and other areas and managing those investments.

Those businesses included car washes in Eureka and Redding, and a blueberry farm that produced not only blueberry jam but a variety of other products. Then in 1998 Dan and Larona, along with Dan and Kendra Johnson, opened Timber Ridge Assisted Living in Eureka which has since expanded to the McKinleyville area. When the manager for Timber Ridge unexpectedly left, Larona's partners urged her to fill that position. She agreed to do that for one year and now, 12 years later is fully engaged in running all of the Timber Ridge facilities which provide care for seniors and jobs for over 96 people.

For More Information on Event Contact: Lisa Fryrear 707.407.8878 and Sharon Taylor 707.441.8600, co-chairs for this March Event. More will be shared as event planning details unfold.
Event Flyer