BUSINESS & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The Best is Yet to Come! New Career Exploration for 50+ Adults (BUS 050)
If you're 50+, it's your turn now! What do you want to do with the 20+ post-career “bonus years” science has added to mid- life between your primary career and traditional retirement? Experts warn that most people spend more time planning their annual 2-week vacations than planning those decades. Do you want to discover some entirely new career, but don’t know what it is yet? Do you want to continue in your existing work/career but find more time for other things in your life? What new thing do you want to bring in?
Over 70% of people over 50 plan to continue some ”career,” whether working or volunteering. To step into the work and lifestyle you’ve always wanted, start now by first learning about 10 areas of life that need attention, then identifying where you have gaps in these areas, and finally working with a small group on the same journey toward filling those gaps. You’ll build on all you’ve already done to start designing your “post-career” lifestyle or work and you’ll collaborate with others to identify your true motivators and match them to information about new types of “encore” careers and lifestyles. The result: a short, effective plan for your next step.
Betty Burr
Saturday, October 10, 9:00am-5:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-34
$99 (Additional $10 materials fee payable to the instructor during class)
Minding Your Own Business! (BUS 051)
A great product/service + great management + great relations = a successful one-person business! Join us for this informative,inspiring & fun workshop.
PART 1: It’s All About Relationships!
3 major business relationships
Vendors/contractors
Mentors/coaches/colleagues
Your support system
Exceptional client care
Referrals/leads/acknowledgments
Socializing/networking creatively
Practicing the 2 + 4 principle
PART 2: Organizing/Managing Your Home Office
The key to success…set it up to work for you!
Location/zoning/traffic
Agreements with family
Your unique space for ease & pleasure
Systems/equipment/supplies
Office hours/time management
Client meetings (how/where/when)
Tax challenges/benefits
Pricing/contracts/budgets
Staying focused/setting priorities
Avoiding “isolation syndrome”
Danni Burton
Saturday, September 26, 9:00am-4:30pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: L-34
$99 (Additional $5 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Internet Marketing Made Simple
(BUS 052)
Why pay thousands of dollars to learn common sense approaches to business? Let us show you what it takes to succeed with YOUR business online. In this value packed course, you will learn the ins and outs of internet marketing with other like minded individuals. The course will cover:
How to discover the right market with online research tools: Find out what terms and words your market is searching for
How to develop a website that sells: Find out how to develop a website without knowing code and for free. Learn web designs that engage rather than distract your customer.
Testing, testing, testing: Learn how to test a mock product before investing a single dollar into production.
How to beat 60% of the competition in less than ten minutes or 93% in less than four hours of work.
Money matters: How to accept online payments with PayPal, a secure website.
Search engine optimization made easy: 16 simple to follow steps to improve your search engine ranking.
Tracking with Google Analytics: Tracking your impressions, clicks, and conversions while decreasing your advertising expense.
Email marketing made simple: Get subscribers and build relationships.
Resources required for online success: A collection of 20-30 tools that we’ve successfully used in the past. Most are free, the rest are reasonable, all are invaluable.
Adam Costa
Tuesdays, Nov. 3 & Nov. 10, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3203
$89
Advertising Online with Google Adwords (BUS 053)
Want to advertise online but don’t know where to start? Looking for a more effective method of advertising? One where you don't pay until someone actually sees your website? Google AdWords is a great way to market your business, but the learning curve on your own is steeper than a stairway to heaven! In this informative class, you'll learn:
How AdWords works
Simple tools to track your success down to the click
The right way to set up on your online campaign… miss this and you’re sunk before you start!
How to turn Google into your own secretary by creating reports on your progress for you automatically
A ridiculously easy way improve your sales by testing different ads in a matter of minutes
This class is geared towards people new to Google AdWords and will show you step-by-step how to create effective online campaigns that run on autopilot. Learn these tactics before your competitors…enroll today!
The instructor, Adam Costa, is a Google Qualified Advertising Individual and consults others on how to properly manage their online advertising. He is an online entrepreneur and co-author of the book, Business in a Backpack: A Step-By-Step Guide to Running a Profitable Business While Traveling the World.
Adam Costa
Tuesday, November 17, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3201
$65
You’re On The Air: How to Make it in Voice-Overs! (BUS 054)
Voice-overs are hot today! You don’t have to be an actor to get voice-over work, but it certainly doesn’t hurt! With such notable talent as James Earl Jones, Linda Hunt, and Donald Sutherland lending their voices to commercials, films, and videos, one would think that it would be next to impossible to break into this field. Not so! In this class you’ll learn about an exciting new way to get around the competition and actually turn voice-overs into a thriving full or part-time business!
Heather Costa, successful voice-over artist (Playtex, Prentice Hall, ETS), will introduce students to the voice-over business as a whole. She will talk about the numerous opportunities, the income potential, and the all-important demo and how to have it produced. You’ll step up to the microphone to do some practice recording, and best of all, hear the results!
Heather Costa
Wednesday, October 28, 7:00pm-9:00pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3301
$49
All About Patents & Intellectual Property (BUS 055)
Learn all about patent types, searching, and writing patent applications. Protect your ideas before spending money. Learn how to:
- Protect your ideas before filing costly patents
- Search patents worldwide fast, free
- Start building an incredible portfolio – patents, trademarks, copyrights and more in 10 minutes
- Avoid unscrupulous online legal services & invention promotion companies
- File a patent application for only $110
- Secure strong patent protection and save $1000’s!
- Hire an attorney without spending money
- Respond when your patent is infringed
The instructor is the author of From Patent to Profit, Essentials of Patents, and Patent Writer. He has over 25 U.S. Patents with sales over $1 billion. He is a featured speaker, seminar leader and sought-after lecturer who enjoys showing others how to be successful. All participants receive a free Quick Start Guide to start protecting their inventions, patents, trademarks and copyrights in minutes.
Bob DeMatteis
Saturday, October 24, 9:00am-Noon
Location: De Anza College
Room: G-6
$65
Mass Produce & Make Money From Your Inventions (BUS 056)
The process of bringing a new invention/product to market can be costly. Not knowing what to do in this highly complex, competitive world of business will almost guarantee failure. This workshop will show you how to become successful. Learn how to:
- Select a strategy to go into a home-based business, a start-up or licensing
- Use confidentiality agreements to secure partners & financing
- Build dazzling, cost-effective prototypes to attract partners
- Find marketing partners and licensees
- Showcase your invention to product scouts
- Get your inventions sold before they are produced
- Sell your invention on TV infomercials and with DR ads
- License your inventions and patents and avoid start-up costs
Before you pour lots of money into a new idea, use the insights and time-proven methods taught in this workshop to help you bring your invention to life!
Bob DeMatteis
Saturday, October 24, 1:00pm-4:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: G-6
$65
Seven Steps for Small Business Success (BUS 057)
Did you know that over half of new businesses fail within their first four years? This is alarming news! Don’t let your business be one of these casualties. This class is designed to help you beat those odds, one step at a time, with a clear and easy-to-follow recipe that will increase your chances for business success.
You'll learn about the 7 critical areas to address while setting up and growing your business, including:
1. Crafting your compelling business vision
2. Stepping powerfully into your CEO role
3. Creating your business plan
4. Building a strong financial foundation
5. Covering the legal bases
6. Developing your marketing plan and activities
7. Handling the day-to-day operations
The course includes a 20-page Business Success workbook to help you further develop your path toward business success.
Dorcas Kelley specializes in executive coaching, management consulting, and entrepreneurship. With over twenty years of experience in corporate, small business, non-profit, and entrepreneurial environments, Dorcas brings a wealth of skills, talent, and knowledge to her work and teaching.
Dorcas Kelley
Saturday, October 10, 9:00am-4:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-33
$99 (Additional $15 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Marketing Essentials for Your Business (BUS 058)
Marketing your product or service is easier than you think! It doesn’t have to take thousands of dollars or hundreds of hours of your time. There are a wide variety of marketing methods, so you can select those activities that are best suited to your situation. Come learn how you can effectively market your business with relatively little cost, using both online and “offline” avenues. The course will cover:
- Learn the distinction between marketing, advertising and sales. How do each of these important functions uniquely benefit your business?
- Uncover the wide variety of ways to market your product and/or services – both online and “offline” methods will be discussed
- Discover how to market effectively online – tips, techniques, and resources for finding potential customers and building relationships online
- Explore “offline” marketing options such as publicity, print, events, and the best marketing tool of all – referrals
- Identify your ideal customer to help you focus your marketing efforts
- Develop a preliminary marketing plan that is tailored to your business, your ideal customer, your timeframe and your budget
- See 10 ways that you can reduce your marketing costs with minimal impact to effectiveness
- Review the common marketing mistakes so you can avoid them
- Determine your “next steps” and plan to get into action!
The course includes a Marketing Success workbook to help you develop, refine and implement your own effective marketing plan, along with many marketing tips, techniques and resources.
Dorcas Kelley
Saturday, November 14, 9:00am-1:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-35
$65 (Additional $10 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Personal & Professional Branding for Success (BUS 059)
Branding is one of the hottest and most valuable activities in the business world today. You need more than just talent and hard work to be successful. You need to be clear about your brand and how to effectively convey that brand to others. Just as the greatest business brands are appreciated for their authenticity, your personal brand can only succeed when others experience the talents, values, and passion that drive you. Whether you’re changing jobs, enhancing your current position, or self-employed – branding will help you become a star in your chosen field.
- Understand the difference between brand and personality
- Learn why you need to brand yourself for career success
- Uncover your key brand characteristics through self-assessments
- Discover your personal values, vision, and purpose
- Define your unique Personal Brand Statement
- Learn how to present your brand to the world
- Develop an action plan to put your brand to work for your success
The course includes a 20-page Personal Branding workbook to help you develop, refine and communicate your own unique brand.
Dorcas Kelley
Saturday, December 12, 9:00am-1:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-34
$65 (Additional $10 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Become a Copyeditor or Proofreader (BUS 060)
Do you automatically correct friends’ speech and colleagues’ memos? Do you have an eagle eye and knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation? If so, consider becoming a copyeditor or proofreader! Editors help people look good on paper by helping writers think logically and communicate clearly. It is a good way to make a living if you enjoy reading, writing and marking up other people’s work. This informative class covers skills, training, terminology, pay rates, computers, marketing, job definitions, handling criticism, deadlines, and part-time or freelance opportunities.
John Maybury
Saturday, October 10, 1:00pm-4:30pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: L-75
$59 (Additional $5 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Become a Mystery Shopper (BUS 061)
Mystery shopping is a great way to earn extra money and have fun doing the things you love to do. Shoppers receive assignments from companies that do business evaluations. You visit the restaurant, bank, gas station or theater and report back with observations that will enable the company to improve on their service to the customer.
This course will provide an overview of how mystery shopping works, what types of assignment forms are used, do’s and don’ts of completing an assignment and how to get into the “shopper’s network.”
Elaine Moran was nominated “Mystery Shopper of the Year”, and has received Gold Certification from The Mystery Shopper Providers Association.
Elaine Moran
Friday, October 23, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: L-72
$49 (Additional $20 materials fee payable to the instructor during class)
A Step-By-Step Guide to Selling on eBay (BUS 062)
Do you have an attic full of treasures you’d like to sell? Or perhaps you are looking to start an on-line business or supplement your regular income. Whatever your motivation, eBay can provide a worldwide market for your products.
This fun and interactive course provides you with tools for getting started as a seller on eBay, including creating a seller account, product research, pricing strategies, creating product listings, digital photography and HTML tips, shipping, communicating with your customers and much more.
Students will receive a comprehensive workbook.
Nancy Nelson
Saturday, October 24 8:30am-12:30pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-34
$65
Mastering the Sales Process (BUS 063)
This two-night course explores the key elements of the sales process. Whether you are in retail or technical sales, you will acquire skills that will help you succeed in any situation. From the first handshake to closing the deal, this highly interactive class will immediately engage you in the process – you will leave the classroom ready to perform with confidence the next day. “Mastering the Sales Process” can be taken independently or together with “Negotiating for Personal Success” and “The Elevator Pitch” to obtain your InnerSkil sales certification. Students wishing to enroll in all three sales classes should use course # (CRLL 086) to obtain discounted price.
In this highly interactive class, you will learn how to:
Establish initial rapport and build relationships
Clearly define selling opportunities and establish the correct agenda with your prospect
Identify and understand your client’s motivation, needs, and/or pain
Determine budget, spending capability, and timing
Identify the decision maker(s) and the decision making process
Provide your clients with solutions, create proposals, and close the deal
Rick is a recognized sales leader, mentor, and instructor, creating, managing, and growing sales organizations within small and mid cap to $1B publicly traded companies. His wealth of “in-the-trenches” anecdotes from the field brings the classroom lessons to life with relevance and practical application.
Rick O’Malley
Tuesdays, Oct. 6 & Oct. 13, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3201
$99
Negotiating for Personal Success
(BUS 064)
Does the very thought of walking into a negotiation make you queasy? Do you worry that you will be taken advantage of? Do you think the other person is out to get you?
Negotiating is a part of your everyday life, from agreeing upon where to go to dinner, to discussing your salary requirements for a new job. Learn how to approach each of these situations in a systematic way through the use of principled (versus positional) negotiation.
- In this interactive class, you will learn how to:
- Stay objective by separating real issues from emotional issues
- Understand underlying motivations and separate them from stated positions
- Create multiple options for your mutual benefit
- Ensure a fair negotiating environment by establishing mutually agreed-to criteria
- Prepare yourself by developing an alternative to your negotiated agreement
- Recognize and counter commonly used negotiating tactics
Rick O’Malley
Tuesday, October 20, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3201
$65
The Elevator Pitch: Not Just For ‘Salespeople’ Anymore (BUS 065)
As an entrepreneur looking for funding, a salesperson presenting a new product, or a job seeker meeting a key recruiter, you need to get your point across quickly and concisely. Are you prepared? Can you describe your ‘product’, what it will do for your audience, and why they should be interested…in 30 seconds?
As the name implies, can you deliver your message in the time it takes to ride the elevator from the lobby to your audience’s floor? Join us for a fun, challenging, and eye-opening session to prepare you for that next opportunity.
In this highly interactive class, you will learn:
What is the ‘elevator pitch’ and why you need to develop yours
The importance of telling your compelling story quickly, concisely, with enthusiasm and passion
How to develop your speech: the importance of thorough preparation, what to include, how to organize it, and how to deliver it
And, the most important rule: there is no substitute for practice (no, it doesn’t count to say it in your head!)
Rick O’Malley
Tuesday, October 27, 6;30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3201
$65
The Business of Professional Speaking (BUS 066)
If you want to enter the highly lucrative business of seminars, workshops, and professional speaking, this workshop is for YOU!
Because of the rapid changes in our world and the need to know more about different things, professional speakers are more in demand than ever before. You can profit by sharing your expertise with people who are willing to pay for it.
In this dynamic program you’ll learn how to:
- Make six-figures talking about what you know
- Make the correct choices that affect your success as a speaker
- Apply as a trainer with seminar companies
- Book over 100 paid engagements in your first year of business
- Work with bureaus and agents
- Create profitable support products like books and audio products
Mike Rounds has the phenomenal track record of averaging over three paid engagements per week for over 22 years! He is well qualified to train people become a professional speaker.
Mike Rounds
Monday, October 19, 6:30pm-9:30pm
Location: Foothill College
Room: 3203
$65 (Additional $30 materials fee payable in class)
Beginning Medical Insurance Billing I (BUS 067)
The physician’s most valued employee is the one who does the insurance billing. Join the thousands of others who make a great living doing medical insurance billing. This class is developed specifically for the novice and covers topics such as:
- How to read an explanation of benefits form
- Rules and regulations for Medicare, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and private insurance companies
- How to look up diagnosis codes, procedure codes and modifiers using the actual CPT and ICD-9 code books
- Completing the universal claim form
- Understanding surgical terms to read operative reports
- Modifiers and how to use them to increase reimbursement
Class instruction will be lecture and hands-on. As a bonus, students will receive additional practice claims to continue to learn at home. Teacher available for help by e-mail. No recorders.
Please arrive 15 minutes early on the first day to purchase your materials!
This class will fill up quickly–enroll today!
Terry Rowen
Saturday, October 10, 9:00am-5:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-35
$135 (Additional $55 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Beginning Medical Insurance Billing II (BUS 068)
This class is highly recommended for students who have just finished Beginning Medical Insurance Billing I. This class is necessary if you want to start a billing service from your home. Topics covered include:
• HCPCS Coding, Medi-Cal, Tricare
• The basics of managed care and how it works
• How to find employment as an insurance biller
• The legal aspects of collecting
• Understanding electronic billing
Certificate of completion issued by the instructor for students who complete BOTH Medical Billing I & II. No recorders.
This class will fill up quickly–enroll today!
Terry Rowen
Saturday, October 24, 9:00am-4:30pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: E-35
$99 (Additional $45 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
Importing as a Small Business
(BUS 069)
Learn how you can become an importer in this one-day seminar. In this seminar, you will be guided through licensing, selecting products, finding suppliers, working with governments, bankers, brokers, carriers, financing, costing, and pricing and gaining orders for your products. This knowledge becomes the basis for an export business as well. He is the author of the book “How Small Business Trades Worldwide.” John shares what he has done in the past, what he has advised others to do successfully, and what he is doing now all in a seminar highly rated by participants for experience, candor, and humor.
John Spiers
Saturday, October 17, 9:00am-5:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: G-4
$99
How to Start Your Own Non-Profit
(BUS 070)
This class provides an overview of forming a nonprofit corporation. Topics discussed include:
The privileges and restrictions non-profits face
The start-up process and determining if your idea is a good one
Dealing with government agencies
Understanding the forms and applications each agency requires
Examining a fiscal sponsorship arrangement vs. forming one’s own nonprofit corporation
For the past 23 years, Josh Wagner has assisted hundreds of nonprofit organizations in their start-up process and IRS compliance. As Executive Director of the nonprofit Cultural Media Services, Inc. (which also serves as fiscal sponsor to a number of projects), he has been producing and hosting educational radio and TV programs since 1985.
Josh Wagner
Saturday, September 26, 10:00am-1:00pm
Location: De Anza College
Room: G-5
$59 (Additional $5 materials fee payable to instructor during class)
top