Katovich Law Group organized a round-table discussion on new innovative ways small businesses can raise capital. While most small businesses are restricted from making a public offering, the Oakland based law firm is pioneering in this field by developing a legal platform to achieve this goal. Join the continuing discussion at the Cutting Edge Capital Raising ning site.

Cutting Edge Capital Raising for Small Business

In the United States today, small businesses constitute about one-half of the private economy in terms of output and jobs, but they receive almost no investment from the nation’s pension funds or from mutual, hedge, venture, or any other kind of investment funds.  In a well-functioning financial system, roughly one-half of the investment should go to roughly one-half of the economy.

We begin the evening with a presentation about one of the primary causes for this market failure: the legal barriers to raising capital that disproportionately burden small businesses.

Next we discuss some cutting edge strategies that have been used to overcome these barriers.

We conclude with a discussion of legislative changes needed to address the barriers to capital-raising for small business and the formation of a working group to move the agenda forward.

Participants include:
Thomas Greco, Author of The End of Money and the Future of Civilization

John Katovich, President of Katovich Law Group, Presidio School of Management Professor, and Chief Legal Officer of the Boston Stock Exchange

Don Shaffer, President and CEO of RSF Social Finance

Leslie Christian, President and CEO of Portfolio 21 Investments

Derek Huntington, President of Sonoma County Go Local

Mike Leung, Worker Cooperative Credit Union Organizer

Jenny Kassan, Managing Director of Katovich Law Group and President of Community Ventures

Organized by Katovich Law Group

One of SBA's goals this year is to provide SBA members with more business development opportunities and resources. To that end, the SBA is teaming up with Get Clients Now instructor Annette Bourget, MBA, CPCC, to offer the proven program exclusively to SBA members. Join 8 to 10 members and build referrals and your business together!

The deadline for signing up is Friday, February 12th. Sign up and reserve your spot for $50. Contact Annette at annette@callingforth.com or 510-547-2261 for more information.

Learn to create an endless stream of clients and referrals by doing 10 easy things per day!

What the program consists of:

• 7 weekly group sessions made up of two 90 minute tele-seminars and five group coaching sessions
• A tool kit of proven marketing techniques
• A coach to keep you accountable
• Email support throughout the program

Who the program is for:

• Brokers
• Consultants
• Accountants
• Financial Planners
• Realtors
• Salespeople
• Trainers
• Therapists

Schedule:

Tuesday, February 16, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Tuesday, March 2, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Tuesday, March 16, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Tuesday, February 23, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Tuesday, March 9, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Tuesday, March 23, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Tuesday, March 30, 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM

Complete group program for only $279 per participant for the 7-week program. Reserve your spot now for $50!

YOUR INSTRUCTOR
Annette Bourget, MBA, CPCC, Works with business owners so that they never again have to worry about paying their bills. She has been in business for herself three times and teaches the success secrets she has learned to other business owners. Annette is a Licensed Facilitator of the Get Clients Now! program as well as a Certified Professional coach.

Bob Schildgen was the speaker for the SBA Speaker Series in November and we're finally getting around to posting the video of his talk and a summarized transcript.

SBA Speaker Event of 110309
Guest Speaker:  Bob Schildgen, “Mr. Green”

I grew up in rural Wisconsin. We heated our house by burning logs in a  wood-burning stove. Since the supply of logs was limited, we built a fire only when absolutely necessary. This is an example of how we behave when there is a direct and visible link between our energy source and the amount of that energy resource that we use. Our perception of our resource was very direct. We had a very personal relationship with the resource we had available.

This memory leads me to think that today we are failing to pay sufficient attention to our resources. Today, we are far more focused on how to meet our rising demand than on how to conserve our limited resources.

As a people, we have come to love technology, quick fixes, innovation and innovators – from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs.  But, I suggest, we often have too much faith in technology.  Sometimes we have an almost religious belief in tech fixes.  Instead of fixes, we should sometimes think about limiting our use of resources.

We think that we are superior to medieval religious believers who bought indulgences to assure that they were permitted to travel the path to Heaven.  But tech fixes play something of the same role as  medieval indulgences in our contemporary lives.  Both are a way of avoiding real issues.  Both are illusory.  Driving a Prius allows me to reduce my carbon footprint only if I refrain from upping the number of miles I drive.

Many people think today that “energy” is the main issue, perhaps due to Al Gore.  Not enough people are talking about resource conservation.

There has to be a way of delinking price of a commodity from the actual use of that commodity.  If a commodity appears to be inexpensive, it does not necessarily mean that it is abundant.  A government or an industry can artificially conceal the true cost of the commodity in order to get citizens to consume more of that resource in the  short run.  This is the case, of course, with oil.

I like to think of this kind of behavior as “magical use.”

Another example of this “magical use” is electricity.  Electrical consumption in US today is 30% higher today than in the 1980’s.  No matter how efficient today’s electrical networks are, if we are using electricity a great deal more now than we were thirty years ago, we are still using more electricity than we should be, since we do not have the natural resources which makes this level of usage supportable in the long run.

Today, we hear lots of enthusiastic talk about “the smart grid”, but we are failing to realize that part of the need for a smart grid is that we are engaging in “dumb consumption.”

Bob notes that some environmental columnists criticize conservations for “confusing acts of personal consumption and conservation for significant political action.”

Bob admits that this fixation on individual conservation behavior can be dangerous if we do not simultaneously figure out ways of creating public policy that addresses the critical sustainability issues.

A very important piece of the solution, as suggested in an article in recent Atlantic Monthly, is “understanding incentives.“

In conclusion, I support any legislation that succeeds in making energy use more effective and efficient.

“Renewable power” is a risky concept.  Instead of leaning on it, we need to figure out how we can cut resource consumption “to the bone.”  Only when we have done that does it make sense to think about using “renewables.”

We must remain aware that there are many contradictions  built into our contemporary energy industry.  For example, the only way that we can keep energy sales high, while simultaneously increasing energy efficiency, is by increasing consumption.  But this is not a sustainable long-term strategy.

Bob’s personal admonition:  “Heed the bigger picture.  Focus on lowering consumption of resources, rather than on increasing natural resource inventory.  Get back to that fundamental message of conservation!

Join us at Mandarin Garden on February 5th for business networking and a delicious lunch!

Mandarin Garden is a 30 year old restaurant which offers a delectable combination of Peking, Hunan and Szechuan styles of Chinese cooking. It is conveniently located near the downtown Berkeley BART station, and offers a large private room where we will gather for our lunch.

Lunch speaker: One of SBA's goals this year is to provide more business development resources. Annette Bourget, MBA, CPCC will be speaking on one of those opportunities at our February lunch, the Get Clients Now program. Annette works with business owners so that they never again have to worry about paying their bills. She has been in business for herself three times and enjoys teaching other business owners success secrets she has learned. Annette is a Licensed Facilitator of the Get Clients Now! program as well as a Certified Professional coach.

Mandarin Garden Restaurant
2025 Shattuck Ave
Downtown Berkeley near BART
Register Here

Cost:
$12 pre-registered SBA Members (join here!)
$15 non members
$18 at door

Open to non-members. Sign up by Thursday February 4th at 6pm! Please prepay using our secure Pay-Pal, with one form for each person attending.

You can help in our membership campaign by inviting friends and businesses so that the SBA can grow and be a more viable force in the region! Remember your business cards, and if you are a member, also feel free to bring literature about your work for our display table.

Bill Roth's new book The Secret Sauce: Best Practices is making the case for green business practices being increasingly profitable in the coming years. Bill was recently interviewed on Eco-Libris, and Los Angeles-based Business Book Reviewer Dr Letitia Wright gave the book high regards:

"He gives details on the economics of green and repeatedly goes over the concept of “costs less and means more”. I understand why, it’s because as a business owner, that may sound like some cute catch words. In the green world, they signify a lot and you cannot afford to ignore them."

Roth is the Green Coach for Entrepreneur Magazine and Triple Pundit.