Events › 4-Part Series: Foundations of Entrepreneurship - Building Your Business from the Ground Up

📈Want to start your business but don't know where to start? Let's learn from an expert! 

This is a four-part series taught by industry expert, David Cohen, a professional sales master and founder of Your Big Venture. Within four Thursdays from May 1 to May 22, it will equips aspiring entrepreneurs with the essential tools to launch a successful business. Participants will learn how to craft a business plan, conduct market research, create a marketing and sales strategy, and develop an operations and financial plan through four focused sessions. Please see below for a detailed breakdown of each weekly session. 

Thursdays May 1 - May 22, 2025 

Time: 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM 

Resident fee: $80 for 4 sessions 

Registration Link: https://cityofmarkham.perfectm... 

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May 1, session 1- Introduction to Business Plan - Vision, Mission and Value Proposition Design:
If you want to build a successful business, it’s important to develop a robust business plan. In this seminar, you’ll learn the elements of what goes into a business plan, understand the 2 different types of business plans (the business model canvas versus the more detailed plan that banks and those funders and lenders still desire). We will develop a mission and a vision statement in this program, and you will get clear in creating a value proposition that is clear and concise to the market you intend to reach! Each participant will have a solid understanding of what goes into doing both types of business plans and they will have worked on developing their own business model canvas!

May 8, Session 2- Market Research: Market research is often overlooked by business owners, however by doing proper research it will save you time, money and energy. When you have a good understanding of the market and what they want in terms of products and services and what their challenges and needs are and how your business can solve those challenges and exceed the needs and client’s expectations. We will learn the 10 steps to market research, identify tips and tools that you can easily source to help you obtain the information you need to make sound business decisions, plus each participant will work on a case study to show how a major food company uses market research to launch a new line of breakfast cereals!

May 15, Session 3 - Marketing and Sales: In this session participants will learn about the distinction between sales and marketing. We will learn in more detail, what goes into your marketing plan in your business plan. We will determine a marketing game plan, budgets, action steps, using the value proposition to help guide you towards creating marketing copy that can get results and then look at some key marketing tools you can use to break into the market. In the back half of this session, we will look at the sales process and how you take a prospective buyer from being interested in what you do, to becoming a paying client. We will share the 6-Step Sales process and share what you need to do each step of the way! You will have a sales plan that works, that is consultative in nature and that puts the focus on the customer getting value for their purchases.

May 22, Session 4 - Operations and Financials: In this session you will learn what goes into an operations plan and why having one is almost equally as essential in your business as having a business plan. Your operations plan is the recipe and guidebook around every aspect of your business. It encompasses how you make your products or deliver your services, to how you interact with clients, what steps are taken to market, sell, produce, deliver and it even includes how the financial aspects of your business play a vital role in the overall success of your venture! In the financial section we will determine what the banks want prior to you reaching out for financing. We will look at funding options from bootstrapping it to crowd funding. We will review how to do a cash flow forecast and to get clear on our money goals and needs.

Registration Link: https://cityofmarkham.perfectm...

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Instructor's Bio: 

David is an author, business coach, and facilitator.

David has taught thousands over the years in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors and has coached business owners to sell, plan and market their ventures successfully. He specializes in helping business owners mine their strengths, get clear on their value, their markets and then begin to develop a sales and marketing game plan that gets results.

David is currently working in the online space, with the podcast a membership site called Your Big Venture, geared to support youth entrepreneurs, a new released book to help you achieve total life balance and focus, called Live Life SWIFT, and he is launching learning programs online that help young entrepreneurs get results.

He has worked with Newcomer Entrepreneurs with organizations like Acces Employment, Roots CS, new Circles, The Toronto Public Library, The Syrian Foundation, Alterna Savings, The Richmond Hill Small Business Enterprise Centre, EDCO, Transat Travel Group, and Youth Employment Services to name a few.