The Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is partnered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) to offer a Trademark Basics webinar. Topics covered included:

• What are trademarks

• The benefits of federal trademark registration, and

• The basics of the registration process.

Also information about why it’s so important for any new business to select a trademark that is both federally registrable and legally protectable was discussed.

We hosted a hybrid workshop on Sales Strategies for Small Businesses.

This was facilitated by Pace University Marketing Professor Harvey Markovitz who highlighted sales strategies entrepreneurs can implement to land new customers.

The session referenced effective techniques for planning and executing business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) campaigns, including "learning to cold call the right way," to turn prospective customers into sales. Topics discussed include developing an effective sales pitch by understanding your target customers’ needs and evaluating your lead-generation efforts.

In this webinar hosted by the Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Dr. Jessica A. Magaldi provided an introduction for the small business owners and entrepreneurs to problems related to contracts and risk management, including the importance and significance of:

• Risks that an NDA can help mitigate (and risks that an NDA won’t mitigate);

• Understanding key contractual provisions of an NDA;

• How to protect your small business with an NDA; and

• How to protect yourself as an individual who is asked to sign an NDA.

Dr. Magaldi is an Ivan Fox Professor and Scholar of Business Law at Pace University’s Lubin School of Business and a legal and business advisor to emerging technology companies.

This Contracts & Risk Management webinar provided an introduction for the small business owner and entrepreneur to issues related to contracts and risk management, including the importance and significance of:

• Contracts and mutual assent; 

• Risks and responsibilities of the contractual relationship; 

• Assessing business risk for working with Letter Agreements, Memoranda of Understanding, Letters of Intent, and other less formal contract documents;

• Understanding key contractual elements and clauses to mitigate risk and spot issues on which to seek legal assistance; and

• Working effectively with counsel.

During this webinar, attendees learned about bookkeeping best practices to implement as they build and grow their small business venture. Topics included financial record-keeping processes and accounting transactions, as well as a review of select bookkeeping systems. Whether operating a brick & mortar or a home-based venture, this session prepared attendees to more effectively monitor and manage their business's finances.

The Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) partnered with the NY State Society of CPAs to host a webinar  for small business owners on Small Busines Tax Liability Reduction Strategies.

Facilitated by Orumé Hays, CPA, CGMA, MST, Founder & CEO of HAYS CPA LLC, who shared about:

• Tax liability reduction strategies

• Managing accounting and cashflow

• Owners compensate (eg. salary, dividend)

• Cash vs. accrual-based filing 

• Tax implications surrounding different ownership structures and

• Potential tax impact of alternative methods of depreciation.

The Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has partnered with the City Bar Justice Center’s Neighborhood Entrepreneur Law Project (NELP) professionals who presented on the basics of commercial leasing. They provided attendees with key point information on topics ranging from research you should do before deciding on a space, what you should look for in a written lease, and selecting an appropriate lease term to issues that may arise once you’ve signed the lease.

The Pace University Small Business Development Center (Pace SBDC), Tech Incubator at Queens College, and Grow with Google Speaker Petia Abdur-Razzaaq hosted a workshop on getting best practices for creating a YouTube Channel and compelling video content that promotes your products and services and drives engagement with your brand.

The workshop focused on best practices for:

• Understanding different video formats

• How to set up a YouTube channel

• Making good creativity, and how to target and measure the results

The Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) partnered with the NY State Society of CPAs to host this live session for small business owners.

In this webinar, participants learned about key tax and accounting policies and best practices their technology business should consider as they build and grow. 

This webinar shared information about program guidelines and benefits of Employee Retention Tax Credit. This session helped Small business or tax-exempt organization’s whose revenues were negatively impacted by COVID-19, or their operations was fully or partially suspended for some time. The Employee Retention Tax Credit, which offers refundable tax credits of up to $10,000 per employee to pandemic-impacted businesses. The Pace University Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is partnered with the NY State Society of CPAs.

The session was led by Ben Ofori, CPA and Director and Principal of Karpos & Associates, LLC. Session and hosted by Pace SBDC.