Bagels & Business – Grab a Bagel & Let’s Chat Business!

Did you know that roughly 3 in 5 Americans have had an idea for starting a business? But an overwhelming majority of those people—92 percent—didn’t follow through with turning their idea into reality. Top Reasons? They didn’t know how to get started, They didn’t have access to business tools. They weren’t sure how to work with the tools/technology needed to run a business.

Join RIoT for our new monthly series – Bagels & Business – where we will discuss different topics related to starting a business, growing your existing business, expanding your knowledge base, and your network. Each month we will cover a different topic including customer discovery, MVP, sales, finances, goal planning, marketing, and more!

Stop in, grab a bagel and coffee or tune in and join us from home as we cover key things all business owners need to consider.

OCTOBER TOPIC: Today’s Tech Essentials for Any Small Business – PART 1.

Technology impacts every business. In the 1990’s and 2000’s, websites and email replaced Yellow Pages ads and hand-written communication. Electronic credit card readers and Quickbooks software replaced accounting by hand. Businesses that may not associate as “technology companies” still had to adapt and utilize new technology platforms to survive.

Join us for a crash course on how to advance your business in today’s data-driven economy!

This series is HYBRID. Join us In Person at the Virginia Smart Community Testbed (Stafford, VA) or online! Addresses and connection details provided in your ticket details!

The session will begin at 7:30 – 8:15, with Q&A to follow.

In Person: Virginia Smart Community Testbed, 2143 Richmond HWY, Stafford, VA 22554. Parking is located directly in front of the Virginia Smart Community Testbed. If no parking is available, additional parking is available behind the Stafford County Courthouse directly adjacent to the Testbed.

Virtual: If you would like to join virtually register in advance on Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrduuvrzMrHNfPwrt7DXWzmKDn2Wc30654. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Previous Sessions – You may find the video recording on RIoT’s YouTube Channel – https://youtu.be/j4Ks-RN0A18 

September 14th: What Is A Pitch & What Goes Into A Good Pitch? – It’s time to start selling your product or service, but what does it take to convert someone into a customer? Is there a difference between an investor pitch versus a customer pitch? In this session, dive into what are the different types of sales pitches, how to structure your pitch, and how to persuade your audience.

August 10th: How Do I Build A Sales Process? – Every business needs to learn how to create a sales process to use to take a potential customer to a customer, but what does it take to get them to buy? In this session, dive into what is a sales process, how to build one, and how to close the deal.

MAY 9th: What is Customer Discovery? – Understanding who your customers are from their problems, needs, spending power, and more is vital to knowing the profitability of your business. Customer discovery involves defining and prioritizing personas and is applicable to both early-stage businesses and established businesses as customers are always vital and changing. In this session we’ll dive into who a customer is, what questions should you be asking, where are you engaging with customers, and how to have targeted and useful conversations with your customer

June 8th: How To Build a Go-To-Market Strategy? – Every business looking to attract needs a go-to-market strategy. Whether you’re a new business looking to launch or an established business adding a new product you should prepare and use a Go-To-Market strategy. But what are the key components? In this session we’ll dive into what is a Go-To-Market strategy, how to build one, and how to measure success.

April 13th: Business Fundamentals 101 – Running a profitable business is all about being-laser focused on a few first principles. Most importantly: Your business must solve a problem. We’ll dive into this “fundamental truth” and more. We’ll discuss how you determine what problem your business is solving and how you use that to attract customers. Walk away with key components of your business plan laid out for you to build off of.