Course Descriptions

CEO 001 Setting a Course for Your Business
Starting a business requires clear conceptions about your product or service, and about yourself. Examine your strengths, weaknesses, desires, and definition of success in order to develop a business description that will guide you through the planning process. Find the perfect name for your business; learn how to obtain licenses, permits, and tax identification numbers; and set up your business as a legal entity.

Textbook: Small Business Start Up Kit by Peri H. Pakroo, J.D. latest edition

CEO 002 Knowing Your Market
Who are your customers? How do you make them customers and keep them? Who are your competitors, and how will you differentiate your business from theirs? In this course, you'll find viable answers to these questions using the array of market research sources available. You'll use the elements and artistry of pricing, promotion, and location to develop a marketing plan appropriate to your business idea and budget constraints.

Textbook: Small Business Start Up Kit by Peri H. Pakroo, J.D. latest edition

CEO 003 Formulating Your Financial Strategy
Forecasting sales for a new business is probably the hardest and most important element of financial planning. This course will guide you through the soundest methods for making sales projections and help you find the critical break-even point. Get the real stories behind banks, loans, grants, private investors, and credit.

Textbook: Small Business Start Up Kit by Peri H. Pakroo, J.D. latest edition

CEO 004 Managing Money – Let's Clear the Fog! 
Do you go into a mind fog or cold sweat when you think about bookkeeping, accounting, and managing money? You are not alone, and this class is for you! You'll master the basics of accounting, financial statements, and cash flow in a supportive and comfortable learning environment. 

CEO 005 Legal Basics for Business Startups
A straight-talking guide to staying out of trouble and knowing your rights. Learn how to set up your business, form contracts and agreements, examine leases, and obtain trademarks and copyrights. This course covers the basics, from collections to liability to intellectual property law.

CEO 009 Building Your Startup Brand
Develop your position in the market, your differentiator, pricing, name, archetype, and story. This class will teach you strategies using neuroscience and psychology that focus on building a strong and unique identity within your market and category.

CEO 010 How to Launch an Online Business
Today, most small businesses want an online presence. There are many options when it comes to setting up an attractive website that draws customers. This online strategy course will take some of the mystery out of what can be a time-consuming and confusing decision process. Leave with a framework for setting up an online business and start-up strategies to promote your product or service. Learn how to help potential customers find your website and how your website can change as your business grows.

CEO 011 Fundamentals of Online Retailing
Learn successful strategies for selling online—from the traditional rules of retailing to the specifics of merchandising a product online and optimizing a website for the best sales performance. Course includes evaluation of e-commerce business models.

CEO 012 Sell! Sell! Sell!
If selling is your least favorite activity, your business is probably not reaching its full potential. Understanding what your business has to offer, developing a vocabulary to describe your work, and learning how your creations or services can fill the needs of potential clients will cast selling in a whole new light. Learn how to ask for the price you deserve, negotiate when appropriate, and close the deal. 

CEO 013 Press and Publicity
Develop your special angle for attracting the media's interest in your business. Learn to put yourself in the loop for free publicity from newspapers, magazines, and trade publications. Put together a public relations plan covering everything from press releases and press kits to low-cost promotional events. 

CEO 014 Market and Sell to Boutiques
Boutiques and specialty department stores want unique pieces to sell. Develop a plan to perfect your product, set a price, and start to publicize. Learn how to find buyers and sell your product effectively. 

CEO 015 The Power of Negotiation
Your negotiating skill may be the determining factor in how successful you will be in business. Whether it's setting a price, ironing out the terms of a contract, resolving conflicts, or just getting someone to agree on a meeting time, entrepreneurs must negotiate every day. This course will introduce you to a wide array of negotiating techniques and provide you with the tools you need to negotiate in various situations.

CEO 017 Creating Online Content for the Small Business
This course will teach you how to develop a content strategy that can be used across all digital platforms. You will review examples of successful branded content, discover how to create your own content with limited time and resources, and leave with an individualized plan for success. 

CEO 019 Creative Business Plans for Consulting Success
Learn how to establish a proper business foundation for your consulting enterprise. This course focuses on the role of the consultant and reviews the special aspects of a service provider business. Legal and financial aspects are analyzed, including tips on how to select and work with a lawyer, accountant, banker, and insurance broker. 

CEO 020  Become a Smart and Fearless Retailer
Opening a retail location in today's climate of online shopping takes courage, but most importantly it takes know-how. In this noisy and crowded retail environment, learn to create a stand-out store that keeps your  clients excited and engaged. Create and build such an intense relationship with your clients  that they boast about you, include your products on their social media platforms, and help drive new clients to your store.  Learn how to create outstanding events that bring them in to the store and keep them talking long after. If being a successful retailer is really what you want, then this class is for you. Award-winning  New York retailer Princess Jenkins of The Brownstone doesn't hold back on her strategies that have made her a retailing success.  

Instructor: Princess Jenkins  is an a ward-winning retailer and entrepreneur whose attention to detail and high level of customer service have made her one of the top retailers in the country.

CEO 027 Promoting Your Brand
The best products and services won’t sell unless your customers and clients know about them. This class teaches the latest promotional tactics from a branding and neuroscience perspective, which is often more successful and less expensive than the usual advertising and PR methods.

CEO 029 Introduction to Social Media for Business
Social media creates a place for community engagement and social interaction. This course will introduce you to the various popular social media platforms and other emerging technologies and tools. You will learn how to use these platforms and analyze their advantages, disadvantages, and risks.

CEO 030 Social Media Marketing
Prerequisite: Students should have functioning social media profiles for business (at least Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest) before taking this class. Otherwise, take CEO 029.
Is social media marketing growing your business or it is a waste of your valuable time? This class will help you cut through the clutter and build real connections, online and off, using social media, storytelling, and the ever-changing web.

CEO 031 Vintage: The First Sustainable Fashion Business
Vintage has stood the test of time. Find out if it's right for you. See exactly what it entails, from the discovery of vintage clothing to cleaning and repair, to resale value. Learn the tricks of finding vintage, what customers want from vintage, and how to keep vintage in good condition. Whether you want to run a vintage boutique, use vintage clothing in your own designs, or create a clothing line inspired by vintage, Bridgett Artise, author of 25 Ways to Deconstruct, Reinvent, and Recycle Your Wardrobe, and invited guests will show you how.

CEO 044 A Logo Design Boot Camp for Entrepreneurs
Want to convey a professional first impression to your customers? Strong brand image for your side-gig? Create a simple logo and business card design in four sessions in this fast-paced hands-on mini class. Capture your identity and define the basic elements needed to convey the essence of your side-gig. Learn how to quickly move from brainstorming and sketching to developing a memorable logo design. Understand how to apply your logo to a printed business card and across digital media.

CEO 075 Business Strategy: Plan for Success
Create and present a business plan that is focused, professional, and designed to analyze your business ventures strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Various business plan formats and outlines will be reviewed with regard to the plan's purpose, audience, and overall strategy.

CEO 200 FutureLab
FutureLab is a unique workshop designed to help entrepreneurs align their business activities now with the vision and the future they're out to create. FutureLab introduces tools and techniques to plan and grow your business with a focus on effectiveness and profitability. Learn the best in strategic visioning, project planning, and management while addressing behaviors, blind spots, and thought patterns that are barriers to fulfilling your goals. Whether you're starting a new company, wanting to create more business, or hoping to gain a new focus on the company you currently have, FutureLab is the perfect way to bring your vision into reality.