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Business /Careers/
Professional Development

Spring 2008

Small Business
Start a Specialty Food Business (KTD)
How to BE an eBay Power Seller (KTD)
Career
Women's Guide to Starting a Business (KTD)
The Best is Yet to Come! (KTD)
Find Your Inner Editor (KTD)

Online Marketing Classes
Mystery Shopping (Online)
Patents, Prototypes and Profits (Online)
Rights, Royalties and Revenue Streams (Online)
A License to Print Money (Online)

So You Want to Start a Specialty Food Business

Perhaps your friends and family have encouraged you to sell your delicious BBQ sauce, homemade cookies or jams; perhaps you have already begun and want information on expanding; or maybe you just love food and need an overview of the marketplace to point you in the right direction. Whatever your motivation, you will gain a competitive edge by learning the ups and downs, the ins and outs of the trendy specialty food industry from an insider.

Topics include the planning and production process, contacts to get you started, capitalization options, creative marketing ideas, unraveling the distribution network and more. Course fee includes a packet containing worksheets, resource guides and current trend analyses.

Anni Minuzzo is a 27-year veteran in the food trade, has owned a wholesale baking company for over 18 years, teaches in four regional counties and is a business coach.

  • Thursday, 5:40-8:30pm
  • May 1
  • Kentfield Campus, Science Center 177
  • Fee $55 (Includes $5 materials fee)
  • Course #8023

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How to Be an eBay Power Seller

Over 100 million people worldwide have bought or sold on eBay and hundreds of thousands of new entrepreneurs now make their living selling on eBay. This course will cover eBay and its competitors, as well as online stores. Our discussion will focus on what it takes to be a Power Seller doing significant volume. There is considerable research and "lore" to be covered about starting prices, reserves, pictures, PayPal and when to sell.

The most important decision you will make is what to sell. You can sell services or merchandise, your own or others. You will leave with an 80-page handout and an action checklist for your next steps.

Rick Crandall, Ph.D., is an active Power Seller who sells about 75% on the first listing (vs. only about 45% of average listings) and often sells items for more the second time around.

  • Saturday, 1-5pm
  • Apr. 5
  • Kentfield Campus, Harlan Center 161
  • Fee $60 (Includes $10 materials fee)
  • Course #8024

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Another course of interest . . .
How to Buy and Sell on eBay
is listed under Computers.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT


A Woman's Guide to Starting a Business

Women are very different from men when it comes to starting a business. Our culture does not teach us to nurture our creative talents, celebrate, enjoy and tell the world about our big ideas. It becomes easy to let years of precious life go by without going out on our own. This class is not about the nuts and bolts of business - we do not write business plans. Instead we use a collaborative model, a feminine model. Join us for an exciting class where all participants provide focus for one another's projects in a supportive environment. Learn how to expand and clarify your vision of launching your own business.

Robin Matuk, B.A. (Fine Arts), has experience in Counseling Psychology, Human Resources Training and Development and Web Design and has founded a business to help women reach their true potential.

  • 4 Thursdays, 6:40-8:30pm
  • Mar. 27-Apr. 24 (No class Apr. 10)
  • Kentfield Campus, Harlan Center 169
  • Fee $59
  • Course #8025

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The Best Is Yet to Come! Career Exploration for the Bonus Years

If you're 50+, it's your turn now! What do you want to do with the 20+ bonus years science has added to mid-life? Do you want to continue in your existing work/career but also find more time for other things in your life? Do you want to discover some entirely new career, but don't know what it is yet? To step into the work and lifestyle you've always wanted, start planning now by joining a small group on the same journey. You'll collaborate with others to identify your true motivators, match them to information about new types of work and create a short, effective plan for your next step.

Betty Burr has been helping people plan their mature lifestyles and later-stage careers for 15 years. Betty is completing an MA in Gerontology and is a professionally trained career and business coach.

  • Saturday, 9am-5pm
  • May 10
  • Kentfield Campus, Harlan Center 161
  • Fee $69 (includes $10 materials fee)
  • Course #8026

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Find Your Inner Editor: Introduction to Editing and Proofreading

When you are reading a magazine, does your eye automatically find typos? Do you have knowledge of grammar, spelling and punctuation? If so, you may have inherited good grammar genes and may want to consider becoming an editor or proofreader. We will cover job skills, training and terminology/vocabulary, as well as the inner workings of the editorial business, including pay rates, expectations, computers, self-marketing, definitions of editorial functions, handling criticism, deadlines and part-time and freelance opportunities. Fun and challenging exercises help you practice editing and proofreading skills.

John Maybury is a freelance copy editor and proofreader for a number of publications, advertising agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporations.

  • Saturday, 1-5pm
  • Apr. 5
  • Kentfield Campus
  • Dance/Landscape Management Center 12
  • Fee $65 (Includes $5 materials fee)
  • Course #8027

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ONLINE MARKETING CLASSES

To register for online programs and classes, follow the directions on registration page. The next step is to email your email address to michael.lewis@marin.edu Please include your name and course names.

Mystery Shopping

Get paid to go shopping as a freelance mystery shopper! Mystery shopping is used by hundreds of well-known businesses in the United States to ensure consistent, top-quality customer service from their employees. Paid shoppers earn from $10-$40 per hour and are in regular demand. This four week, Internet-based, online course will provide you with information about how to become a freelance shopper or to set up your own business service. The course has four modules and includes case studies, exercises and handouts.

  • Rick Sheridan
  • Fee $79
  • Apr. 16/Course #8029
  • May 21/Course #8030

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Patents, Prototypes and Profits

This four-week course covers patent dos and don'ts; patent searches; patent infringement; filing a patent application for $75; creating prototypes; finding markets for your product; trade secrets; public domain and trademark definitions; doing it yourself vs. attorneys or invention marketing companies; and doing your own manufacturing vs. selling or licensing. We use a step-by-step process to cover material and include most forms.

  • Claudia M. Doege
  • Fee $59
  • Apr. 16/Course #8031
  • May 21/Course #8032

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Rights, Royalties and Revenue Streams

Artists, authors, crafters, musicians, photographers, publishers! Focusing on copyrights and trademarks, we cover the step-by-step process from idea or design to ownership of the work, the forms needed, and the ultimate sale or license. "Fair Use," public domain items, trademarks and new copyright laws are all explained and a list of 365 ways to distribute your work is included.

  • Claudia M. Doege
  • Fee $59
  • Apr. 16/Course #8033
  • May 21/Course #8034

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A License to Print Money

How do you bring that great idea or product to market that you've already copyrighted or patented, especially without the time or finances to risk manufacturing it yourself? You license it! This four-week course gives specific information and forms on where and how to obtain license fees for your ideas or products.

  • Claudia M. Doege
  • Fee $59
  • Apr. 16/Course #8035
  • May 21/Course #8036

Online Business courses are available!
Just click here....

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