Big & Small Business Presentations, Seminars, Classes, Workshops, Round Tables, and Jam Sessions

Coverage of Very Large to Very Small Business! Laura speaks about business, scams and fraud, hiring and firing, telecommuting, authoring books, and many management issues.

IMPORTANT! If you want to hear what everyone else is saying, hire everyone else. If you hire Laura, you get tested and proven OUTSIDE THE BOX solutions that really work, not just the stuff that people SAY works because they want to sell you something more. Focus for Laura is ALWAYS on providing the information and instruction that will open doors to possibilities that make the participant say, "OH! NOW I get it! NOW I know what to do!". She wants to tear down barriers that keep you from doing the best thing, and presents information that does this in a way that leads to considering choices, far beyond what she presents.

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Big & Small Business Presentation Topics

2. Telecommute Your Business - Barriers to telecommuting, and solutions that can overcome them. There's a reason why telecommuting has not progressed in the last 15 years, and that reason is NOT something that cannot be overcome, for many types of businesses. There are obstacles, and solutions that are overlooked by mainstream media, principally because nobody benefits from employers who do it right, under their own initiative. There isn't a product to sell to make it easier, so it isn't popular. It does work though, once you have your teeth into the thing that has to be well chewed. Addresses issues for outbound call centers, research boilerrooms, manufacturing piecework, consulting, tech support, and customer service, design and service piecework, authoring, editing, small scale order fulfillment, some marketing tasks. (Telecommuting does NOT mean "phone commuting". "Tele" means "Distance", not "voice" - "phone" means "audio".) WARNING: Adopting a telecommuting element to your business WILL require serious changes to your internal operations, and productivity monitoring.

5. Employee Productivity For Company Profitability - (specify Employee Presentation or Management Presentation, and whether it is Small Business, or Corporate) Most businesses now run with three times the number of employees they require. Strategies for improving employee work output, consolidating work, monitoring, consequences, policies, smoking and phones, visitors at work, lazy supervisors, the debt an employee owes to an employer, and the debt an employer owes to the employee, and more.

6. Creating Business Training Literature - (Specify Small Business or Large Business Focus - Excellent option for a Jam Session or Round Table, but also appropriate for larger groups.) The need for instructional materials, how they should be used, observing and documenting processes and procedures, forming sustainable policies, all the way to the top, preventing changes from unauthorized people, preventing losing the company business model from writing manager changes, writing quickly, and a range of other issues. This is a fun course. Really! It helps the average company be more consistent, and save time on employee training, but this course also lays the foundation for businesses preparing to Franchise or open additional locations.

7. Deep Branding - The brand that goes all the way through the business. A brand starts with the company owner, and ends with a cohesive message and identity that is apparent in every contact with the company by the customer. It is FAR deeper than "branding experts" ever go, and your logo isn't EVEN the cornerstone, let alone the finish of branding. Good and thorough branding helps customers feel grounded as they move through an interaction with your company, and increases the likelihood that they'll finish a purchase transaction.

11. Hiring High Integrity - One characteristic outweighs all others when hiring ANY employee. The cost of a dishonest employee is far beyond the cost of their wages, and a dishonest manager will gather ONLY dishonest employees. Screening, probation, suspending, and firing.

12. SOLO Business Management - A course for owners to take back the management of their companies (even if they are just starting out!). Two factors are covered - the things they MUST do, and ways to do it sustainably. Anybody can "teach" you how to "manage" a business, but these things are ALWAYS left out, and they are the cornerstones of Ownership and Management that make the different between succeeding and failing.

14. Growing Down - Scaling back can be the key to improved income (not just potentials). Two things change when you scale down - shrinkage and productivity. If you do it right, both improve. If you do it wrong, both get worse. There is a process which steps you through with greater success.

15. The Myth Of Incorporation - A seminar that is aimed at struggling businesses and startups, and for business consultants. Comparisons of benefits of incorporation versus sole proprietorship. Attitudes that compromise corporations. Financial benefits of sole proprietorships. Covers Corp, Close Corp, LLC, Partnership, and Sole Proprietorship. Legal issues discussed.

(Did she have to list so many? I think my eyes just glazed over!)

(Psst! Wake up Grandma, don't let 'er get the best of you!)

16. Exploding Output With DIY Business Systems - A business system is anything that facilitates a repetitive process. Some are good, some backfire, and it can be a tricky thing until you have a rule to judge ahead. They run the full spectrum from VERY low tech, to cutting edge. Unlock your business potential by creating your own business systems that improve your earnings.

17. The Art Of Invention - Start with a thingamabob. Getting from a handful of thingamabobs to prototype, and from prototype to production. Low tech, easy to achieve methods discussed. (Now where did we put that dohicky?)

18. Low Risk Shoestring Startup - Skip the SBA and go straight to building a business. Simple startup concepts that take you from What, to Wow. Why you do NOT want a grant, why you should AVOID unguarded partnerships, and why "angel investors" never really want to invest in an original idea. Getting off the ground with as little outlay as possible. Covers all sorts of things you never thought you needed to know. Resource Flash Drive provided.

19. Grow An Out Of The Box Outrageous Business - The modern business box is supremely dysfunctional, and it wants to throttle all your creativity that has the power to break you loose into new territory. The best business ideas, the most wildly successful twists and variations, are original, and there's NO road for that! There's also VERY little encouragement for trailblazers in this era. It takes more than just courage to do something unexpected. Peer pressure in the 21st Century, warped training, viral lies, everything is taught by the government, and other factors that MESS YOU UP. Get out of the rut of mainstream, and into the track of reality and test out what really IS, rather than what everybody says. How a "gut feeling" really happens. How all this helps you really EARN beyond your current limitations. "Unconventional" often isn't really unconventional at all!

21. The Technological Envelope Of Functional Obsolescence - Cutting Edge, to Dysfunctionally Obsolete, technology runs the gamut. There's a sweet spot for businesses that can't afford to always be updating to the latest and most expensive thing, and it is a good and profitable place to be. It provides the function we need, at a significantly lower price, IF we understand the limitations and the benefits of being there. Applies to all tech, but specifically targeted to web technology.

22. Break The Hourly Rate Ceiling With Flat Rate Pricing - They just don't let you charge what you are worth, by the hour - eventually you hit a ceiling, and there's no point in working faster, you won't earn more anyway. If you are THAT lazy guy, you won't care. But if you are THAT GOOD, you'll want to be able to work FASTER, and EARN MORE, without ever hitting the ceiling because of an unrealistic hourly rate. Advantages of culling hourly rate pricing in favor of flat rate pricing. Methods and rationale. This is a key for so many kinds of businesses, to really earning a romping good income. (Specify presentation for Management, or Small Business Owners, or Work at Home Business.)

24. Reality Of Work From Home Employment - Introductory Level Training. In spite of rumors that circle regularly, the Work From Home arena has not changed at all within the last 15 years in a positive direction. There has been NO progress at all. The truth is that Work From Home is one of the biggest buzzwords out there for scams, and there is a reality of home business that can be USED to create a great lifestyle. The truth is that what works is your own business, and we explain why, and how to simplify it. Average startup times, solo business advantages, online freelance venues, social networking, avoiding clocking in and out, keeping costs low, and more. (This seminar works well when combined with Self Employment And Work At Home Scams.)

25. Self Employment And Work At Home Scams - Introductory Level Training, but helpful for ALL who want to expand in new directions, and for Work At Home Consultants and Service Providers. Somehow we think that people will eventually learn and these things will go away. They never do. This presentation covers scams, near-scams, unsustainable distributorships, resale rights, online systems, Adsense, and other things that promise big earnings, but never deliver even if you DO work them. If you want to keep your money growing in your wallet, this is the heads up that allows you to walk around the traps that thieves set to trick you into paying THEM instead of investing in solid business tools.

26. Hiring Work Ready Employees - Defining Work Ready, Screening and Hiring Standards, Managers and Supervisors, ADA Cautions, Training Requirements, The cost of "bringing them along", phones in interviews. If you hire Work Ready employees, you cut training time, you remove a host of disciplinary and shrinkage issues, robberies decline, retention of good employees increases, in-company leadership advancement actually WORKS, and hiring costs PLUMMET. All this adds up to MONEY in the pocket of the owner. (Please specify Corporate or Owner Operator focus for this presentation.)

27. Firing Without Fear - The need to fire based on company policy, creating good firing policy, using policy to make firm firing decisions, defending against pushback and retaliation, making the firing STICK. Firing is something we all dread, and Laura teaches you how to fire with confidence, and no guilt. Supervisors who learn this skill develop a flair for administering employee disciplinary consequences.

28. Owner And Manager Business Lynchpins - This covers those things which a business owner must NEVER delegate - and it is NOT what everyone else is teaching! A set of tasks and oversight that are necessary for a business owner to keep in their own hands, with a sub-list of the ones that can be delegated to a manager under close oversight. If these lynchpins get out of the hands of the owner, they are ALWAYS used to rob the owner. Colleges do not teach this, and many sources out there teach you the OPPOSITE, and it IS with motive. There are all kinds of people making their money by draining money from your business, and most of them put out "business management tips", which KEEP you from spotting that they are just a money drain. We don't believe in Conspiracy Theories, we only track patterns of dishonesty that are easily identifiable once you know what they are. Taking back these tasks can increase earnings by 20 to 200 times, without other significant changes to the business (statistically verifiable). The same Lynchpins must be kept in the hands of the very top level leadership in a Corporation.

29. Money Falling Through The Cracks - There are places in business processes where money, product, or service can fall through the cracks. Someone else can hook up their own system to siphon off the profits from your business. This occurs with in-facility processes, in supply and distribution, with software, and with people. Once you learn to spot WHERE the robbing occurs, you can see HOW it occurs.

30. Shirking And Shrinkage - Lazy employees are dishonest employees. Learn to spot the lazy ones by characteristic behaviors IN your presence that indicate other behaviors behind your back. Firing lazy employees always reduces shrinkage, but we also teach how to spot the thieves that make you run ragged just to earn a basic living from your business. (Specify Owner Operator with Employees, Small Business, or Large Business)

31. Personal And Business Physical And Electronic Security - Practical instruction to keep your personal assets and business assets reasonably secure. This operates on the 10/90 principle, and this is VERY MUCH influenced by your own personal risk factors, and the risk factors common to your business (and they are NOT all the same). We'll explain why you trust your friends and family LESS, not more! There is a category of things to WORRY about, and things to NOT worry about. There is a point where we just ACCEPT that it is risky, and deal with the fallout if we get bit. Some people are also MORE at risk of being personally targeted. This is NOT Lifelock (no one else can protect your assets like you can), and it is not mosquito drones. This is something actually REAL.

35. Making The Sausages - Business Process Development! Ok, so behind that phrase stands a whole segment of business tasks that require consistency and efficiency. Applicable for startups, businesses in strategic growth periods, and businesses ready to Franchise or open another location. If you have not refined your processes for producing the product or service that keeps your doors open, doing so can improve both current income, and long term growth and profit potentials. Run a leaner, cleaner and less stressful operation that earns more with less effort. Mr. Subway calls this "Making the Sandwiches", because a sandwich made correctly actually TASTES better, even when it uses EXACTLY the same ingredients, and the same amount. We'll explain why. We'll also teach you what it actually means to "Make The Sausages", and why nobody wants you to know how.

36. Ooops! I Dropped My Business Model And It Broke! - A "business model" includes all the things that make your business WORK, and all the things that make your business UNIQUELY effective. This goes way beyond branding and a Unique Selling Position, to the very heart of your business appeal to the customer. What makes a good business model? What makes it break and become unusable? Just like Despereaux at the movies, some things hold your business model together, and you can batter and diminish other things, but not those, or you business goes belly up. Hiring, training, systemizing, publishing, and expanding in ways that keep the business model intact, so when people buy the burger, they know it is YOUR burger, even without the wrapper. Reining in the guy with the animation software who thinks a vegetable man on the rampage is the way to destroy the lovely story.

41. How To Write A Book In A Hurry - If you've read the article, this ISN'T it! It only STARTS with that! Outlining, Detailing, Rough Draft, Formatting for Understanding, Editing, Creating a FAST Cover, Description, Author Bio, Conforming to the Publishing Platform, and PUBLISH. The only thing that is specifically NOT taught, is how to keep from falling asleep when you are editing your own work. Laura routinely writes books in a 2-8 week time frame, and she'll teach you how it happens. Class is aimed at both EXPERIENCED and UNEXPERIENCED authors.

42. Making A Living From Home Manufacturing Or In Home Services - The things you do to earn a living AT HOME (or from home) that are NOT primarily Online, though advertising them, or even the sale process may happen online. This isn't just about having a Home Business. This is the knowledge you need to make a FULL TIME, LIVING WAGE from home. Resource Flash Drive

43. Making A Living Wage Online - Realistic expectations, top industries, secondary industries, tertiary industries, which covers the most successful online income earners. We'll cover what makes them work, and what makes them dogs. Difficulties with learning about online business and website structures. You'll learn which things you HAVE to do yourself, and which things you CAN hire out if you cannot learn them well. You won't find this information ANYWHERE from ANYTHING sold on a "One Page Website" or "Squeeze Page". Resource Flash Drive

44. If Your Clients Outgrow You, You're Doing It Right! - A principle money key for Service Providers. Never again fear teaching someone how to do the thing you make your living from. Laura explains how empowering your clients empowers YOU more than them. Teaching your clients how to do it themselves is a powerful business building concept for service providers, and it makes you MORE money, not less. (Class is appropriate for teachers, medical and legal professionals, business professionals, and other highly trained professions.)

To Book An Appearance By Laura, Please Email Us