RSVP for Financial Education 101: Managing Credit and Building Wealth

Financial Education 101: Managing Credit and Building Wealth January 21, 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center 1165 Angelina St., Austin, Texas Sponsors: Texas NAACP, Austin NAACP Cosponsors: National Association of Black Accountants Austin Cen-Tex Chapter, Texas Mezzanine Fund Media Sponsors: KAZI 88.7 FM, Economic Perspectives Free Giveaways Raffle for an iPad Copies of the new book “The Big Retirement Risk” Copies of the new book “The JoMar Credit Repair Guide Book 2012″ RSVP: hopeton@econpers.com
Sessions	Speakers
8:30 a.m. – Registration
9 a.m.  Welcome and Introductions	Hopeton Hay, Texas NAACP; Nelson Linder, Austin NAACP, Roger Davis, National Association of Black Accountants
9:15 a.m. – Budgeting and Paying For College	Bonita Peebles, Assistant Director, Pre College Success, Texas Guaranty Student Loan Corporation
9:45 a.m. – Building and Repairing Credit	Leslie Green, Owner, JoMar Credit Repair
10:15 a.m. – Investing, Saving, and Retirement	Juanita Stephens, Investment Advisor, Austin Wealth Builders
10:45 – Break
11:00 .a.m. – Obtaining a Mortgage in Today’s Marketplace	Sandy Battise, Mortgage Banker, Primary Residential Mortgage
11:30 a.m. – Foreclosure Prevention	Joyce McDonald, Executive Director, Frameworks CDC
12:00 p.m.  – Wealth Building Through Entrepreneurship	Emerson Hall, Community Affairs Specialist, FDIC;Raquel Valdez, Director of Corporate Strategies, BCL of Texas; Joah Spearman, Co-Founder and Executive Producer, Style XCloteal Haynes, Managing Partner, Haynes-Eaglin-Waters
1 p.m. – Lunch

Listen to Interview on Growing Your Small Business with Jeannette Peten

Jeannette Peten, president of Texas Tree Tamers and a One Page Business Plan Consultant shared her expertise on how to grow a small business on the January 1 edition of Economic Perspectives. Peten has over 20 years training, counseling, and managing small businesses. Most recently she has grown Texas Tree Tamers from to nearly $500,000 in sales in less than 3 years in business. To listen to the interview with Jeannette Peten click here: Jeannette Peten Interview.

Co-Author of Great By Choice Guest on November 28 Economic Perspectives

Morten Hansen, co-author of Great By Choice: Uncertainty Chaos and Luck—Why Some Thrive Despite Them All, will be a guest on the November 28 edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

In Great By Choice, Hansen and co-author Jim Collins answer the question why do some companies thrive in uncertainty, even chaos, and others do not.  They enumerate the principles for building a truly great enterprise in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times.

The new study: Great by Choice distinguishes itself from Collins’s prior work by its focus on the type of unstable environments faced by leaders today.

The new findings:

• The best leaders were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.
• Following the belief that leading in a “fast world” always requires “fast decisions” and “fast action” is a good way to get killed.
• The great companies changed less in reaction to a radically changing world than the comparison companies

Morten T. Hansen is a management professor at the University of California, Berkeley (School of Information), and at INSEAD. Formerly a professor at Harvard Business School, Morten holds a PhD from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Fulbright scholar. He is the author of Collaboration and the winner of the Administrative Science Quarterly Award for exceptional contributions to the field of organization studies. Previously a manager with the Boston Consulting Group, Morten consults and gives talks for companies worldwide. .

Listen to Interview About Growing Your Business with Doug and Polly White

If you’re an entrepreneur struggling with defining your role in the business you may want to listen to my interview with Doug and Polly White, authors of Let Go to Grow. In their book, the authors contend that for a business to reach the next level of success the owner has to ” let go of daily responsibilities and delegate tasks to trusted employees and managers.”  To listen to my interview with Doug and Polly White click here:  Doug and Polly White Interview.

Using real life examples, Let Go to Grow illustrates how the principal’s skill-set must change to allow the business to prosper. But, it goes beyond simply spelling out what needs to be done; the book explains how to do it in clear, concise and practical terms. Let Go to Grow is a must-read that helps principals transition their businesses into growing and thriving enterprises.

Financial Fitness Seminar Targets African American Families in November

The National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) Austin Cen-Tex Chapter’s First Annual Financial Fitness Seminar is being held Saturday, November 5, 2011, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at Huston-Tillotson University.  The Financial Fitness Seminar will feature a wide variety of free workshops that will provide will help families achieve better results in managing their personal finances and starting a business.

The recent economic downturn has left a number of families struggling to survive, especially in the Black community.  According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black unemployment is 16 percent, nearly twice as high as it was in December of 2008 when the “Great Recession” began.  A recent analysis of government data by the Pew Research Center revealed that median wealth of Black households in 2009 was only $5,677 while that of white households was $113,149.

Roger Davis

Roger Davis, president of NABA’s Austin Cen-Tex chapter  says that sponsoring the seminar  provides opportunities for members to fulfill their civic responsibilities.”It promotes public confidence in our members and their services,” explains Davis. Davis also thanked Charles Schwab for being the title sponsor of the Financial Fitness Seminar.

The Financial Fitness Seminar is in line with NABA’s commitment to improving  financial education in the African American and other communities by providing basic financial tools that allow individuals to establish realistic goals and work towards achieving them.  Experienced professionals will deliver the training workshops which will include:

• Taking Charge of Your Finances
• Budgeting, Checking, and Savings
• Registering for Camps/College/Grants/Scholarships
• Car Buying / Credit
• Home Buying / Credit
• Youth Small Business
• Adult Small Business
• 401K, Pensions, Investments
• Estates, Trusts, Wills
• Tax Update

A number of non-profit organizations will assist with the training including BiG Austin, Economic Growth Business Incubator, Foundation Communities, and Frameworks.

Juanita Stephens

NABA member Juanita Stephens who is teaching the workshop on 401K, Pensions, Investments says a financial planner’s job is not to make you rich, but to keep you from being poor.

“We are living in a time of have’s and have nots.  Which one do you want to be,”  explains Stephens, an investment advisor  for Austin’s Wealth Specialists.

Working with NABA member Regina Shelton, a student at St. Edwards University, the Austin Cen-Tex chapter developed a training track for youth instead of focusing exclusively on adults.

“For our communities to be strong, current adults and future adults must prepare themselves for a ever changing and uncertain economy to our families and businesses to thrive and survive going forward,” says Davis.

For more information and registration contact Hopeton Hay at hopeton@econpers.com.

Sources of Capital for Small Business Focus of September 19 Economic Perspectives

Janie Barrerra, president of Accion Texas and Sam Thacker, a partner with Business Finance Solutions, are the guests on the September 19 edition on Economic Perspectives, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KAZI 88.7 FM.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Janie Barrerra, Accion Texas

The mission of ACCION Texas Inc. is to provide credit and service to small businesses that do not have access to loans from commercial sources, and to provide leadership and service to the micro lending field on a national level.

Established in 1994 in San Antonio, ACCION provides individual business loans from $500 to $50,000 for startups and up to $100,000 for established businesses. ACCION also provides business lines of credit from $5,000-$50,000 for established businesses with two years of financial history.

Additionally, ACCION Texas Inc. is a SBA 504 Certified Development Company. The 504 program provides healthy growing businesses with affordable long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings. ACCION works with the SBA and Private-Sector lenders to provide commercial real estate financing up to $10 million, to small businesses under the SBA 504 Program.

Sam Thacker, Business Finance Solutions

Business Finance Solutions helps small to mid-sized businesses find working capital, subordinated debt, real estate loans, equipment sale leaseback, import / export financing and business credit insurance. Since 1994 Thacker has funded nearly $400 million for 350+ clients.

His specialty is using multiple types of financing to meet a company’s unique needs, often using factoring or asset based loans combined with other more traditional financing methods.

Where the Jobs Are and Airport Blvd. Initiative Focus of September 12 Economic Perspectives

Michael Noer, Executive Editor of Forbes magazine,  will discuss some of the companies that are still hiring despite the economic malaise, and Robyn Emerson will discuss the City of Austin Airport Boulevard Initiative’s Community Vision Workshop on the September 12 edition of Economic Perspectives on KAZI 88.7 FM, 5:30-6 p.m.  Listen live online at kazifm.org.

Forbes

Forbes recently published an article online Workers Wanted, that looks at some bright spots on the hiring front. Forbes’ careful parsing of the data reveals opportunities amid the general gloom, including a map illustrating the top (and bottom) ten states for job creation per capita, new $100,000-plus jobs, and more.

Airport Boulevard Initiative Kick-Off Reception and Community Vision Workshop

The City of Austin is working with Airport Boulevard users, owners, neighbors, and other stakeholders on an ambitious initiative to revitalize this important corridor.  On September 13, interested parties will be able learn about the Corridor Mobility Study,  share their concerns and ideas on transportation issues on Airport Boulevard, and provide input to the conception master plan.  .

REBRODACAST: Interview on Increasing Profits and City of Austin Surety Bond Assistance program

Dr. Jonathan Byrnes, author of Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink:Why 40 Percent of Your Business Is Unprofitable and How to Fix It, and Luke Luper, who leads the City of Austin’s Bonding Consulting Services for minority and women contractors, will be the guests for the two segments of Economic Perspectives on September 5, 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KAZI 88.7 FM in Austin, Texas.  Listen online at kazifm.org.  The interviews originally broadcast on October 25, 2010.

In Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink, Byrnes uses a systematic, field-tested approach to analyzing profitability, helping companies quickly determine which parts of the business are worth expanding and which parts drain resources. Then, using his concept of “profit levers,” he show them how to implement effective and sustainable change to improve the bottom line.

Byrnes, a Senior Lecturer at MIT, is an acknowledged authority on profitability management. His extensive experience spans virtually every industry, including healthcare, transportation, software, retail, financial services, distribution, and others.

At MIT, Dr. Byrnes has taught at the graduate level and in executive programs for nearly twenty years. He has authored over one hundred books, articles, cases, notes, and expert submissions. In addition, he wrote a monthly column on managing profitability for Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge for four years.

Luke Luper

Through the City of Austin’s Bonding Consulting Services, Luper will meet on a one-on-one basis to provide confidential advice in the following areas:

• Evaluation of company’s bonding needs
• Assistance with bonding application
• Identify qualified surety bond agents

To be eligible for assistance firms must be certified as a minority, woman, or disadvantaged business enterprise by the City of Austin Small & Minority Business Resources department.  For more information email Luke Luper at luke.luper@ci.austin.tx.us.

Listen to Firdos Vohra Discuss Value of MBA

Firdos Vohra, a second year MBA student at The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, talked about why she decided to obtain an MBA on the July 4 edition of Economic Perspectives.  To listen to the podcast of this interview click here: Firdos Vohra Interview.

Gina Montana Podcast About Doing Business in New Orleans After Katrina

If you missed the interview with Gina Montana about her experiences working in New Orleans as an entrepreneur after Hurricane Katrina click here: Gina Montana Interview.