PEABODY — Need a New Year’s resolution? How about becoming an entrepreneur with help from January business start-up courses offered by the Peabody Institute Library (PIL)?
Online course offerings including “A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Handmade Business,” with Merav Ruthman of SarinaZac Designs, are part of PIL’s ongoing “New Year: New Business” series. The program is scheduled for Jan. 13 at 11 a.m.
Interested participants can sign up here:
Ruthman, owner and maker at SarinaZac Designs, turned her hobby into a thriving full-time business and her online seminar tells how SarinaZac Designs began, grew and prospered through highs, lows, and everything in between.
PIL Branch Manager Kristi Bryant said seminar participants will learn tips and tricks for selling their handmade goods, including how to turn their hobby into a business, do market research for their products, manage their finances and limit their overhead costs, and use social media to its fullest selling potential.
Ruthman also shares insider tips on how to avoid burnout and keep loving the art that participants create.
Bryant said Ruthman started SarinaZac as Baby Hobbes Design in 2017 when she started using her love of fashion and sewing to make one-of-a-kind clothing for her own kids.
Wanting to spend time with her kids, while also bringing her unique designs to other kids, she started a business making and selling children’s clothing.
She loves dressing kids and works hard on sourcing quality fabrics and easy-to-wear designs. She uses new and vintage fabrics, including up-cycled T-shirts. More information on Ruthman’s business can be found on her website: https://sarinazac.bigcartel.com/.
Bryant said PIL’s “New Year: New Business” series is focused on helping budding entrepreneurs gather tips and tricks for starting and running their own business, all from different perspectives and in different fields.
On Jan. 14, from noon-1:30 p.m., PIL will sponsor “Business Planning the Simpler Way” (in both English and Spanish), an online course in collaboration with SCORE Boston.
“Creating a business plan can seem like a daunting exercise. This is especially true for those running a small business. But it helps to have a plan,” states the course description.
The free workshop will explore a simplified means of business and strategic planning through the use of the Business Model Canvas. Participants will leave with a practical knowledge of the essential business elements and activities to increase revenues and manage costs for their business. This workshop will be offered in English and there will be a live Spanish translator for those who select that option.
The program is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required. To reserve a free spot, please register online at: https://boston.score.org/small-business-workshops-0.
PIL sponsors “Learn how to sell better to grow your business,” a free online course that will be offered on Thursday, Jan. 21, from noon-1:30 p.m., in collaboration with SCORE Boston.
The workshop, said Bryant, will help small business owners define their market, develop their marketing and sales messages, prospect for qualified customers, and develop a system to reach their sales goals. Business owners are the sales drivers of their companies. Participants will learn how to sell better to grow their business, she said.
The program will be presented by SCORE Boston mentors, Dick Rossman and Beverly Gottlieb.
Rossman is vice president of sales and marketing for a commercial printing company and a national software company. He is also acting as part-time sales manager for numerous small businesses.
Rossman is also a sales coach and trainer working with individuals and sales teams in Massachusetts. Gottlieb is a certified public accountant with Touche Ross, and owner/president of Beverly Gottlieb and Associates, a company specializing in insurance and benefits planning for the high tech and biotech industry.
She has primarily worked with start-ups.
The Jan. 21 program is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required. To reserve a free spot, please register online at: https://boston.score.org/small-business-workshops-0.
