University of La Verne SBDC Small Biz Blog

Wicked Bionic, LLC.  www.WickedBionic.com Dana Arnett is the Co-CEO of Wicked Bionic, a multicultural marketing and advertising agency in Los Angeles California. Wicked Bionic was established in 2015 and began to engage in government contracting about 2 years ago starting with the City of Los Angeles.  Looking to expand her business, Dana attended a presentation on government contracting from University of La Verne SBDC consultant Rene Cota. “I looked at him on Zoom and said ‘that’s the guy I want to work with -  the amount of knowledge he had, blew me away,’” Dana said, describing Rene's knowledge and experience with helping small businesses in the government contracting space.   Wicked Bionic dabbled in writing a few proposals a quarter but wanted to expand into contracting with the state and federal government. Dana felt overwhelmed writing each proposal from scratch with all the information and research involved and couldn’t keep up with the opportunities they found. “We were w

by Joshua Botello Disclaimer: This is not legal advice and is for educational purposes only. If you need help starting a Cottage food operation please consult with an advisor here .  Starting a cottage food business may seem easy to start but you may get in trouble by not understanding the law. The cottage food law in California was passed in 2013 and opened up home bakers to start without the need for a commercial kitchen. There are still many different steps you need to know before you launch. So, in this video, I’ll break down what you need to start your next cottage food small business to see if it is right for you. Business Concept If you are looking to start your own home-based cottage food business you need to understand what you can and can’t make according to the law. If you don’t follow these rules then you will be denied permits to sell anything and could be shut down and unable to operate. According to the law , there are approved foods that can be made and sold from your b

By Joshua Botello Starting a business is difficult for owners who need to get all the tools together to run their business smoothly. Small business owners who are just starting may not even know these tools that exist that make their lives much easier and more productive. In this video, is a list of 15 small business apps small businesses need to be using right now. Many of these apps are ones we use here on a daily basis for our own office. Many are free apps with optional upgrades so you can try without any limitations on what you can do if you don’t need a lot of bells and whistles. Most of these apps can be run on mobile phones for ultimate remote connectivity. So let’s get into the list. Office Programs - Google Docs & Gmail (Free with an upgrade to Google Workspace Starting at $6/mo) When you are just starting your business you want to make sure you have the basics down and office software is first on the list. A program like Microsoft 365 is expensive and open office is pr

Many Small businesses struggle with their finances whether they are first starting out or if they have been in business a while. Having a firm understanding of your business finances is the key to a successful business, how do you keep track of that? Professor Rick Hasse is a professor in finance and accounting here at the University of La Verne, College of Business and Public Management. In this interview, you'll find out how finances affect your business and how to perform a financial check-up.  How important are finances to the health of the business? Well, I think it could be a very simple answer or it could be very complicated. I'll give you a simple answer. Naturally, finance is the blood of a company. You can have the best idea, the best product, the best service, but if you don't have the necessary capital to get that off the ground and get it to your customers, you ain’t got nothing. So having capital, having access and understanding of capital is key. I like to th

by Joshua Botello Starting a food truck seems to be all the rage now as an alternative to a full brick-and-mortar restaurant. While a food truck might seem like a cheaper alternative to starting up, this doesn’t mean it takes any less work to get your business started. The food truck industry is fairly regulated and there are a lot of things to consider before you get started. In this video, I’ll cover five areas of consideration and answer the question: how do you start a food truck business? Business Concept You need to determine what cuisine of food you want to create for your business. Much like the concept of a brick-and-mortar restaurant, your food truck fare should be based on some concept of cuisine or fusion. The next step is you need to nail down your menu . Based on your cuisine you will need to figure out what food can be made in a small space like a food truck. Now that you have a solid menu, you will need to think about what equipment may be needed to make each item or m

by Joshua Botello One of the hardest things about starting a new business is: How do you price your products? Today my guest will answer that question. Dr. Frank Steven Fialho is a Marketing professor at the University of La Verne College of Business and Public management. Let’s get into the interview.  How Important Is It For a Business to Get The Pricing Right? Dr. Fialho: Most people look at marketing as promotion and sales. Very few people understand that marketing is tied to the product, price, and distribution (Place). Price is so important. I am also wanting to price before a product because it’s so important. You need to decide on the price, it’s a huge piece of the 4 Ps. It comes from a lot of market research that you have to do for your product, so it’s very critical. When you said you wanted to talk about price, I could see how businesses struggle with Price. There’s no doubt in my mind. Our students in the Integrated Business Program, I tell them when they startup “Once y

by Joshua Botello Many small business owners often find themselves short on cash at the most inopportune times. These businesses might have trouble with small business loans when they need them but it may be too late. A business line of credit is capital that small businesses secure when they can and use when they need to avoid cash flow issues. In this video, you’ll discover how a line of credit works and see if it's right for you; how to apply and secure a line of credit for your business; and stay until the end for some valuable tips to increase your chances of getting your own line of credit for your business.  What is a Line of Credit? A line of credit is a short-term, revolving credit (open-ended) account you borrow up to a set amount from $10,000 to $1,000,000, depending on the type of the account and institution. Similar to credit cards, the LOC can be accessed to pay for equipment, repaid, and accessed again as long as the credit limit isn’t reached. Depending on the inst

by Joshua Botello One of the biggest questions we get when starting a business is "How do I start an LLC?" Forming an LLC is fairly easy in California and can be done for less than $100 and in about 5 mins if you want to do it yourself. Now before we begin, a small disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. This is for educational purposes only.  Not every business can become an LLC. Professionals like doctors or professional services may need to be formed as professional corporations. If this sounds like you, you should consult with a licensed lawyer to get advice on how your business can be set up.  You can always sign up at lavernesbdc.org/newclient and click get started, to schedule an appointment with one of our business consultants and get help with filing your LLC. With that out of the way let's get into the guide.  Step #1 Forming the LLC The first step we need to take care of is forming the LLC. So head to your browser and type in SOS.CA.GOV. Th