SBDC hosted by Long Beach City College
(562) 938-5100| drosenfeld@lbcc.edu |longbeachsbdc.org
Assisting clients in Long Beach and the Gateway Cities
September 2026
Small Claims for Small Businesses
Summary Unpaid invoices. Broken contracts. Customers who won't pay. Small business owners face these disputes regularly — and small claims court offers a fast, low-cost way to resolve them without hiring a lawyer. This workshop, presented by SBDC business advisor Michael DeDonato, J.D., M.B.A. walks business owners through exactly how the process works in California. Learning Objectives By the end of this session, attendees will be able to: Determine eligibility and limits — Understand the dollar limits for suing as…
Find out more »October 2026
Marketing Essentials for Business Growth: Build Your Visibility & Drive Results
Are you a business owner or entrepreneur ready to take control of your marketing but not sure where to start? This hands-on workshop is designed to help you understand and implement the core marketing strategies every business needs to grow. In this session, we’ll break down the essentials and help you build a solid foundation to boost your visibility, attract customers, and stay consistent with your outreach. Whether you’re just getting started or need to tighten up your marketing game, this workshop…
Find out more »What You Need To Know About Insurance For Your Small Business
Every business has certain risks related to its operation. To protect your business and personal assets, insurance coverage is critical. In this workshop, you will learn about the myriad types of insurance, the rationale for procuring the various insurance types, and come away with an understanding of how they can apply to your business. Specific Learning Objectives: Why do small businesses need insurance? Exactly what kinds of coverage are available? What insurance is needed for employees? What insurance is right for my…
Find out more »Turning Your Dream Into A Business
This class will help you take the first steps to become a new business owner or legitimize a side hustle or hobby. In this class we will help you: --Figure out what you don’t know --Define your basic business model --Outline the basic steps of setting up your entity and bank account --Figure out the appropriate licenses, permits and insurances --Understand available funding strategies --Begin to form your basic business plan REGISTER NOW
Find out more »How To Sell When You’re Not A Salesperson
Business owners and entrepreneurs must promote their business or products to investors, customers or clients. Often, this is something they have never done before, and they lack training to approach the challenge. To address this situation, this workshop has been built to help you learn much of what you need to know. Topics covered include: --The psychological barriers that could be holding you back and the tools required to overcome them. --Understanding the components of an effective sales pitch. --Learning…
Find out more »Developing An Actionable Business Plan
You can’t get there if you don’t know what or where “there” is. This class is intended to assist both startups and expanding or scaling businesses in developing an actionable and measurable plan for the next steps in growing a profitable business. In this class we will actively work on: --Defining your business model --Identifying your place in the market --Identifying your customers and revenue channels --Identifying expansion opportunities --Costing and pricing --Revenue and expense projections --Funding strategies REGISTER NOW
Find out more »Live Q&A: All About Marketing Your Small Business
Join the Long Beach SBDC for our Live Marketing Q&A addressing questions on how to effectively market and grow your business. SBDC advisor and Business Growth Strategist David Mitroff Ph.D. and Brad Pollak, Director of the Long Beach SBDC, will interact live with the audience via Zoom and answer questions covering a broad range of marketing topics including cutting-edge marketing ideas, business development strategies, how to leverage online platforms to grow your brand, mind-set, and professional growth, ways to develop…
Find out more »Funding Your Growth: For Existing and Start-up Small Businesses
Are you at a point where you need funding for the continued growth of your business? Are you unsure how to find the right sources of funding? Do you know the exact amount of cash-flow needed to grow your business? Join SBDC advisors Shaila Patankar and Max Ordonez for a workshop that identifies some key questions to ask when considering funding the growth of your business. Topics include: --How well do you know your business? --How to forecast your growth…
Find out more »The Importance of Vision and Mission When Marketing Your Business
If you are a business owner and someone asks you, “What do you do?” you need to answer with an easy-to-follow story that gets to the heart of the matter, explaining what you do, why you do it, and how people benefit from using your products or services. This workshop examines how to build your story, focusing on two key components: your Vision and your Mission. You will learn: --Why Vision and Mission are critical to any business of any…
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