HR Basics for Small Business
2025-09-23 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago) | Wes Watkins Technology Center, 7892 Highway 9, Wetumka, 74883, United States
Hiring and managing employees can be challenging for small business owners. This workshop offers a practical overview of key HR essentials, including hiring best practices, employee classification, compliance with labor laws, basic policies and procedures, and recordkeeping. Whether you’re hiring your first employee or refining your current processes, this session will help you build a solid HR foundation and avoid common pitfalls.

Leveraging AI and ChatGPT In Digital Marketing
2025-09-23 12:00 - 13:00 | ONLINE
This comprehensive webinar, “Leveraging AI and ChatGPT in Digital Marketing: Unleashing the Power of Conversational AI,” is designed to elucidate how state-of-the-art AI tools like GPT-4 can revolutionize your digital marketing strategies. The webinar offers in-depth insight into the integration, utilization, and benefits of AI and ChatGPT in improving customer experience, personalizing content, and enhancing marketing effectiveness. Throughout this webinar, participants will learn:
1. The fundamentals of AI and the GPT-4 model
2. The role of AI and ChatGPT in digital marketing
3. Practical applications of AI and ChatGPT
4. Implementation Strategies
Whether you’re a digital marketer looking to optimize your strategies, a business owner seeking to enhance customer interactions, or an AI enthusiast wanting to understand the practical implications of GPT-4 in marketing, this webinar provides a platform to equip you with the knowledge and skills to stay at the forefront of the digital marketing revolution.
Join us to navigate the AI-powered digital landscape and unleash the full potential of your marketing strategies. Discover the transformative power of AI and ChatGPT in digital marketing, and start reaping the rewards of this technological revolution today!

ESOP 101: A Conversation About Employee Ownership
2025-09-24 10:00 - 11:00 | ONLINE
Join us for an engaging conversation on Employee Stock Ownership Programs (ESOPs). We’ll explore what ESOPs are, the benefits they can offer both employers and employees, how they work, and strategies for managing them effectively. Whether you’re new to the concept or ready to explore implementation, this session will equip you with the knowledge you need to make informed decisions about employee ownership.
We are proud to partner with Shamrock Bank, an employee-owned institution, to bring real-world insight into how ESOPs can transform businesses, inspire employees, and build long-term success.
Come discover why ESOPs are more than just a retirement benefit — they’re a powerful tool for growth, succession planning, and creating a thriving workplace culture.

Fund Your Business With Sponsors
2025-09-24 10:00 - 11:00 | ONLINE
Would You Like To Do What You Love and Have Someone Else Foot the Bill?
Have You Ever Thought Corporate Sponsors for Your Business, Show, Book, Charity, Speaking or Events?
America’s most successful companies partner with sponsors. Why not you?
Linda Hollander can help you. She is the author of the #1 best-selling book, Corporate Sponsorship in 3 Easy Steps and the CEO of Sponsor Concierge.
Linda has consulted with many entrepreneurs to help them profit from the awesome power of corporate sponsors and has 20 years of experience in business.
Her corporate sponsors have included Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Epson, Citibank, Fed Ex, Health Net, Southwest Airlines, Bank of America, Staples, American Airlines, Wal Mart and IBM.
Here’s what you’ll discover:
* How to identify your potential sponsors
* How to attract your sponsors
* The biggest mistakes most people make
* Creating your sponsor proposal to get big bucks
* Spotlighting your assets
* Know how much money to ask for (Don’t sell yourself short)
* Getting your sponsors to renew again and again
Who Should Attend:
* Speakers
* Business Owners
* Authors
* Event Producers
* Social Influencers
* Non-Profit Charities
This presentation is only for people who want success now. Those afraid of rapid business growth need not apply.

Preparing for Capital and Exploring Funding Options for Your Business
2025-09-24 12:00 - 13:00 | ONLINE
Whether you’re a startup founder, a growing business owner, or simply exploring how to better position your company financially, this session is designed to give you actionable insight into securing the right kind of funding to support your goals.

We’ll begin by covering the fundamentals of understanding and preparing for capital, followed by strategies for managing and approaching business debt effectively. We’ll also explore the current state of business lending—what’s changing, what lenders are looking for, and how to stay competitive in today’s market.

Content Batching 101: How to Create a Month of Marketing In a Day
2025-09-25 10:00 - 11:00 | ONLINE
Tired of scrambling to post on social media or send out marketing content? In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how to plan and create a full month of marketing content—all in one focused session. Discover how to organize your ideas, write captions quickly, and use tools like Canva and ChatGPT to design visuals and streamline your process. You’ll walk away with a repeatable system that saves time, reduces stress, and keeps your business visible online. Perfect for busy small business owners, solopreneurs, and nonprofit leaders who want to stay consistent without being overwhelmed.

From Service to Success: Veteran Business Support
2025-09-25 11:00 - 12:00 | ONLINE
Are you active military, national guard or reservists interested in starting a business or growing your existing one? Join OKSBDC for a virtual conversation designed specifically for veterans. In this interactive session, we will explore the wide range of free and confidential resources available to you through the Oklahoma SBDC. We’ll cover essential steps for launching your business and strategies for pivoting successfully if you are called to active duty. In addition, we will discuss the Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan (MREIDL) — a program that can provide financial support to small businesses when an essential employee is called to active duty. Whether you’re just getting started or preparing for the unexpected, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and tools to navigate your business journey with confidence.

Digital Foundations: A Solid Base to Launch or Grow Your Business
2025-09-25 12:00 - 13:00 | ONLINE
In Digital Foundations we cover the basic tech you need if you are just starting your business or have been in business for up to 5 years. Your marketing strategy should start before you open for business but that doesn’t happen for most people. The presentation is intended to help you launch or focus your systems if you are already open.
There are 3 simple basics: everyone needs to have the best chance of success in business, no matter what the industry. We cover the 3 basics, why they are needed, and how to use them to launch and grow to your next level. These 3 basics are: A website (services and ecommerce), Client Relationship Management System (CRM), and Social Media Platform.
Takeaways:
1. Why the website is your foundation to online success even with only referral business.
2. Why building a solid operation is key to your business growth.
3. Why a marketing strategy focused only where your ideal client helps reduce stress.
These tools will help you create your marketing strategy to attract and engage your ideal client.
This is a Level One class for beginners or with some knowledge of the topic.

AI + YouTube – Build Trust & Get Found in Video-First Search
2025-10-01 11:00 - 12:00 | ONLINE
YouTube is the second-largest search engine—and it’s now feeding AI tools directly. Learn how to create trust-building, searchable video content that boosts authority, leads, and visibility.
What You’ll Learn:
How AI pulls video content into search results and overviews
The structure of a trust-rich YouTube channel
Smart topics and titles that support visibility and authority
Easy repurposing workflows for long-form and shorts
How to tie video into your SEO and visibility system
– Built for:
• Business owners, educators, and marketers who want to expand visibility using AI-optimized video content on YouTube

Marketing Strategies for the Holidays
2025-10-01 11:00 - 12:30 | Choctaw Nation Chahtapreneur Center, 1423 E. Washington, Suite 1, Idabel, OK, 74745, United States
Are you ready to maximize your marketing during the holidays? Are you wondering how your brand will keep up with the new hustle and bustle habits? Make plans to join Oklahoma SBDC Business Advisors as they walk through marketing strategies for this upcoming holiday season. Attendees will walk away with immediate strategies to ensure you maximize success during the holidays, along with a copy of the presentation and valuable handouts.

OKC Women’s Business Breakfast
2025-10-02 08:00 - 10:00 | REI OKC Conference Center, 218 East Main Street, Oklahoma City, OK, 73104, United States
REI Oklahoma invites you to join us for the OKC Women’s Business Breakfast – a monthly networking and business-building event. This opportunity enables you to interact with other women in business and potential customers, build your network and market your business!
Each month this exclusive networking meeting for women business owners, professionals and small business resource partners will cover a topic relevant to small business management and include a time of introductions so participants come away with new contacts and resources.

Microsoft Excel – Pivot Tables
2025-10-02 10:00 - 11:30 | ONLINE
A PivotTable is a powerful tool to calculate, summarize, and analyze data that lets you see comparisons, patterns, and trends in your data. This workshop will show you how to properly format pivot tables, teaching you how to apply basic formatting, rename pivot table fields, and format numbers.
We’ll have plenty of time for Q&A with the presenter at the end of the session!

Durant: She Means Business Brunch
2025-10-07 11:00 - 12:00 | Choctaw Nation Chahtapreneur Center, 1423 E. Washington, Suite 1, Idabel, OK, 74745, United States
Join us for a fun-fueled business brunch for Women Who Mean Business! This is a great opportunity to meet others, exchange ideas and build meaningful relationships in a supportive and inspiring environment. Whether you’re just starting your career, growing a business or leading a team, we hope you’ll join us to build your network!

Psychology of Money
2025-10-08 09:00 - 10:30 | ONLINE
Each person has a money personality that influences their spending and saving decisions. Learn how to recognize negative financial habits and attitudes and change them into productive ones.

Microsoft Word – How to Create & Simplify Documents
2025-10-09 10:00 - 11:30 | ONLINE
Whether you use Word for work, study or leisure, this workshop will help you transform that blank page into a professional looking document. You’ll learn how to create a consistent and repeatable look in Word using styles, themes, and templates.
Topics to be discussed:
Formatting with styles
Applying a new theme
Creating your own templates
We’ll have plenty of time for Q&A with the presenter at the end of the session!

Business Start Up
2025-10-10 10:30 - 12:00 | ONLINE
It’s back to basics! If you want to start a business but aren’t sure where to begin, then this class is for you. In this workshop, our SBDC professionals will address many of the questions you should ask yourself before beginning the process of starting a new business. Attendees will learn about legal business structures, small business tax basics, best management practices, basic marketing strategies and market research. We will also talk about how to write a business plan and the importance of financial statements. After attending, you will have the opportunity to connect with one of our SBDC Business Advisors to get assistance in moving through the stages of your business venture. Attendees will receive a copy of the presentation along with helpful handouts, and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Trademark Filing Considerations
2025-10-14 14:00 - 15:00 | ONLINE
Every business has intellectual property needs. Even if your business doesn’t have any unique/proprietary technology, or creative expressions worth protecting, or even valuable trade secret information, your business at least has a name. And even if you have no desire to strengthen your rights in your business name by seeking a state or federal trademark registration, you should still determine whether anyone else is already using the same or a confusingly similar name before you go to market. In other words, even if you don’t want to spend the time or money protecting your company’s intellectual property assets, you should at least take the time to better ensure that you have “freedom to operate,” so that you don’t get hit with any surprise “cease & desist” letters after you go to market.

Trademarks play a key role in building brand loyalty and a strong customer base. As such, prioritizing trademark protection is just as important for start-ups and solo entrepreneurs as it is for enterprise businesses. This presentation will cover topics including types of trademarks, strength of trademarks, how to perform a clearance search, how to create a description of goods/services, and how to file a federal trademark application.

Live Business Mentoring & Learning: AI-Powered Marketing on a Budget
2025-10-14 18:30 - 20:00 | ONLINE
Learn how to create eye-catching images and videos that drive sales. Discover how small business owners can use free to low-cost AI tools to create professional marketing content that drives sales.
In this interactive demo, you will see how to:

Turn ideas into ready-to-post ads in minutes.
Write copy, generate visuals, and add music & voice-overs.
Use AI to boost your brand without breaking the bank.
Walk away with a step-by-step workflow you can apply to your business today!

Reserve your spot now and start creating like the big brands—on a small business budget.

Building Business Credit
2025-10-15 09:00 - 10:30 | ONLINE
Maintaining and reporting good personal credit is at the heart of building credit for your small business and it can affect how lenders and other businesses view your business. Learn how to better leverage your business credit by using credit reporting services.

Ecommerce Excellence: Unlocking Revenue Streams and Reach
2025-10-15 11:00 - 12:00 | ONLINE
This training provides ecommerce businesses with the strategies and tools to increase revenue and expand their reach. Topics covered include website optimization, effective marketing campaigns, social media engagement, customer service and retention, and data analytics. This training is designed to help ecommerce businesses thrive and succeed in a competitive online marketplace. Attendees will receive a copy of the presentation materials.

Prepare Financial Projections for Your Business Plan
2025-10-15 11:00 - 12:30 | ONLINE
Bob will cover topics related to setting up and operating your business finances, hiring professionals, forecasting financial information, and looking at sources of capital. In addition to use for lenders and investors, your financial forecasts will provide the knowledge that your business can be a success.
Bob Manza is a Board Member of the SCORE Association, an SBA funded organization supporting small businesses throughout the U.S. Bob is a SCORE certified mentor in Austin and is a volunteer leadership member with Foundation Communities.. Bob’s broad experience in finance includes: strategic and business planning; business optimization and investment; international business development; acquisition evaluation and integration; and accounting and control activities. Prior to PepsiCo, Bob worked with PWC in Detroit, New York and Madrid, Spain. Bob holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.

Mastering Intentional Goals: A Success Blueprint for Entrepreneurs
2025-10-15 12:00 - 14:00 | ONLINE
Kickstart 2026 with a powerful new approach to goal setting. This workshop helps small business owners create a comprehensive blueprint for success, emphasizing the need for intentionality and adaptability. Learn the art of setting precise, actionable goals and developing a roadmap with scalable milestones, ensuring you achieve both personal satisfaction and professional triumph in the upcoming year.

Business Smart
2025-10-16 11:00 - 12:00 | ONLINE
If you’re looking to start a business and have questions on where to begin, this workshop covers those first steps. Maybe you have a business idea and need to answer a few questions to give the idea more structure. Have you thought of a clever name, registered your business, or opened a bank account? Now what? In this workshop, we will be covering the following topics: Market Feasibility Key sections of a business plan Factors to consider when determining legal structure Where to find funding Key resources for your business The goal of this workshop is to provide direction to new entrepreneurs and introduce you to the Oklahoma Small Business Development Center. Attendees will have a better understanding of initial steps to starting their business.

AI-Driven Business Hacks - Work Smarter, Not Harder
2025-10-16 11:00 - 12:30 | ONLINE
AI isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the ultimate productivity partner. This workshop will show you the best tools to streamline your workflow, boost creativity, and save time on tasks you didn’t even know could be automated.
Key Takeaways: AI tools for content creation, decision-making, and time-saving hacks that free you up to focus on the big picture.

Edmond – Back to Basics: Canva for Social Media Marketing
2025-10-16 11:30 - 13:00 | Francis Tuttle Technology Center – Danforth Campus, 3841 Danforth Rd, Edmond, OK, 73034, United States
Join startups and small businesses every 3rd Thursday for Back to Basics, a monthly seminar series covering essential topics for business operations and growth. Each month an industry expert will join to lead the session to offer insight and interactive discussion on these key stand-alone subjects.
In October we will discuss “Canva for Social Media Marketing” – Learn how to use Canva to create eye-catching content that elevates your brand online. This hands-on session will walk you through simple design tools, templates, and tips to boost your social media presence—even if you’re not a designer.
Lunch will not be provided. Will take place in Seminar Room A & B. Keep an eye out for an email from Francis Tuttle before the event to register with them, this is for security purposes since this is an educational campus. Be sure to bring your driver’s license or other valid ID with you for check in.

Turn Digital Tools In Dollars: Understanding People and Numbers
2025-10-16 14:00 - 15:00 | ONLINE
This class is an interactive class to help you understand SEO from a real-world perspective. Amy helps her clients build their SEO foundation using Google My Business, Google Analytics 4, and Google Search Console. She will discuss the differences in Algorithms focused SEO and Customer Focused SEO. She will give you the first step in building your SEO and show you how to measure SEO, If you have a Google Analytics Account you might even be asked to be in the hot seat and get a business strategy based on your numbers.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand two different types of SEO
2. Learn the First Step in SEO
3. Learn the difference between Google My Business and Google Analytics
4. Learn how to see human behavior in numbers
5. Learn the different parameters around your Google Analytics Numbers.

Increase Sales and Profits with Pricing and Distribution Strategies
2025-10-20 15:00 - 17:00 | ONLINE
You’ve developed a wonderful new product or service and understand the costs but how should you price it? This workshop is part of SCORE’s Small Business Essentials series. We start by reviewing different distribution and channel strategies and help you choose the method that best gets your product or service in front of your satisfied customers. The rest of the workshop is focused on pricing, and we start by covering some pricing basics. Then we review a detailed process to determine how you can determine the price of your product. Since pricing, a service is very different than a product, we have a special section the covers the separate process for pricing your services.

Navigating Google’s Evolving Algorithm: The Role of AI on SEO
2025-10-21 11:00 - 12:00 | ONLINE
Join Ben Theis of Skol Marketing for a deep dive into the latest shifts in Google’s algorithm and how they’re reshaping SEO. From AI-generated content to rich media and Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, this session breaks down what’s changing, what it means for your content strategy, and how to stay ahead.
Learn how to leverage AI without sacrificing quality, align with user intent, and create experiences that Google rewards. If you’re looking to future-proof your SEO in an AI-driven world, this is the session you can’t afford to miss.
Key Takeaways:

What Google’s latest algorithm changes mean for your content
How to use AI without hurting your SEO
The role of E-E-A-T and why it matters more than ever
Why user experience and intent now drive rankings
Quick wins to boost visibility with rich content

Financial Projections for your Business Plan and Beyond
2025-10-21 11:00 - 12:30 | ONLINE
Join us for an informative virtual workshop on the basics of financials and projections for small businesses. This session will cover essential topics such as understanding key financial statements, cash flow management, and how to create accurate financial projections that can guide your business planning and decision-making. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to improve your financial literacy, this workshop will equip you with practical tools and insights to help you manage your business finances confidently and set realistic goals for future growth.

Maximizing Credit
2025-10-22 09:00 - 10:30 | ONLINE
How is credit scored? Why does my credit score matter? Learn what steps to take for obtaining credit, using it wisely and the impact money management has on your future credit standing.
