Published March 2003

Biz training program returns to Everett

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

WNET — Women’s Network for Entrepreneurial Training — is back in Everett for its second year, with a series of five breakfast roundtables and forums running from March through November.

The Everett series, one of five WNETs in the Puget Sound region, kicks off March 28 with a program titled “Is Small-business Ownership For You?” designed for people who are seeking direction in creating, implementing and running their own business. Other topics to be covered in the coming months include:

• May 30 — “Take Your Networking to the Next Level: Get More Referrals and Find Advisory Board Members.”
• July 25 — “Building and Marketing Your Service Business.”
• Sept. 26 — “Small-business Financing (Without Using Credit Cards).”
• Nov. 28 — “Product to Market, Product to Patent.”

Each program runs from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Northwest Women’s Business Center, 728 134th St. SW, Suite 219, in south Everett, and includes a continental breakfast, small-business success story and training session.

Cost to attend one program is $20 with advance registration and $25 at the door, with discounts available for those who are members of sponsoring groups such as the South Snohomish County and Everett Area chambers of commerce and Business & Professional Women chapters.

Discounts also are available for those who sign up to multiple sessions — and not just in Everett. Sponsored in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, WNET programs also are held in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma and, new this year, Bremerton, offering a total of 35 breakfast roundtables on subjects ranging from e-commerce and negotiating skills to balancing work and home life.

WNETs are open to both men and women, but the program is aimed at encouraging women business owners to network and gain new resources for starting or growing their enterprise, said Carol Andersen of the SBA, noting that last year alone, area WNETs reached more than 1,000 women.

“Women are getting helped and meeting really great networking partners,” said Andersen, who has helped coordinate the Western Washington WNET program since it started in Seattle eight years ago.

For more information or to register for an upcoming WNET session, call 206-553-7315 or 425-787-9856, or go online to www.sba.gov/wa/seattle/seawnet.html.

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