VETERANSBUSINESSWEEK.COM - FREE VIRTUAL TRAINING FOR #NVSBM24
DAY ONE - OCT 30, 2023
VET BIZ WEEK: Join us for National Veterans Small Business Week 2023
Day One Session Overview
Welcome Remarks by Mark Madrid
MONDAY, OCTOBER 30 | Noon - 1:15pm (CDT)
We will begin with a welcome message and brief presentation from featured guest speaker, The Honorable Mark Madrid, Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration. He will talk about ways the SBA is helping veteran business owners across the country. We are so honored to have Mark with us to launch this week-long series to celebrate National Veterans Small Business Week! (NVSBW) See full bio below.
Demystifying AI: New Tools for Growth
INSTRUCTOR: JULIE NIEHOFF
Are you intrigued by the potential of AI but unsure how it can benefit your small business or nonprofit? Been too busy to keep up with this rapidly changing tech and worried you might be left behind? Join us for this enlightening one-hour virtual class. We'll unravel some of the mysteries of artificial intelligence and show you a few simple ways to turbocharge your operations and business growth without having to re-tool everything you've worked so hard to build.
This session will feature preview content from the upcoming book and online course to be released January 2024 - Demystifying AI: Leverage New Tech for Professional Growth at Lightspeed, by Julie & CJ Niehoff, Co-Founders of Distance Learning Media and Skills After Service.
In this class, we will discuss what AI is in simple terms, and what it isn't. We'll look at real-world examples of how small businesses, with lean teams, are harnessing the growth power of AI to streamline operations, improve efficiency, enhance marketing efforts, and drive financial success.
Key Takeaways:
- Understand how others are using AI right now to reduce costs and improve productivity
- Identify simple ways AI could factor into your operations, sales & marketing
- Discover low-cost tools to getting started using AI, starting from where you are
This is not a class filled with technical jargon. We will not be explaining the whole concept or mechanics of AI in this one-hour session.
For those behind-the-curve who have not started to explore this tech yet, you will leave with a decent grasp of what is possible and we'll provide a set of free tools so you can kick the tires and play with it on your own, to see what might work for your business and management style.
For those already working with AI, we hope to introduce a few new resources and strategies to up your game a little. We'll also provide some guidance for everyone, on how to talk about and leverage AI with your team, clients and vendors. If you are an AI expert, you will be bored in this class. All are welcome.
Interactive Toolkit
All participants will get free access to a valuable Demystifying AI Toolkit, packed with templates, prompts, software, guides, ebooks and more - all designed to kickstart your AI journey immediately.
This class is perfect for small business owners, nonprofit leaders, and anyone seeking to better understand these new tech tools. Get ready to unlock the potential of AI, all in just one hour!
*Once you have registered for one VETBIZWEEK session, you will not need to re-enter your contact information. Do it once, and then each class you sign up to attend will just be a quick click to sign up.
About Mark Madrid
Mark Madrid, Associate Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration
Mark reports directly to SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, a member of President Biden’s cabinet. As a Presidential Appointee and a head official of the SBA, Mark leads a unit that supports hundreds of thousands of small businesses annually and oversees a primary educational and technical resource arm of the Agency. Collaborators include the network of Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, SCORE, Regional Innovation Clusters, and the Office of Entrepreneurship Education, which houses the T.H.R.I.V.E. initiative, Ascent women’s business online program, and SBA’s on-line Learning Center.
Additionally, he supports the Agency Office of Native American Affairs and leads the American Rescue Plan $100 Million Community Navigator Pilot Program. Previously, Mark served as CEO of the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative and President & CEO of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Prior to serving in nonprofit executive roles, he enjoyed a corporate executive banking career that began on Wall Street in 1995 with J.P. Morgan.
Mark was the 2020 Recipient of the Latino Leaders Maestro Award in the Category of Leadership for his lifetime accomplishments as a distinguished influencer; and most recently he was honored with the Courage in Government award by the National Business Inclusion Consortium. Additionally, he is a distinguished honoree with the Women Economic Forum.
Mark is a Jefferson Award recipient and an Honorary Colonel of the U.S. Army, illustrating his dedication to volunteer service and veterans. He is a member of the board of directors for the McCoy College of Business Foundation at Texas State University.He is an honors graduate from both the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his Master’s. He dedicates his service for America’s small businesses to his father, a small business owner, who passed away from COVID-19 in 2020.
About Julie Niehoff
About Julie Niehoff
Julie Niehoff is Co-Founder & CMO of Distance Learning Media, an ed-tech firm focused on workforce development, small business and veteran skills training based in Austin, Texas.
Julie is a recognized local business advocate and consultant with a background in small business education, marketing and technology. A celebrated public speaker and seasoned executive coach, Niehoff was once named a Top Small Business Influencer by Small Biz Trends Magazine. She is a regular contributor to Forbes.com, the Business Journals, Nonprofit Quarterly and other outlets.
From 2006-2016, Julie was at Constant Contact, first as a Regional Development Director and later serving as Director of Education, helping to grow the company’s global small business education initiative from 12 to more than 12,000 free classes and seminars annually. Julie has coached thousands of business owners and nonprofit professionals across the US, in Canada and the UK.
Julie is also a Co-Founder of Transition Skills Training, a 501c3 that provides job skills and entrepreneurial training for veterans and their families who are making the shift from military service to civilian life.
