Micro-business Means Business

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Courtesy of Leanna Lin

Leanna’s Lins Wonderland in Eagle Rock is teaming up with neighboring businesses to offer deals and activities for “Small Business Saturday.”

Your local diner, the independent bookstore on the corner, the mechanic who fixes your brakes, your child’s math tutor – all are examples of micro-business at work. These small enterprises, most with one to five employees and many owned and operated by minorities, are all around us, part of our daily fabric. We depend on them from dawn to dusk. But the challenges and pitfalls of running a “micro-biz” are many:  some owners can’t quality for loans; others don’t have the right training to manage administrative tasks, HR issues, or the shifting “post-recession” marketplace; still others struggle with cash flow.

Passion and persistence can keep these businesses going, but training, connections to markets and customers, and capital are the tools that make for success. KPCC’s business reporter Ben Bergman gets inside “micro-biz” with Stacey Sanchez, senior community loan officer for CDC Small Business Finance and the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO). Joining them is successful micro- to small- business owner Adela Beltran, who started selling clothes door-to-door and now owns and operates the Paramount Auto Center in Downey. We’ll also hear from other entrepreneurs, both successful and struggling, and representatives of support organizations.  Don’t miss this opportunity to get information and advice, and share ideas that will help push your own micro-biz to success!

Moderator:

Ben Bergman: business reporter for KPCC
@thebenbergman

Guests:

Adela Beltran: owner and operator of the Paramount Auto Center in Downey. Her journey began in La Barca, Jalisco, where at the age of eight, she ran her family’s market. When they moved to the U.S., she worked as a seamstress, then sold clothes door-to-door, started a travel agency and a clothing boutique, and now the car dealership.

Stacey Sanchez: Senior Community Loan Officer for CDC Small Business Finance and member of the board of directors for the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO).

7:45am – Doors open/Breakfast
8:30am – Program

Admission is FREE, but RSVPs are required.