National Entrepreneurship Week takes place this year from February 20-24. Microsoft is the major sponsor and organizer of the weeklong celebration of entrepreneurship. But other community supporters like Wix, Yelp, Square and LinkedIn are also helping to make the event happen.
So what exactly is National Entrepreneurship Week? It’s a weeklong celebration that offers a series of local events along with information and resources all aimed at helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Because there are so many different events and opportunities throughout the week, there are many different ways you can use National Entrepreneurship Week to benefit your small business. Here are some tips for getting the most benefit for your small business.
Find organizations that are providing information for entrepreneurship week, and check out their information
You don’t even need to attend any specific events in order to benefit from National Entrepreneurship Week. There are actually tons of organizations that provide helpful information you can use to support your small business operations.
For example, business credit provider Nav has offered up a free ebook for businesses that want to learn more about the ins and outs of financing a business in 2017.
There’s also an eGuide available from Microsoft that you can use to learn more about keeping your business secure and agile using cloud technology.
And there are even more resources ranging from in-depth guides to useful articles all aimed at entrepreneurs included right on the National Entrepreneurship Week website. So you can find the specific information that’s most applicable to your business and industry and then apply all of that useful knowledge to your operations going forward.
Find companies observing entrepreneurship week with special offers for products and services
You can also use National Entrepreneurship Week as an opportunity to gain some cost savings for your small business.
Event partners like LawToolBox, Lately, Nav and more have extended special offers for entrepreneurs through the National Entrepreneurship Week website. So you can browse to find products or services that could help you grow your business and then enjoy an exclusive free trial or a percentage off your total purchase.
For instance, maybe you’ve been considering starting a wellness program for your small business team. And you want to provide them with a nice token and incentive to achieve their health goals. In that case, you can find a great deal, 15 percent off sitewide when using the exclusive coupon code on sleep and fitness trackers from Misfit during National Entrepreneurship Week.
Attend a workshop during entrepreneurship week in your local area
Each day during National Entrepreneurship Week, there are a handful of different events in communities around the country aimed at helping entrepreneurs. So you can also attend some educational workshops to learn more about various techniques you can use to run your business effectively.
If you’re in New York on Tuesday, February 21, for instance, you can attend an interview with Microsoft’s VP of SMB Cindy Bates at the Wix Lounge. At the event, you can learn more about how to use technology to transform your business without breaking the bank.
There’s also a free webcast from Microsoft and Yelp on February 23. There, you can learn exactly how to use tools like Yelp and Office 365 to create or makeover your professional online presence in order to gain customers and grow your business online.
Use it as a hook in your own business to make an offer
If your business is one that targets other businesses at all, you could also use National Entrepreneurship Week as an opportunity to make an offer to those potential customers and hopefully increase your business in that market.
For example, B2B businesses like those that create bookkeeping software could offer an exclusive free trial to entrepreneurs who are looking to try a new program.
But this isn’t just an opportunity for B2B businesses. If you run a business like a bakery that’s located in a business district or busy downtown area, you could offer "special 2 for 1" for all entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs during the week.
Share with your team, especially management, resources you discover through entrepreneurship week events
When you attend National Entrepreneurship Week events or gain information from the resources available, your business can benefit even more if you pass those things along.
Your team is a vital part of the daily operations of your business. And they might even handle many of the essential operations that you learn about during National Entrepreneurship Week events.
For example, you might attend the Wix Lounge event with Microsoft’s Cindy Bates. But if you have a manager in charge of actually purchasing the tech tools for your business, then you alone having that information probably isn’t going to do much good for your business. Instead, you can share the resources you learned about there with that manager or even invite him or her to attend the event as well.
Use the hashtag for this week #wininbiz to develop your own special promotion
Social media can be a great tool for connecting with other businesses and promoting relevant offers. So if you have an offering for other entrepreneurs, you can use the dedicated hashtag #wininbiz to make sure that your resources reach those who are interested.
For example, if you work with business clients as a financial advisor, you could promote an educational webinar to teach your entrepreneur clients about a new financial solution during this week.
Then just make sure that you use the hashtag on Twitter, Instagram and other social platforms so that you can reach entrepreneurs who are interested in getting those special promotions during National Entrepreneurship Week.
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