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ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series featuring the 8 Factors is streaming LIVE! Tune in to Session 5, covering Factors 6 and 7, Process and Structure. Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, talks about documenting, measuring and improving the way work gets done at your business. Ensure your team is empowered and engaged and that you know how things happen before “know how” walks out the door. Michael also explains how to scale your company structure beyond the founder. Learn when to “chart” the evolution of your company, what your organizational structure communicates and how to ensure that “form follows function.” Click play on the video above.

ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series featuring the 8 Factors is streaming LIVE tomorrow morning at 8AM! Tune in to Session 5, covering Factors 6 and 7, Process and Structure.

Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, will talk about documenting, measuring and improving the way work gets done at your business. Ensure your team is empowered and engaged and that you know how things happen before “know how” walks out the door. Michael will also explain how to scale your company structure beyond the founder. Learn when to “chart” the evolution of your company, what your organizational structure communicates and how to ensure that “form follows function.”

Check back tomorrow to watch the live stream of Session 5.

ICA’s Entrepreneurship Education Institute is now accepting applications for two workshops: Path 2 Branding and Path 2 Cash. If you are an entrepreneur operating your own business, growing the business, committed to creating good jobs and seeking resources to scale your business, we encourage you to take advantage of these offerings. Find the details below and apply.

PATH 2 BRANDING

Would you like to know how your branding can have a bigger impact on your bottom line? ICA’s Path 2 Branding workshop will uncover the relationship between your branding and business sales, and provide you with practical advice to implement brand initiatives that increase revenue. You’ll be paired 1-on-1 with an expert advisor to assess how your company’s brand is currently being experienced, as well as simple, actionable ways to measure and amplify that experience in order to increase company’s marketing presence …

CORE Foods, an ICA Portfolio Company, just received a great profile in the San Francisco Business Times. Read on to find out how they’re innovating with a healthier alternative to on-the-go meal bars.

By Josh Cain
San Francisco Business Times

CORE Foods is a company on the go. In three years, Corey Rennell, a Harvard University alum who founded the startup that slings packaged, ready-to-go, organic meal bars, has moved his headquarters three times, from San Francisco to Berkeley to its current location in Oakland.

In that way, CORE is a lot like the customers it markets to — active people looking for healthy ways to grab meals.

Rennell is one himself. He formed the idea of creating a new type of meal bar while communing with tribes around the globe on a project with the Discovery Channel. Despite days spent hiking through mountain terrain, …

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Tune in LIVE to watch Session 4 of ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series: People & Culture. Click play on the video above.

Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, talks about the most important part of your business — your people. Learn effective interviewing, evaluating and hiring techniques, how to recognize, develop and hold on to your valuable employees and how to let go of those that are hurting your team and your business. Michael also talks about assessing, creating, cultivating and changing your company culture to ensure it attracts, retains and supports people who execute your strategy in ways that your customers and competitors will “feel.”

Hello Everyone,

I have been delivering a series of business management sessions on Friday mornings for the past few weeks and wanted to extend an invitation to join us for tomorrow ‘s session “People and Culture”. We know you are busy so we’ve set it up so you can attend via a free live stream on your computer or mobile device of choice. In my experience, people and culture are two of the most important contributors to a businesses on-going success, but too often are also the two that go overlooked or de-prioritized for many business owners. It’s like I always say, the “soft” stuff is the “hard” stuff, so tomorrow will be about learning how to leverage these Factors to unlock the full potential in your business. You can find a copy of the slide deck …

Good news! Deborah Ale Flint, Director of the Oakland International Airport and Secretary/Treasurer of ICA’s Board of Directors, has been named one of the most influential women in Bay Area business by the San Francisco Business Times (SFBT).

Also, Karen Burns, Partner at Sensiba San Filippo and a great ally to ICA, has also been named to this esteemed list. Read the article below from Krystal Peak, Social Engagement Manager for SFBT.

Krystal Peak
Social Engagement Manager
San Francisco Business Times

Sitting in a C-suite often has its perks, but much of the time, when an executive joins a meeting or is speaking at a conference, their title walks into the room, not their personality.

When the Business Times approached me to gather bios on the influential women who would be honored in our annual Most Influential Women of the Bay Area publication, I wanted …

Join ICA for this inspiring free annual event that honors small business’ contribution to San Francisco’s prosperity.

• Celebrate the contributions of San Francisco small businesses.
• Connect with more than 4,000 members of the small business community
• Focus on making your business soar
• Learn about best practices and innovative technology.

ICA will be present at a gala on May 13th.

This event sells out – buy your tickets now. There will be NO onsite registration and tickets will be mandatory at the door. Discount codes do not guarantee you a ticket to the event. You must still register in advance. San Francisco Small Business Week does not offer refunds for Flavors of San Francisco ticket purchases. Your ticket sale goes to support the free events we host during San Francisco Small Business Week.

ICA will also be present on Friday May 17th for …

Here’s a letter from Michael C. Bush–a highly successful entrepreneur from Oakland, CA, the Founder of the8factors.com and the teacher of ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series–asking you to pledge your support to change Oakland’s entrepreneurial future.

Hello Everyone,

The world of Oakland not being a start-up HUB will be over. In 5 days HUB Oakland will meet its Kickstarter goal if you want it too.

If you want to change this city, and many others like it, this is the chance. Click here to make it happen!

I have worked to help Oakland entrepreneurs and small business in other cities like Oakland for 20 years. This is the missing link, a place where people can physically office together, work together, ideate together, share short cuts together, and do it themselves.

As James Brown said, “I don’t want nobody to give me nothing. Just open …

COMMUNITY HAPPYNESS GURU & CUSTOMER SERVICE

Back to the Roots, an ICA Portfolio Company, is looking for a PT Community Happynness Guru to be the front line of customer service – answering phones and responding to our community’s emails and social media inquiries. Most importantly – you’ll be spreading passion and love to all our customers!

Click here for the full job description and apply

We encourage you to attend the San Francisco Business Times 2013 Small Business Summit. This event will include a fascinating presentation of the national SMB market findings by American City Business Journals’s VP of research, Godfrey Phillips, followed by a panel discussion with three successful small business owners. Click here to register: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/event/78371

When: Friday, May 10, 2013,
7:30am-10:00am Add to my calendar

Where: Four Seasons Hotel
757 Market Street San Francisco CA 94103

Event Information

Small to mid-sized businesses are the growth engine of a strong economy. What are the top issues of SMB owners, how do they view the future, and what is influencing their decisions?

Join us as we present the latest research on the small to mid-sized business marketplace, followed by an enlightening panel discussion with successful Bay Area SMB business owners.

SMB Insights Presentation given by Godfrey Phillips, American City Business Journals …

Join sf.citi and Silicon Valley Leadership Group at the 9th Women & Girls Leadership Summit

Wednesday, May 1st, 2013
8:00AM – 12:45PM
Bessie Carmichael FEC Middle School – 824 Harrison Street

REGISTER HERE: http://sfwomenandgirls2013.eventbrite.com

This year sf.citi is partnering up with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group for the Women and Girls Leadership Summit at Bessie Carmichael Middle School here in San Francisco! The purpose of this summit is to empower young girls from our neediest urban schools by introducing them to private and public sector women role models and to energize these students about their education.

By registering and participating in this event, you have the opportunity to develop mentoring relationships with the young girls, and to meet and network with other women executives. Registration fees go towards helping to fund STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) programming at the school which will lead to …

The Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation and City Hall Fellows are now accepting applications for the Mayor’s Innovation Fellows Program.

Mayor’s Innovation Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds but share several common characteristics:

• Experience working across sectors, with multiple stakeholders
• Passion and propensity for innovation
• Impeccable communication and presentation skills
• Unshakable belief in the power of technology

The Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation will host three Mayor’s Innovation Fellows for twelve-month terms beginning approximately August 1st, 2013.

Fellows will be matched based on their interests and skills with one of impact areas: Open Data, Civic Engagement, Economic Development, and/or Technology Policy.

To apply, please visit innovatesf.com – Applications should be submitted by Tuesday, May 30th, 2013

“With domestic unemployment and poverty on the rise, it’s evident that traditional strategies for building thriving communities and economies are no longer sufficient. New forms of financing, such as mission-driven venture capital, social impact investing, or innovative nonprofit enterprises, are increasingly part of the solution. Offering another alternative path forward, Inner City Advisors (ICA) has developed an equity-driven growth model for businesses that is creating economic and social value in low-income communities.” – Carmen Rojas, Acting Director of Program Strategies, Living Cities

Living Cities invites you to join a webinar about ICA’s growth model for business enterprises. The webinar will discuss how ICA is forging a new path for economic growth, proving that racial, gender and economic inclusion foster stronger economies. In this webinar, you will also learn about how ICA’s equity-driven model expands entrepreneurship among people of color and women …

Concreteworks, an ICA Education Company, is a full-service design and fabrication studio specializing in innovative solutions using cast concrete and other cement based materials. Their pieces combine the newest technologies in their field with cutting-edge design, and sustainable building materials. At the same time, they acknowledge the needs of their community and environment by handcrafting their products locally and incorporating 80% recycled content.

Now they’re hiring an Admin/Bookkeeper and a Color Coordinator. Please find the job descriptions below and apply.

Concreteworks Admin / Bookkeeper Position

Basic experience required:
• AR and AP
• 3+ years small business office management / College degree or equivalent
• Competent with Quickbooks, Microsoft Word and Excel or Apple Numbers, Pages.
• Customer service/Phone/sales experience.

Office manager role:
• Reception support: Answer phones, greet customers, signing for deliveries
• Help with showroom and office organization
• Ordering Office Supplies
• Support with office equipment: phones, printers, computers
• …

Guest post written by Kate Worteck for Inner City Advisors

If there’s one thing everyone can agree on lately, it’s that the East Bay needs more jobs. But there’s a huge difference between a regular job and a “good” job.

A regular job might pay a little more than minimum wage, with no benefits or paid time off. Employees live from paycheck to paycheck with no financial cushion – just one medical bill or car repair away from financial disaster.

And for thousands of people in the East Bay, even these jobs are out of reach. There’s a ton of discussion about Oakland’s revitalization lately, but we need to make sure that we’re building an economy that works for everyone.

Read the rest of the Oakland Local story here.

The Perfect Sidekick is Oakland’s only LGBTQ Gym (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trangender, Queer) and currently has two positions available: PERSONAL TRAINER & PERSONAL ASSISTANT.

CERTIFIED PERSONAL TRAINER
Requirements:
- Must have certification
- At least (1) year experience
- CPR Certified
- Able to work with clients ranging from 20 to 80+ years of age
- Willing to work evenings and Saturday mornings
- Must be personable, energetic and motivating

We have a positive atmosphere and we are looking for a reliable TEAM PLAYER interested in growing with the company.

This is currently a part-time position with potential to full-time. No sales involved.

Requirements:
• Must be highly organized with an almost OCD level of attention to detail.
• Must be intelligent, with strong analytic and problem solving abilities.
• Have good communication abilities, both written and verbal.
• Be not afraid or “above” doing any sort of task, however basic, menial or personal.
• Live …

El Porteno Ferry Building / Farmer’s Market Retail Staff (SOMA / South Beach)

Do you enjoy celebrating the culture & food of Argentina and South America? Would you like to be part of an exciting growing company that is committed to community involvement and the importance of sustainability? Are you someone who enjoys working independently?

El Porteño Empanadas, a local Argentine Bakery, is currently looking for help for our Farmer’s Markets stands and at our prestigious Ferry building location. You will need to use your own vehicle (truck, van or wagon) and be comfortable setting up farmers markets on your own. You may also be required to deliver catering orders.

By joining our team you’ll have the opportunity to enjoy the rewards of taking a small company to the next level. There is growth in the future and we need a good person …

We need your help to create more jobs for San Francisco youth this summer! Join Mayor Edwin Lee, public and private employers and United Way of the Bay Area as we come together to launch this year’s Summer Jobs+ challenge.

Last year, the Mayor’s partners created job opportunities for over 5,200 young people and this year we’re reaching even higher.

The success of the inaugural year of Summer Jobs+ was due to the commitment and imagination of the cross-sector partnerships the Mayor created. And so they invite all San Francisco business leaders to rise to the challenge by pledging jobs or sponsoring summer internships to infuse our economy with new skills and leadership.

SF Summer Jobs + is the local response to President Obama’s national call to action to create pathways to employment for youth this summer. Preparing youth …

The Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation is looking for a Rockstar Innovation Analyst to support TechSF, a pioneering workforce training initiative to train & place 2,500 San Francisco residents in high technology jobs.

Position Description

The Innovation Analyst will evaluate, develop, and implement sustainable innovation strategy and programs in general, and workforce development programs specifically. This position is funded through a Department of Labor Grant. You will sit within the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation (MOCI) and report directly to the City’s Chief Innovation Officer, Jay Nath, while acting as a liaison between MOCI and the Office of Economic Development & Workforce Development (OEWD) where you will evaluate, develop and implement programs that apply innovation methods (such as OpenGov, agile and user-centered design) to workforce development challenges.

Essential functions

• Create and provide support for MOCI and OEWD programs
• Apply innovation practices to economic …

In 2012, 1200+ people packed the Historic Fox Theater in Oakland to go ALL IN for Bay Area entrepreneurs.
This year, on June 12th, we’re rallying everyone to double down on their investments. Stay tuned for Tickets and more information.

For ALL IN 2013 sponsorship opportunities, download the 2013 Sponsorship Packet or contact Jose Corona: jose@innercityadvisors.org.

Join us in building a permanent home for Kingston 11 Cuisine and become a part of the Bay Area’s premier organic Jamaican dining experience! Click below and contribute to the Kingston 11 Indiegogo campaign.

About Kingston 11 Cuisine

Kingston11 Cuisine was initially conceived by head chef Nigel Jones. With the help of his business partner Adrian Henderson, a dream turned into reality and over night Kingston11 grew into a thriving pop-up restaurant in Berkeley, CA and instantaneously became a hit throughout the Bay Area.

The foundation of Kingston11 began in a living room during monthly communal dinners, amongst the casual banter between friends and family over the possibility of one day opening a restaurant with our tasty home-style Caribbean cuisine. With the chemistry amongst the group being palatable (pardon the pun), the team managed to transpose the good vibes and love …

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ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series started today, and in case you missed the live stream to Session 1 of the series, you can watch it here.

This is MBA knowledge without the price tag! Be sure to share this with anybody you think can benefit, especially people who are growing their business, starting a business, or thinking about starting one.

Check back to our Action Blog next Friday for Session 2 in the series.

Cook! SF was nominated for a NEXTY Award at Expo West and they need your votes to win!

Click here to vote for Cook! SF (nonalim soups) in the left column under Natural, Organic and Functional Foods and Beverages:

NEXTY award nominees were recognized as thought leaders and innovators at the Expo West 2013 Show. These industry provocateurs are helping to shape the landscape of the natural products world, and now you get to weigh in and vote for your favorite. Vote for one nominee from each of the three categories

Voting closes on Friday, May 3. The winners will be announced in a report in June and will consist of one poll leader and one editor’s choice per category. Please vote and spread the news!

As a quick reminder, Back to the Roots’ Grand Opening Party is this Friday evening – we really hope to see you here. Back to the Roots has moved into a gorgeous new space in the middle of the Oakland produce area in Jack London Square and they can’t wait to show it to you, thank you for your support and share their excitement.

5 – 6pm: Community Discussion to ask any questions, meet the team, and talk about the future of Back to the Roots

6 – 10pm: Grand Opening Party

Back to the Roots
424 2nd Street
Oakland, CA 94607

For more info and to RSVP: http://bttrcelebration.eventbrite.com/

Join us on Friday, April 5th at their new space in Oakland for:

- Tons of music and dancing
- DJ, flute performane and other musical guests
- Food courtesy of Whole Foods, Boston Market, Kaia Foods, Hodo Soy, …

Want to join an awesome team that’s on a mission to change the food industry?

You’re in luck!

CORE Foods is looking for super-smart people that care about food, nutrition, and changing the way the food industry works. Our mission is to get fresher, healthier food to more people, period.

SOUTHERN PACIFIC REGION CHIEF (Los Angeles):
CORE is looking for the next big addition to our team! Key responsibilities include:

• Manage growth in current and future accounts
• Pursue new accounts aggressively
• Organize local marketing/promotions/events
• Be the face of CORE to stores, customers, & suppliers
• Perform regular in-store samplings of our food
• Build relationships with buyers and coordinate with accounts through in-store visits, phone calls, and emails
• Test new sales channels
• Travel extensively within the region by personal vehicle and travel to other regions of the …

** RSVP FOR FREE BY CLICKING HERE **

HUB Oakland is the newest in a global network of coworking spaces for mission-driven entrepreneurs and changemakers.

HUB Oakland planted the seeds over a year ago, watered the soil, and worked the land, and now it’s spring time. They’re in full bloom!

Come share in the launch of HUB Oakland’s crowdfunding Kickstarter campaign and check out their new “pop-up” digs in Downtown Oakland. They are ready to turn the Town upside down with innovation, but they can’t do it without you. Join us!

On Monday, April 8th from 6:00 – 9:00PM
You Can:

Mingle & Mix
Meet the Founders
Have a Cocktail
Peep the Floorplan
Munch & Laugh
Find Out More
and Become A Member!

We’re JumpingOFF! You coming?

Cordially,
Ashara, Ahmed, Zakiya, Edward, Lisa, Kristin, Konda, Roe and Jeff

Be Sure to LIKE HUB Oakland’s Page: www.facebook.com/huboak
Check out their blog at http://HubOakland.net/

Startup marketing often involves an “all of the above” or “by any means necessary” approach, and rightfully so. To meet short-term goals, the strategy, or means, becomes far less important than the outcome.

Logically, the starting point for most startups is to drive traffic to the website (i.e., fill the top of the sales/conversion funnel). You don’t need to be a technical marketer to know that Google Analytics makes measuring traffic extremely easy. Similarly, measuring what’s happening at the end of the process (number of users/customers) is also pretty straightforward. With these two inputs – traffic and conversions – you now have a top-to-bottom conversion ratio.

This ratio is nice to have, but it’s far less valuable than you might be tempted to believe, particularly as you’re just starting up. Ultimately, there are a number of variables that can skew this ratio …

We love the video of the 2 year old using the iPad. With that in mind, Back to the Roots realized that to really scale up their movement of making food personal again, they’d have to design their Mushroom Kits so that every kid understands what they are and how to grow them with just a glance.

What do you think of the new design? We would love your feedback. See the evolution of the packaging design below.

Back to the Roots has also made some office changes and moved into a gorgeous new space in the middle of the Oakland produce area in Jack London Square. They can’t wait to show it to you, thank you for your support and share their excitement! Join us on Friday, April 5th at their new space in Oakland …

We’re offering you a FREE live stream of each class in the entire Business Growth Strategy Series, but in order for it to happen, 50 more people must register by this Saturday, March 30th. We’re so close!

If 400 people don’t register, we’ll have to pull the plug on the live stream. So get yourself registered and share this with everyone in your network that is running a business, thinking about starting a business, or just wants to improve his or her ability to speak the language of business.

You should register for this webinar series if you are interested in:
- Launching a business
- Growing your business
- Working on your business, not just in your business
- Learning proven strategies that keep your cash in your pocket
- Improving your business leadership skills
- Learning how to increase profits by ridding waste from your …

The Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business Annual CSRB Conference: Creating Shared Value and Evaluating Social Impact was a huge success thanks to the Center For Socially Responsible Business staff, Net Impact leadership team and members, speakers from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, including Nina Robinson, ICA’s Portfolio Manager, and attendees from the Mills community and beyond.

If you value what you experienced at this conference or other CSRB events and you know someone who is considering an MBA, tell them about our program. They can register here for our next Information Session.

Here are a few lessons learned from our March conference that will help you make an impact in your work and life:

1. Do good for goodness’s sake: The first panel at the conference dealt with the questions of shared value. Speakers from Cisco, Gap Inc., …

OAKLAND ARMY BASE
TURNER/TOP GRADE/FLATIRON A JOINT VENTURE (TTGF)

Notice to LOWER TIER SUBCONTRACTORS

Here is an invitation to a Meet the Primes event that will take place on April 4th from 2 to 4 PM in the ground floor of the Rotunda Building, 300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. The purpose of this event is to provide a networking opportunity for lower tier subcontractors to meet the Prime Contractors prequalified to bid on the Oakland Army Base Project. This will assist those Prime Contractors in forging new relationships and meet their goals on this project. Any local construction companies should consider this opportunity.

MEET THE PREQUALIFIED PRIME SUBCONTRACTORS
When: Thursday April 4, 2013 from 2PM to 4PM
Where: Rotunda Building, Ground Floor
300 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza Oakland, CA 94612

TTGF is seeking to facilitate a relationship between local City of Oakland Subcontractors and the prequalified Prime …

Airbnb, the San Francisco based company that enables people to monetize their homes or apartments by renting them to travelers, has released a study showing that $56 Million dollars was spent in San Francisco by Airbnb travelers over the course of a year. Airbnb is proving to be an effective way for hosts to generate income and retain their housing, plus brings travelers and their economic activity to parts of a region where they’re less likely to go if they stayed in hotels. This kind of tourism keeps more money in a local economy, with a larger portion of dollars going to small business and local residents rather than chain hotels and their parent corporations.

The study says that $56 million in total was spent by Airbnb travelers over the course of a year in San Francisco. That includes $12.7 million …

The in-person class registration is closed and the participants of the class at Mills College have been chosen. Read below to  find out how you can still access the content.

ICA has received far more applications for our 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series than there are seats available, and as a result of this uptick in demand, we want to create a way for more entrepreneurs to access these proven, practical resources.

So this year, we’d like to offer everyone a FREE live stream of each class in the entire series!

You should join this webinar series if you are interested in:

• Launching a business
• Growing your business
• Working on your business, not just in your business
• Learning proven strategies that keep your cash in your pocket
• Improving your business leadership skills
• Learning how to increase profits by ridding waste from your operations …

Raising money to grow your business is tough. Banks deny your loan applications, venture vultures want too big a piece of the equity pie and relatives are ducking your phone calls. So you turn to crowdfunding, and this can prove to be a highly effective fundraising tool. But when campaigns are run ineffectively, boy, they can be a miserable failure. Bottom line, successful campaigns require smart planning, concise and creative storytelling, consistent execution, plus valuing your supporters.

Karen Gould, the communications manager at StartSomeGood, highlighted 10 crowdfunding campaign mistakes that you should avoid:

1. Forgetting the “why”

As social entrepreneurs we’re focused on doing, and so we should be. But when it comes to sharing our story with potential supporters, we can’t afford to just tell them how we’ll get things done. We need to tell them why. Why do …

We know from experience that entrepreneurs’ biggest barrier to growth is getting the capital they need to scale up. More specifically, a gap exists for small business owners needing $100k to $2m, and unless you’re a hot tech startup, it has become increasingly difficult for small businesses to get capital in this range. Among several factors, lenders’ current entrepreneur risk assessment methods are making it difficult for entrepreneurs to access capital and restraining job creation. If an entrepreneur speaks the lender’s financial language, they are more inclined to pass traditional models for assessing risk. But these old models don’t adequately consider an entrepreneur’s qualitative factors that would never show up on a balance sheet, but would mitigate risk. We’re talking about things like passion, drive, commitment and character. A small business owner may not have the collateral that a bank …

A growing chorus of advocates, policymakers, and economists believe that the nation’s spiking racial and income inequality puts our economy at risk, and that equity is now an economic imperative in addition to a moral one. The conversation must now shift to policy.

On February 4th, PolicyLink and SEIU hosted a half-day convening that explored on-the-ground solutions, policy strategies, and the movement building that is needed for an equitable economy.

Drawing on the emerging consensus that inequality hurts growth, PolicyLink and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) held a spirited half day forum in Washington D.C. last month. Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink founder and CEO, boldly stated the nation’s challenge: “Growing inequality is the most pressing issue of our time. And equity is the antidote to inequality”.

As the nation becomes increasingly diverse, the country cannot address inequality without confronting its racial and …

One PacificCoast Foundation & East Bay Express invite you to
*Save the Date *Nominate your favorite businesses *Come celebrate!

Nominate your favorites by March 31, 2013!

Winners will be announced at the Indie Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 30th at Oakland’s Kaiser Auditorium, with a party on the rooftop following the ceremony.

Tickets are $10 in advance; $15 at the door

Oakland Soul :: Represents the soul, essence and spirit of Oakland. This business or artist appreciates diversity and creativity, is confident in their individuality and humbly supports their brothers and sisters.

Ripple Effect :: A business that supports the local economy by buying their supplies and services from other local vendors, creating a “ripple effect” as money circulates within the community.

Innovative Newcomer :: A business or artist that started in the last three years that excites and inspires with …

Would any local freelance writers like to pick up some new work? 99U’s editorial team is looking to hire several freelance writers for their new blog titled “Workbook”, which launches this month. Writers will get paid for all published posts.

See 99u’s job description below:

About 99u

99U is a Webby-award winning publication with over a million monthly readers. We also produce the yearly sold-out 99U conference. The mission of 99U is to share pragmatic insights on how to push bold ideas forward — and in many ways, “demystify the creative process.”

About You

You crank through several books monthly and your RSS feed reader is loaded. You’re familiar with Behance and 99U and share our mission of empowering the creative world with insights to help make ideas happen. You enjoy thinking and writing about the creative process: whether it’s through art, entrepreneurship, or …

The Hitachi Foundation recently launched its search for young entrepreneurs across the country who are intent on building a sustainable business and making a difference – and we’re hoping you can help us spread the word.

In its fourth year, the Yoshiyama Young Entrepreneur Program provides financial and business support for up to five entrepreneurs whose businesses improve the lives of low-wealth individuals. This could result in anything from creating quality jobs, producing new products and services or devising management strategies that propel the business and people forward. The selected entrepreneurs receive $40,000 over two years, along with leadership development, business mentoring, technical assistance and access to a network of peers and advisers.

APPLY NOW: http://www.hitachifoundation.org/our-work/yoshiyama-young-entrepreneurs-program/application/apply-now

The first round application deadline is March 28, 2013.

Previous winning entrepreneurs, including ICA Company Back to the Roots, are running businesses that support and place welfare-to-work …

Entrepreneurs: today is the last day to apply for ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series. The deadline is 11:59PM PST tonight. Take advantage of the most powerful business management tool available to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Financial assistance is available.

Apply Now Ready to grow your business?

8 Factors Success Stories: Nathalie Huerta, The Perfect Sidekick from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Nathalie Huerta, founder of The Perfect Sidekick personal gym, doubled her net profit after just 1 month of using The 8 Factors business framework. Here, she describes the immediate return her business has gained as a result of implementing the lessons she’s learned from ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series. The 8 Factors Business Framework is the most powerful business management tool available for today’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, and it is the centerpiece of our entrepreneurship education offering.

“Before I did the 8 Factors Program, I didn’t know I would need cash as soon as we started growing. In 3 months, I increased my cash on hand by 30%. Now I can focus on strategies to grow my business and look for a larger space instead of …

8 Factors Success Stories: Santi Romero, Premier Organics from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

8 Factors Success Stories: Santi Romero, Premier Organics

Premier Organics exemplifies every aspect of ICA’s mission, joining the ICA Portfolio in 2005 as a fast-growing, small organic food company needing strategic direction after expanding their operations into East Oakland. During the initial stages of the advising process, we became most excited that Premier Organics had built a larger vision into their business model, which demonstrated a commitment to create good jobs for the people living in the local community where they operate. Combining all of these qualities, Premier Organics captures the essence of the responsible, sustainable, job-creating business ICA seeks to assist.

Santi Cuenca-Romera, one of the Premier Organics founders, graduated from ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series and describes how he uses the The 8 Factors Framework over and over, …

PREVIEW Factor 6: Processes from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, talks about documenting, measuring and improving the way work gets done at your business. Ensure your team is empowered and engaged and that you know how things happen before “know how” walks out the door.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

Creating Shared Value & Evaluating Social Impact

Attend Creating Shared Value & Evaluating Social Impact, an annual conference put on by our partners at the Center for Socially Responsible Business, Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College. Join us as ICA, Mills faculty, students, ICA entrepreneurs and industry experts discuss how organizations of any size and profit orientation can find new growth by adopting the idea of shared values and evaluating social impact in innovative ways.

The Center for Socially Responsible Business & the Lokey GSB Net Impact Chapter Present…

Creating Shared Value and Evaluating Social Impact
Friday, March 15, 2013
8:00 am – 5:00 pm

This one-day event will explore how more and more organizations are strategically and profitably reframing products, markets and supply chains to meet social challenges, and rethinking how they demonstrate social impacts.

The keynote speaker will be Leila …

Great news! Four ICA Companies are hiring to fill 15 new jobs that they collectively created. Luminalt Energy Corporation is hiring for a Residential Solar Sales position. El Porteño Empanadas is hiring a Delivery Driver and a Junior Baker. Cook! SF is hiring a Business Development/Account Lead. And Ed Support Services is hiring a Director of Operations and 10 Behavior Therapists. Please use the “Get Started” buttons adjacent to each position to find the job description.

Get Started Residential Solar Sales

Get Started Director of Operations
Get Started Behavior Therapist

Get Started Delivery Driver
Get Started Junior Baker

Get Started Business Development/Account Lead

Jose Corona, CEO of ICA, was recently selected as one of the San Francisco Business Times’ 2013 Forty Under 40 emerging leaders of the Bay Area and today they’ve published his Executive Profile! Can you guess what Jose’s first job was? Read on to find out.

In 40 words: An economic development leader, Corona helps improve business growth, quality job creation and equitable wealth distribution across the Bay Area. Corona has overseen millions in pro bono investments supporting over 150 local small businesses and 2,445 jobs.

Age: 39.

About the business: Create good jobs by offering management consulting and advisory services, entrepreneurship education and capital investment to small businesses.

Hometown: La Piedad, Michoacan, Mexico.

Education: B.S., University of California, Davis.

First job: Picking strawberries at our family ranch.

Word that best describes you: Poised.

Second office: In a local coffee shop, Farley’s or Awaken.

For which organizations do …

PREVIEW Factor 5: Culture from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, talks about assessing, creating, cultivating and changing your company culture to ensure it attracts, retains and supports people who execute your strategy in ways that your customers and competitors will “feel.”

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

8 Factors Success Stories: Nikhil Arora, Back to the Roots from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Nikhil Arora, Co-founder of Back to the Roots, explains how the 8 Factors Framework, taught in ICA’s Business Growth Strategy Series, helped accelerate the growth of his business.

“When we found The 8 Factors we were just in a couple of stores and still unfocused on our business strategy. It’s been really cool to see the effect of the Framework in helping our business grow from selling at just a couple Whole Foods in Berkeley, to now a national rollout with Whole Foods, Home Depot, and Safeway.” – Nikhil Arora, Co-Founder of Back to the Roots

Back to the Roots is one of ICA’s fastest growing portfolio companies, earning an array of awards and well-deserved media attention. Alejandro Velez & Nikhil Arora have developed a thriving inner city …

PREVIEW Factor 4: People from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors and instructor for ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series, talks about the most important part of your business — your people. Learn effective interviewing, evaluating and hiring techniques, how to recognize, develop and hold on to your valuable employees and how to let go of those that are hurting your team and your business.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

Cook! Real Simple Delicious, is hiring a Business Development/Account Lead to join their team. Find the job description below and apply.

ABOUT COOK!
Cook! is the nation’s first gluten and dairy-free ready-to-cook meal delivery service. Headquartered in Oakland, we have been bringing healthy meals to customers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area since 2006. While still a young organization, we are already recognized as a leader in the organic home-delivery genre as well as a pioneering enterprise in the ‘Food As Medicine’ revolution. Cook!’s goal is to educate our customers while showing them how delicious & easy healthy eating can be. Besides our direct-to-consumer meal plans, Cook! also has a line of retail products (Real Simple Delicious) now being sold regionally by Whole Foods and other natural grocers. We are rapidly expanding to other geographies including the Pacific Northwest, Southern California and …

8 Factors – Student Testimonials from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

A collection of small business owners who attended 2011′s Business Growth Strategies Series, share their perspective on Michael C. Bush and how The 8 Factors helped them and their business.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

PREVIEW Factor 3: Strategy (Part One: Choosing an Operating Discipline) from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

The 8 Factors is the most powerful education tool available for busy small business owners who want to improve their business while they run it, and will be taught at ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series. Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, explains the importance and benefits of choosing an operating discipline and talks about how this one decision simplifies so many others.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

Calling ALL Oakland small business owners!

Please join Back to the Roots, an ICA Portfolio Company, for an evening of learning, networking and celebration.

When:
February 21, 2013 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Where:
Back To The Roots
2935 Adeline St
Oakland, CA

Register at:
http://thankyousmallbusiness.com/events/oakland-ca/

We’d like to invite you to attend Thank You Small Business Oakland! A FREE event for small business owners in Oakland. Each attendee will:

• Get amazing words of encouragement and tips from a successful entrepreneur who knows what you’re going through.

• Learn the best way to evaluate your business model, set achievable financial goals and build out an action plan to actually hit those goals.

• Have the opportunity to network with both local and national small business owners to share tips, tools, war stories and success stories.

• Receive tons of free gifts and resources to help them grow their businesses.

This event is part of a national …

8 Factors Success Stories: Tanya Scott, Ed Support Services from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Early last year ICA was excited to announce the addition of Ed Support Services to our Portfolio. ESS provides educational and behavioral services to people with disabilities. What we admire about Meredith Akers and Tanya Scott, the founders, is that they have transformed themselves from former teachers and educators to becoming true entrepreneurs. They completed ICA’s 2011 Business Growth Strategy Series, and have implemented the 8 Factors Framework with great business growth acceleration results. In less than one year with ICA, they grew from 35 employees to over 90 and are projecting to create many more good jobs over the next year. We highlight Ed Support Services today because they exemplify every aspect of the ICA mission. ESS is a high-growth, high-impact company, whose founders are humble …

EBMG invites you to a panel discussion on Utilizing Your Most Valuable Assets: The case for workforce development — February 27

DATE: Wednesday, February 27, 2013

TIME: 8:00 am – 10:00 am

PLACE: Laney College
The Bistro
900 Fallon Street
Oakland, CA 94607
(Directions)

Join EBMG for a panel discussion addressing the concerns of workforce development in the East Bay Area. This interactive, executive focused discussion will provide attendees with the analysis of successful real-life workforce development projects and the impacts of cost reduction, quality improvements and increased customer satisfaction. Our industry and technical experts will also address your top questions and provide insight on the programs that are available to California Manufacturers to train their workforces. They will cover assistance from federal, state and local levels as well as how Community Colleges in particular can be a valuable resource to manufacturers.

MODERATOR
Bill Browne — Director of Client Services, …

PREVIEW Factor 2: Cash (Part One: Facing the Income Statement) from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

The 8 Factors is the most powerful education tool available for busy small business owners who want to improve their business while they run it, and will be taught at ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series. Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, explains how to use the income statement to understand your current financial situation, assess future scenarios, and manage through changing market conditions.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

Locally Inspired is a business mixer series to connect independent East Bay businesses and artisans who are passionate about our community and environment, hosted by Sustainable Business Alliance and Oakland Grown with One PacificCoast Bank and East Bay Express.

Together you’ll learn, meet, greet, and eat together to build each other’s businesses and strengthen our economic eco-system – from artisans, producers, and manufacturers to wholesalers, retailers, restaurateurs, professionals, and service providers.

EVENT DETAILS:
February 26, 2013 5:30 – 8:00 pm

Speaker: Danny Kennedy, Founder, President of Sungevity, Inc.

Member location+ tour: Metro Lighting and Crafts

Member advice stand: To be announced

Cost: FREE for current dues-paying SBA / Oakland Grown members,
$15 for ICA partners and friends with discount code ica13en, $20 general public

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR DISCOUNTED TICKETS

MORE DETAILS:
Local, Social & Sustainable Business Mixer Series
by Sustainable Business Alliance /Oakland Grown with One PacificCoast Bank

4th …

Calling ALL Oakland small business owners!

Please join Back to the Roots, an ICA Portfolio Company, for an evening of learning, networking and celebration.

When:
February 21, 2013 6:30pm – 9:00pm

Where:
Back To The Roots
2935 Adeline St
Oakland, CA

Register at:
http://thankyousmallbusiness.com/events/oakland-ca/

We’d like to invite you to attend Thank You Small Business Oakland! A FREE event for small business owners in Oakland. Each attendee will:

• Get amazing words of encouragement and tips from a successful entrepreneur who knows what you’re going through.

• Learn the best way to evaluate your business model, set achievable financial goals and build out an action plan to actually hit those goals.

• Have the opportunity to network with both local and national small business owners to share tips, tools, war stories and success stories.

• Receive tons of free gifts and resources to help them grow their businesses.

This event is part of a national …

Deborah Ale Flint, the Interim Executive Director of the Port of Oakland and ICA Board Member, will be honored for the Pioneer Award at the Madam C.J. Walker Business Community and Recognition Awards luncheon, the 15th Annual Fundraiser put on by the Oakland/Bay Area Chapter of The National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc.

The Oakland-Bay Area Chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women is committed to providing programs that increase the participation of African American women in economic, civic, entrepreneurial, and human service arenas of their respective communities through education, scholarship, and collaboration. They are here to support the next generation of successful African American women, and we encourage you to contribute to their mission.

15th Annual Madam CJ Walker Business & Community Awards Luncheon
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., Oakland/Bay Area Chapter
Friday, March 22, 2013 from 11:00 …

We are pleased to announce that Jose Corona, ICA’s CEO, has been selected as one of the San Francisco Business Times’ 2013 Forty Under 40 emerging leaders of the Bay Area! As Chief Executive Officer, Jose leads the ICA team by providing strategic leadership, management and direction to the organization. Since joining ICA in 2004, Jose has led the organization in helping local entrepreneurs achieve success by assembling an unparalleled network of the Bay Area’s foremost business leaders and is often sought out for his ability to understand inner city business trends. Hip hip hooray for Jose!

Join the San Francisco Business Times for their 2nd annual 40 Under 40 awards event as they honor the 2013 class of honorees! These outstanding CEOs, entrepreneurs and top executives are making a difference in the local business community and will continue to do …

When it comes to social impact investing, we consider Kat Taylor and Penelope Douglas to be two of the pioneers and outstanding leaders in the space, whom we’ve been honored to work with at ICA over the years.

We are thrilled that our partner, Mills College, is hosting this great talk tonight: How Do Financial Organizations Evaluate Social Ventures?

When: February 11, 6:00pm-7:00pm
Where: Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business located at 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, CA 94613

Click here for your complimentary ticket

Assessing the impact of social investing has always been a key component of our work at ICA, but we are especially excited to be applying the insights of Kat and Penelope as we launch Fund Good Jobs, our new philanthropic investment vehicle.

“Now that we are making investments in high growth small businesses, it is critical that …

PREVIEW Factor 1: Mission from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

The 8 Factors is the most powerful education tool available for busy small business owners who want to improve their business while they run it, and will be taught at ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series. Michael C. Bush, founder of 8 Factors, explains the importance of defining your future vision, business mission and core values. Learn how they interrelate, drive your business and improve your decision making.

To learn more about this year’s Business Growth Strategy Series and apply, click here: http://innercityadvisors.org/bgss/. Applications are now open and the deadline to apply is March 8,2013.

8 Factors – Meet Michael C. Bush from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Michael C. Bush is a man of exceptional character, world-class business acumen and has been pivotal to the progress of ICA. He is the Founder of The 8 Factors, an action-oriented business framework that has been taught for over a decade and utilized by thousands of successful entrepreneurs. Michael developed the framework to provide entrepreneurs and small business owners with the knowledge and tools to successfully launch, gain control and scale their businesses. We are fortunate that he will be teaching this framework again at ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series.

Michael developed The 8 Factors Business Framework while struggling with the rapid growth of his own company. Fighting fires and running from one crisis to the other was the norm, until he started looking at the roots of his …

Each spring, ICA’s Entrepreneurship Institute presents the Business Growth Strategy Series, featuring The 8 Factors Business Framework, a powerful and proven system to help you stabilize, lead and scale your business.

The 8 Factors distills the best content from business books, MBA theory, and personal experience into a practical and powerfully simple business framework to help people running or starting a business. Get all the business knowledge you want, without making the huge time and money commitment you don’t.

8 Factors – The Framework from 8 Factors on Vimeo.

Here’s how The 8 Factors describes their vision:

Our vision is that millions of entrepreneurs and small business owners around the world will achieve their vision; by starting a small business or learning to run their existing businesses better. We are dedicated to doing everything necessary to dramatically improve the success rate of small …

Entrepreneurs and small business owners have a tough time finding the right training, tools, and funding necessary to grow their business.

Now there’s a clear solution. ICA’s 2013 Business Growth Strategy Series features The 8 Factors Business Framework, developed and taught by Michael C. Bush, providing entrepreneurs and small business owners with the tools to successfully launch, gain control and scale their businesses. This entrepreneurship education offering is delivered in partnership with the Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College. Graduating students will earn a certificate and 3 continuing education credits from Mills. Classes begin on April 5th, 2013.

Specifically targeting companies and entrepreneurs with the following profile:

▪ Approximately 100K-3M in annual revenue **
▪ 3+ employees
▪ Established companies (2-5 years old) **
▪ San Francisco Bay Area based companies
▪ Demonstrated growth path
▪ Commitment to creating good jobs for …

The time you have to make an impression on a prospective reader in your target audience is tiny. A great headline makes a world of difference to turn a casual browser into a reader, especially when you’re competing with a river of news in social media feeds and cluttered email boxes.

Consider these statistics about the value of great headlines.

On average, 8 out of 10 people will read headline copy, but only 2 out of 10 will read the rest.

Brian Clark, Founder and CEO of Copyblogger, succinctly captured how important great headlines are when he said:

“This is the secret to the power of your title, and why it so highly determines the effectiveness of the entire piece. Remember, every element of compelling copy has just one purpose — to get the next sentence read. And then the sentence after …

In the duration of time between being unemployed and hired, there is a gap. A job-seeker’s gap is underlined by rejection and the stress that compounds from the lack of progress made after each successive rejection. In our stratified economy, where the number of unemployed people vastly outnumbers the amount of good jobs available, each employer has to distribute a whole lot of rejection. Sometimes an HR lead says no without saying anything at all. Ouch. For unemployed youth, the high volume of rejections is especially devastating because it delays the start of their careers and prolongs their inability to meet basic needs and build long-term resources.

We can alter this “cycle of rejection” right now by flipping traditional recruitment logic on its head.

In a speech at the World Economic Forum on the 21st of January, Rajeeb Dey, the Young Global …

ICA will be in attendance for Whole Foods Market’s 2013 Next Entrepreneur Showcase on Wednesday, February 6th. We look forward to meeting new entrepreneurs and sharing information about how ICA can assist the acceleration of small business growth. We are looking to support high-impact entrepreneurs who are operating a business, growing the business, are committed to creating good jobs for people with high barriers to employment and are seeking strategic growth resources.

ICA assists our Portfolio Companies, Education Companies and local entrepreneurs by providing pro-bono education, hands-on management consulting, expert strategic advice and capital. We have a model that has proven to accelerate small business growth and you can see the evidence here: http://innercityadvisors.org/our-impact/

Here is what we look for in an ideal company for ICA’s Entrepreneurship Institute:

▪ ~100K-3M in annual revenue **
▪ 3+ employees
▪ Established companies (2-5 years old)
▪ San …

Entrepreneur Invitation – Applications to Raise Capital Due Feb 1st:

Investors’ Circle Spring 2013 Venture Fair & Forum:

Application deadline: Friday, Feb 1st 5pm PST | 8pm EST

Investors’ Circle is the oldest, largest and most successful early-stage impact investing network. Together with hundreds of angels, venture capitalists, foundations and family offices, they have propelled $166 million plus $4 billion in follow on investment into 265 enterprises dedicated to improving the environment, education, health and community. They aim to move $100 million more by 2020. Impact investing happens here.

Seeking Entrepreneurs that are Raising Capital

Investors’ Circle is dedicated to the growth of businesses with high social and environmental impact. They invite early-stage entrepreneurs to apply to present to their network of socially responsible angel investors, venture capitalists, foundations, and family offices at their Spring 2013 Venture Fair & Forum scheduled for May 8-9 in …

We are pleased to announce that ICA has been selected to receive one of six grants from Wells Fargo for $50,000 that supports workforce development and job creation in the Bay Area. We are grateful to Wells Fargo for their investment, and the increased access it will provide local entrepreneurs to the resources that will scale their innovative businesses and create new employment opportunities for the people who need them most. Please read the press release below.

SAN FRANCISCO (Jan. 29, 2013) – Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) announced it will donate $300,000 to six non-profit organizations in the Bay Area as part of a $1.5 million in grants awarded across the west coast to nonprofits and programs that support workforce development and job creation. Award recipients were selected in both urban and rural locations within each state based on their …

Senda Athletics is a finalist in the competition to win the $10K Consumer’s Choice Award for the MillerCoors Urban Entrepreneur Competition and we encourage you to vote for them!

Senda, an ICA Education Company, makes Fair Trade soccer balls, and supports local nonprofits using soccer to improve our communities.

Please vote for Senda by clicking this link, and share with your networks. You can vote once per day until Feb 11th. http://apps.facebook.com/millercoors-ues

Two weeks ago we highlighted why leaders should constantly reiterate what’s important and how effective leaders reinforce the organizational mission as way to unify and motivate a team towards a set of goals. Diving deeper into this subject of leadership, we find that getting your team to engage emotionally in the company’s mission is a powerful way to yield better results and build a great organization.

At ICA, we start with the belief that business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield, that a company is a community, not a machine, and that employees are peers, not children. We see management as service, not control, and believe that management is best when it comes from vision, not tyrannical fear. This means being tough on problems and soft on people.

To create emotional engagement, great leaders set a clear direction and then obtain the …

A few weeks ago we profiled CORE Foods as a result of their acceptance into the ICA Portfolio. Today we’re pleased to sound the trumpets that CORE Foods is hiring a Financial Analyst and Office Manager.

Click the image below to enlarge the job description. To apply, send your resume and cover letter to jointheteam@corefoods.com.

We encourage you to use the social media buttons below to share this with the candidates in your network. Thanks so much for helping to spread the good news!

Are you in need of business law resources but can’t afford a lawyer? Here is an opportunity for San Francisco’s small business owners to receive free legal aid services.

The San Francisco Community Business Law Center (“BLC”) is providing pro bono legal resources to low-income microbusiness owners who cannot afford lawyers, by merging the spirit and ideals of old-fashioned grassroots legal aid with innovative new service delivery models. The BLC will especially focus on empowering local women and minority-owned microbusiness owners with the preventive legal knowledge and support necessary for sustainable business growth and success. The BLC has no affiliation with any for-profit law firm or legal service company.

Who is eligible for the BLC’s services?
The BLC serves only low-income microbusiness owners in the City and County of San Francisco who cannot afford a lawyer and who have a legitimate need for …

Lucy Raubertas of Indieperfumes recently wrote a glowing review about three of Juniper Ridge’s wild-crafted products for their authentic, natural fragrance and the way their “exceptionally beautiful” scents immediately give you an experiential connection to the great outdoors of the West. Read Raubertas’ excerpts below, but we encourage you to read the full review on the Indieperfumes site.

Certain natural perfumes are what I think of as hyper-real, because they usher you straight into a one to one relationship with a specific and exceptionally beautiful scent experience that already exists in nature. I have found them to be among some of the most exciting perfume experiences I have had recently, after a first impression of simplicity.

They are perfumes and not simply blended essential oils because they take an iconic aromatic theme and distill and heighten the recognizable elements within to …

PLEASE ACT NOW.

Metro Lighting must reach their goal by January 31st so they can fund their project and everyone can enjoy their rewards. We appreciate the generous support you’ve given to them to date, but they still have a way to go.

To give extra incentives as they reach the home stretch, they’ve added new rewards everyone can use: recycled glass beverage tumblers and a 13.5w LED lightbulb.

FREE TUMBLERS! Metro Lighting has sweetened the deal for backers who pledge over $250. You’ll receive two free tumblers with your pendant or table lamp, ($60 value) or four free tumblers with multi-pendants ($120 value.) What a deal! Please back their kickstarter project and/or help spread the word on facebook.

Tumblers are available as separate rewards also, in sets of two or four. Simple and sturdy, these beautiful 12 oz. glasses are hand-poured by the …

Responding to RFPs can conjure excitement for a new opportunity, but doubt and frustration may also be provoked by the uncertainty of a client and the risk of losing a bid after investing valuable resources into a quality proposal. How many times have you encountered a client that wants a lot for a little or rejects your bid but ends up using your ideas? You’ve likely learned this lesson one too many times.

So how about charging for a “discovery process” instead of giving away a proposal full of great ideas?

Jake Cook penned a good article on 99u.com about why this “discovery option” works, plus how to use it to guide clients from the outset of the project, eliminate risk, save both parties time and money, plus get paid sooner for your expertise.

1. Clearly outline what deliverables the client will get …

If you can’t out-spend your competitors, you can still out-teach them. All companies have a vested interest in growing their audience, as a distinct objective from attracting new customers or keeping current customers coming back. To out-teach your competition, focus on other people’s self-interest and restrain your inclination to sell your products. People may not want or need your product today, but they may be interested in learning from your experiences and expertise. Humbly sharing knowledge fosters deeper and more mutually beneficial relationships, plus if you do it well, it increases the chance that a person will become a customer in the future or recommend you to a friend because they learned something interesting from you.

Juniper Ridge’s Field Lab is a great example of how educating people can grow the company audience and attract new customers. Field Lab is live, …

We hear Gary Weatherford, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer of InHouse Creative Studios and ICA Advisor, repeat one leadership principle quite often: never assume that your team understands what’s important and how their individual and collective work is critical to the overall success of the company’s mission. In other words, effective leaders reinforce the organizational mission as way to unify and motivate a team towards a set of goals, clarify the path to reaching those goals, and then show–not just tell–how each team member’s work contributes to the success of the mission. Like an orchestra, each musician must know their part and how it affects the harmony of the ensemble. This is especially important as you add new members to your team. Setting the rhythm for how you communicate what’s important to your team is subjective and will require some …

Yesterday we reposted some quality entrepreneurial ideas from 8 Factors about how young people can start working for themselves by selling products. Today we share the second half: Entrepreneurship Ideas for Teenagers: Selling Services.

It’s important to start with what’s close to you and ask yourself some basic questions. What skills do I naturally possess that other people would pay for? Are there family-friends nearby that need assistance I can provide? Before Chris Mueller became ICA’s Communications Manager, he got his entrepreneurial start in 8th grade giving tennis lessons to junior beginners and landscaping with his master-gardening neighbor. Chris’s tennis coach, Carl Jones, had so many kids attending his weekend clinics that he needed an assistant coach. And Chris’s neighbor, Laura-Beth Nelson, needed help with the heavy lifting that comes with taking care of a big yard.

Click here to consider some …

A few weeks ago we asked you how we can create more good jobs for young people (18-24) and we received some good suggestions on our Facebook post. This past Friday, the 8 Factors took a more self-reliant perspective on this question and created a good set of ideas for young people to think about how to start working for themselves. In the face of Bay Area’s deficit of good jobs, there is always an opportunity to think resourcefully about what you can do for yourself while you search for employment.

The good news is that teenagers are in a great position to make money from their own initiatives. In most cases, someone else (parents) pay their basic living expenses. Teenagers also have more freedom to leave the house than younger children, and some teens even drive and have their …

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez have a really fun and exciting 2013 planned for Back to the Roots, and the first thing they’re doing is hiring someone who can help them scale up the BTTR movement: a VP of Sales.

Find the job description and submission email below. Please forward this post to anyone you know who might be interested in the position or share it on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter by clicking the share buttons at the bottom of the post.

VICE PRESIDENT – SALES
Back to the Roots is currently searching for an VP of Sales to leverage the company’s current momentum & scale faster. We are looking for someone excited to join our passionate & energetic team to fulfill our vision of making food personal again.

WHAT IS BACK TO THE ROOTS?
Back to the Roots’ vision is to make food personal …

Metro Lighting, an ICA Education Company and sustainable business leader, is launching a line of recycled glass lamps and fixtures through Kickstarter.com and we encourage you to support them. The shades are made from clear bottle glass that is crushed, melted, and poured into molds. Metro Lighting builds the lamps and fixtures in their workshop in Berkeley, California.

“We designed a custom mold for lighting after we found a studio that could cast recycled glass,” says Lawrence Grown, who owns Metro Lighting with his wife and business partner Christa Rybczynski. Both hold degrees in architecture. “The glass has a wonderful texture that is evidence of the casting process,” says Rybczynski, “Each shade is a beautiful work of illuminated art.” The shades are offered in seven colors, each available clear or sandblasted. LED light engines pair well with the sandblasted shades.

Metro Lighting …

After completing ICA’s 2012 Business Growth Strategy Series and our 2012 Summer Cohort, we are very pleased to announce that CORE Foods has been accepted into the ICA Portfolio! CORE Foods is a certified B Corporation on a mission to cultivate a healthier planet by empowering people with fresh food and resources.

CORE’s founder, Corey, went on a quest to get to the bottom of nutrition. He trained with elite athletes, researched the biology of food, and lived intimately with twelve tribes around the world. Remarkably, he discovered the most profound and consistent things we know about nutrition are really simple. At CORE, they apply this enduring wisdom to make convenient, healthy, food.

They treat other people the way we want to be treated. They are inspired by the inherent reciprocity in human history and community culture. And CORE believes they can …

After completing ICA’s 2012 Business Growth Strategy Series, featuring The 8 Factors framework taught by Michael C. Bush, our 2012 Summer Cohort and Path 2 Cash workshop, we are very pleased to announce that El Porteño has been accepted into the ICA Portfolio.

Joseph and Teresa Ahearne founded El Porteño in 2008 on a mission to bring an authentic, quality Argentine experience to their customers while making valuable contributions to both their internal and external communities.

The origin of El Porteño is heavily influenced by Joseph’s mother, who emigrated to Napa valley from Argentina and ran a successful farm and restaurant near St. Helena many years ago. Watching his mother’s sustainable lifestyle on the farm and experiencing her great Argentine cooking gave him the idea to start making Argentine food with an emphasis on locally sourced, high quality ingredients. Joseph cut his …

Entrepreneurs: if you or someone you know has a unique product that would be perfect for Whole Foods Market’s shelves, apply to become a new vendor for Whole Foods’ Next Entrepreneur showcase.

Selected vendors will be invited to attend a showcase for new and aspiring vendors on February 6th, 2013.

Apply online at: http://nc.wholefoods.com/localvendor/

Submissions are due by January 14th, 2013.

On January 2, 2013, President Obama signed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (H.R. 8). The bill raises tax rates on income above $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples.

In addition, the temporary Social Security payroll tax reduction that was in effect for tax years 2011 and 2012 has expired. For paychecks dated in 2013, the employee Social Security rate returns to 6.2% from 4.2%. All employees will see a 2% decrease in their take home pay.

The “cliff” was nothing but a curb.

The ICA Team would like to wish you a Merry Christmas! We really hope you enjoy the time with your family and loved ones. Happy Holidays from Sean, Jose, Ingrid, Nina, Chris and Kot. We look forward to seeing you again in the new year. Cheers!

Most on-the-go stuff is candy. CORE Defender Meals are fresh, portable food. Each pack is one full bowl of raw oatmeal-to go, giving you 4 hours of stable, balanced energy. That’s it. Grab instead of breakfast when you’re in a rush, or after a workout for a solid recovery. Buy them here: http://www.corefoods.com/collections/products/products/defender

Save $5 on any order of fresh portable food by entering the code “ICAholidays” AFTER checkout.

Here are 10 more gifts you can feel good about giving this holiday season: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/10

Revolution Foods apple cinnamon & oatmeal Jammy Sammy sandwich bars help kids have healthy, sustained energy. They also help adults curb afternoon hunger pangs. And by adults, we mean that we scarfed the boxes that Rev Foods donated to us. Snacks don’t last long in our office. Buy them here: http://www.plumorganics.com/products/jammy-sammy-apple-cinnamon-oatmeal

Here are 10 more gifts you can feel good about giving this holiday season: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/9

We’ve reached the end of a historic year for this organization, having produced more impact than any previous year in ICA’s existence. This is normally the time to look back and reflect upon our achievements, but the difficulties our communities face are too urgent, so we’d prefer to look forward. To close out the year 2012, Chris Mueller sat down with Jose Corona to preview what we can expect from ICA in the new year. Read this Q & A below.

CM: What can we look forward to from ICA in 2013? Give us a snapshot of what to expect in the new year.

JC: As we look ahead to next year, we plan to build on the momentum after having ICA’s most impactful year ever – more good jobs created, increased organizational funding, improved leadership, launched an investment fund …

Eating Artisana Foods gourmet nut butters is a great way to add essential vitamins and minerals to your diet. Artisana is the premier manufacturer of raw and organic nut butters in the US. They use only the finest nuts and seeds and meticulously prepare each batch by hand. They are committed to providing peanut free, dairy free, gluten free, and GMO free food for your health and that of the planet. Everything they make is always 100% vegan. Purchasing Artisana gourmet nut butters is an excellent way to support the creation of good jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Buy them here: http://covitality.com/

Prather Ranch Meat Company makes the highest quality, most sustainably raised meat available. Period. Stick a fork in it. And then carve off a slice with your knife and devour it. Mmmmmm. Visit their Meat Shop at the San Francisco Ferry Building:

One Ferry Building // Shop 33
San Francisco, CA 94111
Phone: (415) 391-0420

Meat Shop
Features all of our meats and dry goods as well as cooked hot dogs at our fancy cart.
Hours: Monday – Friday 10am to 7pm
Saturday 8am to 6pm
Sunday 10am to 5pm

Here are 10 more gifts you can feel good about giving this holiday season: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/7

Joseph Ahearne, Co-founder of El Porteño Empanadas, celebrates the food and culture of Argentina by making some of the very best empanadas in the entire Bay Area. We encourage you to support him this holiday season. Here’s how you can do that: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/6

Give the gift of health with the whole foods-based Cook! SF Delicious Detox (1, 2, 3 week programs). Buy it, and you’ll actually reach your New Year’s resolution goals this time. Scouts honor.

Here are 10 more great gifts that will impact good jobs in the Bay Area: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/5

After a rigorous selection process, we are pleased to welcomed Luminalt into the 2012 ICA Portfolio.

Luminalt is a locally owned and operated solar design and installation firm based in San Francisco’s Mission District. Luminalt designs and builds solar electric and solar hot water systems for single and multi-family homes, businesses and non-profits in the San Francisco Bay Area. The only woman-­owned solar contractor in the Bay Area, Luminalt is known for its excellent work and for hiring from the community. Luminalt has designed and installed advanced energy systems at the Crissy Field Center, Mission Pie and hundreds of homes and businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area. According to the California Solar Initiative, Luminalt has installed more solar systems in San Francisco than any other Bay Area solar company.

Luminalt was co-founded in 2004 by Jeanine Cotter and Noel Cotter. …

For the discerning coffee drinkers, this Blue Bottle Coffee Co. Dipper Tote set is simple, practical and affordable. It includes the fundamentals of excellent home brewing: a ceramic Bonmac dripper, a package of 50 compostable bamboo filters and a tough-as-nails, pretty-as-pie tote. Hi-hat and sense of rhythm sold separately. Give this great gift and support the creation of good jobs here in the Bay Area.

A portion of proceeds will be donated to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. Visit any California retail location for more details: https://store.bluebottlecoffee.com/products/-Dripper-Set.html

Here are 10 more local small businesses that you should support this holiday season: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/4

Home Aquaponics Kit: Self-Cleaning Fish Tank That Grows Food

Nikhil Arora and Alejandro Velez are two recent college graduates on a mission to help people grow their own food at home. As Co-founders of Back to the Roots, are well known for their grow-at-home mushroom kit that lets you grow up to 1 1/2 lbs of gourmet, tasty oyster mushrooms per box in as little as 10 days. Now they’re crowd-funding to launch their next great product, the Home Aquaponics Kit. Grow fresh produce right in the comfort of your own home – beans, basil, thyme, baby greens, oregano, mint, parsley, spinach and so many other delicious foods!

Here are 10 more local small businesses that you should support this holiday season: http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/3

Are you shopping for a foodie friend? Ancient Organics Ghee is a premium cooking oil celebrated for its wonderful taste, nutritional benefits and medicinal qualities.

Ancient Organics seeks to restore the health of the body, mind and earth through connecting communities with their local food systems.

Founded in 2003 by two Ayurvedic practitioners while studying in India, they were taught the wide praises and benefits bestowed upon ghee by Ayurveda. Upon returning to the Bay area, they started making their own ghee. Using the tradtional methods they were taught in India combined with the supreme quality of butter from their local creamery, Ancient Organics Ghee was born.

As requests increased from friends and family, it became clear Ancient Organics Ghee had particularly exquisite qualities. They knew much of this had to do with the source of their organic pastured butter, Straus Family Creamery, …

479° Popcorn began with Jean Arnold’s fond childhood memory of cozy evenings spent playing cards and devouring fresh popcorn with her family. Her mom refused to serve anything other than organic popcorn cooked in a sturdy stovetop popper that she’d hand crank until the kernels turned into a delightful fluffy treat. Then, as now, a bowl of popcorn could turn an ordinary moment into a special occasion.

Over the years, Jean experimented with making her own organic popcorn and flavoring it with exotic seasonings inspired by my international upbringing and training at Le Cordon Bleu in London. In the process, she came upon the discovery that 479 degrees Fahrenheit is the optimal temperature for popping corn. She knew immediately that this would be the name of my popcorn company, because it reflects the careful attention to detail that she works …

Juniper Ridge is an ICA Portfolio Company on a mission to create unique wildcrafted products from the mountains and deserts of the west that connect you with the sustaining experience of the outdoors. Juniper Ridge always harvests with permission and in a sustainable, responsible manner. The plants harvested respond to the pruning by putting on new growth which creates fuller wildlife and healthier forests.

Juniper Ridge Big Sur Trail Crew Soap contains authentic, natural fragrance sustainably harvested in the mountains above Big Sur using pre-industrial perfume techniques – juice presses, converted whiskey stills, steam, and crazy copper pipes. It makes a great gift for the holiday season!

Here are 10 more great gifts you can give to impact the creation of good jobs http://www.7×7.com/style-design/eleven-local-gifts-you-can-feel-good-about-giving#/0

Inc. Magazine just ranked Revolution Foods #24 on its 2012 Hire Power List honoring private companies creating the most jobs in the country! We’re proud to say that Rev Foods (an ICA Portfolio Company) is turning around the economy, proving that you can do well by doing good.

Click here to see the Top 100 list of ranked companies

It’s Friday morning and we’re still buzzing from how much fun we had at the Raiders vs. Broncos game last night! We’d like to send one more big thank you to the outstanding Raiders Staff Raymond Tioseco, Haja Bangs, and Qiava Harper, Michael Sebree of FAB Law, Miguel Galarza of Yerba Buena Construction, all the entrepreneurs and workers that joined us in attendance, and a very special thank you to Raiders CEO Amy Trask for her swift responsiveness in making “ICA Day” possible. THANK YOU!

Check out these camera phone pictures from last night’s event.

The ICA office has relocated. We’re no longer in the space at 1999 Harrison Street. Our new home is located at 55 Harrison Street, on the 3rd Floor. This is a welcomed change to a more open space, with many more entrepreneurs as neighbors. We hope to contribute to the growing vitality of Jack London Square.

Drop by and pay us a visit. You are always welcomed. Oh, and we just ordered a new office mini-golf set. So much for productivity.

7×7 Magazine just highlighted ICA and 11 of our companies’ products. Buying these great gifts directly impacts the creation of good jobs. Do your part to support the hard-working small business owners in the Bay Area by using our gift guide featuring local products that you’ve surely spotted around town, from snacks to beauty products. Click here for full details.

Sometimes finding all your holiday gifts in big-box stores can leave you feeling a little empty inside, which is why we prefer to buy local products whenever possible! That’s where Inner City Advisors (ICA) comes in. It’s a wonderful nonprofit that grows locally owned small businesses in order to create good jobs, which in turn positively impacts the Bay Area community. In fact, last year, ICA helped over 150 Bay Area small businesses, which collectively created and retained 2,445 stable …

Here is a comprehensive list of locally-owned small businesses to support that were not highlighted in the 7×7 Gift Guide. Remember: put your dough ($) where the jobs grow. ICA companies are among the most diverse, innovative and responsible in the marketplace.

Seasons Greetings ICA Friends & Family,

As we approach the end of the year, we want to thank all of you – our friends, colleagues, partners, funders, entrepreneurs and over–all ICA ambassadors–for helping us advance the ICA mission. It has been a productive year filled with more good jobs created, new partnerships forged and, most importantly, a more robust ecosystem of support for the small businesses we all support. We wish you all a happy holiday season with your friends and family and a very prosperous 2013!

Now is the time to lead and scale ICA’s job creation model, and it requires an all in investment. Here’s what we need you to do to accelerate the solution:

BUY PRODUCTS/SERVICES FROM ICA COMPANIES
Put your dough ($) where the jobs grow. ICA companies are among the most diverse, innovative and responsible in the marketplace. Patronizing …

November 30, 2012 (San Francisco) – Today the San Francisco Unified School District notified Revolution Foods, Inc. of its intent to award the company a contract to begin providing school meals at 114 schools starting on January 7, 2013 – the first day of the second semester.

Revolution Foods was selected because it was the lowest bidder to meet the guidelines set forth in the invitation for bid, which included meeting or exceeding USDA nutrition requirements and supporting SFUSD’s sustainability and waste-reduction goals. The award of the bid and contract to Revolution Foods, Inc. will come before the Board of Education on December 11, 2012.

“Serving fresh healthy food every day that students will enjoy eating is a priority for us. It is hard for students to learn if they are undernourished. To strengthen academic performance we must promote good eating habits …

This past Tuesday, Back to the Roots Co-Founder Nikhil Arora had the honor of being invited to the White House by President Obama to meet with him, Vice President Biden, and 15 other small business owners to discuss the economy and share their ideas for growing it!

Check out some fun recaps from the meeting in Nikhil’s segment on Fox News below or this BusinessWeek article.

ICA’s new Portfolio Company Luminalt was highlighted in this week’s edition of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Newsletter. See the snippet below:

MEMBERS MAKING NEWS

Luminalt plans to create 25 sustainable jobs in San Francisco, doubling its workforce in three years, with the help of Inner City Advisors (ICA), which recently selected Luminalt as a Portfolio Company. “Luminalt has already been providing good jobs and clean energy to the community with inclusive hiring practices,” said Luminalt CEO Jeanine Cotter. “With the help of ICA, we will accelerate our growth and more than double the number of good jobs we provide.” Peninsula Beauty opened two new locations at 100 Drumm Street and 3535 California Street in San Francisco. The Regus Group opened its newest location at 201 Mission Street in San Francisco. Safeway Inc. announced plans to hire at least 1,000 military …

We read an article in The Nation earlier this week that opened with a vague, yet important question: “What kind of economy do we want in this country?”

ICA’s answer to this question is simple: we want an economy that works for all workers. Our mission focuses squarely on growing locally owned small businesses in order to create good jobs. But what is a “good” job? Speaking with employees from our portfolio companies, it became clear that the quality of a job is determined by more than just how much it pays. Here is what we learned to be a “good” job:

1. Full-time hours, health benefits and family-sustaining wages that enable savings, not subsistence.

2. Dignified, fulfilling, purposeful work that impacts the organization’s mission and the world at large.

3. Healthy, respect-filled relationships between employee and employer.

4. Career advancement opportunities to grow and …

RSVP on Facebook!
Free Admission

Here’s a great way to support locally owned small businesses this holiday season. Find over 75 vendors selling coffee, chocolate, body products, men’s and women’s apparel, gourmet gifts, children’s wear, pet gear and more— all made in San Francisco!

Event:
SFMade Holiday Gift Fair

Start:
December 9, 2012 10:00 am

End:
December 9, 2012 6:00 pm

Cost:
Free

Venue:
Herbst Pavilion

Address:
Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA, 94123, United States

SFMade’s mission is to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco, that sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce.

SFMade is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation.

www.sfmade.org

The Stanford Social Innovation Review recently highlighted the way ICA is accelerating job creation results. Click the image above or the link below to read the full article.

All the talk about job creation has become cheap, and in an election year we don’t expect the posturing around “job creators” to stop anytime soon. Delivering results, not rhetoric, on matters of small business growth and job creation requires a new model based on equity to ensure that all residents co-create and prosper from that growth.

Read the rest of the article on the SSIR site here: http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/accelerating_job_creation_results

Inner City Advisors Expands to San Francisco
By Renée Frojo
Reporter- San Francisco Business Times
Date: Friday, October 19, 2012

Promising San Francisco entrepreneurs are about to get a boost. Inner City Advisors, an Oakland-based nonprofit with a proven track record of helping small businesses grow, is expanding into the city.

The nonprofit has been credited with helping turn a handful of small and medium-sized companies — such as Blue Bottle Coffee Co., Numi Organic Teas and Revolution Foods — into successful ventures. Collectively these companies generated $163 million in revenue and created 2,445 jobs last year. By the end of next year, ICA expects to have the same success rate in San Francisco.

“ICA is part of the reason for where we are today,” said Katie Booser, director of operations for Blue Bottle Coffee, which has expanded to New York and opened four more Bay …

By Sean Murphy
Chief Operating Officer
sean@innercityadvisors.org

We’re biased of course, but the ALCS would be much more interesting if the Oakland A’s, instead of the Detroit Tigers, were taking down the New York Goliath. We’d prefer the story line of an unheralded “green collar” underdog defying the odds against one of Major League Baseball’s financial juggernauts. Payroll envy aside, the A’s management success this season taught us a lot about maximizing your team, especially in light of this interview with Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, his book about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. This got me thinking about how the A’s success could help small business leaders bring the best out of their teams.

Here are 3 key things that small business leaders can learn from the A’s season:

1. Finding …

October 9, 2012
By Lisa Hewitt

“If we can expose more young people to the business sector, we can inspire more people to be entrepreneurs.”-Jose Corona

Jose Corona, the CEO of Inner City Advisors (ICA), a non-profit serving the entire Bay Area, strives to create locally-based jobs. From an early age Jose had a passion for entrepreneurship. His father, a strawberry grower in Watsonville, CA, demonstrated the importance of community-based businesses as a tool to aid the local economy. Before venturing into non-profit work, Jose worked in the corporate world for several years, learning operation and management skills. Marrying practical business skills and a passion for community development, Jose joined Inner City Advisors in 2004.

By providing entrepreneurship education, management consulting and advisory services, and capital investment into socially responsible entrepreneurs, ICA seeks to aid companies in their efforts to employ populations with …

Some of the most exciting opportunities to create jobs in the energy economy are in the solar sector. Consider this:

Over the past year, U.S. solar jobs increased at nearly ten times the job growth rate of the rest of the economy.
As of August 2011, the U.S. solar industry employed an estimated 100,237 solar workers and solar businesses added 6,735 workers since August 2010, which represents industry-wide job growth of 6.8 percent.
During the same 12-month period, jobs in the overall economy grew by a mere 0.7 percent, while fossil fuel electric generation lost 2 percent of its workforce.

Numbers like these represent a bright spot in a dim economy, and a great investment opportunity to accelerate our local economies toward a surplus.

ICA sees the opportunity for the solar sector to transform our energy economy to one that will create jobs for millions …

Leading with a network mindset is critical to maximizing the creation of good jobs and creating an economy that works for all. We know this to be true because no single organization, however innovative or powerful, can solve the Bay Area’s economic challenges alone. A network mindset focuses on the ecosystem we are embedded in, nurturing cross-sector relationships and leveraging them to scale impact. This means leadership is exercised by putting the mission first, being open, sharing, making decentralized decisions and coordinating collective action.

The Bay Area is filled with the nation’s most effective social innovators, and ICA is fortunate to be connected to several great organizations that are nurturing entrepreneurs, accelerating the growth of local businesses and creating good jobs. ICA CEO Jose Corona says, “In order to maximize job creation in our communities, we know that we can accomplish …

In fifteen minutes, Larry Smith explains why so many people will never have a great career. Most of it has to do with excuses that stem from a number of fears.

The Excuses & Fears
Great careers are just a matter of luck.
Only special geniuses have great careers, and I’m not special or a genius.
I’m not weird enough.
I’m already completely competent.
All it takes is really hard work.
I don’t want to look like an idiot.
I might fail.
I’m interested in too many things.
I value human relationships more than accomplishments.

Answer to the excuses? Click here to visit the8factors.com blog and find out.

Not only do they make delicious snacks, 479° Popcorn is also hiring for two Operations positions.

Company Background
479° Popcorn is a dynamic, start-up based in San Francisco. The Company’s popcorn is crafted by hand using the finest organic, non-GMO, gluten-free ingredients, many of which are sourced locally in Northern California. 479° Popcorn is a premium brand that caters to sophisticated consumers with emphasis on “better for you” snacks. The Company’s strong brand, high quality product, and unique global flavors generated national media recognition on New York Times, Oprah, Today’s Show, WSJ, Good Morning America, and Food & Wine.

The Company distributes its product in two channels: wholesale (retailers) and direct (online/corporate gifts). 479° Popcorn is rapidly gaining brand recognition in both channels, highlighted by its continued sales growth and rapidly expanding customer base.

Director of Operations More information
The company is looking for a hands-on, …

In partnership with:

After listening to hundreds of entrepreneurs voice their needs, along with the stakeholders that serve them, the fact remains that accessing capital remains entrepreneurs’ biggest and most critical barrier to growth. We’ve turned that challenge into a new opportunity.

ICA’s Path 2 Cash event provides 1-on-1 advising with a financial expert to review the financials and supporting documents that you are preparing to access capital, identify where on the path you are and provide actionable feedback to help you accelerate your success to obtain cash.

This event isn’t about ICA, because we can’t solve this problem alone. This is about harnessing the power of a network to accelerate a collaborative solution, convening people with expertise and experience to deliver powerful results for entrepreneurs. We know this works because we’ve researched and tested our methodology. This was exemplified in the success of …

SENIOR PORTFOLIO MANAGER POSITION OVERVIEW:

Key responsibilities will include the recruitment of Portfolio Companies, taking these companies through the ICA due diligence assessment, and managing the relationship and coordination of ICA’s Portfolio Companies and the respective advising and consulting activities for each company.

In addition to performing the typical tasks and duties outlined below, the Senior Portfolio Manager is expected to work closely with the Director of Operations on identifying and developing operational efficiencies for ICA’s service-quality delivery model – particularly in the area of management consulting and small business capital readiness.

ICA’s Top Priority in 2012

In 2012, the ICA Portfolio will continue to focus its effort, build internal capacity, and prepare to widen our impact by expanding from one portfolio, to three portfolios. Each portfolio will remain focused on directly managing approximately 8-10 companies, while leveraging the education programs and …

In this sluggish economy, cost-cutting tips aren’t just for startups. Bootstrapping habits help every entrepreneur protect their investment. Gwen Moran of Entrepreneur.com cites seven common sense tips that can benefit every small business owner.

You don’t win in business by wasting money. Even the most successful entrepreneurs pinched pennies in the early days–and many still do. Here, several multimillionaires share their best cost-cutting tips when you’re trying to get your startup off the ground.

1. Cash in credit card rewards. Before the success of the George Forman grill super-charged sales at his direct-response television marketing firm, Rick Cesari became resourceful in using his credit card points to buy event tickets or thank high-performing employees by sending them on weekend getaways. Today, the founder of Seattle, Wash.-based Cesari Direct, charges between $125,000 to $200,000 on an Alaska Airlines Visa Signature card, and …

By: Michael C. Bush

This month’s superstar entrepreneur literally delivers an innovative way to meet one of the most basic, human needs. Her recipe for success has a key ingredient that just may surprise you.

What if you always had time to prepare super healthy, affordable, and delicious food at home? Nona Lim has made that possible with Cook!, the company that delivers convenient meal kits to countless homes in the Bay Area. Not only are these meals convenient and easy to make, they’re also gluten free, dairy-free, natural, fresh, low glycemic, tasty, sustainable, and fun to prepare. These meals might lack fat but they don’t lack flavor.

Read the rest of the post on the8factors.com blog here: http://www.the8factors.com/blog/2012/08/17/entrepreneur-at-work-a-recipe-for-success/

Buy Tickets here

Save the date: October 2, 2012 6pm-9pm | Bently Reserve, San Francisco

The Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center is hosting a food panel with some great brick and motor businesses – Heidi Gibson co-founder of American Grilled Cheese Kitchen, Gillian Shaw of Black Jet Baking Company and Cheryl Burr from Pinkie’s Bakery. Click here for details and to purchase tickets: http://www.rencenter.org/support-us/annual-event

Please join Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center as they celebrate the impact of small business on the Bay Area economy.

Live Music & Dancing
Cocktails
Hors d’oeuvres by Renaissance grads
Marketplace of Renaissance businesses
Award presentations to Renaissance Entrepreneurs of the Year

Click here to see photos from the 2011 Annual Gala.

La Cocina’s 4th annual San Francisco Street Food Festival is a celebration of the heart, commitment and talent of our vendors -­‐ the small business owners in San Francisco who have created a vibrant culinary community. These individuals cook or bake out of food trucks, carts, trailers, pop-­‐up restaurants and brick and mortar storefronts and add to the culinary landscape that contributes to making San Francisco one of the best food cities in the world.

La Cocina Presents Mission: Street Food from Amanda Huelse on Vimeo.

In addition to enjoying mouth-­‐watering eats from over 75 vendors, participants will help support the festival’s mission to work with low-­‐income women and immigrant entrepreneurs to break down the barriers to market entry they face in joining the food industry by providing access to affordable commercial kitchen space and technical assistance to launch food businesses. Our …

Help Senda Athletics bring to life the story of a player’s journey to use Fair Trade and soccer as a tool to change lives, on and off the field!

Santiago Halty of Senda Athletics is pictured above learning how to stitch a soccer ball with the workers who make his fair trade products in Pakistan. He feels the importance of meeting the people who produce his fair trade soccer balls, listening to their stories, learning how quality soccer balls are made, viewing the positive impacts of fair trade standards in action and finding out what soccer can do to create positive change, both on and off the field. We encourage you to support his effort to use the passion for the beautiful game to make a positive impact on the lives of people across the world.

Here’s a simple way to support …

Brought to you by Empact, the Startup America Partnership, and a number of other partners, the Empact Showcase is a compilation of the top entrepreneurs in the US age 30 and under with revenues over $100,000. The Empact100 List recognizes the top 100 of those companies.

Back to the Roots, an ICA Portfolio Company that produces gourmet mushroom kits grown from 100% recycled coffee grounds, has been nominated to the final list of entrepreneur candidates. Vote for them now by visiting this link and clicking the ‘Like’ button.

http://empact100.com/company/664-back-to-the-roots

By Michael C. Bush (reposted from The 8 Factors blog)

Business owners want people to buy their products or services. Marketing plays a huge role in getting people to buy, but how can small business owners make sure their marketing is effective? Small businesses don’t have the marketing budget or resources that global corporations have which means they must be more strategic in making sure every marketing effort counts.

Maybe you’ve been hustling to market your own business, but you just aren’t seeing the sales increase you want. Click the link below for some tips to help you assess and improve your marketing strategy to persuade customers to spend their money on your business.

CLICK HERE

ICA Portfolio Company, Cook! Real Simple Delicious, is hiring! They’re looking for an awesome new Brand Ambassador, a Marketing and PR Intern, and a Business Development/Account Lead to join their team. Find the job postings below and apply.

BRAND AMBASSADOR

ABOUT US
Cook! Real Simple Delicious is the nation’s first gluten- and dairy-free ready-to-cook meal delivery service. Headquartered in Oakland, we have been bringing healthy meals to customers throughout the SF Bay Area since 2006. While still a young organization, we are already recognized as a leader in the organic home-delivery genre as well as a pioneering enterprise in the ‘Food As Medicine’ revolution. Our goal is to educate our customers while showing them how outrageously delicious & easy healthy eating can be! Cook! also has a line of retail products now being sold regionally by Whole Foods and other natural …

We are pleased to announce that the One PacificCoast Foundation has partnered with ICA to support the employment of five interns that have started working with our organization this week. These five dynamic women, who are joining the ICA team from a number of esteemed graduate and undergraduate collegiate programs, will receive a crash course in day-to-day entrepreneurial and organizational practice through their experience at ICA. Their three-week intensive program will drill down into entrepreneurship subjects like product costing, cash flow management, social strategy and accessing capital.

We welcome these outstanding people to the ICA team:

Emily Adams
M.B.A., Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College

Brianna Boles
Masters of Science in Social Work, Columbia University

Kaitlyn Evans
M.B.A., Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Business at Mills College

Rosanna Rosso
M.B.A., University of San Francisco

Hillary Wallach
B.A., Communications Studies, Loyola Marymount University

To better support small businesses in the East Bay, East Bay EDA and its partners launched an East Bay Small Business Initiative to improve the connection between entrepreneurs, small businesses and available resources.

Yesterday, the Crystal Ballroom at the Hotel Shattuck was filled to capacity with small business owners and service providers, who joined together to deliver more impact to the local economy of the East Bay. ICA’s COO Sean Murphy moderated a breakout panel discussion and Q&A session to call out the nuanced needs of entrepreneurs in the room, and forge connections to the resource providers that can help these business leaders overcome their challenges. Cash flow management, accessing capital, and capital readiness were common themes that arose from the discussion.

The Initiative hopes to engage as many business owners and business resource providers as possible, and is being …

Oaklandish, an anchor institution that bursts with local love for the Oakland community, recently interviewed ICA’s Education Manager Ingrid Jacobson for a perspective about growing businesses in the Town.

The history books tell us over and over: ever since its days as a frontier town, Oakland has always been on the edge of the next new thing. These days, the city is home to dozens of up-and-coming businesses — they’re even popping up in shipping crates, RVs, and abandoned warehouses. In this town, people don’t wait around for change — they dust off their shoulders and make it happen. Inner City Advisors helps take these businesses to the next level by offering investment money, advice and training for their owners.

They believe that the best way to lift our city up is to invest in the entrepreneurs who have been here from …

Back to the Roots was recently highlighted in the San Francisco Business Times as an innovative manufacturer in the Oakland food production sector, “which has transformed from a large-scale mass-produced foods center starting early last century to today’s producers of specialty and premium foods. Oakland has more than 110 food production companies that employ more than 3,500 people, according to an analysis by the City of Oakland.”

Read the rest of the SF Business Times article here: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/print-edition/2012/07/20/oakland-updates-its-past-as-food.html

Before their process began with ICA, BTTR Ventures was operating in a 1,200 square foot facility, employing 4 inner city residents, with distribution in 1 Whole Foods store. By establishing a strong relationship with Velez and Arora in the early stages of their growth, ICA has been able to provide comprehensive advising to BTTR Ventures and make a significant contribution to their development. ICA …

The ICA Portfolio delivers high-caliber, pro bono management consulting and strategic advice to maximize small business growth. Tom Low, one of ICA’s outstanding Advisors, brings a powerful combination of CFO expertise and an empathetic touch. Low served as a Due Diligence Advisor & Pitch Panelist and has provided financial and strategic advice for ICA Portfolio Companies such as 479º Popcorn and Juniper Ridge, as well as being a valuable ICA ambassador.

So what would lead this high-powered executive to leave the corporate world and its dizzyingly high salaries to join an Oakland nonprofit that brings education, clean water and health care to impoverished villages in Vietnam?

Low recently answered this question in an Oakland Tribune interview:

“The first time I visited Vietnam, in 2006, I saw sick children with swollen bellies and skinny arms at a clinic in the village of Phu Quoc. …

BUY ICA CO-BRANDED PRODUCTS TO CREATE JOBS NOW

Two local small businesses recently stepped up to partner with Inner City Advisors–Oaklandish and Senda Athletics–to create co-branded products that can generate a self-sustaining stream of revenue to fuel ICA’s mission. Now we need you to put your dough ($) where the jobs grow. We have 70 custom, Oaklandish designed t-shirts and 10 hand-stitched, certified fair trade Senda soccer balls to sell and forge a new path to self-sufficiency. And we have 10 days to prove this concept. Click this link and donate to stamp your approval on this new strategy: http://innercityadvisors.org/cobranded

Editor’s note: this guest post is written by Nina Robinson, ICA Portfolio Manager.

Last month, I had the opportunity to represent ICA at the We Own It Summit in New York City. Founded in 2010, We Own It is a ten-year project and convening of entrepreneurs, investors, and leaders of organizations that are solving towards solutions to increase the participation of women in high-growth entrepreneurship.

I was surrounded by so many accomplished and inspiring women, and in hearing such similar stories, these were my five key takeaways:

1. Just Do It. Female entrepreneurs often outdo male counterparts when it comes to researching, planning and vetting business ventures—so much so that they forget to execute! Just do it, fall down, get back up, and do it again.

2. Money Talks. Investors will invest in people and businesses that they like and understand. Without female representation …

ICA’s Entrepreneurship Institute maximizes quality job creation by providing local entrepreneurs proven, action-oriented education to lead, stabilize and grow their businesses. On June 28th, 2012 ICA launched its 2012 Cohort, a new workshop series designed to help a select group of high-impact entrepreneurs overcome critical business challenges.

The objective of the Cohort is to instill entrepreneurs with “pracademic” knowledge that will empower them to gain full control of their business and make more informed decisions that lead growth. As Ingrid Jacobson, ICA’s Entrepreneurship Education Manager explains, “We want more entrepreneurs to have access to our best advisors–typically available only to ICA Portfolio Companies–and build strong relationships to each other. A cohort that combines structured access to good advice and network-building opportunities will enable small business leaders to arm themselves with more resources than if acting alone.”

As a smaller, more intensive offshoot …

Forbes.com recently reported on TEDxNewWallStreet, and a new way of banking.

“banking creates frictions transactionally, regionally, environmentally and socially that no longer are justifiable, safe or inevitable. We have an Internet of Things, letʼs use it to re-imagine banks built in and for the Information Age, safer, fairer, cheaper and more accountable for their impacts.”

We checked out some videos from the event. We especially like Tom Van Dyck’s thoughts on socially responsible investing:

“Entrepreneurs try and be too many things to too many people. Decide who your target audience is; what markets you want to sell your product or service to; and what those products are. Keep it simple and focused.” –Reem Rahim

“What happens when all your wildest dreams come true? Your startup launches with features in GQ, Vogue, and Daily Candy. You sell out of your initial product line in a matter of hours. First, you celebrate. Then things break. That’s what happened to Dave Gilboa, co-founder of Warby Parker.”

Read about Warby Parker’s growing pains in INC. Magazine

“Focus on what you do best, and try not to get seduced by what a customer wants if it is different from you do.  There are a lot of customers out there – you may not have found the right one.” –Rob Hurlbut

On May 23, 2012 1200 people gathered at the historic Oakland Fox Theater for the Bay Area’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship and job creation. It was a vibrant and inspiring evening. Watch the highlights above to relive the experience.

About ICA’s Model

Inner City Advisors (ICA) selects, manages and invests in high-impact entrepreneurs in order to create good jobs and equity for inner city residents. We provide high quality services to help Bay Area entrepreneurs grow their businesses and make a positive impact on the people they employ, the communities where they operate and the world.

We know that a new economic development strategy is needed in these difficult times. In order to sustain our nation’s growth and prosperity, all residents must be incorporated into an economic model that embraces our country’s changing demographics, and ensures investment in future generations.

By bringing people together who are passionate about building small business as well as thriving communities, we’ve seen our model for job creation work. We’ve seen companies that have the resources to grow, that are pillars of their communities and that create …