Learn to Grow Your Business at this Event!

Park Slope businesses owners looking to get a leg up are in luck – next week the Park Slope Civic Council will host “Growing a Business in Park Slope,” a forum focusing on ways to accomplish that goal.

The meeting is this year’s installation of the PSCC’s annual community forum (last year the topic was Fourth Avenue) and will provide everyone from shop owners to self-employed freelancers an opportunity to get tips from the pros on everything from business basics to social media. It will take place at the Montauk Club, Thursday, Mar. 3 at 7 p.m.

“For several years we’ve been thinking about doing a small business forum. I think for a lot of people the inspiration was the struggle of small businesses in neighborhood, all of the ,” said Melinda Morris, the organizer of the event and owner of popular Slope stationary store .

She emphasized that the forum is not just for traditional business owners, but truly for the full-spectrum of Slope businesses –  from freelance writers and lawyers to restaurateurs and boutique owners.

“The face of business in any neighborhood is so diverse,” she said. “Small businesses are not necessarily storefronts.”

The event will be comprised of five panels, as well as a networking component to allow participants to mix and mingle. One panel, entitled “Thinking Outside of the Real Estate Box,” features speakers such as Neil F. Carlson, Co-Founder of the Brooklyn Creative League and will discuss non-traditional models for storefronts, such as shared space.

Another, “Turning Passion into Profit,” will talk about how to turn a great idea into a business concept, featuring Dylan Goelz of Roadify, Ezra Goldstein of The Community Bookstore, and others.

Randy Peers, the host of Sector B: The Business of Brooklyn on Brooklyn Independent Television, will moderate the event.

“I am hoping that there is some sort of impetus for further organization after this,” said Morris. “That it can sort of create a dynamic coalition of groups, to bring together all the different small business factions in the neighborhood.”

Those interested in signing up for the forum should do it soon – as of Tuesday only 40 out of 150 slots were left. 

To register for "Growing a Business in Park Slope” e-mail forum2011@parkslopeciviccouncil.org.