Small Business Week: A Time to Celebrate and Ignite Professional Growth!

THE SHERIDAN PRESS: COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES
by Dixie Johnson, CEO, Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce

Happy Small Business Week! For more than 50 years, the President of the United States has issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week, which recognizes the critical contributions of America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

To put the importance of America’s small businesses into perspective, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) states that more than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses create about two out of every three new jobs in the U.S. each year.

During Small Business Week the SBA recognizes the best of the best small businesses in each state. This year, Sheridan’s Ryan Gregory, who owns Wyoming Roofing with his wife, Bonnie, was selected as Wyoming’s Small Business Person of the Year. Congratulations, Ryan!

Along with celebrating Ryan’s success, we recognized two young entrepreneurs who won this year’s Youth Business Ventures Competition. Braden and Jhett West each received $500 in seed money for their businesses. They will have the opportunity to receive additional funding later this year. Best of luck, Braden and Jhett!

The very core of the Chamber’s mission is to help businesses prosper, and we love to see successes like Ryan, Braden and Jhett. The Chamber provides numerous resources for our business community. One of those is our 5th Annual Ignite Your Business Professional Development Conference on Thursday, May 23, at Sheridan College. The conference is a full-day opportunity to gain relevant takeaways from top-notch trainers right here in Sheridan.

Many business owners, if they can find room in their budget, go out of town for training and conferences. This incurs not only the cost of the conference, but also the cost of the travel, lodging and meals, plus multiple days out of the workplace. Providing the professional development needs our businesses desire locally is a huge cost and time savings.

Sheridan has some tremendous professionals who are asked to share their knowledge on statewide and nationwide platforms and within their industry trade groups. We’re pleased to have them join us.

This year’s presenters include Ryan Charest, Insight Leadership Group; Kristen Czaban, The Sheridan Press; Chance Harris, Harker Mellinger CPAs, LLC; Scott Lee, Scott Lee Leadership Consulting; Laura Lehan, Peak Consulting; Matthew Melinkovich, Timberline Training; Tyler Neeriemer, First Federal Bank & Trust; Scot Rendall, Wyoming Technology Business Center; Jesus Rios, Ptolemy Data Systems; Stacia Skretteberg, PHR, Peak Consulting; Wendy Smith, Northern Wyoming Community College District; Luke Thorkildsen, Weatherby; Kristin Wilkerson, Morgan Stanley; and Jason Wille, Range Companies.

They will be presenting these seminars: “5 Dysfunctions of A Team,” “Communicating (You!) With Confidence,” “Blockchain and Cryptocurrency,” “Culture: What Is It and How Do I Create It?”, “Navigating A Changing Media Landscape,” “Think Like A Hacker: Understanding the Anatomy of A Hack,” “The Weight of Supervising,” “Expanding Your Presence,” “Understanding and Utilizing Financial Statements to Make Business and Tax Decisions,” “Photoshop 101,” “Lean Business Practices” and “Dream Managing Fuels Employee Engagement.” Plus, we’ll have two bonus sessions.

I urge all business owners to take advantage of this conference for yourself and your employees to gain valuable tools for success. For more information, visit www.sheridanwyomingchamber.org or call (307) 672-2485.



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