How to Grow Your Business 101

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a variety of services to help small businesses run, start and grow.  A panel of savvy business experts will share their advice and expertise on various stages of business ownership.  Whether you’re just starting your business or been in business awhile – there’s something for you.  Find out about technical assistance resources, training opportunities and financing options.

• Date: March 4, 2013
• Time: 2:30 PM
• Where: The Northwest Rooms next to Key Arena

We all know that Pantone’s® color of the year is Emerald, but what happens when Emerald isn’t the best color for you?

Color impacts us on an emotional level, and when it comes to fashion wearing your colors is critical to looking and feeling your best.

Stylyze’s patent pending Color Harmony system and design platform was created to help people find and coordinate their colors. Stylyze’s unique set of tools will equip you to work directly with your clients to help them find the colors that make them look and feel amazing. We will also provide you with tools to coordinate colors in your collections, and focus on selecting colors for your collections that evoke specific emotions.

Learn how to be a trendsetter by taking the most current color trends and adapting them to best support your client or collection Tuesday, March 5th at 12:30 P.M. in the Orcas Room at Seattle International Textile Expo.

Chris Karam is co-founder and principal of Chameleon PLM, a cloud based solution for apparel and accessory companies, designed to manage the product lifecycle from concept through production. Chameleon PLM allows companies to seamlessly create and share design, development and sourcing data, processes and schedules globally – both internally and with external factories and other partners.

Get realistic about your financing options and learn what lenders are looking for. Hear about traditional and alternative forms of financing. Find out where to go when the bank says “no.” Get tips on how to develop a strong loan proposal, the documentation required, questions to anticipate, and how banks analyze your proposal to make a final decision.

Julie Monahan is the outreach and communication manager at the Washington State Department of Commerce, responsible for promoting the SBA’s export promotion program, STEP. Julie is a former business journalist with special expertise in small business development and marketing.