Results tagged “business” from Economic Alert

Monrovia-based company AeroVironment announced Wednesday that the government has extended the firm's contract to create a mechanical reconnaissance bird.
That's right ... a bird. Check out the project's early phases:

 

 

To the right of the screen, you might see this ad:

"The San Gabriel Valley Small Business Development Center offers classes, counseling and consulting for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The SBDC is a partnership between Mt. San Antonio College and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The San Gabriel Valley."

They'll have to take that off, as of today. In case you didn't know, the center is closing today because of lack of funding.

http://www.mtsacsbdc.com/web/

After nearly 20 years, the San Gabriel Valley Small Business Center is closing on Tuesday, June 30th.

Workshops and counseling will no longer take place at the center, and its website will be taken down in July.

It's a sad victim of the economy -- as Mt. San Antonio College and other local sources -- plagued by their own finance issues --  could no longer support it.

http://www.mtsacsbdc.com/web/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just finished up a story about cultural barriers to doing business.

There's all kinds of pitfalls, and as I found out for the first time those pitfalls can start with as something as simple as which hand you use to shake someone's hand.

One business etiquette expert told me to simply be aware that cultural norms do play a role in smooth business transactions.

They range from from understanding that meetings in the Chinese culture tend to be more formal than in the States and when accepting or giving a business card, do it with both hands.

But the bottom line is, as long as your intentions are good, and as long as your transaction is sincere, the other side should understand if you don't get it quite right.

 

 

 

 

It's funny how things can sometimes work out for the best, even if they are not how you originally planned. Norma Chavez-Nielsen thought she was going to be the next Oprah -- the Latina Oprah.

That was years ago when as a student at UC Berkeley she studied communications, with visions of becoming a broadcaster bouncing around in her head.

But as it turned out, when she was really honest with herself, it wasn't what she wanted at all. What she really wanted was to run a business -- a bakery, in fact.

So, she started her own Bakery -- the Churrolandia and The Funnel Cake Factory in Whittier. In the process, she revived a family business, and showed that even when the first option doesn't work out there's always hope for another -- even in business.      

 

Yet again, a simple feature story generated a big lesson this week.

By the end of our conversation Thursday, Chester "Chet" Salit wasn't sure he

had such a good story for me - his was kind of a boring story, he suggested.

But I begged to differ.

First, I told him that the Ladder of Success isn't necessarily meant to be about celebrities, but rather they are about people who don't necessarily get the headlines. This feature, which you can read every Saturday on the business page, is more about everyday people, who get up and go to make their business or industry better every day.

As the manager of a local architecture firm, he was just that.

But his story was refreshing beyond the criteria of our business page.

In a time when it can be easy to get lost in "positive" spin, I realized I was talking to a

guy who was refreshingly honest about where he'd been and where he ended up in his career.

He readily acknowledge that early in his career, he wasn't in the elite echelon of designers in the architectural field. Designing buildings didn't come easy for him, he said.

But he persevered, eventually moving to the business side of architecture.

We're not all rock stars in what we do. But sometimes we just have to plug away at it, and eventually we'll find a niche.

Thanks to some honesty from people like Salit - boring or not - there's hope.

The Citrus College Foundation will present the 11th annual Taste of Autumn from 4 to 8 p.m. on Oct. 5 at Citrus College. The event will feature music by the Citrus Singers, Night Shift and the Citrus College Jazz Combo. There will also be fine arts exhibits and a silent auction.

Food and wine will be provided by BJ's Restaurant and Brewery, Canyon City Barbecue, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Falcon's Nest Restaurant, Frisella's Roastery, J. Filippi Winery, Outback Steakhouse, Ranchero Mexican Restaurant & Cantina, San Dimas Wine Shop & Tasting Room, Three C's Restaurant, Tulipano Ristorante Italiano and the Village Eatery (and more).

Admission is $75 per person if you register before Sept. 30 and $80 if you register after. For more information, call (626) 914-8825 or e-mail cgreer@cirtuscollege.edu. Also, check out the Web site.