Workshops and Events

Hiring someone to work in your business comes with important tax and payroll decisions, and getting them wrong can be costly. Whether you’re bringing on an employee, working with an independent contractor or hiring a family member, understanding the rules can help you avoid unexpected taxes, penalties and compliance issues while identifying potential tax benefits available to your business.

In this webinar, an expert from Block Advisors by H&R Block will break down what small business owners need to know about worker classification and family hires. You’ll learn how to distinguish between employees and independent contractors, understand the factors that can affect classification and explore special considerations when hiring a spouse or child so you can make more informed decisions as your team grows.

Block Advisors will help you learn how to:

• Understand the differences between employees and independent contractors
• Recognize the factors that can determine how a worker should be classified
• Understand the potential tax, payroll and compliance consequences of misclassifying workers
• Explore potential tax and payroll benefits and requirements when employing children or other family members
• Understand key considerations when hiring a spouse or operating a business together

AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini can help you create marketing content in seconds, but when the results sound generic or off-brand, the time spent reprompting and rewriting turn a time-saving tool into another time-consuming task. The problem isn’t AI itself. It is how you are using it.

In this webinar, AI consultant and educator Robyn “Jam” Anderson will show you how to improve your AI-generated marketing by building a personalized AI marketing agent. During a live demonstration, you’ll learn how to train the agent to create on-brand content, establish a simple weekly marketing system and keep your campaigns organized.

In this webinar, you'll learn:

• The three mistakes that make AI spit out generic, useless marketing, and the fix for each
• How to teach AI your business and your voice, so everything it writes sounds like you
• How to create a personalized AI marketing agent that helps plan, write and organize your marketing
• How to turn one idea into a month of content, emails, and promotions in a single sitting
• A repeatable weekly AI marketing routine you can start the next morning

Holiday shopping and promotions seem to start earlier every year, and waiting until November to plan your marketing can leave your business scrambling to create content, decide what to promote and compete for customers’ attention. Whether you sell products or services, preparing your holiday marketing before the season begins can help you stay visible, communicate consistently and make better use of the opportunities throughout October, November and December.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to build a coordinated Q4 holiday marketing plan around the dates, offers and channels that make sense for your business. We’ll cover how to plan your promotions, organize content across email, social media, SMS and your website, and schedule your marketing ahead of time so you’re not creating everything at the last minute. You’ll also see practical examples and planning tools you can use to turn your ideas into an actionable holiday marketing calendar.

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• How to identify holiday dates and early-shopping behaviors that should shape your campaign timing
• How to choose holiday offers and messages that fit your products, services and customers
• How to build a coordinated holiday content calendar across your key marketing channels
• How to create and schedule content ahead of time using repeatable planning systems and tools
• How to adapt your holiday marketing for service-based, B2B and highly seasonal businesses

Learn how to balance work and home life, build trust with customers, and decide when it’s time to ask for help. Gain tips and strategies to manage a successful home-based business, whether you're currently running one or thinking about starting one.

Please note: This program is being offered by SCORE and you will need to register with them and provide them with your email address in order to attend. You will have the option to opt out of their mailing list when you register. Upon registration with the library, you will be sent the link to register with SCORE. The Zoom link for this program will come directly from SCORE. Upon registration with SCORE, every individual will receive a unique Zoom Link for the workshop. Please contact us with any questions or concerns. Thank you. 

Without clear financial systems, it can be difficult to understand where your money is going, maintain healthy cash flow or make confident decisions about your business. Building a strong financial foundation can help you organize your finances, monitor performance and prepare your business for future growth and funding opportunities.

In this webinar, you’ll learn essential financial management practices to organize finances, manage cash flow and prepare for business growth. We’ll explore how stronger financial systems can help you make informed day-to-day decisions, prepare for future funding needs and support sustainable business growth. You’ll also learn where business credit cards fit into a responsible financial management strategy.

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• Why separating personal and business finances is essential
• How bookkeeping and budgets help track performance and guide decisions
• How financial statements help you understand profit, cash flow and business health
• What forecasts and financial records can prepare your business for funding
• How to use business credit cards responsibly to manage expenses and cash flow

AI has made it faster and easier for small business owners to manage routine financial tasks, understand their numbers and get answers to common bookkeeping and tax questions. But using AI for your finances comes with risks and knowing where AI can help and when to rely on accurate bookkeeping can help you avoid costly financial mistakes.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how to use AI more effectively and responsibly when managing your business finances. We’ll explore how AI can help you understand financial information, spot patterns and prepare for financial decisions. You’ll also learn where AI falls short, what information should always be verified and why accurate bookkeeping remains essential to maintaining a clear and reliable financial picture.

What you’ll learn:

• Four practical ways to use AI to support your business finances
• Prompts you can use immediately for common financial questions and tasks
• The limitations of AI tools to interpret your business’s financial information
• How to recognize when AI lacks the judgment needed to evaluate a financial question accurately
• Why accurate bookkeeping is the foundation for using AI effectively, verifying its recommendations and making informed financial decisions

The way your brain works can have a big impact on how you run your business. This workshop helps entrepreneurs understand executive functioning and learn practical strategies to improve productivity, reduce stress, and support long-term success.

Join us to learn how to use AI to streamline operations, make better decisions, and accelerate growth all while protecting your business from costly mistakes and emerging risks.

Please note: This program is being offered by SCORE and you will need to register with them and provide them with your email address in order to attend. You will have the option to opt out of their mailing list when you register. Upon registration with the library, you will be sent the link to register with SCORE. The Zoom link for this program will come directly from SCORE. Upon registration with SCORE, every individual will receive a unique Zoom Link for the workshop. Please contact us with any questions or concerns. Thank you. 

Join fellow business leaders from across DuPage County for The Business Solutions Exchange, an interactive event designed to bring businesses together to share experiences, discuss challenges, and uncover new ideas.

At this in-person event you will:

• Hear how a local business navigated challenges and found success

• Join a peer-led roundtable discussion focused on the topics that matter most to your business

• Collaborate with other business leaders to brainstorm solutions to real-world challenges

This is an opportunity to network, learn from others, share your perspective, and walk away with ideas you can put into action.