City and Chamber bring back popular business coaching program

Tahoe Tactical Team, the popular business coaching program, is returning due to a federal grant received by the City of South Lake Tahoe. They have joined a partnership with the Lake Tahoe South Shore Chamber of Commerce to bring back the program which helps new business owners start up an enterprise or existing business owners take their businesses to the next level.

"We are so pleased to have been selected by the City as the program provider once again," says "B" Gorman, CEO of the TahoeChamber. "Small businesses are responsible for over 70 percent of jobs created and thus we are eager to support aspiring entrepreneurs as well as established small businesses."

In addition to one-on-one coaching, program participants can attend a variety of workshops geared specifically for their needs. Business owner “newbies” are offered classes on business planning, basics of budgeting and bookkeeping, and QuickBooks. Individuals who have established businesses can participate in drill-down workshop on topics such as legal and financial considerations, accessing capital, customer service, sales and marketing, strategic planning, leadership and people management, time management and human resources.

Upon acceptance into the program, participants' coaching needs are assessed and coaches are assigned for one-on-one assistance depending upon the type of business and the challenges identified by the participant. Areas for coaching may include logo/branding strategies, marketing strategies including web presence, search engine optimization (SEO) and social media and business operations and management.

Between November 2010 and October 2012, the TTT assisted over 90 South Lake Tahoe business owners, giving them the training and skills necessary to launch and operate successful enterprises. Says one past participant, " One of the things I enjoyed most is the coaches did just that, coached. I was responsible for doing the work but they provided me very valuable guidance." All coaching services and advice provided is confidential between program coaches and participants.

To find out how to qualify for program participation and to download a program application, go to www.tahoechamber.org.