Power Up Industry Best Practices Series

Welcome to the Power Up Your Business Industry Best Practices Series.

These courses target the unique needs of specific industries to strengthen resiliency and foster growth. Industry experts will lead a deep dive into topics such as regulations, laws and customer bases, as well as differentiating essentials of broader topics.

Each series, offered to small businesses for free, are comprised of 2-hour workshops designed to help you establish improving industry-specific best practices.

These series will support businesses in the restaurant, child care and hair industries, as well as others.

E-commerce Foundation Series

The E-commerce Foundations Series focuses on digital strategic planning and highlights essential tools, software, and resources. It emphasizes engaging with customers through various digital channels, attracting new customers, fostering customer loyalty initiatives, and advancing digital goals effectively.

This series will be offered in person at the Center for Business and Industry on Community College of Philadelphia's Main Campus, 1751 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130. Classes will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.

E-commerce Foundations I, Feb. 24, 2025
In this foundational course, you will learn how to assess the market, analyze the competition, select the right platform, and evaluate design and technology capabilities to scale your business effectively. This session will cover the essentials for connecting with your audience in a digital shopping environment and influencing consumer behavior.
E-commerce Foundations II, Feb. 25, 2025
Discover the essentials for managing the e-commerce experience in this session. Topics include creating a site map, understanding the structure of your website, and enhancing user experience in the digital shopping environment. Additionally, you’ll gain tools and strategies for effectively managing time and workloads related to these tasks.
E-commerce Foundations III, Feb. 26, 2025
This session dives into e-commerce marketing and SEO strategies designed to help you grow and optimize your online business. You will learn how to implement effective marketing techniques tailored to your audience, improve your website’s visibility through search engine optimization, and drive organic traffic to your platform.
E-commerce Foundations IV, Feb. 27, 2025
In the final session, explore the future of e-commerce and the challenges that lie ahead for the retail industry. This session will introduce advanced and emerging technologies, including voice commerce, augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI), and their potential impact on online businesses. Participants will also have the opportunity to present their e-commerce websites for constructive critique, gaining valuable feedback to refine and enhance their platforms for long-term success.

When: Feb 24-27, 2025 03:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Digital Marketing Strategies Series

This Industry Best Practice Series is held in person from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Center for Business and Industry, 1751 Callowhill Street, Philadelphia, PA.

If you haven’t already started planning your marketing strategies for the holiday season, now is the time to start. This series will focus on social media strategies and how to leverage content for sales.

It's time to engage with customers. Through real-world case studies, interactive exercises, and step-by-step guides, you will leave with a clear understanding of how to develop a social media strategy tailored to your goals and audience.

Coming in the fall of 2015.

Restaurant Best Practices Series

Whether you’re planning to open a restaurant or simply want your restaurant to be more profitable, this is a series you won’t want to miss. We’ll take you through all the critical aspects of planning and operating a restaurant. In this series, you’ll skip the learning curve and beat the odds on your way to a successful, profitable business. Students will be selected by a team of professionals.

This series will be offered virtually through Zoom from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Topics will cover:

Foundation | Coming Soon
All successful businesses start with a strong foundation. Explore the critical elements to consider before embarking on your new business or expanding your existing business.
Location and Financing | Coming Soon
In this workshop, we’ll explore concept and location, start-up costs, and financing your new restaurant or new profit center.
Management and Operations | Coming Soon
This workshop covers staffing, operational tools for front and back of house, vendors, and maintenance tools that are critical in managing costs and improving quality of life.
Menu Engineering and Four Walls Marketing | Coming Soon
Learn how to use your menu and venue as your #1 marketing tool to maximize profits.
Technology and Digital Marketing | Coming Soon
Understand the critical role of technology in engaging customers and maximizing sales. A social media marketing expert will join the discussion to answer your questions.
Metrics and Profitability | Coming Soon
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Learn about the key restaurant industry benchmarks and how to maximize profitability.

Manufacturing Best Practices Series: “Level up” Manufacturing

Operating a small manufacturing business can present big challenges. Issues related to leadership, strategy, culture, growth, and operations can trigger debilitating setbacks. Until now, few resources have been available to instruct and guide makers and micro manufacturers on their journey towards growth and sustained prosperity. This new program designed for manufacturing firms with fewer than 10 employees is what every Philadelphia-based maker or micro manufacturer needs to evolve and take their business to a new form.

In this hybrid course, small teams from noncompeting manufacturers meet weekly to adopt a Plan, Do Check and Act (PDCA) approach towards business management, operations, and growth. It provides a highly interactive experience with subject matter expert-led lessons and corresponding manufacturing-based case studies. Further, it features ideation exercises and tools that enable participants to design and implement a vision and growth strategy as unique as their business.

This course is being offered in partnership with The Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC), and is the result of DVIRC’s lessons learned from over 100,000 hours spent helping makers and micro manufacturers thrive.

This series will cover:

Leadership Essentials for Leveling Up
Business Strategy, Scaling Up & Defining Your “Way Forward”
Marketing & Sales 101: The Basics for Growth
PDCA - Plan, Do, Check and Act Performance Management
Visual Controls and Other Easy Ways to Measure Your Results
Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Registration for this cohort has ended. New sections will be offered in the future.

"We already had a connection with Community College of Philadelphia from completing the Power Up Your Business program, which was an amazing resource. Upon completion of the course, we received a manufacturing email featuring “Level Up.” At first we thought that our business being handmade was different from manufacturing tools, but the basic tenants like cost of goods are similar. We understand that we still have much to learn when it comes to scaling our business and the world of manufacturing. We need to learn more and build accordingly. " - TWEE

Retail Ready Bootcamp Series

Don't miss this bootcamp for emerging businesses who are considering leasing commercial space as their next growth opportunity.

Brought to you by Power Up Your Business and Lancaster Avenue 21st Century Business Association (LA21), the bootcamp will include:

Business structure, budgeting and planning
Storefront improvements
Finance—capital and credit
Legal, insurance and HR
Understanding taxes
Commercial leases—leasing vs. buying

The series provides a solid foundation for businesses at various stages of their development such as:

Existing storefronts with a reliance on walk-in business
Digital-first operators considering a brick-and-mortar location
Kitchen table startups ready to grow

Workshops will be held once a week for 12 weeks via 3-hour live evening classes that begin at 6 p.m. Classes start every Thursday.

Qualifications

To qualify, businesses:

Must be operational for at least 1 year
Demonstrate some effort in retail expansion

Applicants will be chosen by a panel. In Partnership with LA21.

Important Dates for Retail Ready Bootcamp Series

TBD: Application deadline
TBD: First class begins

Registration for this cohort has ended. New sections will be offered in the future.

For more information, email powerup@ccp.edu.