From a press release issued 3/2/2010:
The deadline for the City of Naperville’s Greener Business Program has
been extended. The city will continue to accept applications while
funding for the program is still available. Naperville business owners
and operators are encouraged to apply for financial assistance in
completing energy efficient retrofit projects for their businesses
through the program.
Funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Greener Business
Program was created to help businesses reduce their energy consumption
and emissions and increase their overall energy efficiency.
The Greener Business Program contains two components: a Matching Grant
Fund and a Revolving Loan Fund. Through the Matching Grant Fund,
qualifying and accepted applicants will receive matching funds at a rate
of $.50 for every $1 spent towards energy efficiency improvements, up to
$10,000 per business. Through the Revolving Loan Fund, qualified
businesses may apply to receive an interest free loan of up to $25,000
for energy efficiency improvements. Qualifying businesses may apply for
one or both of these components through the Greener Business Program.
Applications for the Matching Grant and Revolving Loan Funds are
available online at www.naperville.il.us/greenerbusiness.aspx
The next Fox Valley Networking Professionals meeting will be held on Thursday February 25 at 8 am at the Pomegranate Cafe in Aurora. Marketing expert Jacqueline Camacho Ruiz will be the guest speaker. Attendance is capped at 100 attendees so please RSVP to Bill Winsininski 630 505-1700 x246 or bwin@imprint-e.com.
Wirth Business Credit’s Jerry Huang will be moderating a panel on financing at the Green Leadership Council Meeting to be held on Monday, February 22nd at 7:30 am at the Naperville Chamber of Commerce. Darren Callahan of Wirth will be on the panel, as well as Abby Rexhepi from Harris Bank and Dr. Everton Walters of WCP Solar Services.
February 18th, 2010 in
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I recently needed to send a bunch of large files to a number of people. Unfortunately, some e-mail systems still limit the size of attachments, so not a perfect option. The information was time-sensitive and there were multiple recipients, so overnighting a CD or DVD was not going to work either. I then remembered a free service called Box.net that someone had told me about. I quickly signed up for a free account and uploaded some files. Each folder that you set up has a web address, so I just had to send the address out to the recipients and they could download the files on their own time. There is also a pay service for those of you who need more storage or can use their collaboration tools in your business.
Please join the Young Professionals Group of the Southwest Suburbs at our first After-Hours Business Social of 2010!
When: Thursday, February 4th
Time: 5:00-7:00pm (Open House)
Where: Limestone Brewing Company – 12337 S. Route 59 – Plainfield (just north of 127th Street)
Come check out the new Limestone Brewing Company, Plainfield’s only brew pub. The YPG is open to business professionals of ALL AGES. And, this event is FREE, fun, and a great networking opportunity.
PLEASE RSVP to ypgsouthwest@gmail.com
The Fox Valley Networking Professionals monthly breakfast is turning into a must attend event for business professionals in the Fox Valley area. The first meeting of the year on January 25 was so well attended that the February meeting will be moving to a bigger room at the Pomegranate Cafe. See you at 8AM on February 25th!
Small businesses now
• Number almost 30 million
• Employ more than half of all workers
• Constitute 99.7% of all employers
• Constitute 97% of all exporters
• Create the majority of business innovations
(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, 2009.)
LinkedIn has some very cool, easy to use applications to make your profile more interesting. For example, I just added recent posts from this WordPress blog to my profile on linkedin with just a few clicks of the mouse.
My profile
LinkedIn WordPress Application
One of the things we do at Wirth Business Credit is enable vendors selling to other businesses the ability to offer financing to their customers. We do this through custom “vendor financing” programs, which we can support with co-marketing and promotional material.
There are many advantages to being able to offer financing to your customer. First, being able to sell a payment of $288 a month instead of $12,500 up front may help you close more sales. Second, offering financing is a value-added service that may set you apart from your competition. Finally, setting up a vendor financing program is easy and even if your client chooses to finance, you are still paid 100% cash up front in the transaction by Wirth. Your customers gets the goods and services and makes payments to Wirth.
For more information or to set up a program to offer financing to your customers, call us at (630) 303-9325 and speak with one of our finance professionals today.
I attended the kick-off meeting for the Green Leadership Council at the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce this morning. There was a wide range of organizations represented including local businesses, the park district, school district and nonprofits. Naperville Chamber CEO John Schmitt, Naperville Mayor George Pradel and Councilmen Bob Fiesler and Grant Wehrli were also in attendance.
In addition to general planning, the group was addressed by Kay McKeen, Executive Director of SCARCE, a Dupage County funded nonprofit organization dedicated to education and local efforts towards conservation an sustainability.
The general mission of the Green Leadership Council seems clear, but it will be interesting to see what they do in practice. A Green Business Expo is in the planning stages.
