The Lopez Island Family Resource Center is offering four classes that can immediately benefit your business: “How to Find 25 New Customers,” “Online Marketing Made Simple,” “Create a Website or Blog with WordPress” and “One-on-One Business Consults.” Sign up for these to learn new skills, ideas, and techniques that will make your business boom.

Our popular Business Development Trainer, James Dunn, will be returning to Lopez on March 22 and 23 to offer two new thought-provoking, hands-on classes. The first, “How to Find 25 New Customers,” will be held on Sat., March 22 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lopez Library. It will focus on marketing methods that will help you to attract new clients on a small island, as well as teach you 15 ways you can find new customers yourself, five ways you can help your customers find new customers for you, and five ways you can help other businesses to find new customers for you.

The second class being offered by James, “Online Marketing Made Simple,” will be held on Sun. March 23 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Lopez Library. It will explore the best ways to get your products and/or services off-island by utilizing the World Wide Web. James will specifically help you examine 1.) What are you really selling? 2.) How will a website help you sell? 3.) How to write great content 4.) How to organize your website, and 5.) Social media marketing. James’ classes will be colorful, fun, and leave you smarter than when you arrived!

“Create a Website or Blog with WordPress” will be led by Adrienne Adams, who has a reputation for being a clear, thorough, and knowledgeable instructor. In this class, you will learn how to add posts, upload images, navigate the dashboard, and more, so that you can get your free WordPress site up and running! Adrienne will also provide information that pertains to creating a business site versus a personal blog. You only need basic knowledge of how to access programs on a computer and how to use an Internet browser. The class will meet on Tuesday, March 4, Thursday, March 6, and Thursday March 13 from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the Lopez Library.

“One-on-One Business Consults” provides an exciting opportunity for potential or existing small business owners to get professional individualized advice. Meet for an hour with our popular business coach, Brian Jaeger, to strategize ways to move your business forward.  Brian is the founder of InsideWorks and is a certified Birkman Method consultant. Business consults will take place at the LIFRC on Saturday, March 8. After registering, you will be contacted by the LIFRC to coordinate an appointment time.

These classes and consults are part of the LIFRC’s Employment and Life Skills Program. The LIFRC is committed to helping islanders gain self-sufficiency through education and training. Classes are done in collaboration with the Lopez Library.

Classes are open to all San Juan County residents. Pre-registration is required, and can be done online, over the phone, or in person at the LIFRC office. To register online, go to www.lifrc.org and click the “Register for Classes” link. For questions, call Patsy Haber, LIFRC program coordinator at 468-4117.