If you're an animal lover, find out how you can start your own pet sitting business to translate your passion into a profitable career! In this course, you will master the essentials of running a cat and dog sitting business. You'll begin with pet care, including nutrition, exercise, first aid, and the identification of common diseases. You will learn the basics of first aid and find out how to administer pills, liquid medications, and injections to an uncooperative cat or dog. You will discover how to handle home visits and impress your potential clients. You'll also explore sticky situations that can arise, such as lost pets, pets that die unexpectedly, and pets that need immediate veterinary care.

In addition, you will delve into finances and explore start-up costs, accounting, fee setting, business plans, and low-cost marketing. You will discover how to obtain required insurance, hire employees as your business expands, and entice financial institutions to loan you money. Then, you will look at opportunities for expanding your pet sitting services. Is a dog-walking service right for you? Can you train puppies? Do you want to look after other animals, including horses? By the end of this course, you will have all the knowledge you need to become a professional pet sitter. In addition, you will discover how your pet sitting business can grow to continually challenge and satisfy you.

Session Start Dates: Aug 17 | Sep 14 | Oct 12

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If you have an art or a craft and you dream about starting your own home-based or small business, this is the course for you! You will learn to start your own arts and crafts business from a professional artist. You will learn to create your own unique business identity, and discover what makes marketing in the arts and crafts business different from marketing in most other enterprises and find a sales approach the fits your personality. You will learn how to find and get into the best craft shows, as well as design booths that really draw customers in. You will discover how to price your work effectively so you can set yourself up for success whether you are selling through craft shows, in galleries, online, or even in your own retail store.

Session Start Dates:

Sept 14 | Oct 12 | Nov 16  | Dec 14 | Jan 18  | Feb 15 | Mar 15 | Apr 12  | May 17  | Jun 14

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Ever get frustrated that you never seem to get ahead? Are you and your family constantly arguing about money? Do you ever wonder where your money went last month? Do you have trouble saving money? Want to work on paying down your debt, but don't know where to find the money? This course will teach you the very basics of how to get control of your finances rather than letting them control you. It is the help you need before learning about investing, debt elimination, retirement or college planning. There aren't many places that you can go to learn these principles, so take advantage of this opportunity to learn online. Start to make conscious decisions about spending and saving. Find out where your money goes. Make your own informed choices about where you want it to go. Learn how to fund your dreams and how to save money for everything from emergencies to vacations. If you have ever felt lost about where to start working on your finances, this course is for you. You can't afford not to take this course and change your habits. This course is an investment in your future and you will save the cost of the course many times over by applying what you learn.

Session Start Dates:

Sept 14 | Oct 12 | Nov 16  | Dec 14 | Jan 18  | Feb 15 | Mar 15 | Apr 12  | May 17  | Jun 14

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The WOWI (World of Work Inventory) Career Assessment takes into account your skills, interests, and work style. After you take the assessment, a trained WOWI professional will interpret the results with you. You will then meet one-on-one and find out what job(s) you are best suited for. Together we will Assess, Explore and Plan your future! 

This WOWI service is kept free for you due to the generosity of a grant through the Maine Department of Education. Please complete this brief survey for the DOE and the WOWI is free. If you’d rather not, then the cost is $75.

The counseling time can be in person at the York Adult Education or livestreamed on your computer.

Many small business owners find creating a budget to be an intimidating process. However, creating and maintaining a budget for your business is a crucial component of success. Budgets assist in maintaining control of your business activities, and provide a road map to ensure you are spending money in the right places at the right time. Similarly, tracking performance and analyzing financial data provides insight into what is working, and what isn't, in terms of your business. Knowing how to interpret the information found in your business's financial statements is an important skill to develop. Financial analysis allows you to understand your business's financial position better and can help you make better financial decisions. This course will introduce you to the budgeting process and financial analysis. In module one, you will develop your ability to prepare budgets, generate pro forma financial statements, and analyze budget variances. Module two will focus on analyzing the financial position of your business through financial ratio analysis, benchmarking, and break-even analysis. CLICK HERE to register 

Having a strong personal brand helps you stand out in a crowd. It can help you gain new and better clients, so you do better in your current job. And it gets you noticed when you're looking for a promotion or a new job. In today's job marketplace, getting noticed is something that usually happens online. Employers use the web to check out job applicants, and they're increasingly likely to skip over those who don't have much of an online footprint. That's why it's so important for job applicants to have a strong and consistent web presence, one that announces and reinforces their own personal brand. Social media sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ can all be used to promote your personal brand. But building a personal brand is about more than just online self-promotion. Building your brand is a continuous process. It involves gaining new experiences, new knowledge and skills, expanding your circle of relationships, and increasing the value that you bring to every work project and business relationship. Included with your course is a one (1) year complimentary subscription to Fast Company ($19.99 value). Your subscription will start with the current issue. Fast Company publishes 8 issues a year. CLICK HERE to register 

Startups and small businesses are the growth engines of the American economy, but that growth doesn't just happen by itself. Growing a business takes time, hard work, and skill—and it certainly helps when you can get a lot of practical advice along the way. This bundle is based on Inc. Magazine's award-winning journalistic content and features practical, experience-based assignments that will provide entrepreneurs and small-business owners with the skills necessary to navigate the various stages of growing a business. Courses in this bundle offer real-world examples, how-to lists and advice, industry spotlights, videos from industry-leading practitioners, interactive games, and review questions to ensure mastery of the material. CLICK HERE to register 

This Certificate in Emerging Technology for Manag-ers addresses blockchain, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Learners who have completed this suite of courses are knowledgeable in how each technology affects business processes and how each contributes to a discussion about the future of labor. In the current business environment, managers and leaders should have a baseline understanding of these emerging technologies. Certificate holders are informed about cryptocurrencies and how blockchain is restoring trust and security in Internet transactions. Learners have examined how artificial intelligence is leading to gains in efficiency and performance, along with concepts and metrics for management to consider when evaluating an investment in robotics.

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