Senator Tester Hosts Small Business Workshop in Missoula. – Microsoft exec: Great time to be an entrepreneur in Montana – Next Workshop in Bozeman on 3/26

If small businesses in Montana don’t leverage the opportunities of the Internet, their competitors will. The opportunities are often free and ever-evolving.

Still, less than 20 percent of small business owners use the Internet to create a competitive advantage.

The boon small business owners and entrepreneurs could get by integrating the Internet into their business models was a main topic of discussion on Wednesday at Sen. Jon Tester’s Small Business Opportunity Workshop in Missoula. The workshop included a keynote address by Butte native, Montana Ambassador ( Montana Ambassadors Launch a Seattle Chapter with Governor Schweitzer http://matr.net/article-15373.html ) and Microsoft managing director Sean Thompson. It ended with a social media strategies presentation led by representatives from Facebook and Google.

Figures showed that in 2009, Google’s online tools helped generate $48 million in economic activity in Montana.

Being online "isn’t really something we have an option about anymore,"

By JENNA CEDERBERG of the Missoulian missoulian.com

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_9b34b820-3fd6-11e0-8de5-001cc4c002e0.html

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Tester to hold next small business jobs workshop in Bozeman

Senator will focus March 26 event on boosting agriculture

Senator Jon Tester today announced that he will host his next Small Business Opportunity Workshop next month in Bozeman. Tester made the announcement at the end of his Missoula Small Business Opportunity Workshop, attended by hundreds of Montanans.

Tester’s next workshop will be held on March 26, at the Strand Student Union Building at Montana State University, from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Sign up here: http://tester.senate.gov/Resources/workshop.cfm

Full Story: http://tester.senate.gov/Newsroom/pr_022311_smallbusiness.cfm

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Tester Hosts Small Business Opportunity Workshop

Senator Jon Tester met with Montana entrepreneurs in Missoula Wednesday. He’s hosted small business opportunity workshops all over the state.

The workshops are for business people looking for ways to implement good ideas. Big Dipper Ice Cream in Missoula http://www.bigdippericecream.com/ uses social media to attract and inform its customers.

It has about 6,500 Facebook friends and several hundred followers on Twitter. "Business has been growing every year," owner Charlie Beaton said. " We did our first franchise last year."

By Kevin Maki

Full Story and Video: http://www.nbcmontana.com/keci/26973206/detail.html

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U.S. Senator Jon Tester Interview

By Montana Kaimin

Video: http://www.montanakaimin.com/multimedia/u-s-senator-jon-tester-interview-1.2015168

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U.S. senator hosts small business workshop Wednesday morning

Before a crowd of people wearing suit jackets, flannel shirts and a lone cowboy hat, Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., led a workshop for entrepreneurs and small business owners at The University of Montana Wednesday.

Presentations at the workshop, Tester’s sixth "Small Business Opportunity Workshop" since 2009, focused on entrepreneurship and small business’ use of the Internet and social media.

"The fact that we’ve got the number of folks that we have here speaks to the Montana can-do spirit and the fact that there’s a lot of interest out there about moving your business forward and creating opportunity within the state of Montana," Tester said. "This is a small business state and we know that."

By Heidi Groover

Full Story: http://www.montanakaimin.com/news/u-s-senator-hosts-small-business-workshop-wednesday-morning-1.2015196