Page 14 Page 14 Friday, October 5, 2012 www.estesparknews.com
By The
Book
by Kurtis Kelly
Welcome. You've Got Mail
Hard to believe it, but email has been a
part of our lives for nearly two decades.
America Online was cyber-king back when
the above catchphrase defined the very
novel experience of opening one's "Inbox"
to see who else was out there navigating the
new frontier. Even Prince sampled those ultra-cool
four words in a groovy track titled
"My Computer".
Once a novelty, email has evolved into
what is today an essential communication
tool woven into the fabric of our civic and
economic life-alongside with the daily
correspondence among friends and family.
Today's email is rich with graphics, hyperlinks,
sound effects, and a remarkable fluidity
connecting with all manners of emerging
social media and new portables phones
and electronic tablets.
At its best, email is a tool to keep us informed
and interactive with one another. At
its best, it saves us time, and simplifies.
In recent years, Estes Valley Library members
have enjoyed the convenience of receiving
email notification of materials on
the holds shelf. Library users have also told
us they want to know about library programs
and events via email. We've never
had a mechanism to make that happen.
Until now.
This week, library customers were greeted
with a welcome email greeting-the first of
periodic messages to help keep library users
better informed.
Until recently, we had an anecdotal sense
that email notification was an important
value among library users. Then we con-
By: Jon Nicholas
Cash is king for small businesses. That's
why understanding your cash flow is crucial
to business success.
The Larimer Small Business Development
Center (SBDC) and Estes Valley Library
will host a workshop "Will My Business
Make Money," on
Thursday, October 18. The
workshop will be held
from 5:30to 9 p.m. in the
Hondius Room of the
Estes Valley Library, 335
East Elkhorn Avenue in Estes Park.
This workshop is your starting point for
understanding the financial future of your
business. The easiest way to make projections
is with a spreadsheet. The class includes
an Excel spreadsheet for making
your own cash forecasts. Participants will
learn to forecast income and cash flows,
while gaining the necessary insight to run
their business, secure funding, and make
better decisions. For those participants
who wish to use the spreadsheet template
that comes with the class, they must use
Excel. The workshop instructor, Paul F.
Mueller, is a CPA and managing director
ducted an extensive community-wide survey
in conjunction with the release of last
spring's annual report. Library information
through email emerged as one of the Top
Five Requests for enhanced service. We put
plans for email notification on fast track-
and just in time for the busy One Book One
Valley season of events.
Keeping up with all that's happening at the
Library is important-but not always easy.
In the next ten days, there are a total of six
special events related to One Book One
Valley (starting with tonight's Grand Opening
Reception at 5:30 p.m.). That's alongside
Election Season debate coverage, a
"Tech Library" literacy class, a workshop on
eBook access, a half-dozen storytimes for
kids-and subsequent weeks are just as robust
with activity.
With library events appearing in your
email Inbox, you'll easily know what's happening
and when. And be able to add
events to your personal calendar (paper or
online) with much greater ease.
None of us like email spam. Mindful of
that, our emails will seek to be simple and
clear-frequent enough but not too frequent.
For anyone wishing to opt out,
there's an easy method to do so right in the
message itself.
If you're a library member and didn't receive
this week's welcome, contact us. We'll
gladly update your email to make sure you
don't miss out on what's happening.
Along with email, another great online
tool to keep up with Library events is Facebook.
Current Facebook users can friend
the Estes Valley Library, but you don't have
to be a Facebook user to read our page.
Simply click on the Facebook link on the
Library homepage at estesvalleylibrary.org
The community asked for email notification-and
we're delivering. Happy computer
clicks.
Free Business Consulting And Cash Flow
Business Workshop October 18
of Mueller & Associates, CPA, LLC.
Cost of the workshop is $40 in advance.
To make a reservation call 970-498-9295,
or go the website www.larimersbdc.org,
click on the workshops tab, and then
"Estes Park Workshops."
The Larimer SBDC also provides free
and confidential consulting to current
and prospective business owners. The
Estes Park SBDC Satellite Office will be
held every third Thursday of the month
from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Estes Valley
Library. The next day for new
clients will also be on Thursday,
October 18.
To make an appointment with
the Estes Park SBDC Satellite
office or to obtain information, please
contact the Larimer SBDC at 970-498-
9295, or e-mail info@LarimerSBDC.org.
Several entrepreneurs from the Estes
Park business community volunteer their
time and expertise as SBDC consultants:
Tony Bielat, Charley Dickey, Tim McPhee,
Jerry Miller, Paul Mueller, Teresa Mueller,
Glen Nieman, and Marcy Predmore.
The Estes Park SBDC Satellite office is a
joint project of the Larimer SBDC and the
Estes Valley Library, and is funded in part
by a grant from Larimer County. The Library's
Buck $tarts Here project is funded
Larimer County, the Friends of the Library
and the Mayor's discretionary fund.