The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has dubbed May "Small Business Month" - a time to celebrate the courage and hard work of small business owners across the United States and recognize everything small businesses do for their communities!
Jacksonville Public Library is marking the occasion by offering you free small business resources like our monthly "Small Business and Side Hustles" newsletter, which highlights Library and community resources designed to help you start or grow your business or side hustle.
# Upcoming Library Programs
Life Lit are free workshops offered by trained professionals and volunteers that focus on improving your day-to-day life. These programs cover a wide range of workshops from gardening to small business needs. No need to bring anything but yourself to participate!
Business Planning with Business Model Canvas | with SBDC
So you have an idea for a business. What’s the first step? Take the idea that has been forming in your head and see if you can turn it into an actual business. In this mini workshop, we'll go over how to best utilize your website to power your business. Presented by the Small Business Development Center at UNF business consultants, Christian Evangelista and Taylor Kennedy. This class will be followed by a Q&A.
Tuesday, June 4, 2 PM, Main Library
Entrepreneurship Long Hand | with EY
Are you ready to become an entrepreneur? Do you want to measure your entrepreneurial mindset? This one-hour workshop will cover the basics of entrepreneurship and help you activate your inner entrepreneur. Bridging the digital divide is an EY commitment. They're building a better working world by supporting all people with the opportunity to fully participate in modern education, the economy, and society.
Tuesday, June 11, 3 PM, Brinton Murray Hill Branch
# Get Free Business Magazines
Featured Resource: Libby by Overdrive
Get free digital materials online, anytime with your Jacksonville Public Library card. The digital library is open 24/7! You can search the Libby website or app for e-books, audiobooks, and magazines or find them through the Library catalog. You can have 10 borrowed titles at a time and have 10 holds at a time with no monthly limits. Read and listen online, in a browser. Or, download to your Kindle (or other e-reader).
Download the app for mobile devices, Libby!
# Magazines & Books We Recommend
Fast Company is the world's leading progressive business media brand, with a unique editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, and design. It takes you inside the minds of the most progressive business leaders. Meet the real innovators of our age and see the latest in design, sustainability, marketing, and social responsibility.
Success magazine aims its content at small business owners and others in business who are "proactive in finding the inspiration, motivation, and training to achieve their goals." You'll find articles on best business practices, inspiration from major personalities in business and entertainment, and tips on how to be in the best possible mental and physical shape to compete and reach your goals.
You’ll get the kind of stories you’d expect from a magazine named Home Business as well as articles of interest to small business owners whose companies aren’t home-based. The print edition comes out quarterly. Home Business digital edition offers short articles and podcasts in categories such as Sales, Growth, Money and Office. Recent articles included tips on surviving small talk if you’re an introverted entrepreneur and advice on sales page upgrades.
People starting out in business tend to seek step-by-step formulas or specific rules, but in reality, there are no magic bullets. Veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky believes that we need to rely more on street smarts to solve problems and pursue opportunities as they arise. He calls this "the knack" mindset and says it has made all the difference to the eight successful start-ups of his career. Brodsky shares his hard-earned wisdom every month in Inc. magazine, in the hugely popular "Street Smarts" column he cowrites with Bo Burlingham. Now they've adapted their best advice into a comprehensive guide for anyone running a small business.
Social innovation and entrepreneurship are rising forces in the world. As stakeholder capitalism takes root, and as the extent of systemic challenges becomes clear - from climate change to income inequality to food security and beyond - more and more of the best and brightest will hear the calling to become innovators and entrepreneurs who develop and deploy solutions to the world's thorniest problems. But it's not easy. They will need a handbook to guide them on the journey to becoming a difference maker.
# Free, On-Demand Learning
Featured Resource: LinkedIn Learning
Try out LinkedIn Learning, a leading online learning platform that helps anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills to achieve their goals. All you need is your library card and PIN to enjoy unlimited FREE access to 16,000+ on-demand courses.
Using the LinkedIn Learning mobile app?
The Library ID (case sensitive) is: jaxpubliclibrary.
# Courses We Recommend
A first look at Firefly, Adobe's generative AI image-generation tool. With Firefly, you can create unique images and text effects by typing text prompts and choosing from a variety of style inputs. In this course, imaging instructor and Adobe trainer Jan Kabili explains what Firefly can offer to your creative workflow, demonstrates how to generate images from prompts, built-in styles, and reference images, and shares tips for generating one-of-a-kind text effects.
Learn how to use Adobe Firefly to create your own generative AI artwork and gain an understanding of Adobe Firefly’s role in the greater Creative Cloud ecosystem. In this course, Bart Van de Wiele teaches you the skills you need to write effective Firefly text prompts for generating high-quality images and vector art, create and recolor your artwork using Firefly and Illustrator, and use Generative Fill in Photoshop.
Learn how to combine the generative AI power of Firefly with the industry-leading imaging features of Adobe Photoshop. In this course, trainer and author Jan Kabili details the comparative strengths of Firefly and Photoshop in compositing projects and the advantages of using them together.
