Fall Webinar Series Opens with Talking about Tough Issues in the Family Business

Beginning September 10, eXtension launches a new series of monthly webinars for small business owners, farmers, business coaches and mentors. Grab your calendar right now and mark off the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 2:00pm – 3:00pm Eastern Time.
Our topic for September 10, 2008 will be 10 Tools for Talking about Tough Issues in the Family Business. Conflict is a normal part of family business, especially with succession planning. A Virginia Tech study of 400 farms found that farm family businesses that could communicate effectively were 21% more profitable.
Elaine Froese, author of Planting the Seed of Hope, will lead this presentation designed for farmers, business owners, business coaches and mentors. She delivers tips that can be implemented immediately. She challenges family business owners to get “unstuck” and not accept the high anxiety and stress of poor decision making. Her tools are grounded in years of working with farm succession planning and coaching.
Froese and her husband farm in southwestern Manitoba and run a certified seed business. Elaine started encouraging farm families more than 20 years ago as a professional home economist. She has spent many hours with families at kitchen tables. Seeds of Encouragement is the name of her business as well as the name of her monthly column in Grainews, a Canadian farm publication that reaches 50,000 readers. As a columnist and speaker, Elaine’s practical and from-the-heart style have inspired many families to revitalize their relationships and farm businesses. Her Web site is http://www.elainefroese.com.
No pre-registration is required and there is no fee to participate. About 10 minutes prior to the start time simply go the Adobe Connect Pro meeting room at http://connect.extension.iastate.edu/ecop/. You will be presented with a login screen that has an “Enter as Guest” option. Enter your first name, last name and state, then click “Enter Room” to join the conference. To hear the audio of the workshop and participate in the Q&A portion of the workshop we will be using a built-in teleconferencing capability of Adobe’s Connect Pro conferencing software. Once you log into the meeting you will be presented with the option to enter your call-back number OR there will be a toll-free number for you to call. If you are calling from a telephone extension (i.e. a caller cannot dial your direct line) then you will need to call in. After entering your number you will be automatically called and joined into the audio portion of the Web conference on your phone.