Business news

■ The Soldotna and Kenai Chambers of Commerce will host a joint luncheon at noon on Tuesday at the Kenai Visitors Center. A forum with candidates for U.S. Senate is planned. RSVP to 262-9814 or 283-1991.

The Alaska Small Business Development Center will host the following seminar:

Profit Mastery — Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Bryan Zak will present a 2-day Profit Mastery workshop in the Red Diamond Center Suite 12. This 16-hour hands-on course will help you set goals for the future of your business, control spending and pricing, and leave with a process to assess the performance of your business and a strategy to implement change. In addition to the program content, you will master the material through quizzes, lively discussion, guided practice, and real-life application to your own business. Creating Value and Building Wealth will empower you to make better business decisions and keep more of your hard earned money. To qualify for Job Bill Funding’s special discount of $200, you must register online by Friday. You can use a secure UPAY for MasterCard or VISA, or contact Bunny if you prefer to pay by cash or check. If you are a veteran with DD-214 identification, contact Bunny before making payment because you may qualify for a veteran discount. For more information or to register, visit www.aksbdc.org or contact Bunny at 907-260-5629.

The following job skills workshops will be offered at the Peninsula Job Center the week of Oct. 20:

Monday, Oct. 21 — 9:30 a.m, ALEXsys Job Leads; 10:30 a.m., Introduction to ALEXsys and the Job Center; 2 p.m., Resume Writing Workshop

Tuesday, Oct. 22 — 10:30 a.m., CareerReady 101 Lab

Wednesday, Oct. 23 — 9 a.m., WorkKeys® Testing

Thursday, Oct. 24 — 10:30 a.m., Interviewing Skills Workshop

Friday, Oct. 25 — No workshops offered

All workshop are free of charge to the public

Those interested in attending any workshops offered at the Peninsula Job Center can reserve space by clicking on the “Schedule Workshops” option located on the main screen in your ALEXsys account (www.jobs.alaska.gov ), call 335-3010, or visit the job center located in Kenai at 11312 Kenai Spur Hwy., Suite #2. Business hours are Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. excluding state and federal holidays.

Six small business workshops will be offered weekly in Fairbanks and by videoconference in Soldotna. The series is hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service and the UAF Community and Technical College.

Kathryn Dodge, Extension economic development specialist, said the workshops will offer guidance to small business owners interested in starting or expanding their businesses. Participants may attend one or all of the workshops. The topics include:

■ E-commerce and web-based tools for businesses, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday

■ Writing a business plan, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 23

■ Legal forms of business, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 30

■ Record keeping and taxes for mining, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Nov. 6

■ How to get a small business loan, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13

Each class costs $25. Register online at http://bit.ly/ces-workshops. See more information about the classes and videoconference locations at www.uaf.edu/ces. Instructors will include Fairbanks attorney John Burns; accountant Paul Robinson; Scott Swingle of the Small Business Administration; Russ Talvi of the Alaska Small Business Development Center; Paul Bauer of the Spirit of Alaska Federal Credit Union; and Adam Krynicki of the UAF Office of Intellectual Property and Commercialization.

For more information, contact Dodge at 474-6497 or kdodge@alaska.edu.

Beginning Oct. 21, the Clarion’s Business page will be published on Tuesdays. The deadline to submit items is 5 p.m. the previous Friday.

Business announcements may be submitted to news@peninsulaclarion.com.

The U.S. Small Business Administration – Alaska district office has announced the opening of SBA’s online portal and is ready to accept nominations for its 2015 National Small Business Week Awards, including the annual Small Business Person of the Year award.

SBA has been following the mantra – Smart, Bold and Accessible in the way the agency conducts business. This is now the third year SBA has been using the online portal submission process, a great and smart improvement from years past. The improved dedicated web portal http://awards.sba.gov provides all the guidelines and has made it much easier to submit and track submissions of nominees for National Small Business Week.

All nominations must be submitted online, postmarked or hand delivered to the SBA no later than 3 p.m. EST, Jan. 5, 2015. In addition to the portal, nominations can also be sent directly to SBA’s Alaska District Office. For contact information and other District Office information visit online at www.sba.gov/ak, call 800-755-7034 or visit in person at 420 L Street, Suite 300, Anchorage, Alaska.

The Kenai Soil & Water Conservation District has a wide variety of agricultural equipment for rent, including manual and mechanized tools for soil preparation (Meri Crusher), tillage, re-seeding, planting, pesticide and fertilizer application and bale wrapping. For information, see the “Equipment Rental” page at www.kenaisoilandwater.org or call 283-8732 ext. 5.