Back in January of 2018, I outlined goals for several different lines of business that I am involved in, as well as personal and political interests.

I am excited to report that several initiatives are getting closer to being fully realized.

Professional Courses On Social Web Tactics

We just released the list of courses that Social Web Tactics will offer busy professionals starting later this month. The courses can be found at: https://socialwebtactics.com/courses.

This is an exciting start to becoming an online education provider – both for me, and my company. There are a few options for people. One, all introductory courses that we offer – and there are quite a few at the start – will be free. Perhaps the most exciting class (though they are all interesting) is the course we are building around “personal branding.” Our goal here is to help people recognize just how powerful their personal brand is, and how it influences a significant amount of their professional life. Two, the advanced courses will be more intensive and include one-on-one time with instructors, as well as access to closed / gated Facebook and/or LinkedIn communities for additional discussion. Three, we also will offer on-site instruction or in-office training as part of education services.

But this is not all that is going on.

Catoctin Education / Catoctin College

Development is moving fast on the Catoctin Education and Catoctin College websites. The College will provide all the online courses that we create and promote at Social Web Tactics. But that is not all. The goal is a business that will allow other companies to create courses that they can offer (for free or for a fee) to the Catoctin community. In fact, it goes a little deeper than that. Since creating courses and Webinars can be labor-intensive, the team at Catoctin College will provide assistance to ensure every courses is built to a high standard of excellence, and that the content and course materials are verified. Companies can now offer internal and external training, courses, and educational sessions on products and tools, and share them with a larger market. We believe this will not only be a great opportunity for small and mid-sized businesses, but also for professionals who are looking to advance their skills without taking on substantial debt – as is often required through for-profit universities and the mainstream college and university system.

I envision Catoctin College providing this service for our upcoming release of GovernmentContractors.co (a news and resources portal for B2G businesses) and our release of Cannabis Business Today.

Speaking of which… 

GovernmentContractors.co

GovernmentContractors.co is on-pace for an April launch. It won’t be easy, but progress has been made on the site design, and pre-loading of content. We also have reached out to some in the govcon space who are interested in contributing content, data, and more. In the coming days, we will be connecting all of these pieces together to get the website launched by the end of the month (or sooner).

As mentioned above, one of the benefits of this website will be the partnership with Catoctin College. Companies can provide govcon-related educational content. And there will be some provided at the time of launch. However, I am taking an interesting approach with Government Contractors – in that Catoctin will not be the sole, exclusive provider of online education. There are other companies out there, such as Government Marketing University and Federal Publication Seminars, that do and/or will have outstanding courses on a wide variety of topics relevant to government contractors. They can promote their courses on the Government Contractors website as well.

Cannabis Business Today

Cannabis Business Today is similarly on-pace for a late April launch, but I would not be surprised if it slipped into early May. Progress on this website has not been as fast recently, but a lot of initial content was created and pre-loaded into the website. The design template will be very similar to Government Contractors – but obviously – the navigation and content will be considerably different. Therefore, we are not anticipating major technical hang-ups. Just a lot of frantic content-wrangling and coordinating with potential advertisers and content providers.

As far as online courses are concerned, the same concept as noted in Government Contractors can be applied here. Cannabis-based businesses or experts can provide courses. But there won’t be an exclusivity to Catoctin College.

Springing Into Action In April

April is proving to be a very busy month for me, and for everyone I work with. But the direction is very positive, and I’m excited about what is getting produced.

If you have ANY interest in getting involved with the projects listed above, contact me directly at any of the following e-mail addresses:

Social Web Tactics: michaelhackmer@socialwebtactics.com

Government Contractors: michaelhackmer@governmentcontractors.co

Cannabis Business Today: michaelhackmer@cannabisbusinesstoday.com