Grow with Google, Google’s economic initiative that provides resources and tools for growing careers and businesses, is hosting its first in-person cybersecurity workshop for small business owners on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. In this 2023 file photo, Isabella Casillas Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration, second from right, Congressman Jimmy Gomez, U.S. Representative, left, and Sarah Friar, CEO of Nextdoor, right, talk with Haley Solar, owner of Haley Solar women’s apparel store in Eagle Rock, Friday, Aug 4, 2023. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Local small business leaders can learn hands-on how to keep their online presence protected next week.
Grow with Google, the search-engine giant’s economic initiative to provide resources and tools for growing careers and businesses, will host its first in-person cybersecurity workshop for small business owners on Monday, Aug. 21.
The event, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Google Spruce Goose office in Playa Vista, will begin with remarks from officials, such as Rep. Ted Lieu, before Roberto Martinez, California’s Grow with Google digital coach, leads the 45-minute workshop.
During the workshop, titled “Cybersecurity and Your Small Business,” folks will learn digital tools and best practices, including two-step login verification and how to keep documents secure to protect their businesses and customers’ information online.
The Google program has offered free trainings to small businesses on other topics since 2017, Lucy Pinto, program manager for Grow with Google, said in a Friday interview, as well as other resources to help them grow and adopt digital skills. Google often partners with organizations like the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and government agencies to amplify these resources, she added.
Pinto said that 65% of small business owners nationwide are concerned about their cybersecurity, citing a recent study by Connected Commerce Council, a national nonprofit that promotes small businesses’ access to digital technologies and tools.
“More than half of small business owners have this at top of mind,” Pinto said. “(But) they don’t know how to act, or what practices and tools might be out there to handle security online.”
Grow with Google, for its part, launched an online, on-demand cybersecurity workshop in May, Pinto said, and have already trained more than 3,000 small businesses through that.
“Being able to do it in person, on the ground is something we’re excited for,” she added. It “will give people the opportunity to ask live questions and get the (direct) help” they may need.
Participants will also learn how to enable e-commerce, show up on Google Maps through a Google business profile, understand analytics and website traffic, and advertise on Google and YouTube; they will also learn soft skills like how to manage an effective team.
“There’s a lot of awareness we need to do to demystify” cybersecurity, Pinto said. “When it comes to comparing to larger corporations, there’s an information and awareness gap – that’s what we’re trying to fill.”
If you go
Register for the free small business cybersecurity workshop at G.co/grow/LosAngeles. The training is from 2 to 3 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, at the Google Spruce Goose office, 5865 South Campus Center Drive, Playa Vista. Walk-in registration is also welcome the day of.
Sign up for other business growth workshops at G.co/grow/digitalcoachCA.
