At a recent Alexandria Small Business Roundtable, business owners discussed whether they needed an attorney for their business. All businesses must deal with some legal issues when they get started including the first step of registering and licensing their business. Determining which business structure (sole proprietorship, LLC, S-Corp, etc.) will work best for your business… Read more »

Alexandria SBDC staff and speakers do our best to provide meaningful educational programs for small business owners. We hope that you are able to take advantage of these free learning opportunities to strengthen your business. Whether you’re attending one of our workshops or any kind of educational programming, here are a few tips to get the… Read more »

The last week in July was Retail Week in Northern Virginia, with many retail businesses attending pertinent Workshops throughout the area.  As a follow-up to Retail Week, we present the following list for retailers, authored by our colleague Ben F. Salomonsky, Director of the Retail Academy at Hampton Roads SBDC. You will be solicited for… Read more »

Deciding to throw your hat into the government contracting ring can be a little bit intimidating. John Boulware, the Alexandria Small Business Development Center’s resident government contracting expert, has a few tips on how to develop Federal business: Know what you do well that the “Feds” buy and stick to your sweet spot Develop, maintain, and grow a… Read more »

A few weeks ago, we spoke with Emily McMahan, the Director of the Alexandria Veterans Business Enterprise Center (AVBEC). This week, Emily is back to talk a little more about what makes the AVBEC unique. With so many resources for veterans right now, why does the City and region need the AVBEC? With the drawdown… Read more »

This week’s video blog is presented by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources. Patricia is one of the counselors at the SBDC and specializes in HR and employment. In this clip, she discusses tips and recommendations for finding enough of the right types of people during the hiring process. If you’re interested in more… Read more »

The Alexandria SBDC recently had the opportunity to catch up with Emily McMahan, Director of the Alexandria Veterans Business Enterprise Center (AVBEC).  McMahan, an Army veteran and former partner in a local small business, is passionate about Alexandria’s role in facilitating the professional success of veterans and their spouses. We recently sat down with her… Read more »

One of the new features of the Alexandria SBDC website is the Startup Checklist.  We developed this checklist because entrepreneurs are sometimes confused as to what steps are necessary to open a business, or do not know where to start. For all small businesses, we recommend that you review the elements of the checklist. Deciding… Read more »

One of the most important features of our new website is the ability to pass information along to our clients and to give businesses easy access to resources and tools. In order to accomplish this, we developed our Interactive Resource Library. The Library is a collection of documents, ranging from checklists to sample forms to… Read more »

Watch Alexandria Small Business Development Center Assistant Director Gloria Flanagan discuss the new process for requesting a counseling session. Learn which geographic areas the Alexandria SBDC serves, and learn how to navigate our website to get the information you need to prepare for your appointment. We’re excited to be able to assist small businesses in the… Read more »