Blog

We’ve all been in a presentation that felt like it would never end. Many small business owners may not have experience giving presentations, but it’s an important skill to master. Whether you’re pitching an idea to an investor or selling your product to a room full of customers, it’s critical that you be able to… Read more »

Over the next several months, Gloria Flanagan, our Assistant Director, will be writing several posts based on information that she learned at the America’s SBDC Conference in September of this year. This is the first post in this series. How well do you know your customers or clients? Whether you are a brick and mortar… Read more »

This week’s blog features guest poster Savannah Brown of LSMGuide.com. By now you already know that late summer/early fall is the best time to get a jump start on your holiday marketing planning, but what about your operational planning? While it may seem like drafting holiday job descriptions, ordering supplies or other equipment are tasks you… Read more »

In mid-September, the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership (AEDP) released their bi-annual State of the Market report. This document focuses on the first half of 2015 and contains valuable information for small business owners in the City. This publication is part of AEDP’s research and data series on the City of Alexandria. This report is released twice a year… Read more »

This week’s post was written by Ray Sidney-Smith of W3Consulting, social media consultant and facilitator of the monthly Roundtable for the Alexandria SBDC.  “Big box retailers, at some point, define the competition,” said Retail Architect Bridget Gaddis, AIA, Leed AP, and Principal of Alexandria-based architecture studio, Gaddis Architect. With over 20 years of commercial retail… Read more »

This post is a continuation of last week’s topic and was written by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources, our guest author for our solopreneur blog series. Recently, the US Department of Labor (DOL) issued new guidance on when a person is an independent contractor and when they are an employee. Even if you… Read more »

The US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued new guidance that redefines independent contractors (often called 1099 workers after the IRS form.) This is critical to your business if you use independent contractors since many now will be considered employees instead. Under the new guidelines issued July 15, 2015 for classifying such workers, the DOL… Read more »

We’re less than a month away from the end of the Federal fiscal year, and we know our clients may be wondering about what they should do to prepare. So, we asked John Boulware, our Federal Government Contracting specialist, if he had any advice for our clients. His response is below: All government contractors should be… Read more »

We know how important good data is for small businesses as they develop their business plans or look to grow their businesses. In the past, it has been challenging to get the information needed from a single source. Now, there’s a new tool available to help small businesses with their research needs. Earlier this month,… Read more »

Do you accept credit cards as payment for the goods and services that you provide to your customers? These days, most small businesses answer “yes” to that question. For those who currently swipe the magnetic stripe on credit cards, including most restaurant and retail establishments, there are major changes coming soon that may have serious… Read more »