Blog

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. The famed Pareto Principle, named after the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto for his studies of wealthy landowners, can be summed up as, 20% of your efforts produces 80% of your results. And… Read more »

Solopreneurs, consultants, coaches, artists, independent contractors, freelancers – whatever you call them, the single person business is thriving. Over 8% of the workforce in 2013 were solopreneurs, and rapid growth is occurring. Half of all existing businesses with employees also started out as one-person businesses and 15% of all current one-person businesses expect to add… Read more »

Alexandria’s Winter Restaurant Week is getting ready to kick off. From January 23 – February 1, 2015, restaurants will be offering dinner for two for $35 or a three-course dinner for $35. This year, for the first time, several restaurants are also offering lunch specials, too. As consumers, it’s clear why we all love restaurant week… Read more »

On January 13, Maurisa Potts presented a workshop on Marketing Trends for 2015. This workshop focused on the top marketing trends that small businesses need to be aware of and gave ideas on what to do to take advantage of these trends. While some of the trends were familiar to many small business owners, such… Read more »

We’re all used to the practice of making resolutions at the start of the year about things that we wish to do in our personal lives, whether it is losing a few extra pounds, finishing a degree or obtaining additional training or education, working out on a regular basis, or spending more quality time with family… Read more »

Today, December 17, 2014 is the 18th anniversary of the Alexandria SBDC. The photo accompanying this blogpost shows the ribbon cutting on the same day in 1996; you will probably recognize many of those in attendance. A few weeks ago the Alexandria SBDC held its first annual Holiday Kickoff celebration to highlight the accomplishments of… Read more »

This week, the Alexandria Veterans Business Enterprise Center hosted its fourth speaker series event. This event invites a successful veteran in business to share his or her experiences in business and tips on success after the military. This month’s event featured Laura Law-Millet, co-founder of the GI Film Festival. After a 14-year career as an… Read more »

We’re on the cusp of the holiday season where we might dreamily fantasize about Norman Rockwell-esque snowflakes, frosty windowpanes, twinkling lights, and smiles. Once we’re actually into the intensity of the season, however, it tends to take on a different cast and becomes more a scene of frustration, scowls, congested parking garages, and futile searches… Read more »

Our resident social media expert and blogger extraordinaire Ray Sidney-Smith discusses the importance of having a cohesive marketing campaign for the holiday season. For nearly the last decade, here in the United States, the biggest shopping day of the year has been the day after Thanksgiving. We all know it as Black Friday. However, for the savvy business owner especially… 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. If you had all the time in the world, would you ever get much done? The British naval historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson would say unequivocally that you would not. After all, you… Read more »