Throughout the month of December the Alexandria SBDC will be highlighting some of our clients to get an inside scoop of what their holiday season looks like. Name: Mellenie Runion  Business Name: Truly-Life  How long have you been in business in Alexandria? 13 years.  Tell me a little about your business(es): I started making soaps for our personal use… Read more »

Virginia SBDC recognizes Laura Hatcher for her community contributions in advance of Veterans Day We are proud to announce that photographer Laura Hatcher is the 2021 Alexandria SBDC Veteran of the Year. Laura has also been selected as the runner-up for the Statewide Virginia Small Business Veteran of the Year award. The State award recognizes veteran business owners who have made a significant difference in their… Read more »

This post is written by Bill Reagan, Executive Director of the SBDC and first appeared in the Alexandria Times on February 6, 2020. For a variety of reasons, veterans arevery accomplished entrepreneurs. About 10 percent of U.S. businesses are veteran owned and they have an impressive success rate.  It’s not hard to figure out why… Read more »

This post was written by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources, our guest author for our solopreneur blog series. Whether you are starting your own small business or building an existing one, Small Business Month is a great time to think about what you want and where you need to go. Even if you… Read more »

This post was written by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources, our guest author for our solopreneur blog series. When you run a small business, you are constantly dealing with both issues you know well and those outside your knowledge base. Hiring an expert to help when you need added expertise can be quite… Read more »

Earlier this month, the Alexandria SBDC hosted a roundtable on the impact that your physical space has on your productivity. The discussion included ideas on where people work and the benefits and downsides to different types of physical space. In this video, Ray Sidney-Smith of W3 Consulting and Gloria Flanagan, Assistant Director of the Alexandria… 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 »

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.  Most small business owners who I meet say that marketing takes up a large portion of their and their business’ time and attention. And, they’re right! Marketing is a good part of… Read more »

This post was written by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources, our guest author for our solopreneur blog series. Many solopreneurs choose to be independent based on their goals.  Some start that way and decide to build a bigger business, while others seek to build a company once they realize that they have more business… Read more »

This post was written by Patricia Frame of Strategies for Human Resources, our guest author for our solopreneur blog series. We’ve all heard tips for business development and networking. These three tips aren’t new to you, I bet, but the real issue for most of us is whether we do each consistently – or not… Read more »