Today is America’s SBDC Day

Today is March 17, a special day for me and for my colleagues at nearly 1,000 SBDC locations across the United States. America’s SBDC represents America’s nationwide network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) – the most comprehensive small business assistance network in the United States and its territories.

For those of you who may not know me or ASBDC, l am employed by the S.C. SBDC at our Newberry Area Center. Although I am the only consultant in this particular center, I am never alone. Our S.C. organization has locations from Beaufort to Rock Hill to Clemson to Myrtle Beach and places like Orangeburg and Newberry in between. We are never far from you, and my colleagues and I are always close to each other, often co-consulting when a client has multiple needs. Now that we are all proficient at Zoom, we often include our clients in “face-to-face” consulting sessions.

SBDCs are hosted by leading universities, colleges, state economic development agencies and private partners, and funded in part by the United States Congress through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the SBA. In South Carolina, our hosts are Clemson University, Winthrop University, S.C. State University and the University of South Carolina. You can find your nearest office on our website www.scsbdc.com and clicking on the locations link to see a map.

As stated above, part of our nation-wide funding comes to us as appropriations by Congress via our partner, the SBA. The S.C. locations receive additional support from our host universities, which provide consultants with office space and technology support, as well as funding from nearby governmental entities and other partners.

The Newberry Office has been generously hosted by Newberry College for many years at our office at 1814 College Street. We also receive direct grants from both Newberry County and the City of Newberry. The Newberry County Chamber of Commerce is our partner, and the Director, Michelle Long, serves on the USC Region Board of Directors. I am extremely grateful for our local support.

And now, I will answer your perhaps unasked question, “What do we receive for this investment?” One service we offer is training, focused on skills and information that is useful to small businesses, but often applicable to other individuals as well. Our training model changed drastically in 2020. Prior to the great pandemic, the SBDC offered low-cost or no-cost in-person workshops and seminars in each location, usually in the form of one- to two-hour workshops, and the occasional longer Saturday programs. While in-person seminars have value in the physical togetherness, the limitation for attendees was the proximity to an office. When ”local-and- in-person” was no longer possible, the SBDC “pivoted” rapidly to an online delivery of programs via Zoom.

We have found Zoom to be a great platform. We can accommodate more people across a wider geographic area with Zoom. Many training attendees already know Zoom from their church, their book club, their civic groups and other organizations and from their families. Thanks to Zoom, I have attended my adult son’s birthday party in NYC and a cake-smash party for one-year-old twins in Michigan! Our SBDC Zoom webinars are almost entirely at no cost and are delivered by our consultants. We are now exploring some fee-based programs wherein we will be able to present specialists in various fields at a scale which is affordable to our attendees. Webinars are posted on the SCSBDC website: the direct link to the calendar is https://www.scsbdc.com/training-events. Anyone can register and become a “training client” of the SBDC. If, and when someone decides to become an entrepreneur, signing up as a “consulting client” at https://scsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/signup is all that is needed in order to begin working with a consultant to fulfill your dreams or improve your existing business.

What you may not know is that SBDC Consultants work with business owners at every stage of business. Not to bore you if you’re not an entrepreneur, but here’s a list: business accounting/budget, business plan, buy/sell business, cash flow management, COVID-19 support, customer relations, cybersecurity, disaster planning, disaster recovery, ecommerce, engineering R&D, exporting, financing/capital, franchising, government contracting, human resources/managing employees, importing, legal issues, managing a business, manufacturing assistance, marketing/sales, product commercialization, risk management, social media, start-up assistance, tax planning, technology/computers, training, website assistance.

Of course, nobody is that knowledgeable about the full list, so that is where our statewide network can connect you with other consultants to form a team tailored to your business needs, again with consulting services provided at no cost to you. To become a client, click the signup link. Just last week, each of us was asked to update and refine our “skills matrix” so I will be adding in the 16 years I spent operating the bed and breakfast, as well as my experience at rehabilitating a 100-year-old downtown commercial property to my 30+ years in banking credentials. My colleagues will be updating their specialties too. We are a dynamic group.

In 2020, COVID-19 support was the most in-demand service. With the newest federal relief package just approved, I imagine 2021 will look much the same. For those of you who like metrics, the Newberry office consulting with clients yielded over $514,000 in COVID relief loans to local businesses and 54 jobs retained. I look forward to assisting Newberry businesses with similar success this year.

I would be remiss if I did not take a minute to extol our State Director, Michele Abraham, who this very day is serving on a Zoom panel with the National SBDC Executive Director Carl Brown and the Thryv Head of Corporate Development Matthew Gourgeot, where they will discuss the SBDC’s impact on local businesses and the outlook for small businesses in 2021. I shared this event and the registration link on Facebook a couple of days ago. To keep up with fast-developing opportunities, visit the Statewide and USC Region Facebook pages, as well as my occasional postings on the Newberry Now Facebook page. Here’s a nod to Emily Revolutionary Marketing Group for creating that page so we all know what’s happening “now.”

If you have a business topic you would like to hear more about or want me to expand on some of the opportunities coming along in 2021, just send me an email with your thoughts. This column is your local portal into the world of small business, and I look forward to hearing from you. Happy SBDC Day!