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The Bristol Herald Courier
http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2007-11-24-0008.html
Workshops
encourage Southwest Virginia residents to
start their own business
Saturday, November 24, 2007
By Kathy Still
NORTON, Va. –
More than 75 percent of all new jobs in Virginia
are created by start-up companies and small businesses, but Southwest
Virginia residents are more likely to work for those new
businesses than to start their own companies.
"In Southwest Virginia,
we’re taught to go to work for somebody else, not to go into business for
ourselves," said Sandy Ratliff, business services manager with the
region’s Virginia Department of Business Assistance.
Ratliff and her organization want to change the
region’s thinking by encouraging residents to consider starting their own
businesses.
"We want to give them the tools to take the
next step," she said.
Ratliff said the VDBA decided to take its message
to Southwest Virginia by holding free seminars
in the region designed to highlight the many resources available to help
entrepreneurs create successful companies.
A workshop scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 6 at the Clintwood Community Center will provide
information on how to start a business, expand an existing company, make smart
marketing moves, as well as provide information on financing and various
resources, Ratliff said.
"This is an excellent opportunity for those
who have wanted to turn the dream of being their own boss into a reality,"
Ratliff said. "There are a lot of resources out there at the local, state
and federal level to help people."
The seminar "Entrepreneur Express: Moving
Your Business Forward" gives would-be business owners the information they
need to prepare for obtaining financing as well.
"There are more financing out there besides
banks," Ratliff said.
Most people are unaware that Virginia’s government wants 40 percent of
its purchases to be made at small businesses or from minority-owned companies,
Ratliff said. The 40 percent can be lucrative for small businesses because Virginia buys about $5
billion annually, and local governments also purchase $5 billion in goods each
year, she said.
"There is a lot of opportunity out
there," she said.
Small business development also helps Southwest Virginia’s economy, Ratliff said. The region
has had success lately luring high-tech companies to Lebanon and other areas. Far Southwest Virginia is also seeing an increase in tourism
as well, she said.
Small businesses can capitalize on the tourism
industry growth and also help the region in its efforts to bring high-tech
business to the area, she said, noting that economic development needs
industrial growth, community development and entrepreneurs.
"They have to work in tandem because we can’t
have one without the others," Ratliff said.
Communities need amenities to keep its new
high-tech workers content, she said. A coffee shop, recreational opportunities
and nice places to shop make the difference, she said.
Local economic development directors are seeing
the potential small businesses can offer, Ratliff said.
"Dickenson
County is committed to
supporting our existing business community, to bringing new businesses to the
area and to cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit in the county,"
Charlotte Mullins, director of the county’s Industrial Development Authority,
said in a written statement.
The Dickenson County Chamber of Commerce is also
working with Ratliff to bring the seminar to Clintwood.
"We have implemented programs at the Dickenson County career center to nurture the
development of our next generation of entrepreneurs with the community,"
said Rita Surratt, chamber director.
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