Loudoun SBDC advisor, Demetrios Sapounas has put together a step-by-step guide to walk through the process of starting a business in Virginia and Loudoun County.

The first step is to register the business in Virginia. The next series of steps involves registering the business with the Town or County of your choice. Finally, you should consider other questions such as: How do I get a business bank account? Does my business require business insurance?

View the full step-by-step process by visiting here.

According to Subodh Nayar, Loudoun SBDC advisor, deciding if an idea will support a business is among the hardest question to address, and frequently because the question is not framed well. A successful business idea is one that can be delivered at less than the cost it takes to deliver, to a community big enough to sustain the business for the long term.

Answering that question has two steps. The first is: can you define a target user of the product and what is their desired product experience? The second is, how many of these target users are there and what do you need to do to move them along their buyer journey, the process of awareness, evaluation, selection and purchase?

Read the full answer here.

Mary Joynt, Marketing Advisor, SBDC says that business interruption insurance may be an important consideration for your business. Learn more about what’s covered and what you should consider when speaking with your insurance company in the Virginia SBDC Business Recovery Resource Center, here: https://www.virginiasbdc.org/covid-resource-center/what-else-should-i-be-thinking-about/.

Eric Byrd, Manager, Loudoun SBDC, has prepared a video to walk applicants through the process, as well as answer common questions about the applying for the grant. Watch the video here, and get more details and links to other resources on this topic at: https://loudounsbdc.com/leesburg-business-infusion-grant-application-walk-through/

According to Eric Byrd, Manager, Loudoun SBDC, there are provisions in the 2020 CARES Act to assist you if you are looking to purchase a business or secure a traditional SBA loan for your business. Read the full answer and get links to other resources on this topic at: https://loudounsbdc.com/using-cares-act-funding-to-purchase-a-business/.

According to Subodh Nayar, Loudoun SBDC advisor, as an established business you have some advantages over a business trying to get off the ground, but also some constraints. Being candid about those strengths and weaknesses is as important as understanding the opportunities you then have, and the threats you must address or circumvent.

Since revenues are down, any action you take must impact your “bottom line” in a reasonably short time frame, meaning planning changes that will take no more than between 15 to 45 days to either improve the product or service delivered or reduce the cost of running your business. This Agile method is critical to remain responsive to a business environment that continues to evolve.

Read the full answer by visiting here: https://loudounsbdc.com/my-business-down-down-how-do-i-identify-what-i-need-to-do-to-pivot-and-rebound-my-small-business/

The start of the year is a good time to consider what you’ll need to have ready for tax filing deadlines in January, March and April of 2021.

To help you prepare we sat down with Clint Thomas, CPA from RKN CPAs to discuss how to close our the year and how to think ahead to prevent problems when you begin gathering information for filing taxes in the first part of the new year.

Watch the full video response by visiting here: https://loudounsbdc.com/get-ready-for-2020-taxes/

You can apply for both grants. However, you cannot “double dip” and use funds from both loan programs for the same purpose.

Read more: https://loudounsbdc.com/what-is-the-difference-between-the-ppp-and-eidl-loan-programs-and-can-i-apply-for-both/

The CDC recently announced updated COVID-19 protocols, and states around the country, including Virginia, have followed suit. Governor Northam moved his plan to lift all capacity and social distancing restrictions up two weeks from June 15 to May 28.

He also changed Virginia’s mask guidance. The following changes went into effect at midnight Saturday, May 15:

• Virginia is lifting the universal indoor mask mandate. People who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear a mask when indoors unless they are in one of the settings mentioned by the CDC (healthcare, public transport, correctional facilities, or homeless shelters).
• Virginia strongly recommends, but will not require, unvaccinated people to continue to wear a mask in public.
• Retail, restaurant, personal care, fitness, and entertainment workers will be required to wear a mask unless fully vaccinated.
• Businesses will have the ability to require masks for employees.
• Businesses can refuse service to customers who refuse to wear a mask.

Read more VA guidance here: https://www.virginia.gov/coronavirus/eo63/faq/

Funding your business is the single greatest challenge for any startup, particularly in its early phases, according to Tom Solitario, Loudoun SBDC advisor.   As a startup, you, likely don’t have a lot of revenue, though you do have a lot of expenses, particularly employee expenses and rental.  So where can you find funding?  

There are various sources of funding, including:  

1.  Friends and family (and yourself) – this is the most common source for most startups; they are self-funded and/or they receive initial capital literally from their family and friends.  The problem with this model, of course, is that you may become beholden to those family members and friends.  The other problem with self-funding a business is that if the business fails then you lose the assets you’ve invested (the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve).  A good rule to try to follow is to avoid investing your own money into a venture.   
2. Grants are a particularly attractive source of funding because there’s no payback required; particularly if you are starting a technology company.  There many sources of grants, from government agencies to non-profit and philanthropic organizations.  The Commonwealth of the Virginia, for example, encourages original technology startup development by providing grants to those startups.  Details and advisors for these types of grants can be found at: cit.org   
3.  Loans are the most common source of funding.  This is why you need a relationship with your banker. Your banker is like a partner in your business endeavor; you should nurture a good relationship with the bank.  On the other hand, banking services are a commodity; any bank can serve you. But, the smaller you are, the less attractive you are to a larger bank.  Consider community banks, particularly if you are just starting.  The bank will expect collateral for the loan; these are assets that you have that the bank could seize if you have problems repaying the loan.  They want to minimize their risks of you defaulting on your loan.  You credit score demonstrates to the bank your ability to repay your debts.    

Mary Joynt, Loudoun SBDC Business Advisor asks you to think about everything you do on the internet on behalf of your business – website, social media, search engine optimization (SEO), digital ads, etc – this is your digital media campaign. Digital Marketing is just as important for a B2B business as it is for a B2C – maybe even more so and is critical to your communications strategy. While this may not always include ecommerce, it does and should include lead generation and thought leadership. For many, a digital marketing campaign may also include ecommerce and for others it includes lead generation and thought leadership.

No matter what you are trying to do online, having a clear understanding of where your audience is, what they want to hear, and which social media channels are best for you is critical to your campaign. That will help you know if you need to focus on Facebook or Instagram or LinkedIn or Twitter or a combination of these channels. You can look at if you need to start a blog and all that entails. And you can learn how to set your posts apart from your competitors. Feeling overwhelmed by it all? Watch our webinar on Grabbing Customer Attention in a Crowded Digital World or set up a meeting with a coach.

The government limits competition for certain contacts to businesses in historically underutilized business zones. It also gives preferential consideration to tohse businesses in full and open competitive. By joining the HUBZone program, your business is eligible to compete for the program’s set aside contacts. HUBZone-certificed businesses also get a 10% price evaluation preference in full and open contract competitions.

To qualify for the HUBZone program, your business must:

• Be a small business​
• Be at least 51 percent owned and controlled by U.S. citizens, a Community Development Corporation, an agricultural cooperative, an Alaska Native corporation, a Native Hawaiian organization, or an Indian tribe
• Have its principal office located in a HUBZone​
• Have at least 35 percent of its employees living in a HUBZone​

Want to learn more? Schedule an appointment with one of our business advisors for assistance as you move your business forward. Visit the SBA’s web site for more details.

According to Demetrios Sapounas, any business concept starts with an idea. Most ideas are not unique, and fall into one of these three categories:

1) Improve on current processes/products/services.

2) Solve a problem many have and there is no good solution solving the problem in its entirety.

3) Create a new product/service, currently not in the market.

The majority of new ideas and businesses are built around 1 and 2.  While 3 is the most innovative, it is also the most difficult to be successful. Get the details on all three, and the plusses and minuses of all; read the full article.

According to  Demetrios Sapounas , Loudoun SBDC advisor, it is very common to hear founders say that they know exactly what their customers want and so they are developing the product they will take to the market. That has also been the classical approach to building a product. During the 1998-2000 period the perception was “build it and they will come”, but since then things have changed and now the expectation is that you have done market research and have product validation, or as it is referred, “product-market fit”. This is nothing new.

The classical approach includes in-depth market research into competitors and their offerings, the target market, your target customers and estimating the market size. All this is useful information to educate yourself on the market and the competition. It also provides anecdotal evidence on what customers may want and value, though comes short to offering first-hand evidence of customer needs, wants and their willingness to pay for your solution.

Read more about customer discovery in part two of the series Building a Successful Company.

According to Demetrios Sapounas, much has been written about leadership. Many define it as a formula, others describe it as behaviors and yet others talk about leadership as something you can learn through training. I view leadership as something more complex- something that has its foundation in personal beliefs, integrity, dependability, conviction, compassion, drive, and ability to listen. The old idea of “doing business on a handshake” is a testament to many of these attributes. It instills confidence, trust and conveys integrity and reliability. Of course, these days you do need a contract to do business, but everything starts with the handshake.

Where leadership traits become extremely important is in the running of a company or managing a team. It boils down to the personal relationships and the trust and credibility you, as a leader, can build with your team. It has to do with coming across as a genuine person, someone who is trustworthy, dependable, caring, who can communicate clearly, who can inspire people. Training can help improve some of those traits, but they have to come naturally to you.

Read the full article.