Only two years ago, the owner of Dinamic Cuts hair salon, Diane Madden, was operating her business completely through word of mouth — she didn’t even have a phone. When she started working with the Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center (SBDC), Diane McCarthy, an SBDC advisor and her “angel,” changed the way her business operated.
The SBDC is a nonprofit organization that offers small businesses workshops and one-on-one sessions, both free of charge. They provide a wide range of services, from how to create a marketing campaign to how to balance the books.
The SBDC has seven advisers with diverse backgrounds in the business world, including owning their own companies and working within marketing and sales. They meet with small businesses one on one to help address their varying needs and try to hire people with a wide array of experience so they can meet those needs.
The Shenandoah Valley’s SBDC is only one of 27 SBDC offices in Virginia. The Valley’s office has been open since 1989 and is funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, as well as supported by JMU, GMU and a number of local cities. SBDC also offers assistance in industries such as cybersecurity, retail and restaurant service.
As an introduction, individuals entering business can take the “Start Smart” workshop, which covers the basics of business. Once they’ve taken the workshop, these business leaders can sign up for one-on-one sessions with an adviser.
Joyce Krech, director of Shenandoah Valley’s SBDC, said that in the one-on-one session, businesses discuss what they want to do and how they want to go about it. During this time, the SBDC will address those concerns, offering new perspectives and strategies.
“This is such a supportive community, this is such a caring and giving valley,” Krech said.
Josh, Brendan and Eric Mitri are brothers and co-owners of Rocktown Games, which opens this Saturday. Their company is the successor of Monster Games, a game store that used to be in the same location.
“We’re so connected to the Harrisonburg community that we decided to take up the mantle when they decided to close,” Josh said.
Rocktown Games, another business that has worked with SBDC, is opening this Saturday.
For the most part, they don’t come from business backgrounds. Josh has sold fireworks for five years in the parking lot of Monster Games and describes himself as “business-minded”.
Josh does environmental conservation work, Brendan was a software developer and Eric was a utility locator.
“We’re also big nerds and they say you should work with what you love so this was kind of a golden opportunity,” said Brendan.
The brothers say the SBDC helped them with paperwork because they’d never started a brick-and-mortar business before.
“The community needs a local game store, instead of just GameStop,” Josh said.
Meanwhile, Dinamic Cuts was also helped by the SBDC. Madden started out by going door to door with a hair dryer but now has been in business for 29 years. She cuts and styles hair, does weaves, extensions and fold-out braids, helps with hair loss, makes custom-made wigs and applies color and relaxers.
Throughout those years, Madden had never gotten customers through anything but word-of-mouth — no phone, no webpage and no social media.
When Madden came to the SBDC, they helped her set up a website and a Facebook page. She also got a phone.
Madden estimated the SBDC’s help grew her business by about 75%. As a result of this growth, she said, people have wanted to come work for her and she’s reached many more customers. She now has an automated appointment system on both her website and on Facebook. Madden said the SBDC is also helping her create videos on hair loss, one of the areas she specializes in.
“It’s been a journey but it’s been good,” Madden said. “[McCarthy] has helped me so much.”
Currently, Krech said SBDC is offering a workshop next month that helps businesses keep employees once they have found them — something Krech said is related to recent unemployment rates. She said the center gets a lot of questions on how to get employees since the start of the labor shortage.
Compared to the state average, Harrisonburg's unemployment rates have preformed better. But this isn't to say that things have been uncomplicated.
The SBDC also offers other workshops including Success through e-Commerce, Trademark Basics, and Grow Your Business with Digital Marketing.