今天收到這篇為我寫的文章，令我反省深思這樣一個無私沉靜的故事:
一位去年遠程來參加我講座的女孩Eliza電訊我，問我是否願意到上州去講課。我告訴她，只要她能找到願意舉辦講座的組織。在我幾乎忘了這件事後的秋天，她約我去拜訪一個圖書館。她到火車站來接我，載我去有段距離的圖書館。館長Jen
McCreery 告訴我她要聯絡其他兩個圖書館，讓這些小鎮的人都有機會聽到創業的訊息，所以經過幾個月的電郵往來討論，終於訂下春天天暖後在三個小鎮舉辦六場講座。兩個星期前Jen告訴我有個記者看到海報想採訪我，是否可以。我們約了時間，仔細地談了一小時，她還很慎重地到網上搜尋我的資料及照片，並聯絡了Eliza
，寫了這篇文章在昨天登出，替下星期要開始的講座宣傳。我感動這些愛鄉無私的一群人，她們重視政府資訊，聯合幫助社區得到協助，我喜愛她們的沉靜如水，匯合成流。
http://highlandscurrent.com/2017/02/28/why-do-businesses-succeed/
The HIGHLANDS Current
Why Do Businesses Succeed?
By Alison Rooney on February
28, 2017No Comment
Small-business specialist to
present free workshops
By Alison Rooney
Partly in response to needs that
arose during Community Conversations moderated by the Desmond-Fish Library, an
economic development specialist with the Small Business Administration (SBA)
will lead six free workshops at local libraries in March and April on planning,
running and expanding a small business.
Man-Li Kuo Lin will give
presentations at all three Highlands public libraries — the Desmond-Fish in
Garrison, Butterfield in Cold Spring and the Howland in Beacon — at 6:30 p.m.
on Tuesdays in March and the first two Thursdays of April. The topics are:
Meet and Greet with Local Business Owners and SBA
Introduction, March 7 (Garrison)
How To Start a Business, March 14 (Cold Spring)
SBA Resources for Small Businesses, March 21 (Beacon)
Business Plan Writing, March 28 (Garrison)
Marketing Strategies, April 6 (Cold Spring)
Expanding Your Business Through Gov.
Contracts/Global Exports, April 13 (Beacon)
Lin, who has an MBA in computer
science, developed the workshops and has presented them in New York City for
decades. She will bring them to Putnam and Dutchess counties for the first time
after a request from Eliza Starbuck, a Philipstown resident who is lau
nching a wine business on Main Street in Cold Spring.
nching a wine business on Main Street in Cold Spring.
Starbuck says she approached Lin
after attending one of her workshops in the city. Desmond-Fish Director Jen
McCreery was receptive to hosting Lin because the workshops meshed with
feedback from the library’s Community Conversations in which residents asked
for support for local businesses.
Amy Raff, director of the Howland
Public Library, and Gillian Thorpe, director of the Butterfield Library, also
came on board. “Many people realize that libraries are constantly looking for
ways to save taxpayers money,” Thorpe says. “But we are also looking for ways
to help people make money or improve their situation in life. I believe it’s
time that libraries embrace the small-business community.”
Eliza Starbuck and Eric Wirth at the
future site of Flowercup Wine in Cold Spring (Photo by Caitlin Chadwick)
Preparing for Profits
Eliza Starbuck and partner Eric
Wirth plan to open their shop, Flowercup Wine, on Main Street in Cold Spring
this spring to “provide the community with an unusual selection of wines from
Europe and New York state, especially wines from small producers who aim to
preserve the natural qualities of the grape.”
When they first had the idea to
start the shop, Starbuck says, she traveled all over the state to attend free
Small Business Administration seminars, including one in Brooklyn by Man-Li Kuo
Lin.
“The SBA seminars taught me what
I needed to look out for and how to administer a business relatively
painlessly,” Starbuck says. “You have to follow regulations on taxation,
bookkeeping, insurance, permits and licensing that can read like a foreign
language. Hiring someone to take care of them can be expensive and risky. The
more you understand, the better. The prize at the end is your independence and
success.”
Starbuck says the biggest challenge during the startup
was “enduring months of stress as we confronted a stream of obstacles, some
unexpected, and spent barrels of money without earning any. At the same time,
we had some fun, learned a lot, and grew stronger through the difficulties. I
would advise others not to start a business until you have an idea that fills
you with enough passion to get you through the rough times.”
Lin says, in general, most
small-business owners don’t do enough preparation. “They think so much about
what they want to sell, but don’t think enough about their [target] customers,”
she says. “Marketing and business plans are key. So many people are scared of
doing it, and they don’t use enough planning time to do sufficient research
about the market and how realistic their idea is.”
She noted the largest change in
running a business has been the internet. “If you don’t have a website, you
don’t have a business,” she says.
Because more older people and
retirees are launching businesses, either as a second career or for the income,
Lin says the SBA works frequently with the AARP. “These people are often
successful because they know the community well,” she says.
Lin encourages business owners to
attend her final session on April 13 when she will discuss government contracts
and global opportunities. She notes that by law, 23 percent of government
purchases have to be made from small businesses, 5 percent from female-owned
businesses and 5 percent from businesses owned by the socially and economically
disadvantaged.
The federal government each year
spends more than $500 billion not only for its own operations but for schools,
jails and other institutions. “Even artists can get a contract for work on
federal buildings,” Lin says. “A lot of people have never thought about it or
assume it’s too complicated, but actually the government tries hard to make it
simple.”
For global marketing and sales,
Lin notes that any business that has a website is involved with international
trade. By adding language translation to your site, “you can easily tap into
the 96 percent of customers who live outside of the U.S.”
The SBA, created in 1953, is an
independent agency that operates through field offices and partnerships. It
makes low-interest loans and guarantees bank loans and contracts for small
businesses and also provides counseling, technical assistance and training. See
sba.gov.
Why Do
Businesses Succeed? added by Alison Rooney on February 28, 2017
View all posts by Alison Rooney →
View all posts by Alison Rooney →
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