Thursday Small Business Support Group (Jennifer Woofter)

Small businesses in Lynchburg, Bedford, Campbell, Appomattox and Amherst are invited to join a weekly peer to peer conversation led by a local facilitator. These groups will provide resource, information, and idea exchange about managing a business during COVID-19 and recovery. Groups are limited to 12 and are offered to those who have been in business at least six months. Free, meetings are via Zoom (for now).

Each week, your group will focus on a topic of discussion and share reading and other materials as supplement. Topics will include (subject to change): • Feeling paralyzed with decision -- COVID-19 has turned everything upside down and it's easy to get stuck in the uncertainty. Let's create a plan of action to get you moving forward again! • Opening “Mask Friendly” and “at a distance” – how do we get our brick and mortar ready for wearing PPE, customer in masks, and making sure that we can continue appropriate distance.
• Less money, more problems -- let's talk about cash flow planning, tips to make your money stretch further, and ways to modify your business operations during these lean times. • Feeling icky about marketing -- it might feel gross to keep advertising and marketing during COVID-19. We'll explore ways to keep communicating with customers in an authentic way that is responsive to these weird times. • A plan for post-COVID -- someday (hopefully soon!), things will start getting back to normal. Let's talk about what that looks for your business and what factors you need to consider when building a plan.

The Thursday group will be led by Jennifer Woofter. In addition to serving as an SBDC Advisor, Jennifer is the President of Strategic Sustainability Consulting. She has managed a global team focused on providing organizations with the tools and expertise they need to actively manage their social and environmental impacts.