LoudounPreneur: SCORE Office Opening, Business Assistance Team Leader Zimmerman

Information for the Innovative, Enterprising and Brave

September 2013

Loudoun SCOREs!

If you wish you knew someone with lots of executive experience to ask for advice about running a successful business, here's your chance. This month Richard Sultan opens a chapter of the SBA-funded SCORE volunteer business counseling program in Loudoun County. He'll be available to meet with clients starting September 25. Here are the details.

People You Should Know

This Month: Barbara Zimmerman, Loudoun Business Assistance Team Leader
Barbara Zimmerman is the team leader of the Loudoun Business Assistance Team. Here's how she and the rest of the BAT can help you.

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Read It and Reap

Debtors' Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility by Robert Kuttner
This is a very different - but thought provoking - book about the relationship between business productivity and community economic success. Kuttner's book examines the "bad old days," when people who couldn't pay their debts were put in prison while interest continued to accrue. The end result was: productive people were removed from the workforce and creditors were not paid. Kuttner argues that austerity policies instituted during recent economic bad times operate like debtors' prisons on a national scale. Capital that could be put to productive use is locked up, with a detrimental effect on growth, employment, and revenues. "Even with high levels of public debt, additional government borrowing and spending may be the only way to jump-start the economy's productive capacity at a time when the private sector is too traumatized to invest and spend." Use this book as conversation fodder for networking events. Check it out from the Loudoun Public Library.

Up-Skill

Contract Opportunities

Meet with large prime contractors. For details, contact Sonja Caison at the Women's Business Center: 703-768-1440.

Date: September 11

Time: 7:30 a.m. to Noon

Place: TeqCorner, 1616 Anderson Rd., McLean

Price: $40; register online

1 Million Cups

Join us for six-minute presentations from Loudoun business owners. Engage in peer mentoring by giving the presenter the benefit of your knowledge and experience in resolving business issues and making companies grow. If you'd like to be a presenter, fill out this application.

Date: September 11, 18 and 25

Time: 9 to 10 a.m.

Place: Mason Enterprise Center, 202 Church St., Leesburg

Cost: Free

Business Showcase Breakfast
Every second Thursday, with breakfast and networking beginning promptly at 7:30 a.m.

Date:    September 12, 2013
Time:    7:30 to 9 a.m.
Place:   Belmont Country Club, 43750 Tournament Pkwy, Ashburn
Cost:    $25; register online

TechBUZZ Georgetown

Selected startups will present rapid-fire four-minute pitches on stage with "real-time" seed stage investor feedback for the entire audience. A handful of attending companies will be invited to share impromptu one-minute pitches from the floor. For details, contact Kim Weir at 703-506-9080 or kim@mava.org.

Date: September 13, 2013

Time: 1 to 6 p.m.

Place: Georgetown University School of Business

Cost: $10; register online

Small Business and Entrepreneur Networking Event

The Northern Virginia Technology Council Small Business and Entrepreneur Committee is hosting a networking happy hour. Meet members of the region's emerging business and entrepreneur community and look for future business partners in a relaxed atmosphere.

Date:    September 18, 2013
Time:    6 to 8 p.m.
Place: Hooked Seafood and Sushi, 46240 Potomac Run Plaza, Sterling
Cost:    $10 to $20 online, $10 extra at the door. Special rates for tech companies!

NVTC's Present Your Business to Investors

Selected tech startups will get 15 minutes to present your business to accredited investors and answer questions from a panel on Thursday, November 21. Applications are due by Friday, September 20, at 5 p.m. For details, call 703-904-7878 ext. 226, visit www.nvtc.org/tec/spotlight.php or email Kristin D'Amore.

Be a Winner

This month we take a different twist on our contest - we ask you for the prize! That's right, but there's a "win" in it for you too. Send us any appropriate prize for our monthly contest (it could be a logoed item from your business, or anything someone might like to win). In return, the month that we award your prize, we'll award you in our newsletter with a thank-you and a link to your business. Just contact us to get involved.

Congratulations to Jeanee Layman, creator of the Loudoun Local website aimed at strengthening and supporting locally owned businesses in Loudoun. Read her winning words of inspiration below.

Gut-Check From a Guru

"During any day of self-doubt, use your time constructively by making a list of tasks to help your business move forward. The next day your doubt will have disappeared." - Jeanee Layman, Loudoun Local

Pay It Forward

This monthly email newsletter is published by the Loudoun, Virginia Department of Economic Development to inform and connect Loudoun's thriving entrepreneurial community. As a leader with influence, please help our community by forwarding this newsletter to your business colleagues. Thanks!

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