JPW Accounting Services, Poultney, VT

When the recession hit in 2008, Jennifer Partch Whitehurst of Poultney, Vt. was among the tens of thousands of Americans who found themselves in the unfamiliar position of needing to find a new job. With a background in accounting and many years of experience under her belt, Jennifer decided she would focus on establishing her own business, and JPW Accounting Services was born.

                While crunching numbers was second nature to her, she still needed some help learning how to market her services and turned to the Vermont Small Business Development Center’s e-Vermont broadband business workshops for help. The Small Business Development Center takes a two-prong approach to business advising, utilizing one-on-one counseling time, as well as classroom style workshops on topics like Getting your Business Online, Google Tools for Small Business and Social Media Marketing for Small Business. Jennifer attended the social media marketing seminar at Poultney High School in the winter of 2010 and began marketing her business on Facebook just in time for tax filing season.

                “I got 29 tax jobs that I can attribute directly to my Facebook marketing presence,” Jennifer said. “The e-Vermont social media workshop helped me market my business efficiently and effectively,” she said. JPW Accounting Services continues to gain momentum and has grown to include business and personal bookkeeping services.