Timely Topics

3 minute read The lakeside conference room hummed with creativity and innovative ideas as VtSBDC Advisor and Student Entrepreneurship Specialist Laurel Butler and VtSBDC Consultant and CVU faculty member Tamie-Jo Dickinson facilitated the kickoff of Creativity and Innovation, a course that offers three graduate credits from Castleton University.  More than 20 Vermont educators and workforce development professionals gathered […]

4 minute read Plan it. Build it. Post it. Analyze it. Vermont’s small business owners recognize that social media now plays a starring role on the marketing stage. There are other important players, but the current trend shows that to successfully engage your customers, some form of social media is a must. There are many options to choose […]

4 minute read “Never take your eyes off the cash flow because it’s the lifeblood of the business.”  – Sir Richard Branson, business magnate, author, investor, philanthropist Have you ever seen someone’s eyes light up when they talk about cash flow? That was the case during a recent conversation between The Starting Point and Vermont Small Business Development Center’s […]

3 minute read Vermont’s Future is in Great Hands with These Budding Young Entrepreneurs By Priyanka Prakasha Every July, VtSBDC looks forward to assisting with the annual, week-long entrepreneurial program for local high school students, put on by the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont. This event holds a special place in VtSBDC business advisor and student entrepreneurship specialist, Laurel […]

3 minute read By Priyanka Prakasha In biology, there is a type of symbiotic relationship known as mutualism that describes the interaction between two parties in which both of them benefit. Take the oxpecker and the rhino, for example. The oxpecker lands on the rhino’s back, eating any ticks it finds. The oxpecker gets food and the rhino […]

4 minute read “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” – Thomas A. Edison For an entrepreneur, there is no greater fulfillment than seeing one’s innovative idea launch forth into a marketable product or service. Ask anyone who has experienced that trajectory and they will tell you it was not by luck, but by hard […]

3 minute read by Lauren Bass It’s fair to say that the average Vermonter can easily remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. We can recall when wearing seatbelts in cars was optional and we balanced our checkbooks by hand. We remember where we were and what we were doing when frenzied reports of a plane flying into […]

2 minute read “A team is not a group of people who work in the same place…a team is a group of people who trust each other.”-Simon Sinek One-on-one no cost advising. Helping businesses start, grow and thrive. These are the hallmark services of Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) that business owners and entrepreneurs rely on whether […]