Small Business Stories — Small Business

Economy Steady and S-L-O-W According to Businesses

May 21, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

How is Connecticut’s economy performing? Steady and S-L-O-W, say business owners and executives, responding to CBIA’s latest quarterly economic survey. The First Quarter 2012 CBIA Economic Survey found that area executives believe the economy and their own firms have maintained gains seen in the fourth quarter of 2011.

“While we still have a long way to go in growing the economy, the last two surveys show optimism and growth expectations on par with slow but steady economic recovery,” says CBIA economist Peter Gioia.

The survey found that 41 percent of respondents see their own firm improving over the next three months, while 12% predicted worsening. In the last survey, 46 percent saw the potential for improvement, while 14 percent took a pessimistic outlook.

So I ask the question – as it relates to your business, do you believe that the economy is moving in a positive direction? Tell us at http://www5.cbia.com/minds/

Tidbits of Small Biz Buzz in Connecticut

May 1, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Connecticut Self Employment Initiative

The Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS) has partnered with Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CSBDC) and piloted an initiative on entrepreneurship for persons in recovery (PIR) with self-stated goals of operating small businesses.

The Connecticut Self Employment Initiative was funded by a grant from the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors and enabled 35 men and women to receive intensive training and technical assistance from the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CSBDC) on business start-up strategies. DMHAS’s network of 30 mental health supported employment providers were also trained to offer entrepreneurial coaching and support. Business plans of eleven participants were selected for mini-grant funding in such areas as lawn maintenance, catering, special education consulting, accounting and pedi-cab operation. [Read more...]

Your [Small] Business Matters

April 10, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Friday, June 15, 2012
Marriott Hartford Downtown, 200 Columbus Blvd., Hartford, CT
Networking breakfast: 8 am
Program: 8:30 to 11 am

Connecticut’s history is rich with successful entrepreneurs. But whether you’re going it alone, or working with cofounders, new hires, or investors, every entrepreneur needs the right tools to anticipate and avoid the pitfalls that can make or break your business. Don’t get blindsided on your entrepreneurial journey.

Hear top experts and business leaders discuss: [Read more...]

Connecticut Get Your Business Online Workshops Slated For Later This Month

March 12, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Google to hold free events hosted by the Connecticut Small Business Development Center.

Connecticut Get Your Business Online is the fastest, easiest way to create an online presence for your business. Attend a free Get Your Business Online event and you’ll find everything you need to be successful, including individual help from web professionals. Hands on workshops for website building are first come, first serve. [Read more...]

NPR Small Business Project Will Stop In New London

March 3, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

CT’s National Public Radio outlet, WNPR, is hosting a small business breakfast on Friday, March 23, during the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut’s Business Forum at the Garde Arts Center in New London. The program’s major sponsor is Webster Bank.

Networking begins at 7:30 a.m., and a live remote broadcast of the WNPR program “Where We Live” will start at 9 a.m. The radio program will feature WNPR News Director John Dankosky, with guest panelists and award-winning business reporter Harriet Jones. [Read more...]

#1 Reason Why You Should Go to Connecticut Business Day

January 27, 2012 By Adam Ney 1 Comment

As a small business owner or manager, you know that time is money. That your business needs you on site. (And working your smart phone helps get even more things done these days.)

But sometimes you just have to get something done face-to-face. When showing up makes all the difference.

That’s why Connecticut Business Day on Wednesday, Feb. 29 is so important.

State leaders talk a lot about small businesses, but many don’t really know that much about what makes your business tick, or what’s holding it back.

From taxes to costs to new rules and regulations, decisions are being made at the Capitol that impact your success. [Read more...]

Small Business News Update

January 19, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Oxford Performance Materials First To Get Small Business Express Funds

Governor Dannel P. Malloy has announced that the first company to be funded by the state’s new Small Business Express Program (EXP) is South Windsor-based and CBIA member Oxford Performance Materials, LLC. The funding will allow the company to double its workforce by adding 12 positions.

Oxford Performance Materials (OPM), a biomedical company that produces plastic medical implant devices, recently moved into a newly leased facility with space for polymer processing and additional fabrication technologies in South Windsor. State funding will be used to make facility improvements and purchase machinery and equipment.

“Small businesses are critical to reinventing Connecticut,” said Governor Malloy. “Little by little, we must harness the can-do attitude of our state’s small companies, so that their success will spur our state’s recovery. It was with this in mind that we created the Small Business Express Program. When our small businesses succeed, Connecticut wins.” [Read more...]

WIC Program Seeks Food Stores and Pharmacies

January 13, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

The Connecticut Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) is offering an opportunity for all food stores and pharmacies to apply for WIC authorization from January 3, 2012 – January 31, 2012. Authorization is required for stores to be able to accept WIC checks and serve Connecticut participants in the WIC Program.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infant’s and Children (commonly known as the WIC Program) is the nation’s largest supplemental nutritional provider for children in America. WIC serves children to age five, including roughly 50% of all infants born in the United States, and 61% of WIC participants reside in families with incomes below the poverty level. WIC helps to ensure infants’ and children’s normal growth, reduces levels of anemia, increases immunization rates, improves access to regular health care and social services and improves diets. In Connecticut, WIC serves approximately 58, 000 people. From a vendor prospective, the State WIC Program currently authorizes approximately 500 grocery stores (large and small) and 112 pharmacies (both chain and independent), and 47 farms that redeem WIC checks exclusively for fresh fruits and vegetables. [Read more...]

TechStart Fund Launched For Start-ups

January 10, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Today, we got this heads-up from our friends at Connecticut Innovations and I thought I would share it with you.

Connecticut Innovations today launched the TechStart Fund, which was created to spur technology innovation at its very earliest stage. TechStart provides entrepreneurial or student teams with initial capital so they can determine whether a technology concept and business is viable and whether future funding can be obtained to launch a new business. Teams will participate in an initial 10-week pilot program during which they will be provided with mentors and professional resources offering strategic guidance in launching a new business.

At the conclusion of this initial program, each team should have a prototype or market-ready product, be ready to launch a company and be prepared to make a pitch to investors for funding.

The 10-week pilot program will be held at CTech@Science Park at Yale in New Haven and will begin in March 2012. The application deadline for that session is February 22, 2012. Online Application are Available. For additional information about the TechStart Fund, click here.

Still Room to Improve State’s Small Business Climate

January 10, 2012 By Adam Ney Leave a Comment

Index puts Connecticut at 44th nationally; neighbors fare worse
By Bill DeRosa

Although the bipartisan jobs bill passed last October contained a number of important measures to help small businesses create jobs and grow, Connecticut still has some work to do to shake the national perception that we’re not a very friendly state for small firms.

According to the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council’s Small Business Survival Index 2011, Connecticut ranks 44th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in small-business-friendliness. That’s a drop of three places from 2010, when Connecticut ranked 41st.

The index rates states according to their public-policy climates for small business and entrepreneurship based on 44 major government-imposed or government-related costs. Among the factors contributing to Connecticut’s low ranking are: [Read more...]