Charleroi hosting business seminars
The Charleroi Borough Building will play host to business coaching professionals every Wednesday in September to help prospective entrepreneurs get their game plans together.
A special seminar with two regional business owners will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15, and attendance will provide points toward a weighted grant application program offering a chance to win $10,000 to open or expand a business.
“There will actually be three awards worth $10,000. And those who are interested in starting a business, or are struggling, are welcome to come and hear how to improve your plan, even if they don’t plan to file an application for the grant awards,” said Cathy McCollom with the River Towns “SMAART” Business Contest.
Deadline for applications is Oct. 30, and details can be found online at smaartbusiness.com. The awards are open to those planning on starting a business in “river towns” such as Charleroi, Masontown, Point Marion and other communities in the Monongahela Valley.
The business owners who will speak, Amy Camp and Jan Dofner, run a coaching and cycling consultancy and a bed and breakfast, respectively. The seminar will focus on how the two women started and sustained their businesses.
“I’m all about helping people learn how to build interest in their service or product, and then generating buzz about it, and ultimately how to deliver on those promises,” said Camp, now in her second year of operating Cycle Forward.
“My message is you can have a great service or product, but it all falls back on good customer service,” said Dofner, now in her sixth year of running Levi Deal Mansion in Myersdale, “and people get so wrapped up in their idea that they forge that it’s delivered to people in whatever form. For instance, this morning my brakes stopped working and I was running late to a doctor’s appointment. I went into a Starbuck’s for tea, and I told the woman of my stressful time, and she gave it to me for free. Will I go back again? You bet!”
Dofner said word-of mouth-feedback to other potential customers is just as important as a marketing campaign, but the former is harder to control, and thus a person should focus on it as if it’s part of a marketing plan.
“About 25 percent of our customers are return customers,” Dofner said.
If a person has an idea, run with it, said Camp.
“The best entrepreneurs don’t wait for opportunities, they create them,” she said.
Dofner started the bed and breakfast knowing only about the breakfast part.
“My husband, an IT consultant, and I, well, we thought we had one area covered – making food! But we really didn’t get a handle on things until about year three. There was so much we didn’t account for in our projections, like renovations, and you need to learn to incorporate losses and unforseen circumstances into your strategy,” she said.
As for the Wednesday consultations, they will be held between 10 a.m and 3 p.m. Interested parties should send an email to bcso@charleroiboro.org to receive information and reserve available times.
“Those will be more hands-on in terms of how to use marketing and social media tools, how to develop a business proposal and plan, dealing with loans – all of that,” McCollom said.