I thought I would reflect on the products I am most proud of creating during my tenure at Prince William County. I have several that I developed to benefit small businesses and entrepreneurs.
The first one is my “Permitting
Assistance; Entrepreneurial; and Small Business Resources”. It is a PowerPoint
slide deck that covers local, state, and federal permitting, registration, and
resources. The state and federal
permitting and registration section is very basic, the local section
deeper.
This came about from a
request from Supervisor Pete Candland asking about services and assistance for
small businesses, and exploring a buy local campaign. The first version had 14
slides, with five noting “Buy Local” campaigns in other cities. The response was given to Supervisor Candland
on January 7, 2014.
Now, after seven years, the
version that was on the economic website it grew to a deck of approximately 150
slides. My personal deck is 190, which I
still use for presentations.
The deck for the public is
approximately 150 slides. Each slide in the deck follows a very basic format. A
title telling you the jurisdiction and the purpose. The write-up briefly describes the slide and
always includes a link for more information or to a specific application. I
used the slide deck to replace a massive and comprehensive paper resource guide
(164 pages) that the department produced for several years.
Several people did not like
the slide deck. The most common negative comments I received were I cannot find
what I am looking for, and it is too cumbersome. On those two points, I agree.
However, I loved it. It was easy to update and every new program I found was an automatic slide. I added firms I read about in Fortune, Forbes, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Examples include various crowdfunding sources, variou
s business plan templates, and grants
databases. Private sector firms included
are Maker’s Row, Atrium, FIVERR, Glassdoor, Pay Scale, Jobcase, and Gigster.
Most importantly, I could
customize a slide deck in a matter of minutes. After all, I created it and I
knew the structure and organization hands down.
An example is a call I got from a firm trying to secure financing. It
took me 10 minutes to edit the master PowerPoint to create the customized slide
deck.
A link to the resource
follows. Take a look and enjoy.
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1e0g0fkkxJjnOXsMCrFLNoeKAVz5dF4pH/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=105727592661546387822&rtpof=true&sd=true
