Business Resource I - A Comprehensive List of Federal, State, Regional, and Local Services to Assist Business in the County

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