Creating opportunities for people to live, work, & thrive on the Lower Cape |
|
Inside Scoop - January, 2022 |
|
Bringing you the latest tools to help your business.
We hope this first Inside Scoop of 2022 finds you healthy and hard at work on your 2022 business plans. As you focus on this new year, remember to ask yourself:
- what went well in 2021;
- what challenges did you face; and
-
what do you want to accomplish in 2022?
This month's Inside Scoop has lots of great information to help you answer these questions.
Be sure to register for the Instagram 101 workshop presented by SCORE Cape Cod on January 20th, then attend the CDP round table immediately following the workshop to discuss how the knowledge conveyed in the workshop can be applied to your business.
You won't want to miss the Tools for Starting Your Food Business workshop on January 31st. Kim Concra from the Barnstable County Cooperative Extension will lead a virtual walkthrough of the newly released Massachusetts Food Processors Guide.
Calling all general contractors, CDP's Housing Rehabilitation Program needs you! We are looking for CSL contractors to bid on moderate rehabilitation projects in Eastham, Truro, and Provincetown. Projects range from $25,000-$40,000 and include roofing, siding, windows, doors, heating, electrical, plumbing. All invoices are processed quickly and paid directly through the CDP. Please contact Terri Barron, Director of Housing Rehabilitation Programs for more information.
Has CDP helped your small business strengthen and grow? Do you know another small business that would benefit from working with CDP? Please let us know! CDP is actively extending its outreach efforts to small business owners, especially to underserved and historically disadvantaged business owners, including minority, women, immigrants and Veterans.
Coming next month we will add a new feature, Spotlight to the Inside Scoop e-newsletter. Each month, Spotlight will shine a light on organizations with whom CDP work and business opportunities that are consistent with CDP's efforts to build a diverse community of year-round residents who can afford to live, work & thrive here. Our inaugural Spotlight features the work of Amplify POC and its tireless leader, Tara Vargas Wallace. Please feel free to suggest organizations to "spotlight".
Are considering taking your business to the next level. The Small Business Administration identified an increased emphasis on e-commerce as a trend in 2022. Now would be a good time to see if you qualify for an MGCC Empower Digital Grant to optimize your business' online presence, especially since MGCC no longer requires successful applicants to have a "brick and mortar" presence.
January's Inside Scoop:
- Building Business Credit Webinar begins January 19th
- Instagram 101 with SCORE on January 20th
- Food Entrepreneurs-Cultivate Small Business Applications due January 28th
- Tools for Starting Your Food Business on January 31st
- Fostering Relationships with Galleries and Museums on February 1st & 8th
-
Writing a One-Page Business Plan webinar
- Business and Financial Templates from SCORE
- Business Trends to Keep Top of Mind in 2022
- Considerations for Post-Pandemic Financing
- Update to MGCC Small Business Grant Programs
- Current SBA COVID-19 Relief Programs
- Help CDP expand its outreach to small businesses on the Lower and Outer Cape
- Take the Barnstable County ARPA Survey
- CDP Business Assistance staff is here to help - Make an appointment now
- QuickBooks Help
- Do you need a microloan or professional services grant?
To learn more about these workshops and programs, as well as other topics important to your business, please see below. As always, if there is a business topic that comes up for which you need more information or assistance, please email or call. CDP staff will help find resources to answer your questions.
|
|
Building Business Credit Webinar begins January 19th
Looking to grow your business and need to borrow funds, but are concerned about your business credit? Register today for Center for Women Enterprise's three-part webinar, Building Better Credit.
This webinar is designed to help entrepreneurs begin to understand business credit and what it entails. Participants will learn how taking action early in the life of their business to establish business credit prepares them for more opportunities to scale their business. Instructor, Yarelys Tifa, the founder of Cash is Queen, LLC, is passionate about teaching and impacting people in their journeys to master their personal and business finances.
|
|
Be sure to register for the final installment of the
Marketing Workshop Series with SCORE Cape Cod,
Instagram 101 on January 20th
with Cape and Plymouth Business', Dale Shadbegian and the
Round Table Discussion with CDP after the Workshop.
|
|
|
|
On January 31st from 6-7:30, join Kim Concra, LDN, Nutrition and Food Safety with the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension and Community Development Partnership present Tools to Starting Your Food Business, a virtual walkthrough of the newly released Massachusetts Food Processors Guide. The workshop will address Food Safety Basics, Scaling and Licensing, Calculating Costs, Market Research and more.
This workshop will be offered over Zoom.
|
|
Calling All Early-Stage Food Entrepreneurs - Application Deadline is January 28th
Cultivate Small Business is open to food businesses of all types, including restaurants, food trucks, bakers, food tech, and packaged goods companies. It’s ideal for people who have been running their food business for at least a year and are looking to strengthen their skills, knowledge, and peer network. The 12-week, fully virtual program is completely free to entrepreneurs, and provides you with industry-specific education, networks, and mentoring, along with the opportunity to apply for capital grants for your business.
The program runs April 19-June 28, 2022 and requires a commitment of about five hours/week. Applications are due January 28, 2022.
Contact Ploy Khunisorn, Director of Entrepreneurship Programs at CommonWealth Kitchen for more information about this exciting opportunity.
|
|
Assets for Artists-Workshops through MassMOCA
Fostering Relationships with Galleries and Museums
February 1 & 8, 2022, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (You are expected to attend both days.)
Gallery and museum relationships are in the midst of a big shift. Access to certain gallery and institutional opportunities seem at once more open and more siloed. In this workshop artists will learn how to seek out and build relationships with gallerists and curators, as well as best practices for communications and the expectations and etiquette of moving through curatorial consideration.
|
|
Looking to take your business to the next level?
SCORE's recorded webinar,
is a great resource, available any time!
Writing a one-page business plan is highly useful because it forces you to be very focused and clear in your statements. As a result, it enables you to see quickly in a glance what you need to know to keep moving your business forward in the right direction.
In this hands-on workshop, led by expert business coach Jennifer Dawn, you will learn:
- How to create a one-page business plan to guide the direction and growth of your company
- Eliminate distraction and begin working with focus and purpose
- How to take a step back and understand the scope and the strategy behind your tactics
Watch with a pen and paper, as you’ll walk away with a business plan that you can begin to execute immediately.
|
|
Business and Financial Templates Available
SCORE has a variety of business planning and financial templates available for download.
|
|
Ring in 2022 with Business Tips from the SBA
Whether your business has been around for a few days or a few decades, the SBA has a few quick tips to consider at the start of the New Year. CDP is here to help you implement these tips!
|
|
Considerations for Post-Pandemic Financing
This short article by Allyson Brainson, Vice President, Small Business Relationship Manager for The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod provides three things to consider as we move toward a post-pandemic economy: revising cost of goods sold; considering staffing availability when setting business hours; and developing a solid plan for financing.
|
|
MGCC Grant Programs for Small Business Owners
Please read more about both programs below and follow the links. If you think either of these programs is a fit for your business, conntact pam@capecdp.org
or call 508-240-7873 x18.
|
|
Crowd Funding Matching Grant
MGCC is partnering with a crowdfunding platform, Patronicity, to assist low to moderate-income and underserved entrepreneurs, and small business owners with meeting capital needs of their business through matching grants. The objective of the is to provide entrepreneurs with new knowledge and skills for growing their business and advancing toward innovative approaches to obtaining capital through the earned support of local residents, neighborhoods, community members, and stakeholders alike by raising funding to match the amount requested in their grant application. Eligible MA-based small businesses that have been nominated by MGCC’s SBTA providers may be funded up to $20,000.
|
|
Digital Capacity Building Grant Program - Two Updates
MGCC launched its Grant Program for the Development of Digital Capabilities on June 15, 2021 to provide funding (up to $5k) for tools and services to develop digital capabilities for your small business. MGCC will make these funds available for eligible businesses until funding is fully disbursed. Eligible MA-based small businesses must be sponsored by MGCC's SBTA providers.
Updates: MGCC no longer requires a "brick & mortar", public-facing store front. MGCC will cover up to $5,000 without requiring the 20% from the business owner. For those small business owners who already signed the grant application with the 80/20 split, please contact Pam.
|
|
Current SBA COVID Relief Programs |
|
Shuttered Venue Operators Grant
Applicants can choose to apply for any amount up to 50% of their original SVOG amount, with a $10 million cap of the initial and supplemental awards combined, according to the law. The supplemental awards also allow SVOG recipients to extend the time to use their grant funds for expenses accrued through June 30, 2022 and lengthen their budget period to 18 months from the initial grant’s award date. Please note, this program is only available to those organizations that previously applied for the SVOG and received an initial grant.
|
|
Paycheck Protection Program
If your loan is $150,000 or less, you may be eligible to apply for direct forgiveness through the SBA's online portal.
|
|
Help Community Development Partnership
Expand its Outreach to Small Business
CDP is actively expanding its outreach efforts to small business owners and entrepreneurs on the Lower and Outer Cape. If you are receiving this e-newsletter, then you likely have worked with CDP to strengthen and grow your business. Who better to spread the word about all CDP has to offer than a satisfied customer?! As one of our recent business owners put it, "everyone needs someone to talk to". You already know that CDP is a great "someone" with whom to discuss your small business goals and challenges.
Spend a few minutes looking at your Contacts and think about who you know that would benefit from working with CDP's Business & Credit Programs. Drop us a line to share a referral, or share this newsletter with business owners you know who might benefit from working with CDP. We work with businesses in all stages of growth, including inception. Help us fulfill our mission of Leading the Lower Cape in building a diverse community of year-round residents who can afford to live, work and thrive here.
|
|
Take the Barnstable County ARPA Survey today.
Barnstable County's Board of Regional Commissioners has shared a survey to address priorities for the $41.3 million dollars the County will receive from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Please complete the County's brief survey here.
|
|
CDP offers Individual Business Guidance in a number of ways.
How can we help your business?
|
|
Individual Business Guidance
Are you self-employed, a solopreneur or a small business owner, and live or work on the Lower Cape?
The CDP offers individual business guidance for all types of businesses.
What are your business needs?
|
|
Professional Services Grants Still Available for 2021/2022.
Many businesses are finding the need to change their business model in these turbulent times. The CDP has Grant Funds available to help business owners hire specialized consultants to quickly implement these changes whether in technology, legal or marketing.
Make an appointment to learn more and to help stabilize or grow your business.
|
|
Individual Mentoring through SCORE
SCORE offers individual mentoring across the Cape. The CDP partners with SCORE to offer mentoring on the Lower Cape. Due to COVID19 all SCORE Mentoring Session are currently being help remotely. Please register with SCORE using the link below.
|
|
QuickBooks Help tailored to your needs!
Did you struggle putting your records together to give your accountant?
Do you use QuickBooks but need to learn how it can do a better job for you and provide you with the information you need when you need it?
CDP Staff offers QuickBooks help. Follow the link below and schedule an appointment to get your business on track.
|
|
 |
Need a microloan?
The CDP has microloans up to $50,000 for small businesses on the Lower and Outer Cape. Visit our website for complete program details and eligibility requirements.
We are able to lend to businesses that have a limited credit history, are too new to obtain a bank loan or need help developing a business plan or cash flow projections. We even work with local banks offering loan packaging to potential applicants.
|
|
|
|
The CDP's small business and technical assistance programs are made possible by the following funders: |
|
Mass Growth Capital Corporation
Cape Cod Five Charitable Foundation Trust
Rockland Trust
Santander Bank
|
|
This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
