Showing some love to small businesses - Hampton Roads

By Michelle Washington
The Virginian-Pilot
? March 6, 2013

"Small business" means jobs.

Last year, a Norfolk task force devised a plan to gin up more of them.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses generate as much as 65 percent of new jobs created across the country. For Norfolk, one of many cities in Hampton Roads struggling to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on defense spending, small businesses play a crucial role.

Despite encouraging numbers in job growth throughout the region, Old Dominion University economics professor James Koch said last year he wished research at local universities and at Eastern Virginia Medical School had led to more start-ups.

The task force found the city needed to change a few things about how it does business in order to make Norfolk more attractive to entrepreneurs considering a location here, and to retain and grow the small businesses already in the city.

Councilwoman Theresa Whibley said the group met three or four times to come up with a set of recommendations.

"It was the most energetic and most directed group," she said. "We talked about problems getting and keeping businesses and solutions we felt would help."

When the group met with City Manager Marcus Jones in December, it made two specific recommendations.

First: "Create a user-friendly website that is specific to attracting, growing, and retaining small businesses in Norfolk."

The group took as inspiration the website for the city of Seattle, which features a simple design that offers three choices on the home page: "Start Your Business;" "Grow Your Business;" and "Green Your Business," for companies seeking to make environmental improvements. The site also features a link that allows visitors to "speak with someone now," including links and phone numbers for business liaisons from economic development and other city offices. Two years ago, Norfolk launched a new website but took it down because it too strongly resembled Seattle's.

The group's second recommendation: "Assign economic development employees to act as concierges for new and existing small businesses."

These employees would serve as gateways for start-up businesses and existing companies, and would help lead those folks through the sometimes byzantine process of founding or maintaining a business in Norfolk.

The group believed the city could fill these jobs with existing staff members. And Whibley said a revamp of the city's small business web page is in the works.

Rick Henn said he used to play a similar role for the city; he left the economic development department last year and started his own consulting business, where he helps guide entrepreneurs through the start-up process in Norfolk. You have to know which questions to ask and how to ask them, he said. And whom to ask. For example, Henn said, a man who bought a warehouse in Norfolk was unable to use the building because he intended to store hazardous materials in it.

"No one asked what he was storing," Henn said. "You need somebody that knows."

Ted Warren, owner of Charlie's Cafe on Granby Street, said folks who already own businesses in Norfolk need a similar point person, someone who can help them address zoning or codes that might inhibit growth of their business, even someone who can alert them to competition.

Norfolk has also launched an initiative it calls "smart processing," which is designed to improve its services for people who come to the city for land-use and permitting, financial and administrative processes and business development and retention. Goals include creating a "one-stop shop" by summer, so folks who need help in any of those areas can get it in one spot - rather than shuttling between different city buildings downtown. The initiative also aims to overhaul city websites to support electronic submissions of site plans and building plans, along with access to permits and other documents.

Henn said Norfolk already does a lot to support small businesses. But small changes will go a long way toward making small business owners more comfortable.

"You know your mother loves you," Henn said, "but you want to hear it."

Michelle Washington is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. Email: michelle.washington@pilotonline.com.

Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2013/03/showing-some-love-small-businesses

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