SHELBURNE FALLS — On Friday, Rural Commonwealth begins a new season of small business webinars to be screened in Shelburne Falls.
The topics of these 30-minute to hour-long webinars range from business planning to pricing, how to grow your business with social media, and market research.
The webinars begin every other Friday at 8 a.m. in the Rural Commonwealth/Groundwork headquarters at The Mill in Shelburne Falls (the old Lamson & Goodnow complex), at 45 Conway St., building 1, floor 2. Have a cup of coffee with other rural business owners and watch short how-to videos offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) and by SCORE (which originally stood for “Service Corps of Retired Executives.”
“Groundwork” is an 18-month rural business incubator and one of Rural Commonwealth’s projects for western Franklin County.
Here is the schedule: Oct. 5, “Overcoming Fear of Business Planning using the business model canvas;” Oct. 19, “Market Research;” Nov. 2, “The Power of Pricing,” Nov. 16, “How to Grow Your Business with Social Media; and Nov. 30, “Legal Requirements for Small Business.”
For more information, contact Rural Commonwealth Co-director Beth Bandy at 413-824-2593 or by email at: bethbandy@ruralcommonwealth.org
Rural Commonwealth also coordinates Small Town Summits throughout western Massachusetts. These are gatherings of town officials and others about mutual concerns of rural towns, and on how to work with state government to improve these conditions. Each summit this year is held in a different town center within the region. Upcoming summits are: rural transportation, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. in Belchertown Town Hall; rural school financing, Jan. 10 at 7 p.m. in Gill Town Hall; lobbying 101 for municipal leaders, to be lead by Jenn Cooley, state Rep. Paul Mark’s former aide, March 7, 7 p.m., Williamsburg Town Hall; and ZIP codes’ impact of taxes, town clerks and schools, June 13 at 7 p.m. Heath Community Hall.