Administrator Linda McMahon, the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration, has selected the Ohio Small Business Development Center at The Hamilton Mill as the National SBDC of the Year. The Ohio-based SBDC competed against nearly 1,000 SBDCs nationwide. Center Director David Riggs and his team at The Hamilton Mill SBDC will attend an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. on April 30 – May 1, as part of the 2017 National Small Business Week ceremony.

The announcement came on National SBDC Day, March 22, 2017, which is dedicated to the nation’s largest business assistance network. Since 1980, America’s SBDCs have helped aspiring and emerging small business owners achieve the American dream of entrepreneurship.

“Our SBDCs are key to small business success,” said SBA’s Columbus District Director Ricardo Garcia. “Through them, Ohio’s 900,000 small businesses are able to grow, leading a strong, local economy.”

Ohio’s SBDCs are funded in partnership with the SBA, the Ohio Development Services Agency, higher education institutions and private donations. With 26 SBDCs in Ohio, entrepreneurs have easy access to no-cost business training and consulting to help their small businesses grow.  (more…)

America’s SBDC is excited to announce that the Ohio SBDC at The Hamilton Mill in Hamilton, Ohio and three SBDC clients from around the country will be acknowledged and awarded during this year’s National Small Business Week. National Small Business Week honors America’s 28 million small businesses and their entrepreneurial, innovative and resilient spirit that serves as the backbone of the American economy. (more…)

Success Story: Connecticut

From an early age, Brian Cooper of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, was drawn to woodworking. In high school, he took the maximum number of trade classes possible, and during that time he built a Grandfather’s Clock. “Woodworking is in my DNA,” Brian says. Unbeknownst to him, he became the same type of craftsman his grandfather was, a family member he never had the opportunity to meet.

Brian started professionally as a boat builder and cabinet maker, and years later found out that his grandfather was also a boat builder and cabinet maker. He eventually inherited all of his grandfather’s tools, which had his name stamped into them. It is serendipitous that Brian is in the profession he is in. While working in the boating industry, the construction of wooden boats started to become obsolete. Brian wanted to continue to pursue his craft of working with wood and checked out a 18th century home. He dismantled it, preserving the 300-year-old wood, and started on the next phase of his career of restoring early New England homes and buildings to museum quality — making his own nails and windows.

Then a trend started where builders did not possess the preservation mentality and historic buildings were getting burned or bulldozed and not preserved. His business then turned to dismantling the entire building and storing it in trailers so it could be reconstructed in another location. Then a recession hit, and It was a painful time for Brian and The Cooper Group. He had to lay off 40 employees.  (more…)