Are you thinking about starting a business or have you recently launched your business, and want to be sure you’re on the right track? Join us for Smart Start!

Businesses that start with a solid foundation of research, planning, and setup are up to 89% more likely to remain open three years later. That’s a percentage worth betting on!

Smart Start is an interactive introductory workshop designed to answer your start-up questions and help you take the right first steps with clarity and confidence. In this session, an SBDC business advisor will share the core building blocks of a successful business and provide practical guidance to help you move from idea to action. Whether you’re still shaping your concept or ready to formalize your plans, Smart Start offers trusted tools and insights to support informed decision-making.

Smart Start also introduces you to the support available through the SBDC. The topics covered in this class create a strong foundation for your next conversation with an SBDC advisor.

What you'll explore during Smart Start:

• If entrepreneurship is right for you

• How to pick the perfect customers

• How to best validate your idea

• Keys to growing an iconic brand

• Steps to laying the foundation for a legitimate business

• What resources are available to you

• Determine what stage you are in and what your next steps are

Smart Start participation is required for individuals who have not yet started a business before scheduling a one-on-one advising appointment with an SBDC Business Advisor. This ensures advising sessions are focused and productive.

Ready to turn big sales goals into focused, doable action? AI for Sales Planning invites growing businesses to use AI to bring clarity to forecasting, prioritize the right opportunities, and stay consistent with follow-through. Join us to build a simple, practical framework that turns annual revenue targets into confident, week-by-week sales momentum.

A Practical Planning Session for Business Owners Ready to Scale

Growth doesn’t happen by accident — it happens through clear goals, honest reflection, and intentional execution.

Vision 2026 is an interactive, in-person working session designed for established business owners who are ready to scale with purpose over the next 12–24 months. Using the Greater Roanoke & NRV SBDC Goal Setting Workbook, participants will step back from daily operations to assess where their business is today, define what meaningful growth looks like, and build a realistic plan to get there.

This session is hands-on and practical. Business owners will work through guided exercises to reflect on wins and losses, identify non-negotiables, uncover bottlenecks, set measurable revenue and operational goals, and translate those goals into clear actions and timelines. Peer discussion and facilitated guidance help participants pressure-test ideas and strengthen accountability.

During this session, you will:

• Reflect on business wins, losses, and missed opportunities to inform future decisions

• Clarify your Vision for 2026 and set intentional, values-aligned goals

• Identify bottlenecks, glass ceilings, and capacity constraints limiting growth

• Break revenue and operational goals into realistic milestones

• Prioritize actions using SMART goal planning and outcome-based thinking

• Align your time, energy, and resources to support sustainable growth

• Establish accountability and feedback loops to support follow-through

Who should attend:

• Business owners with 2+ years in operation

• Entrepreneurs thinking about scaling revenue, capacity, or impact

• Owners feeling stretched and ready to grow more intentionally

• Business leaders who want structure, clarity, and accountability—not fluff

Participants will leave with momentum, having begun their planning workbook, identified priority actions, clarified their growth direction, and gained peer insights and connections to ongoing SBDC resources.

Are you thinking about starting a business or have you recently launched your business, and want to be sure you’re on the right track? Join us for Smart Start!

Businesses that start with a solid foundation of research, planning, and setup are up to 89% more likely to remain open three years later. That’s a percentage worth betting on!

Smart Start is an interactive introductory workshop designed to answer your start-up questions and help you take the right first steps with clarity and confidence. In this session, an SBDC business advisor will share the core building blocks of a successful business and provide practical guidance to help you move from idea to action. Whether you’re still shaping your concept or ready to formalize your plans, Smart Start offers trusted tools and insights to support informed decision-making.

Smart Start also introduces you to the support available through the SBDC. The topics covered in this class create a strong foundation for your next conversation with an SBDC advisor.

What you'll explore during Smart Start:

• If entrepreneurship is right for you

• How to pick the perfect customers

• How to best validate your idea

• Keys to growing an iconic brand

• Steps to laying the foundation for a legitimate business

• What resources are available to you

• Determine what stage you are in and what your next steps are

Smart Start participation is required for individuals who have not yet started a business before scheduling a one-on-one advising appointment with an SBDC Business Advisor. This ensures advising sessions are focused and productive.

Bonding can be a critical requirement when pursuing government contracts—but for many small businesses, it’s also one of the least understood. In this one-hour session, industry experts from Assured Partners will walk you through the fundamentals of bonding, including what it is, when it's required, and how to qualify. You’ll gain a clearer understanding of how bonding fits into the government contracting process and what steps you can take now to become bond-ready for future opportunities.

Whether you're new to contracting or looking to sharpen your skills this workshop for you.

This workshop is presented in partnership with Virginia APEX Center, Southwest Virginia Community College APEX Center, the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and the Virginia Small Business Development Center, Greater Roanoke & NRV.

To meet the growing demand of our region’s start-ups, we’ve created a course to accelerate your idea into an actionable start. Businesses that start with a solid foundation of research, planning, and setup are up to 89% more likely to remain open three years later. That’s a percentage worth betting on!

What you'll explore:

• If entrepreneurship is right for you

• How to pick the perfect customers

• How to best validate your idea

• Keys to growing an iconic brand

• Steps to laying the foundation for a legitimate business

• What resources are available to you

• Determine what stage you are in and what your next steps are

Growth isn’t just about working harder—it’s about working smarter and unlocking untapped potential.

Great businesses aren't built alone. In this interactive Grow Smart session, we’ll explore how to strategically develop partnerships and collaborations that fuel growth, reduce risk, and unlock new markets. Whether you're thinking about co-marketing, shared services, joint ventures, or formal partnerships, this session will help you evaluate opportunities and build strong, mutually beneficial relationships.

Using the GrowthWheel framework, you'll learn how to assess partnership readiness, identify potential collaborators, and set up agreements that support your long-term goals.

Scale Up NRV is a one-day, in-person event designed for growth-minded business owners who are ready to take their companies to the next level. This high-energy program combines expert-led sessions, a powerful keynote, and engaging panel discussions to deliver actionable strategies for scaling sustainably, leveraging emerging technologies like AI, streamlining operations, and accessing the capital needed to expand.

From Bad Reviews to Raving Fans: Fix Your Customer Service Like the Top 10%

Bad reviews aren’t just embarrassing — they’re expensive. In this dynamic in-person workshop, you'll uncover where poor customer experiences are draining your business and learn how to fix them using proven, high-touch hospitality systems.

You will learn:

• What One Star Really Costs

• First Impressions are Sales Conversations

• Consistency Builds Trust

• Fix it Fast -- Customer Service Recovery Systems

• and More!

One Star is designed for small business owners, managers, frontline team leads, and anyone responsible for customer experience, client service, or hospitality — including entrepreneurs aiming to build a five-star reputation and grow referrals.

Registration is limited to 15 People — reserve your seat now and start turning one-star service into five-star success

QuickBooks can make running your business easier—once you know how to use it.

In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how to get started in QuickBooks and set up your system to track your income, expenses, and invoices the right way from the beginning.

You’ll learn:

• How to navigate QuickBooks and choose the right version

• How to connect your bank account and categorize transactions

• How to create a chart of accounts tailored to your business

• How to record expenses, send invoices, and run basic reports

• What to do each week/month to stay on track

This session is best for small business owners who are new to QuickBooks or want a reset on how it’s set up.

This event is part of Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.

PLEASE NOTE: Capacity will be limited for this webinar as it is an interactive session. Please be mindful and register only if you will be able to attend.

Guest Speaker: Jamee Dion, QuickBooks Certified Trainer

💡 Have a business idea—or just curious if entrepreneurship is right for you?

Businesses that start with a strong foundation are 89% more likely to still be open three years later—and we’ll show you what that foundation looks like.

Join our Smart Start Workshop to explore:
✅ If entrepreneurship fits your goals and lifestyle
✅ How to test and validate your idea
✅ Keys to building a brand customers trust
✅ The steps to launch if and when you’re readymers love

✅ The steps to launch with confidence

A virtual Small Business Tax Workshop with the Internal Revenue Service!

What are the responsibilities for filing and paying tax deposits?

In this FREE presentation, you will learn:

• the federal tax deposit process

• deposit requirements and penalties

• how to file the following returns:

  • Form 941, Employers Quarterly Federal Tax Return

  • Form 944, Employers Annual Federal Tax Return

  • Form 943, Employer's Annual Tax Return for Agricultural Employees

Guest Speaker: Paul Sadler, Senior Stakeholder Liaison within the Communications and Liaison office of the Internal Revenue Service. With well-rounded expertise in conducting comprehensive audits, resolving complex tax disputes, and managing taxpayers, Paul has a proven record of providing taxpayer education and promotion of Internal Revenue Service products and services.

If your bookkeeping is up and running, the next step is understanding what your numbers are telling you.

In this 90-minute bootcamp, we’ll demystify the core financial statements every small business owner should know—and show you how to use them to make better decisions.

You’ll learn:

• What an income/profit & loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement actually show

• How to spot trends and red flags in your reports

• How to make sense of these numbers in QuickBooks or a spreadsheet

• How to use your financial data to plan, pivot, or seek funding

This session is ideal for business owners who already track their finances and want to become more confident and strategic in how they use that information.

This event is part of Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.

Writing follow-up emails is time-consuming. This interactive workshop shows you how to use AI to create email outreach sequences that sound human and drive engagement. Email sequences are great for client follow-ups, lead nurturing, and re-engaging past customers.

Participating in this session you will learn how to:

• How to build a 3-5 email sequence with AI

• Personalizing emails without doing it all manually

• Tools to schedule, send, and track performance

From major ransomware incidents to attacks on critical infrastructure, cyber headlines are everywhere. But what do these threats mean for small businesses?

This webinar decodes recent high-profile breaches—like those affecting healthcare systems, government agencies, and retailers—and highlights lessons small businesses can apply to prevent similar risks.

Speaker: Quiana Gainey, Virginia SBDC Cyber Industry Expert

Many craft beverage producers - especially those in operation for 5+ years - rely heavily on distribution to drive volume sales and topline revenue. But a crowded marketplace, downward consumption trends, and other headwinds mean that distribution just isn't working for a lot of companies these days.

In this webinar, Virginia SBDC Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden will ask Julie Rhodes of Not Your Hobby Marketing about the various struggles facing producers and the strategies they can deploy to get back on track.

Guest Speaker: Julie Rhodes, Not Your Hobby Marketing

Determine your business identity and founder story to confidently introduce your brand.

Note — This is an interactive workshop!

Getting a small business loan can feel confusing—but it doesn’t have to be. In this session, hear directly from a banking expert about what lenders really look for when reviewing loan applications.

You’ll learn:

• What banks consider when deciding on a loan

• What makes a strong application

• How to improve your chances of getting approved

This event is part of Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.

Writing a government proposal can feel overwhelming, but with the right approach, it becomes manageable—and even strategic. Learn the essential elements of a strong government proposal, what buyers are looking for, and how to avoid common mistakes. Whether you’re responding to an RFP or submitting a quote, this session will help you sharpen your skills and increase your chances of winning contracts.

Whether you're new to contracting or looking to sharpen your skills this workshop for you.

This workshop is presented in partnership with Virginia APEX Center, Southwest Virginia Community College APEX Center, the Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity and the Virginia Small Business Development Center, Greater Roanoke & NRV.

Small Business Administration loans can be used for a wide variety of needs including working capital, purchases of inventory and equipment, refinancing business debt, buying a business, and the purchase or construction of owner-occupied commercial real estate.

During this webinar, we will discuss the three main SBA Loan Programs - 7(a), 504 and Microloans. You will receive guidance on….

• what to do before approaching a lender

• what the SBA application process looks like

• how to find SBA lenders

This event is part of Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.