This is the time of year for gardening catalogs. Those glossy publications full of photos of juicy tomatoes, strawberries as big as a teacup and beautiful blossoms are what keep me going during this long season of cold and darkness. I dream of my hands and feet in the warm soil, planting seeds that will grow into healthy plants.
Growing a garden is much like my job at Green County Development Corporation (GCDC).
Our mission at GCDC is to build the economic future of Green County communities and businesses. We do this by working with communities and businesses, supported by our partners. We define economic development as the cultivation of activities that create a net gain in our communities.
Local entrepreneurs create the companies that bring new wealth and economic growth to the county in the form of jobs, increased revenues and a vibrant local business sector. It's our job at GCDC to cultivate and nurture our local businesses - much like gardening.
Think of the many successful businesses in Green County that began as a seed of an idea in someone's mind. "I'm going to ship Green County cheese everywhere." "I'm going to build innovative equipment for the agriculture industry." "I'm going to invent robots to solve tricky production problems." We are very fortunate to have many businesses that started in people's basements and garages and grew into vibrant companies.
How can we continue to encourage those seeds of ideas? And perhaps even more importantly, how can we nurture and cultivate the businesses we have to help them grow?
One way we can help is to connect our entrepreneurs to resources so they have the information they need, when they need it. We are lucky to count on the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) as one of our partners.
The SBDC supports entrepreneurs and business owners across the state with no-cost, confidential consulting and targeted educational programs. SBDC consultants provide assistance in person, over the phone and online with business planning and startup; management and strategic planning; finance and capital access; marketing and sales growth; and financial management.
Here in Green County, we have one of the best SBDC consultants in the state, Brock Waterman. Brock is an expert in helping existing businesses expand and improve their business management and is adept at helping business startups as well. He is the only Certified Food Finance Institute SBDC consultant in Wisconsin. He has received rigorous training, resources, tools and mentorship to provide sophisticated financial technical assistance to food, beverage and value-added agriculture businesses.
Brock is an expert in financial projections and analysis, risk management, process improvement, business plan development and results-driven marketing including website planning, social media and search engine optimization. He's from southwest Wisconsin and has worked with many family businesses.
If you need Brock's expertise to grow your business, contact him through GCDC or directly at brock.waterman@uwex.edu or 608-574-1757, or register online using a quick and easy form at http://tinyurl.com/SWWISBDC.
I look forward to introducing readers to all the ways GCDC can nurture and grow businesses. Stay tuned for exciting news we will announce in coming weeks of additional assistance for entrepreneurs in Green County.
At this time next year, when our mailboxes are full of photos of the juiciest apples and the sweetest carrots you can plant this spring, I look forward to sharing stories from GCDC's "growing season" of businesses that have thrived due to cultivation and care by GCDC.
- Cara Carper is executive director at Green County Development Corporation. She can be reached at cara.gcdc@tds.net.
Growing a garden is much like my job at Green County Development Corporation (GCDC).
Our mission at GCDC is to build the economic future of Green County communities and businesses. We do this by working with communities and businesses, supported by our partners. We define economic development as the cultivation of activities that create a net gain in our communities.
Local entrepreneurs create the companies that bring new wealth and economic growth to the county in the form of jobs, increased revenues and a vibrant local business sector. It's our job at GCDC to cultivate and nurture our local businesses - much like gardening.
Think of the many successful businesses in Green County that began as a seed of an idea in someone's mind. "I'm going to ship Green County cheese everywhere." "I'm going to build innovative equipment for the agriculture industry." "I'm going to invent robots to solve tricky production problems." We are very fortunate to have many businesses that started in people's basements and garages and grew into vibrant companies.
How can we continue to encourage those seeds of ideas? And perhaps even more importantly, how can we nurture and cultivate the businesses we have to help them grow?
One way we can help is to connect our entrepreneurs to resources so they have the information they need, when they need it. We are lucky to count on the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) as one of our partners.
The SBDC supports entrepreneurs and business owners across the state with no-cost, confidential consulting and targeted educational programs. SBDC consultants provide assistance in person, over the phone and online with business planning and startup; management and strategic planning; finance and capital access; marketing and sales growth; and financial management.
Here in Green County, we have one of the best SBDC consultants in the state, Brock Waterman. Brock is an expert in helping existing businesses expand and improve their business management and is adept at helping business startups as well. He is the only Certified Food Finance Institute SBDC consultant in Wisconsin. He has received rigorous training, resources, tools and mentorship to provide sophisticated financial technical assistance to food, beverage and value-added agriculture businesses.
Brock is an expert in financial projections and analysis, risk management, process improvement, business plan development and results-driven marketing including website planning, social media and search engine optimization. He's from southwest Wisconsin and has worked with many family businesses.
If you need Brock's expertise to grow your business, contact him through GCDC or directly at brock.waterman@uwex.edu or 608-574-1757, or register online using a quick and easy form at http://tinyurl.com/SWWISBDC.
I look forward to introducing readers to all the ways GCDC can nurture and grow businesses. Stay tuned for exciting news we will announce in coming weeks of additional assistance for entrepreneurs in Green County.
At this time next year, when our mailboxes are full of photos of the juiciest apples and the sweetest carrots you can plant this spring, I look forward to sharing stories from GCDC's "growing season" of businesses that have thrived due to cultivation and care by GCDC.
- Cara Carper is executive director at Green County Development Corporation. She can be reached at cara.gcdc@tds.net.
