Point Positive Coordinator Melinda Little, with assistance from Maura Maguire of the Shipley Center at Clarkson welcomed three entrepreneurial businesses on Zoom during their February meeting.
The businesses are: Swift Rails and Black River Valley Natural, and a preview of a company founded by two faculty members of Clarkson University called ResET.
Business planning basics: The Adirondack Economic Development Corporation’s annual fall entrepreneurship course is going virtual. The online sessions will be lead by regional experts and focus on business plan development. This course is for anyone considering launching a business on a full-time or part-time basis and owners of existing businesses.
• Weekly online sessions on Wednesdays, September 9 to December 16, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
• Small group or one-on-one virtual “homework” and counseling/Q&A from 7:00-8:00 p.m.
• Video recordings will be available
• Cost is $25
For more information on the class or to sign up, contact Stephanie Donaldson at sdonaldson@aedconline.com.
New York State’s largest workers’ compensation carrier – the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF) – introduced a new COVID-19 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Premium Credit Program that will make it more affordable for its policyholders to get back to business. Under the new initiative, current workers’ comp policyholders can earn a 5% credit of their annual premium on the purchase of PPE, with a maximum reimbursement of $500.
The program is designed to help offset the cost of vital PPE and safety-related items needed to help protect workers from the COVID-19 virus. Eligible equipment includes masks, goggles, gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer and other COVID-19 safety related items.
For more details on NYSIF’s COVID-19 PPE Premium Credit Program, as well as training materials on how businesses can protect their workers, please visit www.nysif.com/PPEinfo.
Point Positive, Inc. and the North Country Innovation Hotspot Program at Clarkson’s Shipley Center will offer a series of free virtual workshops for entrepreneurs on Wednesdays starting Aug. 12.
The virtual workshops will provide new knowledge on specific topics and the skills needed to brand, market, and effectively launch a business. The workshops consist of weekly one-hour sessions focused on social media marketing, websites, and online branding. Each session will begin with a virtual networking component and like-minded entrepreneurs will be able to connect and share new ideas. The workshops will be presented by Nicole Ouellette, founder of Break Even Communications.
The schedule is:
This Father’s Day, ANCA is inviting North Country Businesses to collaborate in creating Father’s Day Gift Packages in a friendly contest with one another in an effort to encourage customers to #ClickLocal. All businesses from ANCA’s 14-county North Country region are encouraged to enter. The Contest Submissions will highlight gift packages created by two or more businesses which use photos, slogans, and other digital tools that will help facilitate social media and online marketing.
Click here to enter. Competition Entries are due by June 12.. Early Submissions are encouraged for maximum exposure, and a prize of $100 goes to the winner.
If you are a small business owner and are unsure which phase of reopening your operation falls into, you can use the Look Up Tool on NY Forward and search by the NAICS code, which can be found here.
Regardless of which phase you are in, each business will need a plan in place of how they can re-open safely.
This week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that the North Country Region is ready to initiate phase one of New York State’s reopening process, with some businesses being able to open as early as Friday. However, many of the disruptions to day to day life made over the past few months will have a lasting impact, and according to the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA), “back to business” will not be “business as usual.”
State and local organizations are sharing resources in order to help expedite the reopening process, and ANCA has added some reopening resources to their COVID-19 response page including:
The Indian Lake Community Development Organization and Blue Mountain Center has created a list of available services within Indian Lake while the town controls the spread of COVID-19:
Community Bank NY State Route 28 – Service windows are available for deposits and withdrawals; keys are no longer required for night deposits. For more information call 648-5711. 6321
Puterko’s Family Pizzeria 6420 NY State Route 30 – Offering delivery and take out Tuesday through Friday, 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Online menus are available on their Facebook or Google, and they prefer you prepay. Call Adam and Crystal Puterko at 648-0007 to place an order.
The Economic Development Team for Franklin County has been working to understand the impact that the COVID-19 public health crisis has had on our business community. They also seek to bring together local businesses, helping them to find the technical and financial resources to persevere during these times. According to a press release from Franklin County Economic Development, small businesses owners should do the following three things:
In an effort to help support the community during this public health crises, Saranac Lake-based Northern Power & Light has partnered with Mountain Spirit Distilling to produce hand sanitizer, according to a recent press release from Emmett Smith, the founder of Northern Power & Lights.
The product is approved for production by the FDA and is being given at no cost to local medical and emergency services including CVPH, Citizen Advocates of Saranac Lake, Life Net EMT Helicopter and Bloomingdale Fire Department, as well as community support organizations such as St. Paul’s Food Pantry and Saranac Lake Meals on Wheels. Local shops and eateries like Nori’s, Origin Coffee, and Bitter & Bones are also being supplied with sanitizer. If you have a similar business and would like to receive free product, you can reach out to the company by emailing sanitizer@npandl.com
As of April 1, hand sanitizer is available to the public through these local retailers: The Village Mercantile in Saranac Lake, the Potsdam Food Co-Op, Nature’s Storehouse in Canton, and the North Country Food Co-Op in Plattsburgh, as well as online through the Village Mercantile. All proceeds will go to further production and distribution of the product to local medical and service workers.
More information is at Northern Power & Light’s website.
The Adirondack Foundation, in partnership with the Cloudsplitter Foundation, United Way of the Adirondack Region, and other donors and businesses, have announced their first grants from the Special and Urgent Needs Fund, created in response to the communities need for assistance during the coronavirus quarantine. Those awarded the grant are responding with innovative new methods on distributing food across rural areas to low income residents, helping reduce the burdens of those out of work, and providing childcare under difficult conditions. The awardees are as follows:
Are you a small business owner negatively impacted by the coronavirus outbreak? The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering some ways to help.
The North Country Chamber of Commerce and SCORE have teamed up to host a webinar from 11 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, March 24, for small business owners to learn more about their options.
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