West Chester-Liberty chamber CEO: small business owners need to do more with less

For this week’s chamber of commerce feature, the Journal-News talked to Joe Hinson, president and chief executive officer of the West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance, about the top challenges that faced small businesses in 2013.

1. What is a major concern of local small businesses and why?

Hinson: “Today small business owners are needing to do more with less. The challenges of a slow recovering economy, additional competition and the rising cost for doing business heighten the importance of their (return on investment). In conjunction with our chamber’s SCORE Office, here were the most frequently mentioned concerns of local small businesses in 2013:

• Securing very modest amounts of additional capital (less than $100,000) on reasonable terms to expand their business;

• Realizing a positive return of increased sales revenue on their investment of time and money allotted toward social media activities;

• Obtaining reliable market research and competitive intelligence — data, to assess the risk/rewards of investing in expanding their organizations products or services; and

• Contending with the ever changing uncertainty of the economy and becoming more aware of their industry trends for the next two to three years.

2. What is the chamber’s SCORE office?

Hinson: “SCORE, celebrating its 50th year, stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives. SCORE helps small businesses with volunteer mentors, no-cost business tools, confidential one-on-one counseling and low or no cost workshops. Our SCORE office is a branch office for SCORE and it serves small businesses in support of SCORE’s Cincinnati and Dayton chapter locations.

For more information about SCORE services, contact the West Chester-Liberty Chamber Alliance at 513-777-3600.

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©2013 the Journal-News (Hamilton, Ohio)

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