Loudoun Business Leaders Reach Out

Peers Get Advice on How To Weather Recession

By Kafia A. Hosh

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Scott Hamberger's company, Fortessa, has survived economic downturns and weak markets since he launched it in 1993. The Sterling-based business, which designs and markets high-end tableware, has grown to more than 170 employees worldwide.

But Hamberger, a member of Loudoun County's CEO Cabinet, has been worried recently that many other local businesses were not faring as well. He thought their owners and executives might benefit from the advice of their peers.

His concerns prompted the CEO Cabinet and the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce to launch "Different Thinking," a program of free counseling sessions and monthly seminars designed to help Loudoun businesses weather the economic crisis. The first of the five seminars is tomorrow, and the counseling sessions will begin next week and continue through June.

Each seminar will feature the perspective of successful entrepreneurs, said Hamberger, who chairs the CEO Cabinet, a consortium of top executives from Loudoun-based public, private and nonprofit organizations.

"Some of us have been through recessions," he said. "We don't view ourselves as having some special secret knowledge, but I think we've got some scars."

The counseling sessions will be by appointment from 2 to 5 p.m. weekdays and can take place over the phone or at the chamber's office in the Lansdowne Town Center. Various business leaders will be available to give advice related to banking, retail and other industries.

The new program is "really about a Loudoun County business community that is rallying around itself," said Tony Howard, the chamber's president and chief executive officer.

Tomorrow's seminar is a panel discussion with the owners of Browning Equipment, Bridgman Communications, Belfort Furniture and Telos Corp. The panelists will share the business strategies they used during other challenging economic periods, Howard said, including how they communicated with their employees and made cost-cutting decisions.

Although Loudoun is part of a regional economy that has fared better than the national economy during the recession, business analysts said that many area companies are seeking more help than ever before to stay afloat.

Howard said the Loudoun chamber has noticed about a 25 percent growth in attendance recently at its networking breakfasts.

"What it is says to me is that people are relying on sources such as the Chamber of Commerce more," he said. "The days of sitting by the phone and waiting for businesses to call in are long gone."

The number of struggling businesses using the free counseling services at the nonprofit Loudoun Small Business Development Center also has increased, said Robin Suomi, the center's executive director.

The center offers low-cost seminars and distributes a free brochure on business strategies recommended during an economic downturn. The brochure highlights cash-flow issues, managing inventory and "all of the things businesses are supposed to do all along but sometimes don't when times are good," Suomi said.

Kristyn Norris, co-owner of n2design, a Leesburg-based graphic design company that works mostly with nonprofit groups, is among the small-business owners planning to attend the "Different Thinking" seminars.

Norris said she is finding ways to adapt to the new environment. Instead of designing the usual glossy pamphlets, for example, her studio has created more online publications for the growing number of clients concerned about the rising cost of paper.

"We just try to continue to solve their problems in different ways to try to work within their budgets," she said.

She said she thinks the seminars will help her get a better sense of how the recession is affecting her clients and other businesses in the marketing field.

"We might be able to take that knowledge and learn how to use that to our benefit," she said.

Tomorrow's seminar is from 10 a.m. to noon at the George Washington University campus in Ashburn. The other seminars are from 8 to 10 a.m. March 27, April 24, May 29 and June 26.

Tagged: business, Economy, Small Business

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