Small business owners are getting some help navigating the challenges of operating a business during COVID-19.
Force To Pivot is a sponsored program through the Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC), which offers 20 hours of specialized help in 2-hour weekly sessions.
Small business owners are getting some help navigating the challenges of operating a business during COVID-19.
Forced To Pivot is a sponsored program through the Community Business Development Corporation (CBDC), which offers 20 hours of specialized help in 2-hour weekly sessions.
Bernice Williams of Intentional Connections, had teamed up with Ashton Rodenhiser of Minds Eye Creative and Brian Geddes of Direct Ad Factory to offer brainstorming sessions for small businesses struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic.
The sessions were such a success that they reached out to the CBDC and secured a grant to run Forced To Pivot, and the provincial government’s Workplace Innovation and Productivity Skills Incentive (WIPSI). The seats are sponsored and to qualify businesses must have been in operation for one year.
“When we reached out offering to do brainstorming sessions it was really quite interesting and powerful what happened. We did over 40 sessions all over the province,” said Bernice Williams.
“It wasn’t rehashing the news, it was saying to a group what are your challenges? That little bit of a pivot can be the difference between having success and having no success when everything is a challenge.”
Participants receive a variety of assistance including a website audit, brainstorming sessions, sales, marketing, packaging and partnerships.
South Shore Tourism Cooperative Coordinator Stephanie Miller Vincent says she was interested in the brainstorming sessions as a way to offer their Invested Partners a spot to brainstorm with other businesses. She says she enjoyed it so much she signed up for Forced To Pivot.
“There’s no doubt we’ve been Forced to Pivot, my choice is to do it in a collaborative environment. I walked away from the program feeling like I’ve expanded my knowledge, my comfort zone and my network.”
To register for the program visit the Forced To Pivot website at www.forcedtopivot.com.
