Published in the Culpeper Times,
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Attention Entrepreneurs!!! We are living in one of the greatest times in history for entrepreneurship. The Commonwealth of Virginia is considered “one of the best States to do business” by several recent rankings, including Forbes.com and CNBC. Governor Bob McDonnell has named 2012 as the Year of the Entrepreneur in Virginia. Thus, the table is set for you to develop a business idea with resources tailored for your success.

Whether you have an idea for a new startup or whether you are interested in growing your business, there is a well-established free resource for you to plug in and energize your business interest. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance (VirginiaDBA), established in 1996 for just this purpose, is ready to serve in developing your opportunities. The VirginiaDBA website is a key resource for entrepreneurs www.DBA.Virginia.Gov. There are over 100 seminars held in the region and around the Commonwealth each year that are launching points for improving your success. The VirginiaDBA partners with Chambers of Commerce, Community Colleges, and other Economic Development agencies to deliver the programs to Virginia businesses. Upcoming events are listed on www.vastartup.org

I spoke with the Director of VirginiaDBA, Peter Su, recently about current strategies for business growth and job retention. He described a few of the latest deployments as well as offering a glimpse of some very exciting things to come. First, VirginiaDBA maintains the new Virginia Business One Stop that was launched by Governor McDonnell in late 2010. The site, http://BOS.Virginia.Gov facilitates the business formation process and has had over 162,000 unique visitors each year since the deployment. The volume of visitors is a significant signal that this is a very useful resource for Virginia Business. And as a result, several other states have called to get advice on how to improve their one-stop service.

Second, the VirginiaDBA has just released the Small Business Resource Guide. The guide can be downloaded online or a hard copy can be obtained by calling (804) 371-0438.  The guide is especially helpful since it was the result of a successful Public / Private partnership. “Input from business experts in the private sector is critical to the success of this publication” said Mr. Su. There have been over 166,000 downloads of the guide in just two months. I was especially impressed that the guide is also available for download formatted for the Ipad through Itunes. This makes it especially accessible for anyone with an Itunes account and appeals to the young entrepreneur and seasoned professional alike.

In order to keep pace with the contemporary business needs, Mr. Su offered insight into a very interesting project that will be deployed in the near future. VirginiaDBA will launch a collaborative online community on www.vastartup.org The emphasis is to cultivate a real time environment for business professionals to interact with each other while sharing lessons learned with fellow entrepreneurs. “The intent is to build a community knowledge base of best practices” said Mr. Su.

In addition, Governor McDonnell recently signed a legislation that will allow VirginiaDBA to work closely with small business to help with financing and startup costs. The details of the Small Business Investment Grant and the Microloan program are forthcoming and will be another powerful tool in encouraging business investments in Virginia.

Finally, Mr. Su pointed out that the VirginiaDBA has begun to post video links of some of the programs delivered to Virginia business audiences. This is strategic for businesses that cannot attend a function and would like the benefit of the information. For example, Virginia DBA recently hosted The Annual Business Appreciation Week with a cast of excellent speakers. Three of the speakers’ comments were captured on video and can be found at the following link - http://www.vdba.virginia.gov/baw2012/video.



VirginiaDBA continues to lead the Commonwealth in cultivating entrepreneurs and supporting existing business in new and meaningful ways. With the resources of VEDP and VirginiaDBA, Virginia is positioned to help business both large and small.  The resources are at your finger tips. From ideas to jobs, Virginia is the right place to be. Timing can be everything, explore your opportunities today.

Jim Charapich, President/CEO
Culpeper Chamber of Commerce

Chamber opposes fees

Published in the Culpeper Star Exponent Monday, June 18, 2012
Traffic Impact fees were developed with good intentions. In fact, the Culpeper County Board of Supervisors has good intentions in implementing the fees. However, the net benefit of the fees is minimal at best and more likely detrimental. The fees are derived from the projected number of additional vehicles entering the business or new homes as a result of the new construction residentially or commercially. Sounds reasonable, right?

The revenue from the fees must be directed toward specific road projects. If the designated road projects do not move forward after a period in time then the funds may be used for general road improvements. So far sounds ok?

When a business is looking for a location or trying to add a drive thru window, they will now encounter a Traffic Impact Fee to add to their start up costs. Most areas ask for proffers (additional funds) from business and developers to supplement impacts to the community. These are usually discretionary and not always clearly quantified, allowing the planning offices to negotiate the best deal for the community. Now, the traffic impact fees could potentially limit the proffers from business and developers by defining the impact fees. The net result could be less from the business or developer than the community may be able to negotiate. Now, this is not looking as attractive.

On the other hand, if a business or developer is considering a community to determine start up costs and project viability, then, the Traffic Impact Fees are an additional “Fixed” cost that they will add into their equations for viability. Given aggressive competition among localities, this may simply disqualify us before we even have a chance to open discussions about the benefits of our community. This is a big deal in the recruiting game. We invest significant budget dollars in recruiting business and now we are limiting our opportunities… Thus the new Traffic Impact Fees could diminish the significant dollars that we invest in Economic Development. It seems that we are working against ourselves. Again – this is not looking very good.

Finally, if we diminish commercial business opportunities for Culpeper, the real impact fees could come from the residential tax payer. Business taxes are an offset to the residential taxes. If there is less business tax revenue then the likely place to find additional tax revenue for schools and government services is from the residential real estate tax rates. The new Traffic Impact Fees could actually increase residential tax rates by discouraging revenue from new business or business growth in our community.

Culpeper would be the first County to implement the fees in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Why would we be the first? Could it be that the other Counties in Virginia know that this is not the time to risk limiting economic opportunities. 

The Culpeper Chamber of Commerce opposes the implementation of Traffic Impact Fees and encourages the Board of Supervisors to reconsider their vote to begin imposing the Traffic Impact Fees effective on July 1, 2012.

Jim Charapich, President/CEO
Culpeper Chamber of Commerce

2012 CCC Community Guide is here!

Primary cover photography: 
Lori Sorrentino, Lori sorrentino
Photography.

It is here… the 2012 Community Guide. It is hard to believe that a year has gone by since the introduction of the new partnership with the Culpeper Star Exponent to facilitate the production of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce Community Guide.

As you know the 2011 issue was introduced at CulpeperFest last year. Since the unveiling, the Culpeper Star Exponent won 1st place in magazines/slick publications for the 2011 Culpeper Chamber of Commerce Community Guide. This is an accolade that we are very proud of. When you see the 2012 guide you will know that we took the best of last year and made it better this year.

The guide is a quality of life publication. We use the guide to tell the story of Culpeper from Education to Life & Leisure, we are proud of our community. The publication makes its way to hospital visitors, realtors packets for relocations, and local hospitality venues to name a few places.

Most importantly, the guide is a directory of Chamber of Commerce businesses. We are all very interested in supporting local businesses that support the local community. By supporting Culpeper Chamber of Commerce businesses, you are supporting our local economy. Our members are actively engaged in supporting the mission of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce - To be the voice of the business community working to promote, build, and support the most effective climate for economic development.

The economy has been challenging for the past four years. I am proud of the work of the Chamber in our Community. We have come together to support each other and the community, bridging the economic challenges with a remarkable spirit of optimism. By choosing not to participate in the recession , we have been able to find solutions and support, sustaining a strong business environment.

A big Thanks to the Culpeper Star Exponent and all of our contributors, with their special knowledge of our community, we are able to tell the stories of our positive spirit with depth and rich color.
Stop by the Culpeper Star Exponent Booth at CulpeperFest for your “hot of the press” 2012 Culpeper Chamber of Commerce Community Guide. Hand a copy to friends and family visiting the community. Put a few in your lobby to tell the story of Culpeper with amazing pictures and descriptions. Support the advertisers that support this publication which is so meaningful to our success. Make it a point to support the member businesses of the Culpeper Chamber of Commerce.
Knowing the Chamber… I know what you may be asking… Will there be a digital version….Of Course… look for the digital copy to be online at the StarExponent.com and at CulpeperChamber.com soon. Plus take a look at the new mobile version of the Culpeper Chamber website. The Mobile version comes up automatically when you go to CulpeperChamber.com on your mobile device. Our Member Directory is always there for you to find a Member Business…. We are Mobile, Agile, and Ready for Business.

See everyone at Culpeperfest, this Thursday – June 7th at Germanna’s Daniel Technology Center.

Made in the Piedmont

Published in the Culpeper Times, Made in the Piedmont Monday, June 4, 2012 

I recently had an opportunity to look through what seemed like the Hubble Telescope. I had the fortune to talk at length with the new President & CEO of VEDP –Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Martin Briley. Although we did not venture into the frontiers of Wallops Island space exploration, our discussion did focus on the global economy, with Virginia as the center of the universe.

My interest was to understand the impact that the VEDP has on the Culpeper region. Mr. Briley, well prepared for the discussion, offered statistics for the number of clients that have looked at our area, the number that through their efforts have located here, and how many prospects there are in the pipeline. All very good, however, the real story is that VEDP is very aware of Culpeper and our regional assets. As I pressed him to discuss some of the issues that we face, he was agile in founding my confidence by providing answers with remarkable detail.

Mr. Briley’s finger on the pulse of our region may have something to do with the research arm of VEDP. I was curious about the research and interested in having access to the data. He was a step ahead on this one too. Looking at the VEDP website, there is a wealth of information about our area displayed from several perspectives. This makes it very easy to see that we are business friendly in Virginia and welcome opportunities in Culpeper.

He described four progressive initiatives underway at VEDP that serve Virginia and our region. First, Increase Market Share – The objective is to look into the telescope (my term) and identify emerging markets, take inventory of our assets across the state, and deploy teams to capture opportunities,  bringing domestic and global business opportunities to Virginia.

Second, VEDP is taking inventory of the partnership assets in Virginia. The effort to understand the economic players in the Commonwealth, gain feedback from them, and produce a concerted message about Virginia to the domestic and global markets, is an exponential initiative. Some of our Economic Development assets include local economic development agencies, regional partnerships like TJPED, Universities, Community Colleges, the Port Authority, and Chambers of Commerce.

Third, VEDP is focused on the Federal Budget and the impact that it may have on Virginia. There are agencies that are projected to have significant budget cuts. Virginia is one of the largest beneficiaries of Federal spending. We need to be prepared to find solutions. VEDP has deployed a team to work on this issue from inside the beltway.

I offered one of my solutions to potentially offset the budget cut impact. According to Mr. Briley there are roughly 25,000 government contractors in Virginia. Culpeper could serve as a lower cost solution for contractor operations in order to shelter Federal budget cut demands. Our infrastructure with power, water, plenty of dark fiber, and quality of life are inviting. DC &  NOVA are easily accessible by train and automobile. Quantico, Richmond, and Charlottesville are an easy drive. Our 5,000’ Jet Port runway is now home to chartered flights for easy regional travel.

One of my takeaways from the Steve Jobs biography was his passion for optimized organizational excellence. In my view the fourth initiative, to study the VEDP as an organization in order to align the internal operations with the VEDP mission, sounded much like the passion describing Steve Jobs.  The VEDP mission statement is powerful:

"To enhance the quality of life and raise the standard of living for all Virginians, in collaboration with Virginia communities, through aggressive business recruitment, expansion assistance, and trade development, thereby expanding the tax base and creating higher-income employment opportunities."

The impact of VEDP is significant to our local economy. I was only able to scan the surface of the VEDP universe of service to our business community in this article. Go to www.YesVirginia.org to find out more about the services available to strengthen our business opportunities.

To Mr. Briley / VEDP, the General Assembly, and the Governor – It is great to be on the Virginia Team – Well Done!!!