The US Small Business Administration has awarded eDev  with the "2010 Home-Based Business Champion" award for the Portland District at its annual dinner in Portland, June 2nd. Over 250 people attended the event held at the Oregon Convention Center. eDev was represented by Martin Desmond, Jennifer Teehan, and Shawn Winkler-Rios. In addition to a beautiful glass award, eDev received a 2007 Microsoft Ultimate Office software package. 

Save the Date!
eDev's 3rd Annual Summer Picnic!
DATE:
September 24, 2010
TIME:
4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
LOCATION:
Emerald Park,
1400 Lake Drive,
Eugene OR 97404
 
MORE:
Let's get together,
eat good potluck food, make new friends and celebrate
another year of microenterprise!
We will have networking, door prizes
and the Microenterprise of the Year Award.
Hope to see you there!
Save the date today!

At the request of SCORE, Martin Desmond wrote a short article about the availability of government grants for small businesses for the Register Guard.  The article appeared in the Sunday, July 18th issue of the Register Guard.
http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/business/25024239-41/business-grants-energy-program-score.csp

One of the things I love about being a microenterprise counselor is being able to share information, tips, ideas, and insights gathered to help you continue to make your business more and more successful little by little each day.   1:1 sessions, classes, and workshops aren't going to start up in full swing again until July for Eugene clients but in the meantime, here are some branding tips from  Anne Marie Levis (of Funk/Levis Associates) who spoke at the Willamette Valley AMA lunch Wed. 6/9.
1.  Define  2.  Differentiate  3. Dramatize  But what does this mean?
 
1.  Define.  Define who you are.  This is the foundation. Personify your business and try describing it as you would a person.  I am (or we are)... passionate, dedicated, supportive, motivating, down to earth, practical...    Pick the top 5-10  words to describe your business.

James Stegall and Dudley Clarke have a dream that is coming to fruition to set up a successful micro-distillery in the Willamette Valley.  That dream took a big step forward when they held a very successful grand opening that attracted over 100 people on Sunday, May 16th to their micro-distillery located in Monroe.

James approached eDev in February and applied for an Small Business Adminstration microloan.  The eDev loan committee approved a $10,000 loan to help Hard Times Distillery, LLC with start up funds.  James and Dudley have also been contributing start up funds and sweat equity to get their business off the ground.