The Northwest Georgia Small Business Development Center office assisted small business owners in a dozen counties with the acquisition of more than $2 million in financing during 2010. The SBDC is currently based out of offices hosted by Dalton State College. Director Rand Riedrich said he assisted 207 businesses, or potential business owners, across his 12-county service area last year. Of those clients 40 originated in Floyd County, 12 in Bartow and two in Chattooga.

Riedrich said that right now the number one goal of small business is survival.  He suggested the unemployment scene might actually be worse than state numbers indicate because the jobless typically fall off the radar after they exhaust their benefits. Riedrich told Doug Walker with The Rome News Tribune that at the top of his list of tips for survival is knowledge of the target market and efforts to reach that market. Riedrich said there is no telling how many people he consults who want to try to be everything to everybody. They feel like everyone is going to want their product or service. “That’s basically a formula for a disaster,” Riedrich said. “Every decision needs to revolve around the target market.”

His second tip stresses the establishment of an appropriate price point. Riedrich says that even with 10 percent unemployment, that means 90 percent of the market does have a job and is in a position to spend money on a product.

Read more: RN-T.com – Northwest Georgia Small Business Development Center remains busy helping area businesses