By Kathy Chouteau
A newly launched partnership between Richmond Main Street Initiative (RMSI) and Pacific Community Ventures (PCV) is bringing free and confidential business advice to downtown small business owners.
The nonprofit collaboration will give small businesses access to PCV’s BusinessAdvising.org mentoring platform with thousands of advisors who will work “to solve [their] biggest business challenges and seize new opportunities” in areas like marketing, finance and accounting, executive coaching, business planning, operations (supply chain, B2B, B2C), sales, readying for large contracts and more, per RMSI.
PCV’s BusinessAdvising.org platform puts the power of volunteerism to use to benefit local communities like downtown Richmond by applying a nationwide network of experienced entrepreneurs, professionals, and senior leaders—originating from major banks, consulting firms, large corporations and the like—“to use their own business expertise to create more opportunities in communities,” said RMSI.
The sign-up process is free and easy and downtown Richmond businesses can connect with an advisor in a variety of ways, such as by phone, in-person or via video chat on Facetime, Slack and Google Hangout. RMSI added that “the companies who work with their free advisors grow annual revenue by 20 percent each year, on average.”
RMSI Executive Director Andrea Portillo-Knowles said that PCV’s business advising team “understands what it means to connect with their clients, on both a professional and personal level.” She added that they are willing to meet our small business owners “where they are to achieve their goals.”
Downtown Richmond businesses wanting to get started can sign-up for the mentoring platform here. Questions? Learn more here or contact RMSI at (510) 236-4049 or [email protected].
