Five-part business webinar will focus on resilience in the pandemic

POTTSTOWN» Three area SCORE Chapters have put together a five-part virtual webinar series to give some clarity to business owners as the business climate continues to shift due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Women’s Small Business Virtual Workshop Series will offer strategies to help small businesses adjust to the “new normal” and will be held via the Zoom conferencing app, once per month through February — starting this Wednesday, Oct. 28. The series is being hosted by SCORE Tri County, SCORE Bucks County and SCORE Chester and Delaware counties.

Many small businesses have suffered from economic or social impacts of the pandemic, and they may need to adjust their business models and strategies, according to information on SCORE TriCounty’s website.

The workshops will help business owners look beyond the current “crisis-imposed moment, by adopting future-forward technologies and mind-set that may seem like a distant priority,” according to a press release about the event.

Henrietta Wiggins is vice chairwoman of SCORE TriCounty. She said the idea developed after the chapter was forced to cancel its annual allday Women’s Small Business Month event in May, due to the pandemic.

“With COVID, we had to rethink what we are going to do to encourage women business owners,” she said. “With the loss of our May meeting, I had to quickly decide how to reach out to women and let them know we’re still here.”

Wiggins said she started to put together a session that would offer women business owners what they need — both in terms of business and personal wellness.

Once she had the idea, Wiggins reached out to SCORE Bucks County and SCORE Delaware and Chester counties.

“This is a collaboration between the three chapters,” Higgins said. “Once I got the webinar going I reached out to the other chapters to see if they wanted to put it on their agenda.” She worked with Maria Smith, executive vice chairwomen, SCORE Chester and Delaware Counties and Linda Zangrilli, chapter chairwoman, SCORE Bucks County to fully develop the modules.

The power of a virtual session, Wiggins added, is that between the three chapters, there are 15,000 clients.

Wednesday’s session starts at 9 a.m. and participants can register for the event right up to the start of the session. The first session is a panel discussion: “How to Rebound and Find New Ways to Adjust to The ‘New Normal,’ and will provide an overview of the strategic topics covered in the four detailed sessions: wellness, business operations/finance, marketing, and diversity.

The discussion will be led by Adrean Turner and includes panelists: Denise Williams, MHS, MSL — wellness; Kim Stout, economic development spe

cialist, SBA — business operation/finance; Jennifer Gardella, PhD — marketing; and Major Ben F. Brooks — diversity.

For Wiggins, the need to help address the new normal and how women business owners can navigate the new landscape was personal. Wiggins has been a SCORE volunteer for eight years, and is a retired HR professional. She is also a business owner.

“I have three businesses, and it’s a struggle. There are times I feel overwhelmed by everything that’s going on,” she said. “We put together the program to provide balance; so our female business owners know we didn’t forget about them.”

Wiggins stressed that while the series is geared for women business owners — it is open to all. It will also be recorded and shared via the chapter’s YouTube

channel, and each attendee will be provided with a copy of the recording.

Upcoming sessions include:

• Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2020: Dear ReZilient Women, It is ok not to be ok

• Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020: Recovery Continues — Updates on SBA Programs and Services — Economic Injury

• Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021: Using Social Media to Reach Your Clients in the New Normal

• Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2021: Unconscious Bias, A Major Leadership Blind Spot In Your Small Business Operation

For more information about the series or to register, visit https://tricounty.score. org/women%E2%80%99ssma l l-bu si ne s s -v i r t ua lworkshop-series-2020. Registration for all the sessions is open.