Small businesses can share office space in Richland

Small business owners trying to make their way in the cold, cruel world have a new friend and potentially a place to call home.

The Strategic Small Business Initiative and Richland’s Personal Care Center now are working together to offer training and office space to entrepreneurs.

The SSBI, a national educational and training organization, now headquartered in Richland, will be located in the Personal Care Center.

From there, SSBI founder Nancy Sherman will work with participating businesses to teach them the tools they need to succeed as the economy continues to shift. New marketing technologies will be just one of the services Sherman offers through SSBI. Networking and training will be offered. A weekly business development program will bring in experts offering training programs such as the creation of technical development plans, as well as budgeting and financial issues.

Incubator office space also will be available.

Sherman started the SSBI 30 years ago in Washington, D.C., as an organization that would allow small businesses to help one another grow. Sherman says small business owners easily become isolated because of their workload. She sees SSBI as an organization that teaches business how to network and find the connections that can push their company forward.

The collaboration with the Personal Care Center will make office space available at a rate of $7 a square foot. Rentals can be as small as 110 square feet.

The Personal Care Center, 8799 Gull Road in the Village of Richland, is centrally located 15 minutes from Kalamazoo and 20 minutes from Battle Creek.

Barbara Beardsley, who co-owns the Personal Care Center with her husband Bob, says people driving Gull Road often don’t realize there’s a building with 2,000 square feet available as they pass the facility fronted by 100 year old Italian Renaissance style pillars.

Currently, the building houses a diversified mix of businesses including accupuncture, massage therapy and more.

“People who have lost their jobs are all creating microbusinesses,” Sherman says. “They don’t know what it means to run a business, how to do their books, market and network. They don’t have anyone to talk to. The goal is to help all of us.”

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Nancy Sherman, SSBI, and Barbara Beardsley, Personal Care Center