Start Local

With Chester County and much of the nation facing what might be a second wave of COVID-19, we turned to Cheryl Kuhn to understand how businesses in southern Chester County are faring and how local chambers of commerce are helping those companies navigate the coronavirus economy. Cheryl is the President & CEO of the Southern Chester County Chamber of Commerce. Links Restore Chester County: http...

Running an essential business during COVID-19 presents its own challenges to business owners – especially for brick-and-mortar businesses. We spoke with Patrice Banks, the Chief #sheCANic and Founder of Girls Auto Clinic. Girls Auto Clinic is a full service auto repair shop which caters to women. Links girlsautoclinic.com instagram.com/girlsautoclinic facebook.com/girlsautoclinic Twitter: @girlsau...

Chester County boasts an amazingly diverse economy with strong, vibrant businesses ranging from pharma and medical technology to manufacturing, and from world class professional services to farming. We sat down with Joy Beam and Gareth Yoder of Cedar Meadow Meats to hear how they are harnessing technology to pivot their beef farm to a COVID-19 economy. Links Cedar Meadow Meats website Facebook: fa...

As the challenging effects of COVID-19 continue across southeast Pennsylvania and beyond, many businesses and non-profits are still struggle to cope. We sat down with Josh Maxwell, one of three Chester County Commissioners, to talk about what the county government is doing to support the local business economy. LINKS Josh Maxwell, Chester County Commissioner Twitter: @maxwelljosh Facebook: faceboo...

As COVID-19 continues to have a significant effect on the local economy in Chester County, Pennsylvania, businesses and organizations are still in need of options to address revenue shortfalls and cashflow challenges. We turned to Rebecca Worthington from Benchmark Federal Credit Union to chat about the local economy and how that financial institution is supporting folks in Chester County. LINKS B...

With all the economy turmoil caused by COVID-19, many folks are considering taking their careers in new directions. We caught up with Yardell Perkins to talk about how he started his own business. Through Perkitech, Yardell helps businesses and individuals establish or re-establish their digital presence. Links Main website: perkitech.com Links landing page: landing.perkitech.com Telephone number:...

As salons and barbershops across Pennsylvania try to keep up with changing safety guidelines, we sat down with a local shop owner to chat through his experience. A Kennett Square native, Mark Avery, aka Juice the Barber , opened his own shop in November 2019. Mark’s shop is the KSQ Barber Lounge and offers everything from haircuts to hot lather shaves. In our conversation, Mark shared great insigh...

With restaurants, bars, and taprooms reopening across the State of Pennsylvania, we caught up with Jim Adams to chat about what he and his team at Levante Brewing Company are doing to navigate the COVID-19 economy. Jim Adams is a co-founder and co-owner of Levante Brewing Company. Within the company, Jim focuses on the customer experience for the West Chester based brewing company. Links Levante B...

As businesses in Chester County and greater Philadelphia continue to pivot to online marketing and sales, many owners and leaders are exploring starting a podcast. We spoke with Kyle Rheiner to talk about how he started his own podcast, Beer Mighty Things , which is focused on the craft beverage industry. Links ArthurHall.com craftbrewinginsurance.com instagram.com/beermightythingspodcast facebook...

With social distancing not going away any time soon, growing a local audience can prove a real challenge. We turned to Matt Medeiros, Director of Podcaster Success at Castos, and host of both the Matt Report and Southcoast.fm, to chat about building a local audience, and getting more value from our digital marketing efforts when we’re so pressed for time already. Links SouthCoast.fm MattReport.com...

With businesses re-opened, and as schools across Pennsylvania consider how best to re-open, many business owners and leaders are looking for answers and support from the government at many levels. We spoke with Senator Katie Muth, the PA Senator for the 44th District in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We discussed how the State of PA is working to support businesses in Chester County and the gre...

With the hospitality industry across Pennsylvania particularly hard hit by the coronavirus lockdowns, many local restaurants, bars, brewers, and distillers found themselves needing to adjust. As Pennsylvania allowed more businesses to reopen their doors, those in the hospitality industry needed to pivot again. We chatted with Matt Reimold, Area Operations Manager with Victory Brewing Company, to l...

As businesses look to diversify their revenue streams, many are considering selling online courses and training materials. We spoke with Chris Badgett, the Co-Founder and CEO of LifterLMS, a learning management system for WordPress websites. We spoke with Chris about how businesses in Chester County can begin to sell their knowledge and expertise online. Links LMScast podcast: https://podcast.lift...

In what is a jam packed conversation, Don Reid, Jr. shared his own experiences as he works to keep his business afloat amidst COVID-19. As the CEO of a web design company in Delaware County, Coyote Web Design, Don helps businesses with smaller budgets get online with websites. In our conversation, Don chatted through a range of advice and guidance for small businesses to successfully navigate the...

As more and more businesses are allowed to open across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Joe Casabona and Liam Dempsey discuss how businesses have pivoted their business operations to online and ecommerce. As web focused professionals, Joe and Liam share ideas and tips to help businesses get online, and offer a few local examples of businesses which have successfully implemented a change. Notes: F...

As Pennsylvania begins to open up following the relaxing of lock-down orders, we had the opportunity to sit down with U.S. Representative Chrissy Houlahan. We discuss how the federal government has been supporting small businesses and how local business owners and leaders can engage with Rep. Houlahan and her office, to get assistance and to drive legislation. Links houlahan.house.gov pa06.smallbu...

A business owner and strategy consultant, John Tooher has his finger on the pulse of the business community in greater Philadelphia. John is the owner of HeadRoom, a small business accelerator based in Media and Wayne, Pennsylvania. Over 90 businesses use the HeadRoom office facilities to run and grow their business. John spends most of his time helping companies of all sizes to create strategic r...

As businesses forced to work from home due to the coronavirus begin to wake up the possibilities of working remotely, we spoke to a local business owner who leads a completely remote company, with 40 full-time employees. CEO and Co-Founder, Brad Williams has lead WebDevStudios for a decade. Brad shared his experience and advice for professional services firms considering a permanent transition to...

Human resources departments have the difficult job of helping employees navigate through a lot of change right now: working from home, changing processes, potential furloughs, and more. Luckily, Lisa Van Ess, Vice President of People & Culture at Magic Hat Consulting is here to help.  Links Lisa Van Ess on LinkedIn Magic Hat Consulting Handling Tech while Working Remotely with Erik Gudmundson...

The Chester Countys Commissioners set up a $5M fund to establish the Main Street Preservation program. This program allows for grants of up to $25,000 for the county’s small businesses and agriculture enterprises impacted by COVID-19. Here to talk about it with us today is Marian Moskowitz, a recently elected Chester County Commissioner, Chair of the Board of Commissioners, and Chair of the Econom...

With all of Pennsylvania still under stay at home orders, businesses pivoting to online has been crucial to staying in business. Marty McDonald runs a full service Digital Media Agency in West Chester, and has been helping his clients weather the storm with digital marketing services. In this episode, he offers some great advice to businesses looking to grow their online presence. Find Marty McDon...

Austin Morris, Jr. is an insurance broker that really knows his stuff! And in this episode, he’s going to run through all sorts of different insurance policies you have or should have, and how they might be able to protect you from some losses during COVID-19. He makes it clear that policies are pretty clear when it comes to viruses, but that doesn’t means there’s nothing you can do. (And no, Aust...

Erik Gudmundson is the VP of Business Development at Pegasus Technologies, a company that provides an IT department to businesses which don’t have their own. As most of the workforce is now at home, Erik provides some great information on how to do that effectively, what to think about, and how to stay safe. Show Notes Pegasus Technologies Blog Erik Gudmundson on LinkedIn Pegasus Technologies on T...

Businesses all over the country are being impacted by COVID-19 and the stay at home orders issued by most states. Local, State, and Federal governments have tried to mitigate the damage with economic assistance in the form of funding. To learn a bit more about how Chester County business can get economic help, we’re talking to Michael Grigalonis, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice Presiden...

Start Local is focused on helping businesses in Chester County, PA, and the greater Philly area as they try to navigate through the COVID-19 economy. Our aim is to help you learn where you can get help, to share stories of businesses which have successfully pivoted, and to document the real challenges these local businesses are facing. The immediate focus of our show is to highlight stories of how...