The holiday season is upon us and that can only mean one thing: I’m going to eat too much and wait too long to buy presents for friends and family. Maybe this year will be different though. With Shop Small Saturday coming up November 26th and the BuyAlaska Holiday Gift Guide now available, maybe this is the year I’ll finally get things together and check everyone off my list early. Hope springs eternal. I’m sure all of you are much more responsible than I am and have already looked over the BuyAlaska Gift Guide to find the perfect local gifts for the loved ones in your life.
Speaking of gifts, for those of you who were interested in more information about the State Small Business Credit Initiative that the SBDC is launching to help drive more private sector investments into small businesses, you can head to https://aksbdc.org/ssbci/ and see all of the latest news and information. We’ve got overviews of the different loan and equity programs, insights into which businesses can and can’t participate, and other information that we will update as we can over the next few months. If all you want for the holidays is more funding options for your small businesses, we’ve got you covered.
Most importantly though, I hope that all of you can take the time over these next two months to relax, engage with friends and family, and recharge those batteries. We’ve all been through a rough few years and there might be a few bumps left to come on the road ahead, but there are a lot of things to be thankful for this holiday season and I hope that we can all focus on that. So raise a toast to friends near and far with a locally crafted beverage of your choice, eat too much Alaska Grown meats and produce with your families and make a day of it on Shop Small Saturday so the whole family can get their shopping done early this year at the local businesses that make our communities so unique. Happy Holidays everyone!
Jon Bittner
Alaska SBDC Executive Director