Blooming Success: Highlights from re:Bloom's Small Business Fair

re:Bloom successfully hosted our first in-person event for small business owners! Partnering with some of the best neighbors in the Pittsburgh region, we offered a resource fair featuring a workshop, office hours with experts, and plenty of time to network. 

On February 10, re:Bloom hosted Business is Blooming: a Small Business Fair at Google Pittsburgh. There were 41 people in attendance representing at least 11 different communities. We found that 83.3% of the respondents are likely to recommend the event to their friends, with 75% being very likely to recommend the event.  

One of the most valuable parts of the event was the workshop co-hosted by re:Bloom’s Founder and Executive Director, Abbey Mui, and Grow with Google Digital Coach, Soleil Meade. Together they emphasized the importance of a website and a Google Business Profile. Participants reported being able to use what they learned immediately. 

The event was possible thanks to a wide network of supporters. We are thankful to Duolingo for supporting small businesses in the region. Furthermore, we could not have hosted this event without the commitment and leadership from Google. Finally, we are thankful to the vendors who joined us and answered questions from small business owners. 

The events included experts from:

1. Infinity Accounting - Accounting & Advisory Services–experts in Bookkeeping, Payroll, Tax Preparation, and Business Formation
2. Elliott & Davis, PC - Expert lawyers in structuring transactions, including joint ventures, partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability companies, corporations and more.
3. Corkboard Concepts - A data-driven marketing agency – where strategic planning, creativity, and data-centricity converge to support calculated business growth.
4. First Sip Studios - Empowering small businesses, nonprofits, and local governments. Experts in website content development, digital marketing, brand strategy, video production, photography, and more.
5. Google Digital Coach, Soleil Meade - Offering small group coaching to help get your Business Profile running at its full potential. She wants to get your profile full of reviews, your products and services listed, your attributes visible, and more.
6. Google Small Business Advisors - a 1:1 appointment-based video call consultation service for small businesses, directly from Google. 
7. Center for Women’s Entrepreneurship at Chatham University (CWE) - CWE designs and implements programs and services targeted to women in underserved communities and the challenges they face in starting, growing, and succeeding in business.
8. University of Pittsburgh’s Small Business Development Center - A resource for small business owners that provides consulting, workshops, and other specialty business-building support at all stages of the business lifecycle. 
9. re:Bloom - a non-profit web agency connecting small business owners with developers, designers, and digital marketers. Check out our programs to learn more.

We are just getting started with our events and opportunities to network and connect. Among the feedback, 91.7% of people found the networking valuable. As we look to develop future events, we will continue to nurture networking as the root of our events to help connection and education grow. 

If you have any suggestions for future events or would like to partner with us, please contact us at info@rebloomdigital.org or follow us at @rebloomdigital.