Craft beverage producers usually think they know what appeals to their tasting room guests – after all, it’s an audience that’s not shy about voicing their opinions. But how can you get past the noise and arrive at what really matters, both to the visitors and the company’s bottom line?

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asked Michael Varda, Founder and Principal of Crafted Insights, how data can inform market analysis, brand tracking, and ultimately stronger tasting room performance.

QuickBooks can make running your business easier—once you know how to use it. In this hands-on session, we walk through how to get started in QuickBooks and set up your system to track your income, expenses, and invoices the right way from the beginning.

Learn:

• How to navigate QuickBooks and choose the right version
• How to connect your bank account and categorize transactions
• How to create a chart of accounts tailored to your business
• How to record expenses, send invoices, and run basic reports
• What to do each week/month to stay on track

This session is best for small business owners who are new to QuickBooks or want a reset on how it’s set up.

Brought to you by Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.

Updated for 2026

What’s all the fuss about AI and ChatGPT?

What AI tools are available, and how can a small business use them to streamline customer service and marketing tasks?

This session helps answer those questions and more!

Presented by Cameron Nelson, CEO of Tenzing Startup Consultants

Whether distribution is a major revenue driver or simply rounds out a strategy heavy on direct-to-consumer sales, it’s important to have skilled representatives advocating for your brand in the market. But too many producers make do with untrained, part-time sales team and wind up losing ground.

In this webinar, Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Julie Rhodes of Not Your Hobby Marketing the people side of outside sales.

Building strong credit is a foundational step toward financial stability, access to affordable financing, and long-term growth opportunities.

In this session, we walk through clear, practical steps to help you understand how credit works and how to fix common issues so you can pursue your personal and business goals. This webinar explains personal and business credit scores and reports and breaks down real-world strategies small business owners can use to improve credit, correct common report errors, and prepare for future funding. We connect credit habits directly to loan readiness and explain what lenders look for in your applications.

Learn:

• What credit is, how personal and business credit differ, and why both matter
• How the three major credit bureaus collect information and calculate scores
• How to access, read, and monitor your personal and business credit reports
• How to identify and dispute errors using your rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act

This session the first step in a program that is ideal for business owners and entrepreneurs who want to take control of their credit before applying for loans. To participate in the program you must schedule an intake call for our one-on-one advising by emailing us at capitalpathways@virginiasbdc.org

Brought to you by Capital Pathways, a no-cost program from the Virginia SBDC that helps small businesses get the funding they need to grow. The program is designed for very small (fewer than 10 employees), emerging, and growth-ready businesses that face challenges accessing traditional financing. It offers hands-on group learning, guided implementation, and extended one-on-one support focused on strengthening your finances, loan applications, and legal setup.

Find our what all entrepreneurs, small businesses, and start-ups should know about trademarks.

We discuss what trademarks are, the benefits of federal trademark registration, and the basics of the registration process. We also talk about why it’s so important for any new business to select a trademark that is both federally registrable and legally protectable.

Discover the free resources that are available from the USPTO!

Webinar presented in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Updated for 2026

Are you interested in pivoting more of your efforts to ONLINE SALES?

This session covers:

• The variety of websites available, the possibilities for upgrading yours to better accommodate online sales and the estimated costs to accomplish this!
• The various e-commerce platforms available and how to select the best based on your specific business needs.
• How to setup and manage your online storefront or service portal and how to use data and marketing to maximize returns.

With ever-increasing numbers of technology solutions on the market, there have never been more data points available to the craft beverage producer. But in a sea of information, it can be hard to block out the noise and focus on what really makes a difference for a craft producer’s profitability.

In this session, Virginia SBDC Craft Beverage Assistance Manager Chris Van Orden asks Chris Farmand, Founder and Principal of Small Batch Standard, about five fundamental benchmarks that get to the heart of a business’s financial health.

Each year, the State buys goods and services totaling more than $7 billion – learn how your company can be a part of that!

This webinar educates small business owners about opportunities to sell their goods and services to the Commonwealth of Virginia and many local governments.

The workshop provides information about the Virginia procurement process (the eVA system) and the benefits of SWaM certification.

Speaker: Angela Barber, Business Services Manager, Virginia Department of Small Business and Supplier Diversity, Eastern VA Region