Library: A Business Resource

Marie with Melissa Straka, Business Outreach Librarian, in Section 650.1 of the stacks at the Chester County Library in Exton

This oBOXx knows for sure: it really is a world of one connection building upon another. SCORE recommended library research, which, in turn, led us to the Chester County Library and a connection with Business Outreach Librarian, Melissa Straka.

An early morning appointment with Melissa – free of charge – gave us the confidence and knowledge to start on our business plan. Melissa had us work both on-line and in the stacks to identify resources that oBOXx would need in the near future. Melissa shared a template for “The Pitch, The Plan, The Numbers” (available through Kutztown University Small Business Development Center) to focus our thoughts on developing our business model.

We found ourselves among the success books in the 650.1 section of the stacks. Here, we closed our eyes and randomly pulled out two books with big impacts – one by Donald Trump and another by Napoleon Hill. We are confident that in the very near future our oBOXx books will reside here and another aspiring entrepreneur will pull out one of our volumes and pose for a photo.

We now have a greater appreciation of how our tax dollars are being spent for library services and staff who are genuinely interested in helping small local businesses to succeed.

Any positive business impact at the local level benefits all of us locally.

About oboxxblog

Forced to think outside the box when they were downsized from their jobs at large pharmaceutical companies in the spring of 2010, Joann Mercer and Marie Tartaglio formed a writing partnership. Whether it was coincidence, serendipity, fate, or a shared passion for words, Joann and Marie combined their writing skills and learning expertise to create oBOXx, LLC. Joann and Marie first met as freshman in high school. With careers, marriages, and the birth of children, they lost touch over the years. They met again briefly in 1999 when they worked together in the Learning and Development department at AstraZeneca. With their lives full and busy, they drifted in and out of touch over the next decade until 2010 when a downturn in the economy found them both out of work and job searching through the same employment agency. They discovered that, over the years, they had nurtured their high school passion for writing. (Their English teachers are so proud!) Independently, Joann and Marie were traveling parallel paths in creating writing. From there, it was a logical leap to form a writing partnership. This outside-the-box solution to finding work in a down turned economy gave birth to oBOXx, LLC and their journey to a best seller.

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