The new online business tool provides online technology training geared toward women and minority-owned entrepreneurs at no charge.

Reed Overfelt, general manager, Microsoft mid-Atlantic small and medium business (left), chats with Ronald Langston, National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency, following a press conference announcing the creation of the online tool Biz Tech-Connect.

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 In May 2003, when Thomas Bell and three friends decided to go in together on a small business venture, a bed and breakfast (B&B) inn called The DC GuestHouse, they had no idea that one day their undertaking would be one of the top six B&Bs in Washington, D.C. — three of which are African-American owned. In the four years that have followed its inception, The DC GuestHouse has been written about in such publications as Savoy and Oprah's O magazines and The Washington Post, and annually serves about 400 customers who average three-night stays.

The DC GuestHouse is one of the few B&Bs in which the owners actually live on the property. "It has a different feel from a hotel, because it really is like they're being invited into our home to stay awhile," explains Bell. Each owner chips in on part of the upkeep of the house, but it is Bell who manages it full time.

The acclaim The DC GuestHouse has received is due in part to its spacious, well-appointed rooms -- six available for reservation on a 10,000 square-foot property; a unique and inviting atmosphere that features many works of fine art from all over the world, including an African collection that ranges from 40 to 3,000 years old; a gourmet breakfast that accounts for such limitations as diet and allergies, but is otherwise a surprise every morning; and its prime location in the heart of downtown D.C. However, the success of The DC GuestHouse can also be attributed to the work of Bell, who not only runs the B&B but is also chairman of the B&B Association of Washington, D.C.

"One of the most challenging things about starting a small business is getting the word out," says Bell, 44. "Marketing and advertising can be prohibitively expensive. Where a chain establishment might be able to advertise in every publication that gets read, a small business like ours may only be able to do so in one. That's why I'm looking forward to seeing the information and resources that Biz Tech-Connect will provide." Continue At Source

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