Carleen Dotson gives back to her community through the SBDC

Carleen Dotson describes herself as an Athens townie. Dotson grew up in Athens, went to school there, and now works in the same region. 

She has seen her whole life how the Appalachian region is economically depressed, but Dotson is doing a small part to help change that. Dotson works to support local businesses as a training specialist and certified business adviser for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Ohio University. 

When Dotson drives down a street in Athens County, she’ll notice businesses she’s worked with sustaining– some going from just an idea to an establishment, others expanding. 

“They’re being able to stay here. It’s not like we’re seeing doors close all over the place,” Dotson said. 

Dotson practically grew up on Ohio University’s campus as both of her parents worked in computer services for 30 years. 

“So much of my life has been the school and the campus and everything that I couldn’t imagine going anywhere else,” she said. 

Dotson’s first job was as a teacher at the Tri County Adult Career Center, a vocational school with an adult education division offering career and technical training. Lissa Jollick, the regional director of the SBDC, would contract Dotson to also teach classes for the SBDC. Eventually, a position opened in the SBDC when it expanded to cover 13 counties, and Dotson joined the SBDC staff in 2016.

“I have always loved working with businesses,” Dotson said. “I really get to make these relationships with business clients, and it’s so rewarding to watch them go through this process.”

In her role now, Dotson works almost as a facilitator rather than strictly an instructor. She schedules classes and moderates training led by specialists in their industry.

The SBDC offers a range of training, such as Quickbooks and Excel classes, but it has evolved over the pandemic to include social media courses so businesses could navigate the necessity of promoting themselves online on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

Despite still being able to aid businesses during the pandemic, Dotson misses having face-to-face classes. 

“If I’m teaching Excel, I can look in your eyes and know whether you know what I’m talking about in Excel,” she said. “I can see it, and if I can’t see their eyes, I have no idea what’s going on.”

In a normal day, Dotson also has meetings with clients. She works with a range of clients, from marijuana dispensaries to a cattle ranch, and on a variety of topics, such as navigating finances or creating a business plan. 

Dotson and Jollick both said that the SBDC is a team that relies on each other’s expertise to navigate and help clients the best way they can.

People across the state of Ohio ask to participate in Ohio University’s SBDC programming, but must be turned down because the center is funded to provide service for a specific 13-county region, Jollick said. 

“We take a lot of care in ensuring that our clients are the participants that attend and have the ability to engage and participate,” Jollick said. “A lot of the contractors that we’ve hired really want people to be completely, 100% engaged and contributing to the conversation during the training.”

Jollick said she believes the SBDC is the benchmark for Ohio as it has the most depth and breadth of topics of training for clients compared to other centers in Ohio, which is made possible by Dotson’s hard work.

“I personally would never be able to manage everything without all the help that (Dotson’s) given and the responsibility she’s taken on,” Jollick said.