The Small Business Resource Association, known locally as the SBRA, is a membership organization for small businesses based in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2018 by Gary Seibert, a business consultant with a long career as an entrepreneur, the association grew out of a recurring observation from his consulting work: small businesses tend to fail from a handful of fundamental early mistakes that the right resources, delivered early, can prevent. The organization describes its mission simply as helping member businesses, and it positions itself as an addition to the chambers of commerce, networking groups, and SCORE chapters that already serve the Reading area rather than a replacement for them.
Membership is offered at the company level. A business joins once, at a monthly rate set by its number of employees, and the owner, the employees, and their families all share the benefits. Every membership tier carries the same set of benefits; the tiers differ only in price.
Three Pillars
The SBRA organizes everything it offers under three headings: business improvement, employee development, and family enrichment.
Business improvement is the largest of the three. It covers the association's networking events, small-group and one-on-one coaching and mentoring, business assessments reviewed by staff with written recommendations, startup assistance for owners preparing a plan and a pitch for bankers and investors, and a problem-solving format the SBRA calls the Huddle, an hour-long session between a business owner and a small team selected for relevant expertise. Collective Minds is a confidential peer group of owners working through problems under a facilitator. Free bi-monthly workshops, half-day and full-day seminars, and certificates of participation round out the education side.
Employee development extends the same coaching, mentoring, leadership training, and certification programs to a member company's staff, so that the benefit of membership reaches past the owner.
Family enrichment is the part that sets the SBRA apart from most business groups: negotiated discounts on dining, entertainment, and everyday purchases, a date-night program at member restaurants, and insurance savings, all available to employees' families as well as owners.
The Breakfast Referral Club and Monthly Mingles
The benefit the association calls its most popular is the Breakfast Referral Club, a morning meeting at B2 Bistro in West Reading that combines a speaker on a business-improvement topic, referral exchange among members, and breakfast ordered from the menu. It is open to members in good standing, and the only cost is the meal.
The SBRA Mingle is a monthly after-work social, generally held on the fourth Tuesday of the month in the early evening. Mingles rotate among member businesses, which host them as a way to show their space and their work to the rest of the membership; recent Mingles have been held at member restaurants and at GoggleWorks in Reading. Both events are listed on the BerksConnect events calendar.
Additional Member Services
Beyond the meetings, members have access to a business directory organized by category, a job listings board, member-to-member discounts, ribbon cuttings for new businesses, and a member presentation program the association calls the Tuesday Tuneup. The SBRA also produces a podcast that gives members a platform to reach an audience of entrepreneurs, and it connects members with professional services partners for insurance, financing, startup and exit planning, human resources, legal, and accounting counsel. For businesses that want visibility beyond the membership, the association sells advertising, including email blasts to its list, sponsorships of its web pages, workshops, podcast, and Mingles, and billboard placements.
Leadership
Gary Seibert serves as chief executive officer. The leadership team includes a chief marketing officer, a chief information officer, a chief strategy officer, and a director of member services, supported by a group of associates drawn from the membership in marketing, media, consulting, and photography. The association's headquarters is in an office building on Keiser Boulevard in Wyomissing, and it serves businesses across Berks County and the surrounding region.
The Emerging Entrepreneurs Academy
The SBRA is closely tied to the Emerging Entrepreneurs Academy, a separate nonprofit founded by Seibert that runs a six-week summer program teaching high school students what it takes to start and run a business, pairing classroom work with time inside local companies. The two organizations share an address and much of their leadership, and the academy is the association's main civic project.