Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
“The day I was referred to Jean Hanson was the day my business gained momentum,” writes Teresa Thomas-Carroll, owner of the Purple Crayon Factory in Minneapolis.
Her company hosts and conducts motivational workshops for organizations and individuals. Like many entrepreneurs, she was trying to do it all.
But getting out her quarterly electronic newsletter was a real problem. She couldn’t set the links up properly, so she was sending it as an attachment, a format that recipients spurn.
One person said it was easy to buy software and fix the newsletter herself, but the project languished for a year because she didn’t like doing it. Bids from Web design firms were much too expensive for her young company, she says.
Then she heard about Jean Hanson, VA Office Solution, a virtual assistant who lives in Brainerd. “Jean skillfully stepped in, freed up my time from these projects, and inspired me to take steps I would not have felt ready to otherwise,” Thomas-Carroll writes.
She now pays Hanson a monthly retainer for five hours of work, and her newsletter goes out with ease once a month. Her business is now profitable for the first time since starting it 2 1/2 years ago. “I’m no longer losing money,” she says. “I’m not making buckets, either, but working with her has freed me up to focus on the bigger picture.”
The experience has inspired her to hire others to handle individual projects, always as contractors so she can still control expenses and not add employees. For example, she recently hired a professional organizer for about $70 to get her home office in shape.
“That has been a really hard thing for me to learn,” Thomas-Carroll says, “but it’s better for me to do what I’m good at.”
Hanson says it best: “As an entrepreneur, you can do anything, but in order to grow your business, you simply can’t do everything.”
Jean Hanson, VA Office Solution: 218.855.1854; je**@**************on.com; www.vaofficesolution.comTeresa Thomas-Carroll, Purple Crayon Factory: 612.722.6931; te****@*****************ry.com; www.purplecrayonfactory.com
