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 Entrepreneur Fund received a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to open the location, which provides access to services and resources to help women business owners and leaders.
Sandy Voigt, director of the Little Falls location, joined Upsize’s Managing Editor, Andrew Tellijohn, to share some insight on how the alliance can help women business owners.
Tellijohn: What services does the Women’s Business Alliance offer entrepreneurs?
Voigt: First and foremost, we do a lot of one-on-one technical assistance consulting, mentoring, business advising, and really talking to women. The SBA has the Small Business Development Centers, the SCORE chapters and the Women’s Business Centers, so all three of those organizations come out of the same department.
We are offering some workshops and training. We do not discriminate, but our programs are all pretty female-focused in what we are trying to offer as far as topics, workshops and classes — things like dealing with stress and balancing work life/family life — topics and subjects that tend to be more women-based.
We’re also working to create some peer councils — we call them mastermind groups — where women entrepreneurs can get together to talk about their businesses and goals.
Tellijohn: What is the Entrepreneur Fund and what’s its role?
Voigt: The Women’s Business Alliance is a program being hosted by the Entrepreneur Fund. The Entrepreneur Fund has been serving the Iron Range portion of the state for the last 30 years and has hosted a Women’s Business Alliance for the last 15 years in Duluth. The Fund was approached by the SBA to see if it would be interested in hosting a second location to serve Central Minnesota. They said yes.
Tellijohn: When you say the center is “hosted” by the Entrepreneur Fund, what does that mean?
Voigt: That means the Entrepreneur Fund wrote the grant and it serves as the fiscal host. It also means we can tap into resources the Entrepreneur Fund offers, such as trainings on topics like Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). The organization also can do some gap financing or offer other creative financing options for start-up businesses.
One reason the SBA created the Women’s Business Alliance centers is that women are an underserved market for capital financing. Most women’s businesses start without any capital financing. They usually start by using personal savings or family and friends.
Tellijohn: Where can people go to get information about the Centers?
Voigt: They can go to the Entrepreneur Fund website and click on Women’s Business Alliance to find information on offerings at both the Little Falls and Duluth offices.
contact:
SANDY VOIGT,director of the Women’s Business Alliance in
Little Falls: 218.735.6033;
sa****@**************nd.org;
www.entrepreneurfund.com.
The use of fractional executives — those hired by companies on contract to work a fraction of the hours at less cost than full-time hires — has been on the rise for years. That accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. John Arms, co-founder of Voyageur U, helped establish the organization to help educate free agents on what it takes to make it as a fractional executive. He’s now put that knowledge into print, recently releasing the book “Consult Your Way to a Full-Time Job.” Arms joined Upsize Minnesota Editor Andrew Tellijohn to talk about how the book can help potential fractional executives carve their new paths.
Branding expert Kate DiLeo wrote a book about how branding agencies need to do less storytelling and more listening to better meet their clients’ needs.
