Blogs
Saturday, November 28 marked Small Business Saturday – an important time to shop locally and support our nation’s small businesses during the holiday shopping season. In recognition of Small Business Saturday, many small businesses offered discounts and specials to encourage people to shop small. Total spending at small businesses on Small Business Saturday reached an impressive $16.2 billion, up from $14.3 billion in 2014.
While working towards an engineering degree in college, Matthew Hollis quickly realized his real interest wasn’t in memorizing equations or the laws of thermodynamics, but rather in entrepreneurship and how to turn problem solving into a business. He connected with Alan Dillman, who ran a business incubator on Hollis’ college campus. The two quickly realized there was room for innovation and sustainability in the waste collection business, which inspired them to launch Elytus, a waste management company based in Columbus, Ohio.
For Adam Rochon, supplying benefits and insurance is a family business. Rochon followed his mother, Belinda Roberts, into the insurance and benefits industry and today they have a collective 28 years of insurance experience. After the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, businesses began to require a more in-depth broker relationship and a knowledgeable source of information for coverage.
Access to capital is a major challenge for small business owners. Without adequate funding or access to reasonable loans, small businesses can’t grow and thrive – or even get off the ground in many cases. To help ensure entrepreneurs secure the funding they need to be successful, Small Business Majority has partnered with the VEDC in Los Angeles County to launch a new program providing access to capital education to small business owners.
Missy Williams spent the first 20 years of her career in the mental health field as a direct care provider, program manager, counselor and executive manager. As a mental health provider, she learned how stressful it could be to take care of patients and run a successful business – and she wanted to share her experiences with others in her field to help them tackle these problems. A few years after obtaining her M.A.
Alysis Vasquez is passionate about good food – there’s no doubt about that. But just as important to her is that people have a unique experience when eating out. As a chef in New York and New Jersey, she worked for well-known food names like Tom Colicchio, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Dale Talde.
For many micropreneurs or self-employed freelancers, working at home can be isolating. While home offices have plenty of perks, they don’t provide opportunities to interact with others and they can be full of distractions.
Sue Reardon set out to solve this problem with the creation of Suite Spotte, a coworking space in La Grange, IL dedicated to helping entrepreneurs thrive. Suite Spotte is a welcoming and energetic space that’s not just great for getting work done – it also provides a community of collaborative and ambitious entrepreneurs.
For small business owners, navigating the insurance market can be a challenge, especially with all the new options and changes from the Affordable Care Act. Thankfully, many professional insurance brokers are dedicated to helping small businesses understand the market. Larry Lewis, who works as an Agency Development Manager with Colonial Life in New Jersey, is one such professional.
For a road-based state like New Jersey, potholes can be a driver’s worst nightmare. That’s where Tathiana Carrasco comes in. Fed up with seeing the same locations riddled with unrepaired and reemerging potholes, Carrasco set out to fill those pesky holes once and for all.
“While working for BMW, I was surprised by the number of claims being made for damaged wheels and tires. I looked into the causes a bit further and came to realize how big of a problem potholes are,” Carrasco said.
Combining the favored adult beverages of the morning and evening, Slipstream blends together crafted coffee and libations to create a unique, trendy bar going experience in Washington, D.C.
Owners Miranda Mirabella and Ryan Fleming were inspired by the specialty coffee scene while living together in San Francisco. As the quality of coffee continued to rise, they realized they lacked a sufficient means of truly exploring and learning about what tickled their palettes.
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