If you run a small business in the North Fork Valley and aren't sure where it's headed, a new program from the North Fork Valley Creative Coalition is aimed at you.
The Paonia-based nonprofit, which puts on Mountain Harvest Festival and manages the Paonia Creative District, is launching the Business Growth Collective, a six-month cohort for entrepreneurs in Paonia, Hotchkiss, Crawford and the surrounding area. It runs in partnership with Region 10 and the North Fork Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Executive Director Jess Dervin-Ackerman told KVNF it's for artists and makers, but also for farmers, shop owners and anyone else working for themselves. Maybe "you're hosting classes, or you're selling things, but you don't really know where is this taking me in the next two to five years?" she said. "What's my plan to grow this to make it profitable? That's our target audience."
From October to April, seven Tuesday-afternoon workshops cover business planning, cash flow and pricing, marketing, management and technology. They're held in person and online, and recorded. Region 10, which hosts the region's Small Business Development Center, will lead most of them, according to the Coalition. Each participant is also matched with a volunteer mentor, and there's weekly co-working time at the Coalition's new office in downtown Paonia.
Whitney Rajotte, the Coalition's business growth program manager, said the program is "way more than a series of classes. This is a totally guided experience for your business growth." The co-working hours, she said, give people "a dedicated space where you're not distracted at home with your kids and your laundry and your other chores you need to get done."
Why a group? Anyone who has been in a group program, like a workout class, Dervin-Ackerman said, knows "that group accountability is awesome. And being in a group is way more fun than doing something by yourself."
The full six months costs $195. Dervin-Ackerman said a business coach would charge $3,000 to $6,000 for something similar, and grants from two private foundations and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade make up the difference. The North Fork, she said, is isolated and rural, "and we are in an economic transition right now."
In January, the state's Office of Just Transition, which helps coal communities, gave the Coalition a $75,000 grant to make its executive director full time and open a downtown Paonia space for small-business workshops, the Colorado Sun reported.
This is the Collective's first year, and the Coalition plans to run it again. Dervin-Ackerman said they've "timed it for the winter because we are a seasonal agricultural community. That is when folks have time to be at their computers and learn things and do more like this."
In mid-September, Dervin-Ackerman said the cohort is capped at 20 business owners and that sign-ups close Oct. 10. Details and registration are on the Coalition's Business Growth Collective page, and questions can go to business@northforkcreative.org.
