Entrepreneur round up

Inaugural E-Connect event offers networking and development opportunities for business owners in Oshkosh and Fond du Lac

Story by Gina Mangan

IF SMALL BUSINESS IS THE BACKBONE OF AMERICA,  then Oshkosh and Fond du Lac are getting taller and stronger by the day.

When the communities’ economic development leaders recently developed a mailing list to communicate an upcoming event for entrepreneurs, they were able to count more than 1,000 individuals who have either started their own business or have tapped into services to help them start businesses.

These are individuals like Deb Allison-Aasby, owner of Fine Country Gourmet. Allison-Aasby in September opened a retail store and coffee/smoothie bar in downtown Oshkosh, where she sells the gourmet food and coffee products she has wholesaled from her basement and garage for the past four years. It is the third business start-up in which she’s been involved, which has earned her a sort of “serial entrepreneur” reputation. Allison-Aasby and her family developed, grew and sold the first two businesses, a cleaning company and a coffee company.

Ask Allison-Aasby about the craziest thing that’s ever happened as a small business owner, and she’ll tell you about the times she’s laid down on the floor and fallen asleep with her eyes open. There are periods when there is no time to rest, she said.

“Owning a business isn’t a status thing, it’s a passion thing,” she said. “You have to be prepared to work in the business and work hard.”

Perhaps it’s fitting then that Allison-Aasby will be providing coffee to her fellow entrepreneurs who on Nov. 19 will attend the area’s first ever entrepreneur’s connection, dubbed E-Connect 2008. The event will provide entrepreneurs in the Oshkosh and Fond du Lac region an opportunity to network and learn some key aspects of starting and running a business. Keynote speaker Craig Culver, owner of the Culver’s Restaurants franchise, will share his story of growing a company from a single restaurant to more than 300 locations across 16 states. A series of breakout sessions will be led by panels of local entrepreneurs and service providers.

Origin of the event
E-CONNECT 2008 is part of an ongoing regional effort to spark new business development. The focus on entrepreneurial growth is being led by the Oshkosh Regional Innovation and Growth Incubator Network, or ORIGIN, and the Entrepreneurial Service Partners of Fond du Lac County. Both relatively new networks consist of educational institutions, economic development organizations and other service providers with expertise to support and grow entrepreneurial activity in the region.

“We designed the event to heighten the importance of entrepreneurial activity in our community and to provide a networking and educational opportunity for small business startups and emerging businesses that might be looking at making additional contacts,” said Rob Kleman, director of the Oshkosh Area Economic Development Corp., a founding member of ORIGIN.

Organizers are encouraging anyone interested in starting or expanding an existing business to attend. For promotional reasons, members of the entrepreneurial networks supplied the names of people they’ve worked with during the past few years. ORIGIN alone serves approximately 750 existing and prospective entrepreneurs each year.

“Between the two communities, we came up with more than 1,000 people,” said Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corp. President Brenda Hicks-Sorensen. “That was just amazing.”

Kleman said organizers expect at least 100 of those people to attend, some of whom may be motivated by the slowing economy. Entrepreneurial activity tends to accelerate during economic downturns as individuals who have dreamed of starting a business lose jobs or fear losing their jobs, Kleman said.

“We think the event is very timely in terms of what has been happening in the economy,” Kleman said.

Building a base
FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURIAL ACTIVITY is crucial to economic growth, Hicks-Sorensen said. Statistics consistently indicate that at least 80 percent of a community’s economic growth occurs from within that community, either from existing businesses or through the creation of new businesses, she said.

With that in mind, economic leaders in Fond du Lac County have been meeting regularly to support efforts. Like ORIGIN, the Fond du Lac network is comprised of representatives from area chambers of commerce and economic development agencies, colleges and universities, and Advocap.

During the week of E-Connect 2008, the Fond du Lac network is launching a Web site geared toward connecting entrepreneurs to local resources. There’s already a waiting list for Fond du Lac’s revolving loan program that provides gap financing for small business start-ups.

“We’ve definitely seen an uptick in entrepreneurship activity here in Fond du Lac County,” Hicks-Sorensen said. “When the Oshkosh people contacted us to partner with them in holding this event, we were more than happy to because it tied in really well with what we’re doing here.”

E-Connect 2008, which is being held during Global Entrepreneurship Week, also coincides well with the launch of the fourth annual Northeast Wisconsin Business Plan competition, which invites entrepreneurs to develop and submit business plans. A total of $25,000 is awarded to individuals who develop the winning business plans, a necessary roadmap for any new business startup. The deadline for submitting entries in the 2009 edition of the competition is Jan. 12.

Learning opportunities
THE REGIONAL BUSINESS PLAN competition is the subject of one of E-Connect’s five breakout sessions. Participants of past competitions will discuss the process for participating in the regional competition, as well as the state business plan competition. They will also discuss their own experience, as well as how the plan they developed for the competition improved their chances of entrepreneurial success.

Other breakout sessions during the event include “Starting a Business,” which will provide an overview of local resources and services available to assist in a start-up, as well as how to assess the market, determine profit potential and management skills, and develop a business plan. The “High-Impact Entrepreneurship” panel will address how to take a business idea with national and international potential from concept to reality in a competitive business climate. This includes information on putting together a top-notch team of investors, employees and advisors, as well as attracting first class management.

The “Marketing and Sales” session will provide an overview of small business marketing and advertising strategies, a topic panelist Alan Hathaway – owner of BrownBoots Interactive in Fond du Lac – is familiar with from several angles. Not only is his company a full service advertising agency that can provide entrepreneurs information on developing marketing strategies, he is also an entrepreneur who has experience taking a business from start-up to expansion.

Hathaway launched BrownBoots Interactive nearly 10 years ago as a one-person Web site development company. He eventually expanded into all areas of marketing and advertising, growing the company into a nine-member crew.

Hathaway said he hopes to provide insight on how to prioritize marketing dollars, as well as the value of networking, which is how he grew his own business in the Fond du Lac area. Hathaway serves on several committees and boards in the Fond du Lac area, which helped him connect with businesses that could use advertising services.

“Being a startup company, we didn’t start with a large influx of cash, which meant our marketing dollars were at a minimum,” he said. “The majority of how I marketed was by networking in the community.” 

Entrepreneurs will also receive valuable information regarding financing during the fifth and final breakout session, which will cover financing options for starting, growing and expanding a small business. Information on local, state and federal grant and loan-guarantee programs will be provided.

Finance panelist Jason Monnett, vice president and manager of the northeast region for the Wisconsin Business Development Finance Corp., said the panel will discuss the type of information entrepreneurs should be armed with when approaching a financial institution for financing, as well as the criteria for qualifying for financing. That information will be particularly helpful in the current economic climate, he said.

“I don’t think there’s any question right now that banks are tightening credit, so the message is that more than ever you need to have all of your ducks in a row when approaching the lender,” he said.

That includes a well researched, well written business plan, which ties into some of the other E-Connect sessions.
“Your likelihood of receiving financing is slim to none unless you put that plan on paper,” Monnett said.

The information and opportunities provided during E-Connect 2008 should be valuable to participants, whose success is vital to the region, Hathaway said. Sometimes the contributions of small businesses can be overshadowed by the community’s largest companies, he said.

“But for every large business out there, there are hundreds of small businesses creating four to five jobs a piece,” he said. “Those small companies feed off one another and support each other. To have those businesses pop up and grow adds to the diversity and vitality of a community.”

Gina Mangan is a freelance writer based in Oshkosh and is raising three children. Readers can email her at gmangan@tds.net.