GrowBusiness 
“Be direct and professional, and not intimidated by anyone just because of the industry you work in. Perseverance is key.” –Elissa Roberts Elissa and her husband Charles started Chuck’s Auto Repair in July of 2012. A woman with a business degree, Elissa saw Charles’s talents as a mechanic as a way to open and run … Read more
Entrepeneurial Insider Recap: Marketing & Your Business Value Proposition This month’s segment for Entrepreneurial Insider included a great chat with Julie Lankes, Principal – BoxBoom Creative. Julie is also one of our faciliators who helped update and develop the curriculumn for the Marketing Cluster of our Small Business Growth and Planning Series (GPS). She and … Read more
Can You Achieve Work/Life Balance as a Startup or Business Owner? April is National Stress Awareness Month, and while entrepreneurship and owning a small business can be very stressful, it certainly shouldn’t rule your life. You CAN take a vacation again, you CAN have free time, and you CAN be successful. You CAN … Read more
As if being an entrepreneur isn’t intimidating enough, bring on social media for your business. We know it can feel daunting when you first begin to use it because social media is so different when promoting your business than it is when talking to friends or family. Although you might feel overwhelmed at first, … Read more
“Managing several clients at one time became overwhelming and I knew I needed some outside guidance…” – Kerry Rowe Kerry Rowe of Kerry Rowe Design has had an exceptionally interesting experience with her business. She’s spent 9 years as a design consultant, engaging in both project-based work and ongoing consulting with her clients. In the … Read more
5 Things You Need to Know When Starting a Business When you take that big step to start your own business, there can be a lot of unknowns. We want to help you understand some of the details that can help separate your personal and business assets, as well as set it up with the … Read more
Entrepreneurial Insider Recap – March 24, 2017 [row] [column lg=”4″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ] [/column] [column lg=”8″ md=”12″ sm=”12″ xs=”12″ ] The 4th Friday of every month we host our Entrepreneurial Insider segment on WGVU Radio with local entrepreneurs and the business leaders who support them. This month we were joined by Darryl Todd, Business … Read more
“I felt ignored during our relocations, and wanted to make sure that other families did not have to experience that feeling,” – Candy Wilkes-Scheper After her experiences, which started 21 years ago, Candy Wilkes-Scheper started afterthemove, a business that helps acclimate people to the Western Michigan area after relocating. When her husband moved to France … Read more
Creating Processes Will Improve Small Business Operations Within your small business, there are going to be tedious tasks that have to be accomplished on a daily or weekly basis. You can make these repetitive tasks more process oriented, to give you more time to focus on other aspects of your company. When you’re the one … Read more
Choosing Your Business Structure By Laurel Romanella, Vantage360 Facilitator, Small Business GPS: Business Basics Session 2 Starting a business is exciting. Yet when you dig in to the details, your enthusiasm may turn to confusion. Or you may feel overwhelmed by just figuring out what to do next. Don’t let these feelings slow your momentum. There … Read more