Northern Lights - Issue 29 - March 2024
8,000 Hours and Counting: Venture North No-Cost Business Consulting Pays Off
by AMY LANE
All in the Family! Lori Kroger, far right, with - from left - granddaughter, Michayla Eisner, and daughter, Karla Eisner.
For seven years, Lori Kroger and daughter Karla Eisner have built a growing business selling elderberry syrups and products.
Marketing was something Kroger thought about, but with a healthcare background as a registered nurse, herbalist and homeopath, it wasn’t her area of expertise. Enter Venture North Funding & Development, with a $500 mini grant for consulting services that have opened a world of opportunity for Traverse City-based Northern Elderberry.
Googling for Elderberries!
From the initial grant came a marketing plan that included advertising on Google Shopping, where consumers search for and compare products among online sellers. And that listing in turn brought eyes from Amazon and an inquiry to sell Northern Elderberry syrup on the e-commerce giant – a placement now in the works.
Said Kroger: “I think that $500 grant is going to go a long ways.”
From bookkeeping to business planning and financial projections to managing operations, Venture North, a federally certified Community Development Financial Institution or CDFI, helps small-business clients access a variety of no-cost consulting that can remove gaps hindering growth. Through its own team of business coaches and consultants as well as outside experts, Venture North can provide expertise where it’s needed – and valued.
“I don’t think you could put a price on it. I think it’s just invaluable,” Kroger said. “You’re not out there floundering alone, trying to figure out the best way.”
Northern Elderberry’s story began years ago after Kroger fell ill when she was an intensive care unit nurse. Kroger turned to elderberry, described as having health benefits that include immune system support, and she made some syrup. As she began feeling better, word spread to friends and neighbors who tried the syrup and encouraged her to turn it into a business. Kroger launched Northern Elderberry in 2017 with the sale of a half-dozen bottles at a Traverse City indoor marketplace, and the business has since grown into production at a commercial kitchen and sales in local markets and online.
From Displays to Social Media
Last year, Kroger connected with Venture North marketing consultant Kristina Schnepf, who developed a plan that included listing on Google Shopping, expanding Northern Elderberry’s reach. Schnepf also recommended improving in-store displays and social media presence. It was all important help, Kroger said, coming from someone with a successful business background and marketing and sales experience.
An increased social media presence - with consistent branding and attractive photography - has helped Northern Elderberry reach more potential customers.
“You are getting advice from somebody who…has the experience and is able to pass that experience on to the non-experienced,” Kroger said. “It gives you a little bit more self-confidence in what you’re doing, that you are on the right track. It’s just nice to know that you’re being guided properly.”
Venture North, “they just help your dreams come true,” Kroger said. “Never would I have thought about someone from Amazon seeing us on a Google ad and calling us up.”
Schnepf, a former executive with multinational companies and entrepreneur herself, helps Venture North clients with marketing and business growth in “whatever ways that are needed,” she said. That might be getting a client’s product out to a larger audience, revising pricing and boosting revenue, establishing business internal processes to handle growth, broadening store offerings to attract more local business, or image messaging – outward facing or internal changes with a measurable objective, and depending on business needs.
“It’s really, really hard to be a (business) operator and marketer at the same time,” Schnepf said. “I try to meet them where they are.”
Product, Price and People
Business owners often have misconceptions about marketing, she said. “I really want them to walk away knowing that marketing is the product you offer, the price you offer it at and ensuring you access people who value it. That’s it.”
Schnepf has created a workshop, Demystifying Marketing, that debuted in Mancelona in February and is slated this year to be offered in Traverse City, Cadillac and Manistee, to existing and potential new clients of Venture North. The workshop helps business owners create marketing priorities by identifying their audience and defining methods to attract those customers. Attendees can also receive a one-hour consultation with Schnepf at a later time.
Whether it’s marketing or other areas of concern in operations, business owners don’t have to go it alone, Schnepf said.
“There’s nobody who can do all of the things that a small business owner needs to do. You need support,” she said. “Just because you’re asking for help, doesn’t mean you can’t run your business. It just means that there’s an area that another set of experience can help you improve.”
Schnepf knows first-hand: When she needed accounting help at the Peace Love and Little Donuts miniature-doughnut shop that she and husband John own in Traverse City, a Venture North mini grant brought bookkeeping support from a QuickBooks accounting software professional and services from Schnepf’s CPA to provide related accounting adjustments.
“I’m better and smarter as a result of that experience,” she said. “The reason these services exist is because Venture North recognized that giving loans or grants was great, but if companies still had uncertainties about bookkeeping or legal matters or marketing or whatever, they may not be able to thrive.”
Over the last 15 years, Venture North, which offers loans and other resources to support small business growth and jobs, has helped 622 businesses with 8,000 hours of consulting. That’s included Dana Winowiecki, owner of a meal planning and personal training business who through Venture North connected with Greg Luyt, attorney and shareholder at Bowerman, Ford, Clulo & Luyt P.C. in Traverse City.
Kristina Schnepf
“There’s nobody who can do all of the things that a small business owner needs to do. You need support…Just because you’re asking for help, doesn’t mean you can’t run your business. It just means that there’s an area that another set of experience can help you improve.”
Removing Mystery for an Entrepreneur
Luyt has worked with Venture North for more than a year, helping primarily startups with matters like forming their business entity – such as a limited-liability company or corporation – drawing up and filing organizational documents, and contract review. For many entrepreneurs, the concepts, benefits and mechanics of setting up business structure “are kind of a mysterious world,” Luyt said.
“And contracts and navigating the basic agreements…I think a lot of entrepreneurs, they’re focused on the idea, and not so much the nuts and bolts, and risk mitigation. A lot of folks are not even aware of those things and the potential benefits of them,” nor are they convinced they are a necessary expense, he said.
But they’re important. “You could just save a tremendous amount of money and time and headache and heartache on the back end, if you spend a little money on the front end,” Luyt said.
Winowiecki received a Venture North mini grant, joined by money from a related source, that went toward Luyt’s help in choosing the correct corporate structure for her Traverse City In It To Win It business, confirm her chosen name, and prepare articles of incorporation. She also needed a personal training client agreement to address liability and items like cancellations.
Winowiecki, also a Venture North loan client, said that if she were to tackle some of the legal issues on her own, “I wouldn’t know where to start. It was nice having somebody able to guide me in areas that are completely foreign to me.”
Attorney Greg Luyt of Traverse City’s Bowerman, Ford, Clulo & Luyt P.C. has helped clients realize the benefits of some “front-end” investment and work.
Olds, former regional director of the Northwest Michigan Small Business Development Center, often works with businesses that approach Venture North for a loan but may need help to be fully prepared. For example, she might review or fine-tune a business plan and suggest areas of improvement; help the would-be borrower build out their projections and how they will use and repay the money; and assist them in creating a profit and loss statement and balance sheet.
Appreciating the Dots and “T”s
Luyt was professional, thorough and efficient, Winowiecki said, and she appreciates the assistance. “I thought it was very important because as a business, you are in it for the long haul, and you have to make sure you have all those legal documents, and the `I’s dotted and `T’s crossed.” She hopes to work with Luyt in the future.
Luyt said the no-cost business consulting that Venture North offers in a wide variety of areas is “incredibly valuable.
“I think that these are services that are foundationally important but not always at the top of mind, or that folks have the ability or time or the knowledge to handle. The fact that there is this resource out there to remove the barriers to getting it done, and connect them to professionals who can help them navigate these things, I think it’s incredibly important to the startup and business ecosystem of the area.”
Many times, services come directly from Venture North team members like Annie Olds. A business development manager and business coach, Olds and others interface with businesses from the start.
“I think anybody who calls automatically is receiving our business coaching services,” Olds said. “Whether you realize it or not, you’re talking to a consultant and they’re trying to assess what you need and where you’re headed.”
A Match Made in Heaven: Needs with Solutions
And as the relationship evolves, discussions can turn to addressing other needs, like marketing or accounting, Olds said. “Most business owners don’t really know what they need, and if they do, sometimes they’re afraid to ask.”
That can be particularly acute with the smallest of startup businesses. “They feel like they’re operating in these silos, have no one else to talk to…it gives them comfort in knowing they have someone they can call and ask a quick question. And not feel judged,” Olds said.
In addition to working individually with businesses, Olds has created a financial workshop that goes through Venture North’s loan process, keyed to be helpful for small business owners. The workshop debuted in Mancelona last fall and Olds hopes to host it quarterly in varying communities.
She checks in with Venture North borrowers from time to time to see how business is going, helping them “find resources for needs as they come up,” including with Venture North’s network of outside professional service providers.
And Venture North client relationships can continue for years. Take Jess Nagel, introduced to Olds a few years ago in Nagel’s quest to open J.bird Provisions, a grab-and-go food and specialty gift and grocery store downtown Charlevoix. Nagel, who grew up in nearby Ellsworth and at the time was departing a Chicago marketing job to return to the area, had a love of creating food for people and designing, and she had a business vision.
She put together a business plan but was referred to Venture North, where Olds helped with start-up cost analysis, cash flow projections and other matters in near-weekly phone calls between the two. Nagel said Olds listened to her concept and “had kind feedback,” which “was huge. I just kind of needed someone to believe in my vision, and it was so nice that she did, right away.”
Jess Nagel, shown here at her shop J.bird Provisions in Charlevoix, said Venture North believed in her vision right away.
Honing in on the Details
As an entrepreneur focused on matters like food, space layout and getting up and operating, Nagel said Olds helped her “hone in on things that I wasn’t maybe thinking of,” digging into expenses, customer profile and buying habits and other elements that could play into cash flow projections. The assistance was structured, and more, Nagel said.
“It was so much more personal I think than what a bank would have been. And that really was very helpful to me,” she said.
Venture North helped with a mini grant for an architectural drawing Nagel needed to get her space approved before opening, and a Venture North loan went toward equipment and build-out of the space as well as signage, marketing and store goods. Nagel said Olds also put her in touch with another CDFI, Northern Initiatives, which provided additional financing for J.bird Provisions, opened in July 2022.
Since then, Olds has “just been a great sounding board,” Nagel said. “Even if it’s not something she can help with…it’s nice to have someone who can give you advice and tell you where to go for something.”
Nagel’s business is continuing to grow; she’s hoping to make over outdoor space this year and is entering into a partnership with a local winery and distillery that will bring their bottled wine, liquor and canned cocktails to J.bird Provision’s shelves. An onsite tasting area is also under development.
Determining the Fit and Making Things Work
Nagel said she has always wanted to be able to offer alcoholic beverages in addition to her other offerings and expects it will take her to a new level of business. “I think it’s going to bring a lot more people in…and allow me to sell more cocktail ware, bar ware, mixes and snacks,” Nagel said.
“I am excited about the wine tasting, I’m excited about bringing in more products, I am excited about revamping outdoor space…there’s just so much more I want to do,” she said. “I think I am working on thoughtful growth, rather than trying to be a flash in the pan. I did a little bit more last year than the year before, and now I want to do a little bit more than that.”
Nagel said Olds has been a resource with the new partnership, helping her think of things that she needed to address and questions to ask. “It’s really nice to have that resource or a second set of eyes,” she said. Nagel said Olds is also working with her to restructure her original loan payments to account for the seasonal nature of J.Bird Provisions’ resort-town business.
Olds’ services are “really valuable,” Nagel said. There’s accountability, she said, “but I also have that shoulder to lean on.”
Amy Lane is a veteran Michigan business reporter whose background includes work with Crain Communications Inc., Crain’s Detroit Business and serving as Capitol correspondent for nearly 25 years. Now a freelance reporter and journalist, Lane’s work has appeared in many publications including Traverse City Business News.
