Join us for the 2011 Enterprise Challenge Awards Banquet

The public is invited to join us in the celebration and conclusion of the Second Annual Enterprise Challenge on Friday, December 9th from noon to 1:00 p.m.  The eight finalists are vying for over $17,500 in prize money.  Winners will be announced at the Awards Banquet.  The luncheon event will be held at the Yakima Red Lion, 607 East Yakima Avenue.  The finalists have been working hard on their business plans and practicing their final presentations.  The final judging round will be held Thursday, the 8th and the entrepreneurs will be anxiously awaiting the announcement!

DATE:  Friday, December 9

TIME:  12 noon to 1:00 p.m., registration and networking begins at 1130

PLACE:  Yakima Red Lion Hotel, 607 East Yakima Avenue, Yakima

COST:  $20, includes lunch

Call 575.1140 for more details.  Early registration fee is $20.0.

Register now in three easy ways:

1. By check:  Call 575.1140 OR email newvision@ycda.com and mail in payment;

2. In person:  Stop by our office to register and pay by check or cash; or

3. Online:  Register here and pay by credit card using secure link with PayPal.  Includes $2.00 per person PayPal processing fee, PayPal account is not required.

Awards Banquet Generously Sponsored by Moss Adams.  Thank you!

Eight Advance to Finals in Enterprise Challenge

We are excited to announce that eight emerging businesses are advancing to the final round of the Enterprise Challenge business plan contest.  These entrepreneurs were selected by a group judges that met with and evaluated business plan contestants at an afternoon trade show last week.The contestants went all out on their booths, and their business plan summaries.  One judge commented, “The quality of the business plans were so much better than last year, and the contestants seemed to be much more prepared for the business world. It was a very tough competition this year, very exciting.”

The competition started with 26 contestants; last week our contestants participated in an afternoon trade show meeting with a group of approximately 30 judges who evaluated each business and its chances for success.  After providing us their scores and evaluations, the judges ultimately picked the following companies to move on in our contest:

• Hop Central Brewing Company – planning to open a production brewery in downtown Yakima;
• Resource Recovery Group, aka Milt’s Original Gourmet BBQ Pellets – manufactures flavor laden BBQ pellets made from local fruit wood;
• IQ Tax Center – providing full service tax, bookkeeping, and financial support to consumers and small businesses;
• Yakima Food Cooperative – working to establish a cooperatively owned and managed healthy foods store in Yakima;
• Creme – planning to start a dessert cafe and coffee bar in downtown Yakima;
• Washington Vision Therapy Center helps patients address vision problems that cannot be corrected with glasses or contact lens;
• Serenity Falls & Watergardens– providing general landscaping and specialized waterfall landscaping services; and
• K5 Contracting – a specialty contractor that sells and installs various home and commercial insulation products.

It was very difficult to cut our field down to the eight finalists.  We had a stellar group of entrepreneurs involved in the Enterprise Challenge this year and we know that several contestants who did not make our cut will nonetheless launch very successful enterprises.

Next week our finalists travel to Seattle to participate in Entrepreneur University.  This daylong workshop is a great experience for small businesses and our contestants will bring home lots of valuable advice and information.  After the Seattle road trip our entrepreneurs will have about three weeks to finalize their plans.

Our office is working to pair each contestant up with a coach or coaches that can advise them in areas where they need additional help.  These coaching activities will unfold between now and early December.

Final judges will meet the contestants on December 8th and help us select our contest winners.  We will announce our prize winning entrepreneurs at our awards luncheon on December 9th.

Enterprise Challenge Contestants advance to ‘Sweet 16′

The Enterprise Challenge is right in the heat of the competition!  We have just completed the opening round and are into the ‘Sweet 16′.  There are now 16 entrepreneurs vying for the cash prizes in our business plan contest.  I have been getting to know the contestants and have been very impressed with their hard work and effort thus far.  There’s a very broad mix of entrepreneurs, experience levels and businesses, which is adding a lot to the competition.  Some of the entrepreneurs have started networking and learning from each other and taking advantage of the business counseling opportunities available.

The contestants have had their business plan summaries scored by the first round of judges. and now have a week to make any revisions to prepare for the Investment Round Trade Show.  The Investment Round will be set up as a trade show event, with approximately 30 judges that have $1,000 ‘Investment (play) Bucks’ to invest in a minimum of five companies; the top eight ‘money’ winners will move on to the next round of the competition.  This event is not open to the public.

Here’s a snapshot of the participants that have advanced to the next round. Some businesses are still in the planning stages, so they may not be ready to launch their official name yet, and others have websites and storefronts that you can visit for more information!

1.  K-5 Contracting, General Contractor.

2.  Bristol Media, BusyBee Magazine.  Niche Publishing.

3.  Creme’.  French inspired patisserie.

4.  Magic & Mind Games, Performance Magician.

5.  IQ Tax Center.  Tax services, IRS Audit solutions, bookkeeping services.

6. Lower Valley Therapeutic Massage & Spa.  Massage and other spa services in Grandview.

7. Don Mills. Algae International.

8. PartyNPlay.  Family friendly coffee shop and bakery.

9. Resource Recovery Group, Milt’s BBQ Gourmet Pellets. Flavored BBQ Pellets.

10. Serenity Falls Landscaping and water features.

11. Surya Yoga.  Yoga for All.

12. TBA Brewing Company.  Craft Brewing company in downtown Yakima.

13. VanKommer Industrial Design.  Engineering and design services.

14. Washington Vision Therapy Services.

15. Yakima Food Cooperative.

16. Yakima Press Company.  Vintage wine and cider press manufacturing.

Five Legal Bases to Cover for New Business Owners

October not only gets down to the wire in baseball…the Enterprise Challenge is turning into quite the competition!  Contestants turned in their five page business summaries last Friday afternoon and some of them were down to the wire.  The summaries are now being scored by a panel of judges and contestants will know this Friday if they advance in the contest.  There are 22 remaining and the field will narrow to 16 by this Friday.  An added benefit that the contestants have this year is the opportunity to attend four contestant-only workshops, which we have found to be extremely valuable and informational.

We were fortunate to have Dustin Yeager and Sean Griffee from Stokes Lawrence Velikanje Moore & Shore provide a fast-paced workshop on basic legal issues that entrepreneurs commonly encounter when starting a business.  Dustin and Sean covered a lot of essentials from business structure to corporate governance and real estate options to copyrights.  Many of the things they discussed emphasized doing your homework BEFORE you dive into something unprepared, which is one of the key reasons we encourage entrepreneurs to prepare a business plan.

It doesn’t take an attorney to tell you that if you do set your business up correctly in the first place or do things right the first time, it can save you a lot of time and money.  Here are some top takeaways from their presentation that new all business owners should consider:

1.  Legal Structure

Choosing a business structure is one of the first tasks a new business owner is faced with.  It is very important to look at not only how the various legal structures can affect your business, but the tax implications as well.  Keep in mind that just because you set up a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) it does not mean you are immune from being liable or being sued. Washington State’s Department of Revenue has a very informative handbook on this to learn more.

2.  Licensing and Zoning

This seems like common sense, but before you decide to hang out your shingle, you should make sure that the location allows the type of business that you want to do.  For example, if you want to start a manufacturing company in downtown because you want the visibility, you might want to check to see if it is allowed before you sign a lease on the building.  Many cities and counties also regulate home occupation businesses and in some cities you have to go through a public hearing process to receive a city license to operate out of your home.  If you have questions, you should check with the City Clerk’soffice or Planning departments.

Licensing is another big piece of the business equation.  You can complete a Master Business License online but keep in mind you also need to check with whatever city you plan on doing business in AND check to make sure your chosen field does not require additional licensing.  In some cases, the State license qualifies as the city license, but in Yakima County, it doesn’t cover all the cities in the county.  One handy tool on the state Department of Licensing website is to do a ‘trade name search’ so before you launch your business, you can verify to see if someone else is using the business name you would like to operate under.  It’s also a good idea to Google your potential business name.

3.  Employment Basics

If you will be hiring employees, there are some basic guidelines to follow. You want to protect your business and part of that is to have clear employment policies and procedures in place that can help protect your business when terminating employment relationships.  Common mistakes many business owners make are to depart from company rules, failure to address harassment and/or discrimination and/or fail to document!

4.  Intellectual Property

The most common types of intellectual property are copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and patents.  According to the speakers, “Secrecy is KEY to trade secret protection”, for example, if you have a secret family recipe, one way to protect that is to limit employee access to those who need to know.  You can also have employees sign confidentiality or non-disclosure agreements and be sure to tell people that the information is confidential.  If you have questions about patents or if your idea/invention is patent-worthy, it is a good idea to consult with a patent attorney.

5.   Taxes

Last but definitely not least is taxes.  Part of running a business is paying taxes.  Sales tax, B&O Tax, Use Taxes, Property Taxes, Income Taxes…Tax, tax, tax.  Yes, you need to make sure to pay your taxes.  Not knowing you owe taxes doesn’t help you with the IRS or state.  It is a good idea to consult a CPA or tax advisor that has experience with small businesses.

To summarize, covering your legal bases has a lot to do with risk management.  If you take steps to properly set up your business, be legally licensed and responsible when it comes to licensing, business practices,  paying your taxes,  and protecting your intellectual property, you can help minimize potential problems you may encounter.

Crash Course in Business Plans

The Enterprise Challenge contestants attended a jam-packed session the other night on business plan essentials and what exactly to include in a business plan.  There are numerous templates and samples available and it can be overwhelming to know where to start.  Business plans will also vary depending on the type of business.  A simple business idea, say a small cupcake bakery, may be less complex than a plan to start manufacturing solar panels.

If you are just starting out on developing a business plan, here are a few resources to help:

• This  template is similar to what the Small Business Development Center hands out to clients;
• SCORE .org has a full page of templates in its Template Gallery, including some very user-friendly Excel spreadsheets for the financial worksheets;
• SBA.gov has a very nice interactive business plan tool.

You can usually find a sample business plan online for almost any type of business.  Many of these free samples are provided by the makers of business plan software, so they are of course, trying to entice you to purchase their product.  One word of caution, business plan software programs can be a lot of work and a lot of the information is repeated throughout, which can turn your readers off.

We recommend starting with an outline of your business plan so you identify what kind of research you’ll need to do, whether it’s market research on number of customers, pricing of products or services, demographics, competition or the industry, just to name a few topics.  Visit our business plan assistance page for help getting started!

Let the Games Begin! 26 Entrepreneurs Competing in Enterprise Challenge

We are very pleased to announce that a wide variety of entrepreneurs have signed up for this year’s Enterprise Challenge.  Nascent companies from all over the Yakima Valley are stepping up to advance their businesses through our interactive business plan contest.  It is exciting to see the variety of companies involved in the contest.  We have a bike shop entrepreneur, a renewable energy company, a couple restaurant/cafes, a blueberry farm, a couple contractors, some personal wellness firms, and a few other cool emerging businesses participating.

Each contestant will go through four seminars over the next few weeks to get oriented on business planning, marketing, financing, and legal issues.  Participants are then expected to submit a business plan summary that will be reviewed by first round judges.  This review team will cut the field down from 24 to 16.

After the initial cut, remaining contestants gear up for a trade show in early November where they will interact with and pitch thirty new judges about their ventures.  This group of judges will evaluate these businesses and help us further reduce our contestant field to eight finalists.  The entrepreneurs still standing will then refine and finish their business plans by early December and gear up for final oral presentations.  Our final judges hear these presentations, review each contestant’s plans and ultimately pick our contest winners.

We are very pleased with the turnout for the contest and have designed the event so it benefits all participants even if they don’t advance through the contest.  By offering in-depth business seminars and offering hands on counseling to all contestants, our team is confident that our participants can gain traction with their business and learn what it takes to launch a successful enterprise.

Could You Use $10,000 To Start A New Business?

Have you considered throwing your hat in the ring for the Enterprise Challenge?  The Enterprise Challenge is a business plan competition to identify the best and brightest new local businesses and entrepreneurs.  Want more information?  Attend a free information night, Wednesday, September 21st, 5-6 p.m.  The Enterprise Challenge is tailored to and targeted at start-up companies and Yakima County entrepreneurs with limited independent business experience.  If participants have formed a business, it must be less than two years old.  Registration Deadline is Friday, September 23rd, 5:00 p.m.  The Top Prize is $10,000; 2nd Place $5,000 and 3rd Place $2,500.

For more information, attend a Free Info Night:

• Wednesday, September 21, 5-6 p.m., 10 North 9th Street, Yakima.

Contest activities will include high level workshops for contestants, business plan assistance and feedback from successful business professionals and valuable networking and mentoring.

 

 

Check out the schedule page for exact dates and ‘contestant only’ activities.  You can also download the brochure, give us a call at 575.1140 or email newvision@ycda.comfor

Four Cities to Participate in New Entrepreneurial Friendly Initiative

We are very pleased to announce the selection of four Yakima County cities – Grandview, Sunnyside, Tieton and Zillah – that will receive the special designation of  ‘Entrepreneurial Friendly City’.  The Entrepreneurial Friendly Cities (EFC) Initiative is designed to support small businesses in Yakima County’s rural cities and help them advance strategies that aid home town businesses.  These cities will work closely with New Vision to establish small business support offices in each of their towns.

According to David McFadden, New Vision President, “We were very pleased with the applications and commitment of the four cities.  They all bring strong community support and the passion to help entrepreneurs succeed in their cities.”  The four cities will work closely with New Vision to develop a small business support center in each city, and they will also recruit and train small business counselors that can help and mentor local companies.  An added bonus of the EFC designation is that New Vision and University of Washington – Heritage Partnership are supporting the cost of hiring a college intern to help kick-start the program.  The interns will be tailoring their duties to the needs of each city

As part of the application process, each of the EFC has formed a steering committee, developed a strategic plan, and talked with local business owners.  Sandi Fein, Chamber Director for Zillah comments, “Zillah is really excited to participate in this program.  Even the application process has been helpful so far to encourage coordination between the City, Chamber and the business community.”

The EFC will also be responsible for recruiting SCORE counselors and providing a location for a business support office.  Our office is working closely with the Yakima Valley SCORE Chapter, Heritage University, and the Yakima Valley Community College to support the EFC initiative.  These partners have been great resources throughout our entrepreneur initiative and we could not move this new program forward without their active involvement.

While each of the cities has unique goals and strengths, many of the small cities are facing similar challenges, such as how to draw more visitors (or customers) into their communities to support a retail base.    Our goal through the EFC initiative is to broaden the safety net for small businesses and entrepreneurs in the Yakima Valley.  By developing satellite business assistance centers we hope to bring important help to companies closer to where they operate and live.

The Entrepreneurial Friendly Cities Initiative is a new program for New Vision, and we decided to work with a smaller number of cities first before trying to bring every rural city into the fold.  This allows our organization to evaluate results in each designated city, work out any implementation bugs, and ultimately determine how to scale up these services for other interested communities within the region.  “The momentum in Grandview inspired by our recent downtown revitalization has provided the infrastructure to attract new business and help existing business succeed”, added Brad Smith, Grandview Chamber of Commerce.  “The Entrepreneurial Friendly Cities designation helps provide us additional resources to us keep moving in the right direction. We are really looking forward to enhancing existing services for our local businesses”.

We are excited about the EFC initiative.  Through effective partnerships we are building capacity in our rural cities to help entrepreneurs and small businesses succeed.  For most of our smallest cities retaining and growing these firms is their lifeline to the future.

How a Family Illness led to a Rising Business – Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Story

At the final gathering of the Entrepreneur Spotlight series, we learned the story of how Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery began.  Jenny Simmons shared with us a heartfelt story of how her five year old son became very ill.  After months of searching for the cause and many doctor appointments to not much avail, she had seen a television program on Celiac Disease and how a gluten allergy (anything with wheat, barley, rye and oats) can cause many of the same symptoms her son was experiencing.  She and the family started going gluten, dairy and soy free and saw results right away.

They tried many store brand products and in the meantime, Jenny began experimenting with recipes to try and come up with something flavorful that her family would eat.  Simmons notes, “After a lot of trial and error and a lot of bread crumbs”, she made some bread that had her family asking for more.  She began baking for friends and family with three pans and a mixer.  Jenny had previously been telecommuting for a marketing firm out of Bellevue and her home operation grew too large.  A friend was determined that Jenny would succeed as a Gluten Free Bakery and sought out a location and urged her to take the plunge, which she did, opening in 2009.

Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery is also an allergen-free shop, which serves the needs of vegans and people with allergies to milk, soy, eggs, nuts, in addition to gluten.  Simmons told the crowd she gets four-five new customers a day and is, “part counselor, part baker”.  Many people come in just newly diagnosed with a gluten allergy or Celiac Disease and Jenny will take the time to talk with them and share her story.

The bakery has expanded beyond bread.  She offers cupcakes, doughnuts, pies, mixes and cookie dough.  Right now it is a two person operation with Jenny and her mother; Jenny’s husband Jeff is also involved with the business expansion efforts.  Jenny mentioned that one of the biggest challenges with starting a new business is managing capital and cash flow.  The bakery is now faced with the dilemma that they have more demand than production capacity and they can’t grow and take on more customers without taking on debt by moving to a bigger location.  Because of this and lack of a formal distribution process, they have not expanded their internet presence.  Currently they have customers from all over the northwest, regularly traveling from Boise, Utah, Seattle and Portland.

The Simmons are taking a cautious approach to growth; they have increased production five-fold since starting the bakery and are still faced with the challenge of keeping up with demand. Jenny adds that the gluten-free market is taking off; there are customers interested that have to change their diet for health reasons, others that make the decision to go gluten-free for the ‘natural’ aspects of the product and there are still customers that think it is trendy.

“Make sure you do your due diligence investigating as many areas that you can think of which have an influence on your new business, like market research, licensing, location, capital, accounting, legal, permitting, etc.  Ask a lot of questions and use the resources available”,  offers Jenny.  “Secondly, once you’ve done your research and it still seems like a good idea, don’t be afraid to ‘take the leap’ and start your business.”  One final thing that Jenny said that is so important for entrepreneurs to remember is to balance work and life and also be sure to have fun while doing it!

Jenny Mae’s was the runner up in the first Enterprise Challenge Business Plan Competition and we are very excited to see the business take off and looking forward to hearing more about their expansion plans.

Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery is located at 8308 Ahtanum Road, Yakima WA 98903.  509-833-5096.  Hours are: Mon & Tues 9 to 5, Wed & Thurs 9 to 2:30, Friday 9 to 5 and Saturday 10 to 1.  Closed Sunday.

 

Three Hints for Developing a Business Message

I attended a luncheon the other day and the keynote speaker was Stephanie Pierole, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Wexley School of Girls.  If you are not familiar with them, Wexley is neither a school, or just for girls; it is a full service advertising agency in Seattle that has big name clients such as the Seattle Sounders, the Seahawks, Car Toys, Oberto and many other national brands, to name a few.

Ms. Pierole was in Yakima to give some insight into making customers fans, and not the Facebook kind.  She was referring to fans, as fanatics, or advocates for your brand.  She gave the example that she has a new Ford and LOVES the car so much, she uses every chance she gets to tell others about how great it is.  That kind of fan.  Exactly what a start-up company wants and needs.

She gave three great hints as to what a brand should be.  Not just a slogan, although that could be part of it, think ‘Just Do It’. She suggests that a brand should be:

1.  Simple.  Make it easy to understand and simple in delivery.  Some businesses try to be so unique to stand out from the crowd, that it can actually confuse the issue.  For example, if you are a women’s upscale spa and your message is something about ‘escape from reality’; it might imply that you have a travel-related busine.

2.  Repeatable.  If you are developing a slogan or tagline for your business, it should be easy to remember so people will repeat it.  In reference to the Seattle Sounders, Wexley came up with ‘Give us your full 90′.  It’s easy to remember, definitely applicable to soccer fans and repeatable.

3.  Pride.  A slogan or brand should instill a sense of pride and ownership.  Pierone offers that it should have a positive message to garner that pride.  For example, Yakima’s own Liberty Bottleworks is proud that they are the only U.S. Manufacturer of recycled aluminium water bottles.  A Liberty customer takes pride in using a Made in the USA, BPA-Free, environmentally responsible product.

Peirole also gave some insight into how they developed the marketing plan for the Sounders.  They first went to a loyal group of existing Sounders’ fans and asked them what they wanted.  It was the perfect focus group – these followers were engaged, interested and genuinely wanted the Sounders to succeed.  It was this group that came up with the idea to have scarves, and for fans to give it their all as much as the players.  Scarves Up!

These three suggestions are excellent if you are just starting out and trying to come up with a catchy message.  However the bigger message is that you want your product and message to relate to your customers so they will become regular, life-long customers who buy your product and encourage others to do so as well.

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