September 2010

The landscape of the way we do business is changing, and Marquette’s eLoft small business coaching service is changing with it in the weeks to come.
Since recession hit the global economy hard in 2008, entire sectors of the nation’s economy have been, at one time or another, in danger of failure, notably the financial and auto industries.
So in many towns, small and large, across the country, the major driving force behind economic change has been small businesses and entrepreneurs building lives and jobs of their own, without relying on big companies.
eLoft coach Dar Shepherd said start-up companies are providing a lot of the new jobs that are available, as larger companies conserve or cut back.
“It’s not only on the national level, but here, too,” Shepherd said. “A lot of people are looking at starting up their own business. The best advice for people going out on their own is talk to other people. You don’t have to go it alone.
“There’s room for all of us to do what we like to do and are good at doing.”
She advises would-be business owners to start with what’s good for them, whether it is fixing computers on evenings and weekends, or parlaying a gardening hobby into an herbal products business.
“When people have a passion for something, turn that into a business,” she says.
Shepherd coaches startups, but also existing businesses who are looking to make their operations and services more efficient and more local.
It’s something that E-Loft project guide Babette Welch also feels strongly about, and is working to encourage in Marquette County. Welch contracts with eLoft as an information technology project guide.
“My view of it is that traditionally, there were just small businesses, like tradesmen and shops,” Welch said. “Then, there were big corporations, but that model really went bust. It’s not good for communities; one big company pulls out, and a whole community is crippled. Now, we’re going back to the older model.”
And as a result, she said, the job market is changing, too.
Now, without solid marketable skills, like plumbing certificates, mechanical ability or tailoring—as Welch does herself—a job-seeker has less chance of making a good living . . .

For details, call Dar Shepherd at 360-3000.
MM

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