Farm Focus:

What is success to farm business owners? What we’ve heard from Monadnock Region farmers is that a successful farm:
•    Provides a living wage to all farm workers.
•    Affords health insurance to the farmer’s family.
•    Raises happy farm animals & satisfied customers.

How does Hannah Grimes currently help farmers and food processors achieve success?
•    An online Farm Focus e-newsletter highlighting regional farming events, business training and news.
•    Free classified ads section in the Monadnock Localvore e-newsletter that goes out to 550 local food enthusiasts.
•    Monthly business coaching sessions and workshops in marketing, sales and other topics offered free of charge.
•    Access to a year-round market for local products at the Hannah Grimes Marketplace on Main Street.

We’re currently in the process of developing better ways for Hannah Grimes and our partners to support farm businesses in our region.  Please feel free to share your vision for your farm’s success and other thoughts with us – email us at jen@hannahgrimes.com or call 603-352-5063; http://www.hannahgrimes.com.

From 1980 to 2001, all of the net U.S. job growth came from firms less than five years old, while older firms, net, actually lost jobs.

In the five years from 2003 to 2007, New Hampshire saw just 1% in growth in the number of Employer Firms, companies with payroll, while Nonemployer Firms grew 4.7% during that same period.

In a 2008 Kauffman Foundation study about young businesses, the authors note that one-third of job creation is due to the entry of new establishments.  Furthermore, beyond initial entry, surviving new businesses have very high employment growth rates in their early years.  New businesses also have a high exit rate, but job losses by younger firms peak at two years then decline after that.

These “young survivors” also have higher productivity levels than more mature establishments, and those productivity levels continue to grow during the next five years.  Research shows that the entry of these new firms result in a more productive economy overall.

The study notes that 75% of all businesses in the US are Nonemployer Firms and that these businesses are the seeds of about 25% of new Employer Firms.  The research also shows that these businesses have particularly high output growth the year before transitioning to having employees and in the year of transition status.

Looking to grow the NH economy?  Look no further.  Let’s get behind our small businesses and assist them in the growth they are striving for.  Let’s help them build skills and problem solve through their first high risk years so that we can benefit from the jobs and productivity that they create.

Keep up the good work,
MAK
Mary Ann Kristiansen
Hannah Grimes Center Executive Director
mak@hannahgrimes.com

Only have a minute?
Click here to view a daily wisdom about start-ups.

Have more than a minute?
What is the one thing you wish you knew BEFORE you started your business? Share your thoughts on Facebook, LinkedIn or shoot us an email.

Some Online News & Resources for Start Ups

8 Poker Tactics That Apply to Start-ups
Originally Posted on VentureBeat.com
By Emmanuel Marot

While the rules of poker are simple and the game itself is quite accessible, success typically requires more skill than luck. There’s a wisdom there that we can take from the game and apply to the startup life.

First Things First: Finding Help Through the NH Small Business Development Center
Evaluate Your Business Idea:  Before going too far with your Business Plan, you may want to fill out Evaluating Your Business Idea (online fill-in .pdf).  You can also find this resource, and many othes, in our Resource Library: http://www.nhsbdc.org/node/69.

Small Business 101: How to Get Started
Originally Posted on NYTimes.com
By Barbara Whitaker

“Starting a business is actually easy. You can get business cards and an address at Mailboxes, etc.,” said Bill Morland, chairman of the Orange County chapter of Score, a nonprofit association that works with the S.B.A. to educate and assist entrepreneurs. “But you’re not really in business until you sell something, and that isn’t easy.”

Reason #5: Find Out More About Our Local Living Economy & Slow Money

Reason #4: Celebrate Local Farms and Local Food in Our Region

Reason #3: Discover more about the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund

Reason #2: Meet Graduates of the Hannah Grimes Entrepreneur Project

Reason #1: To NETWORK!

Register Today!

To NETWORK!

Research at the Kauffman Foundation found a strong correlation between the success of an enterprise and the amount an entrepreneur developed and made use of their networks.  Since eight in ten businesses fail within the first three years, it is vital to our local economy that we encourage networking and the success of young businesses.

Join us and meet your future clients, customers, investors and colleagues!

Meet graduates of our twelve month business development program, the Hannah Grimes Entrepreneur Project.

For five years, the Hannah Grimes Center has offered a fall event at Alyson’s Orchard – inviting back forty graduates of the Hannah Grimes Entrepreneur Project. During this twelve month program, a small group of entrepreneurs work with business coach Helaine Iris to work ON their business – not just IN their business.  They gain valuable business skills but also gain a network of supportive entrepreneurs to call on.

The Hannah Grimes Center offers graduates this chance to reconnect with each other and meet business owners in the other ten classes of the Entrepreneur Project.

This event continues to expand.  We invite all entrepreneurs and community members to attend our CONNECT Event a night of networking and inspiration to innovate, connect and thrive.  Please join us!

Discover more about the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.

We invite you to learn more about the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund at the Hannah Grimes Center’s CONNECT Event.  We are extremely grateful to the Community Loan Fund for their sponsorship of our networking event this year and for all the important work that they do in our state.

The Community Loan Fund offers financing when & where other lenders can not.  Sally Hatch, Director of Investor Relations, offers this perspective:

We call the money loaned to the Community Loan Fund a community investment. That’s because our funds don’t go into the stock market; they go directly into New Hampshire communities, to create or preserve affordable housing, jobs, and child care.

Community Loan Fund Staff  – John Hamilton, Managing Director of Vested for Growth, and Al Cantor, Vice President of Philanthropy – will join us at the October 27, 2010 CONNECT Event.  They will share more about how the Community Loan Fund creates opportunities through financing and how their work supports the mission of Slow Money. Please join us and register today!

With the arrival of fall, you’re probably spending less time at home. If you’re like me, you’re hitting the rubber chicken circuit hard as the networking and event season kicks into high gear. And while networking is valuable (a lot of our story ideas come from talking to people at events), it’s also exhausting.

Fatigue sets in after hitting three events in a week, and sometimes even highly competent executives check their manners at the door. So if the summer has left your networking skills a little rusty, here are a few things to keep in mind.

First, remember that events offer the opportunity to meet new people. If you’re going to use your precious personal time for business, make sure it’s worthwhile. Yes, networking events are great for checking in with the people you know and strengthening existing business relationships, but you’re really there to make connections that will eventually lead to new business.

Break out of your clique, and if you see someone standing alone or struggling to get into the groove of making contacts, throw them a lifeline and introduce yourself. That person could turn out to be a hot prospect. Likewise if you’ve been engaged in a long conversation and see someone at the outer edge of your inner circle, why not invite him or her in?

Also, there is truth to the idiom about first impressions. This is about making connections, not sealing the deal. The hard sell just leaves the other person wondering, “If they’re trying too hard here, what will they be like when there aren’t hundreds of people around?” And while connecting with complete strangers can be intimidating, avoid becoming Barnacle Bill, the guy who gloms on to the first person he talks to and then can’t shake loose.

We all know that speakers and awards are fine, but for many it’s the networking that’s the draw. If that’s the case for you, then arrive early to maximize that portion of the event. Then when the main event begins-whether it’s a speaker or an awards presentation-please be courteous to the rest of us who also came for those aspects and keep quiet.

It has become more common to see people engaged in lively discussions even while presentations are going on. Remember, even if you’re at the back of the room, the sound of your “whispering” travels. And hold off on the texting as well. Not only is this distracting to the people around you, and rude, it’s also bad business. Trust me, people notice this behavior. You’ve just spent the better part of an hour introducing yourself to potential clients and partners; don’t leave them with an unsavory impression. If you really need to have that conversation, virtual or in-person, go to a lobby where you won’t disturb anyone.

After all, good manners are just good business.

Celebrate local farms and local food in our region with Patti Powers, Slow Money, First Course, Alyson’s Orchard and our Community Partners: Monadnock Community Market Co-op, Food Solutions New England, Hannah Grimes Marketplace & Monadnock Farm and Community Connection.

Celebrate the 2010 Hannah Grimes Entrepreneur of the Year: Patti Powers of Cheshire Garden in Winchester, NH. Patti will be honored at the Hannah Grimes CONNECT Event on October 27, 2010 from 4:00 – 7:30p.m. at Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, NH.  All are invited to come celebrate Patti’s success, learn more about her business – growing and processing fruit into premium preserves, sauces and vinegars – and recognize the many ways she contributes to the Monadnock Region’s economy and community.

Slow Money, the topic of this evening event, also adds to our celebration of local farmers and local food.  This movement is identifying new ways for all of us to invest in small food enterprises, like Cheshire Garden and Alyson’s Orchard, and our whole local food system.  Slow Money’s goal: A million people investing 1% of their assets in local food systems…within a decade.

Join Community Partners for this event, Monadnock Community Market Co-op, Food Solutions New England, Hannah Grimes Marketplace and Monadnock Farm & Community Connection, and learn how each of them – along with MANY others – are working to build a stronger local and regional food system.

AND let’s not forget about the food!  Delicious dishes featuring local food catered by First Course Catering will be served at an amazing venue, a working apple and fruit farm, Alyson’s Orchard.

Hope to see you all there! RSVP Today.

Stay tuned for the other top reasons to attend…

Reconnect with the Monadnock Local Living Economy Project.

Last November, Judy Wicks spoke at the Keene State College Biennial Symposium: From Local to Global. Judy, a pioneering voice in the local living economy movement over the past thirty years, was the owner of Philadelphia’s celebrated White Dog Café and a founder of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).  She and others have inspired the Hannah Grimes Center to launch the Monadnock Local Living Economy Project.

Find out more about this community project at the upcoming Hannah Grimes CONNECT Event on October 27, 2010 4-7:30p.m. at Alyson’s Orchard, Walpole featuring Slow Money.  Watch the video below to find out why Judy Wicks became a Founding Member of Slow Money.

Stay tuned for the other top reasons to attend…