Honoring an influential institution

May 9, 2014
Entrepreneurship Training, Events & Community
PTA
No Comments

Last Thursday night, May 1st, Small Business Network San Francisco (SBN) celebrated its 30th anniversary and recognized six small business organizations and individuals during an awards ceremony at the Marines’ Memorial Club of San Francisco. One of the winners was long-time PTA client Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, recognized with the Influential Organization Award. Renaissance’s mission is to empower and increase the entrepreneurial capacities of socially and economically diverse women and men to help create sustainable new businesses and new jobs and promote financial self-sufficiency. The SBN award was accepted by Renaissance Managing Director, Lisa Kirvin.

It has been my pleasure to help design services and provide training, consulting and support to Renaissance students and graduates over the past twenty+ years. As the coordinator and lead instructor for Renaissance’s 14-week business planning class in San Francisco, I know first-hand how Renaissance helps support so many Bay Area small businesses each year. Congratulations Renaissance!

(I was honored to receive SBN’s Small Business Advocate Award last year.)

Social Enterprise on the Tibetan Plateau

Tibetan Social Enterprise Lab Fellows

This past month, twelve entrepreneurs from the Tibetan Plateau in Western China have been immersed in an intensive learning experience in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were selected as the first group of Fellows in a new program called the Tibetan Social Enterprise Lab. This program was created to help Tibetan entrepreneurs build their business skills and make connections with the Bay Area social enterprise community so that they can start or expand their own social enterprises on the Tibetan Plateau.

The Fellows spent their first two weeks on the Stanford campus attending classes, meeting with teachers and students, and developing their business models. Some have well-defined ideas and are in full business start-up mode, while others are at a very early stage, exploring the potential of social enterprise as an alternative to a charity giving model. They are starting product businesses –selling yak dairy products, solar cookers, baked goods, and traditional artisan products, and service businesses –providing digital medial skills training, eco-travel services or vocational training.

Sharon Miller, CEO of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center connected me with the program, knowing of my long-standing interest in the Himalayan region and Tibetan culture. I got the chance to attend one of their mentor evenings on the Stanford campus, listening to the Fellows “pitch” their business ideas and sharing feedback in one of their “mastermind” sessions.

These young entrepreneurs face challenges unique to the Tibetan Plateau – including extreme weather conditions and limited local markets (one Fellow plans to start a farm-to-table farm business but must figure out how to get his products to the nearest farmers’ market—a seven-hour drive away). Yet as I learned about their ideas and projects, it was clear that they also face some of the same challenges as entrepreneurs everywhere.

Fellows visiting La Cocina

During the last two weeks of the program, the Fellows visited Bay Area small businesses and social enterprises. I gave them a tour and overview of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center and we talked about the Renaissance approach—a business planning model within a supportive environment, with teams of advisers and peer-to-peer support. We discussed some of the many Renaissance graduate food and product businesses where they might seek direction and mentorship, such as Cheryl Burr of Pinkie’s Bakery, Judi Henderson of Mannequin Madness, Jackie Huang of Woolbuddy, Eloisa Serrano of Bay Thread, Heidi Gibson of The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen and Neil Gottlieb of Three Twins Ice Cream. We specifically talked about the importance of getting hands-on advice and specific direction from other small business owners. The Fellows then visited Renaissance graduates Laurie Kanes of 12 Small Things and Rachel Saunders of Blue Chair Fruit Company, as well as La Cocina and other Bay Area social enterprises.

I believe that mentorship and support from other business owners is key to small business success and is just as important as training in business planning, budgeting, evaluation metrics, and market research. By hearing success stories and lessons learned directly from other business owners, and getting questions answered by people who operate businesses every day, new entrepreneurs can tangibly see what it means to start and run a small business.

As so many of us know, being a small business owner is a job like no other. It can be incredibly rewarding but also potentially isolating. In this virtual age, though, these Tibetan entrepreneurs have the opportunity to create lasting relationships with the people they met during the program and most importantly with each other. With peer support from the Fellowship cohort and support from advisers (ideally other small business owners), these young entrepreneurs will be able to stay focused on their goals, put their plans into action, and ultimately create positive economic and social change in their communities. I look forward to staying in touch with all of them!

Need motivation? Set a deadline!

Thanks to our colleagues, clients, students, friends, and friends-of-friends, PTA got the 250 votes (and more!) needed to make it to the second round of the Chase Mission Main Streets grant process.

Encouraged by a few colleagues, we decided to apply for a grant to expand expert mentoring. We got a late start and had only two weeks before the application deadline to collect the votes required. Compared to a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, this was a minor recruitment effort (as we just needed votes, not cash), but it was still an all-consuming process.

It seemed like a daunting task at first, but in the end it was a great experience… and we managed to achieve our goal two days ahead of schedule!

Reaching out to our wider community was energizing. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, clients and students and engage around a common goal. We were inspired by the support and encouragement for PTA and our mentorship idea.

Though we often curse them… aren’t deadlines great? We had been considering a train-the-trainer mentorship idea for some time but needed an application deadline—and the requirement that we get our community’s votes behind us—to really focus and design a business action plan.

The pressure of a deadline, especially one that is publicly declared and right around the corner is a powerful motivator. Kickstarter has found that campaigns longer than 60 days in length are rarely successful. The urgency of an immediate deadline pushes us to make things happen.

The risk of disappointment or disapproval from others also motivates us to perform. Should you bet your friends that you’ll run through the streets naked if you don’t meet your deadline? Most people don’t need that level of humiliation or a public contest to act. Sharing a goal with a business advisor, teacher or cohort of small business owners can be a great way to take action. What’s important is finding someone you can be accountable to and who will encourage you to follow through and make something happen.

Though the likelihood of winning a Mission Main Street grant is rather slim (only 12 businesses will win out of what may be 100,000 or more applicants), the process has motivated us to expand our consulting and teaching offerings. Thanks to this contest, we are now developing a mentoring prototype and pilot program for 2014.

What motivates you?

Teaching Entrepreneurship Hands-on

I have taught for many years, starting as an ESL teacher in Europe and Canada while in my early twenties. I learned a valuable and practical lesson from teaching ESL—that we learn best through hands-on, practical experience. To teach English to new immigrants I used the art of play, street theater and humor to help students deal with a new environment and their fears related to learning a language. Together we learned about culture and language, out loud and in full view of each other.

New and emerging entrepreneurs are also dealing with an unknown environment and many fears. They are often wedged between the fantasy of what they hope will happen with their new enterprises and the reality of money, management and marketing. This can be an exciting time but also a scary time.

In classroom teaching with new business owners, it is essential to use a hands-on approach and involve the whole class or cohort in the process. Humor is key, as well as helping to foster excitement about learning together. Teaching entrepreneurship is not just about lecturing (although content and theory is important), it is a doing process.

Business workshops or classes can introduce business skills, demonstrate social media and traditional marketing techniques, and present real world financial projections. However, it is also important for students to get out into the real world themselves to test their assumptions. Then they can use the classroom for sharing, reporting back, and group problem-solving sessions with actual business models.

When I teach small business classes, students research how their business idea fits in the marketplace with face-to-face interviews, they expose their ideas to the reality of the numbers by doing rigorous financial analysis, and then they develop a practical, realistic plan of action that they can test week by week. This plan can be adjusted as the marketplace and their own level of confidence and excitement reveal the right directions.

The focus must be on empowerment and building confidence as well as teaching entrepreneurial skills. Emerging small business owners need to tap into their passion and also have the ability to mitigate risks. It is important for business owners to continually cultivate the right balance of business skills and intuition.

By guiding students through an engaging curriculum, giving them access to resources and mentors, and providing direction related to good management practices, we can help emerging entrepreneurs launch and sustain a successful venture. The process is fun and richly rewarding for both student and teacher, because in the best learning environment, the teacher is learning from the students, too.

Sharing Small Business Wisdom

As part of the lead-up to the eighth annual San Francisco Small Business Week (May 13-18, 2013), I was interviewed for the San Francisco Small Business Week blog.

The week is designed to offer a series of educational and networking events to educate, connect and celebrate the small business community in San Francisco. This year’s festivities will include a conference with 50 free workshops and seminars for small business owners (I’ll be speaking about business planning), a gala called Flavors of San Francisco, and an awards ceremony hosted by the Small Business Commission, the Mayor’s Office and the Board of Supervisors to recognize exceptional small businesses from each district and city-wide.

Here’s my interview with Small Business Week…

SMALL BUSINESS WISDOM FROM PAUL TERRY

Small businesses in San Francisco have a wealth of opportunities to access wisdom and technical assistance from a variety of small business experts who provide one-on-one counseling, technical assistance, and instruction through neighborhood and community-based nonprofit agencies. The San Francisco Small Business Week Committee is pleased to share wisdom from these experts who help the small businesses that shape our communities to succeed.

Today we hear from Paul Terry, business planning coordinator at Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, who believes that one of the keys to success is making a life-long commitment to education.

What role do you play in supporting San Francisco’s small businesses?

I’ve supported small businesses for more than 25 years as an independent business consultant and owner of Paul Terry & Associates with skills that I developed from launching my own food, distribution and training businesses in San Francisco. I am also the business planning coordinator and primary instructor at the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. I was one of the initial developers of Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center’s entrepreneurship program, business incubator, and business support program.

The role I play in supporting small businesses involves teaching, empowering, and encouraging entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses. The training and consulting helps people build their confidence and access the resources they need to be successful in business.

As a small business consultant in private practice, I work with 25-30 businesses each year to facilitate growth and transition, to build effective partnerships, and to implement strategic planning solutions. Over the years, I’ve taught 7,500 entrepreneurs, and I’ve supported over 600 small businesses.

In your years of working with entrepreneurs, what has emerged as the greatest challenge to a small businesses success?

One of the biggest challenges relates to maintaining balance. New business owners need to recognize that their entrepreneurial skills – their ability to get the business up and running – need to be in line with the complexity of the business model. They need to hone their skills, tap into their confidence and develop the scale of business that makes sense for who they are at a particular time. New skills are then required on an ongoing basis as the business grows in size and complexity.

Another challenge facing new businesses involves joint ventures and business partnerships. If the business partners fail to clearly define the relationship at the early stages, problems quickly emerge and often create disruptive conditions as the business grows.

A third challenge for a new business occurs when the entrepreneur attempts to transition from a full-time job — working for someone else — to working in a business that is not immediately profitable. People need to be realistic about the appropriate amount of capital they need launch and grow to profitability.

The common thread – and the reason people come to me – is that they are stuck. They need a better framework for making educated decisions and they need access to the appropriate mentors, advisors and associates for advice and direction.

In your experience, what is the biggest key to long-term success for a small business?

Businesses that have been around for a long time survive and thrive because they provide very good services to established clientele with fair terms and conditions. Long-term success also requires being nimble enough to adapt to new markets, emerging trends, and new technologies.

There are macro and micro competitive forces that can undo a successful business. It is key to make a life-long commitment to education, strategic thinking, and new skills development.

What are some of the most important ways in which small businesses shape communities in San Francisco?

Small businesses define the character of our neighborhoods in San Francisco. The appropriate mix of small businesses enriches and energizes a particular area, which attracts tourism and inspires residents to shop locally. Small businesses invest in their communities by hiring locally, engaging in local politics, donating to nonprofits, building parklets and other community spaces, and doing all the critical things that make our neighborhoods more enjoyable. Small businesses are the advocates of local development and define the flavor and culture of this city – with “pop-ups”, food trucks, trunk shows and an involvement in the local areas where they live, work and play.

Outstanding Service

October 10, 2012
Entrepreneurship Training, Events & Community, Profiles
PTA
4 Comments

Last week I received the Outstanding Service Award from Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center. This award was presented by CEO Sharon Miller to recognize over twenty years of work with Renaissance as an independent business consultant in developing classes and incubator programs and as the primary business planning instructor and coordinator.

receiving the Renaissance Outstanding Service Award

It was such an honor to receive this award in front of colleagues, students, friends and family during Renaissance’s gala event, “Small Business, Big Impact: Celebrating 28 Years of Small Business Success” on October 2nd at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco.

It was quite surprising to realize that I have taught over 5,000 business planning students and supported over 100 incubator tenants at Renaissance. The secret is that I’m constantly inspired working with new and emerging business owners. I love the experience of helping students to explore options, get organized, develop practical business skills and take the steps necessary to make their small businesses work. I am inspired each day by the diversity of people who want to start their own businesses, the variety of business ideas, students’ focus and passion, as well as their willingness to put in the time and make the commitment to be successful.

While the award was so appreciated, the people who truly deserve the accolades are the Renaissance graduates — the new entrepreneurs who are doing research, creating prototypes, testing concepts, launching on a trial basis, and then jumping into the marketplace.

with fellow Renaissance graduate award winners, Heidi Gibson, Yvonne Hines and Alphonso Rhodes

These small and micro businesses are the engines of our local and national economy. We need to support them so they can thrive, continue to expand, offer jobs, and become community-based institutions for our neighborhoods and cities. When you choose to frequent small, independently owned businesses you are directly building the local economy and, in the process, supporting some amazing, dynamic people. Our small business owners are heroes. They are making a difference through their focus on sustainability and their attention to the local community. We need to award the local, small business owner for outstanding service!

Deprecated: Function get_magic_quotes_gpc() is deprecated in /services2/webpages/p/a/paulterry.com/staging/public/wp-includes/formatting.php on line 4371

Honoring an influential institution

Need motivation? Set a deadline!

Teaching Entrepreneurship Hands-on

Sharing Small Business Wisdom

Outstanding Service

185 Arkansas Street, San Francisco, CA 94107

415-255-0131

pta@staging.paulterry.com

Sign up to get our quarterly newsletter.