Taking it on the road: GROW business workshops expand scope

By Mary Owen

A new focus and additional funds has prompted GROW-EDC to take its signature workshop on the road.

“We are very excited about GROW on the road,” said Allison McKenzie, executive director and entrepreneurial coach. “This is the first time that we have been able to take ‘Make More Money Doing What You Love: Practicing the Art of Business Success” on the road and open it up to everyone in the communities we serve.”

The workshop teaches people how to set up their organizations for maximum success.

“This class takes the best of what we do in our one-on-one consulting process and makes it easy for an entrepreneur, nonprofit or civic leader to practice what we’re preaching in a fun, supportive, two-hour class,” McKenzie said. “The content in itself is important, but providing an opportunity for entrepreneurs to come together and learn from us and from each other goes a long way toward anchoring the material we are teaching.”

Thanks to the success of workshops such as Small Steps, Big Results, a part of GROW’s larger theme to identify other services that augment its consulting work, and additional $25,000 in supplemental funding from Marion County in December, free classes will be provided  for people in Santiam Canyon communities, McKenzie said.

“These extra funds mean we can do an outreach pilot project to two other rural Marion County communities, which is something we discussed at our visioning session last spring,” McKenzie added. “The Marion County commissioners have been important supporters of GROW, and with this additional supplemental funding from them, it seemed like a natural fit to launch this pilot project.”

McKenzie said GROW North Santiam, a program under GROW-EDC, is now in its fourth year. The outreach has had enough time on the ground to see that those who adopt the management practices it suggests are doing well, according to McKenzie.

“On the flip side, those who are missing a key element of their management team are stressed out and struggling,” she said. “That’s probably one of the most challenging aspects of the work we do: seeing people suffer when sometimes a small but meaningful change in their business model could make the difference between thriving and closing their doors.”

McKenzie said people sometimes need more than a tweak and even a small change isn’t always easy.

“But to anyone who is scratching their heads about how to move forward successfully, I hope they come to these classes,” she said. “Our hope is that people will come away from these workshops feeling more confident and with tools in hand that will help them build a prosperous business over the long term.”

Kelly Schreiber, executive director of the Stayton Sublimity Chamber of Commerce, credits GROW for helping the chamber, with McKenzie facilitating SSCOC’s yearly planning sessions.

“Allison has been instrumental in helping us select our board of directors,” Schreiber said. “Because of her training, when we’re approaching possible board members, we first make sure they will fulfill our trinity of business. We look at what role current board members fulfill: marketing and promotions, product and services, financial management. We see where the gaps are and find people that have the skills to fill them.”

Because of the training, Schreiber said SSCOC’s board “works smoothly and furthers the organization’s goals.”

Nancy Hendricks, owner of Fresh to You Produce & Garden Center in Stayton with her husband, Carl, said GROW has helped them do what they’ve been talking about doing for years: focus.

“We are on a profitable path for 2013,” said Hendricks, who has participated in the Small Steps, Big Results workshops several times. “During the class, we write down three main goals to work on during the month and list steps needed to make the goals a reality. Allison has helped us to focus our marketing efforts and define who we want to be to the world.”

Jen Hume, a licensed counselor and educator, called the individual coaching “extremely helpful.”

“Which motivates me to action and supports my efforts as I get it all figured out,” she said. “The Small Steps classes have impacted the way I approach projects and tasks both professionally and personally. I’m able to accomplish so much more using the process Allison taught us.”

Nicole Miller, owner of Word’s Out PR, said the time it takes her to attend a GROW-EDC class is “nothing as compared with the incredibly valuable information and inspiration I get from that time in class.”

“Honestly, every time I attend a GROW workshop, I leave knowing more than I did before, feeling wonderfully empowered, having gained great clarity and direction,” Miller said. “Thanks to Allison and the strategies she teaches, I have been able to meet and exceed my goals with Word’s Out PR for the past four years.”

At a one-on-one consulting meeting in January, Miller said McKenzie helped her develop her yearly business plan for Word’s Out.

“She helped me steer my mind toward what I want to accomplish this year, and within four days I am shocked to say, I already reached my goal,” Miller said. “I’m pleased to say that thanks to GROW, I’ll be aiming for even loftier business goals.”

Sharlene Trexler of Trexler Farm has worked with GROW for more than three years, helping her to get her projects “organized and condensed.”

“The class has given me a designated time to think about what I feel inspired to do, and what I want to work on in my life and business,” Trexler said. “Many of the changes happening to Trexler Farm this year started as ideas I thought about in the GROW classes.”

A highlight of GROW for McKenzie is working with clients who are ready to “go big.”

“We help take someone’s passion and put practical feet under it,” she said.

More talk about grounding business dreams more concretely in financial practices and solid marketing programs are in GROW’s future outreach.

“You are also likely to see more group learning events from us, especially working in concert with our local chambers of commerce and other community partners,” she said.