Whether your business is turning six-figure profits or just getting started out of your home, there is a lot to learn.
If you’re looking for community or financial support, legal advice, marketing tips, or all of the above, someone before you has been there, done that, and made it through. Whether you can spare $1,000 a month, $50 or just need some free advice, there are local resources you can turn to.
Here are five organizations recommended by local entrepreneurs that have helped them launch, grow and sustain their businesses:
Lunar Startups
Based in St. Paul, Lunar Startups is a six-month cohort accelerator program that helps Black, Indigenous, other people of color, LGBTQ+, women and nonbinary entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level.
Once accepted into the program, members of the cohort have access to weekly workshops that cover topics such as how to manage a team and the importance of trademarks and crafting a budget, said Tierra Anderson, program manager.
In addition to weekly workshops, business owners have access to a network of more than 100 local experts to answer questions as they come up and are paired with a coach they meet with throughout the course of the program.
To join the program, prospective members must fill out that year’s application, which is released in January, and make it through additional interview phases.
Once the program is done, Anderson said participants will have “a hype squad for life” in the alumni network. “(Entrepreneurism) is a very lonely road so we take pride in taking the community aspect seriously,” she said.
SCORE
SCORE is a primarily online resource for entrepreneurs that helps businesses through every stage — from launch to growth to passing it down to future generations, said Chris Wicker, chairperson of SCORE Twin Cities.
There are three main pillars of service that SCORE offers: one-to-one mentoring, education and an online library of resources.
The Twin Cities SCORE chapter is unique for a variety of reasons, Wicker said. Although SCORE is a nationwide resource, the Twin Cities SCORE chapter is the seventh largest, serving over 10,000 clients a year with more than 200 business experts in the area.
SCORE Twin Cities also has enough local support, including from the U.S. Small Business Administration, that its services are free to use.
ConnectUP! Institute
Based in St. Paul, ConnectUP! Institute specializes in teaching Black, brown and rural-based entrepreneurs how to handle the “back-office” parts of non-tech businesses, said founder and executive director, Y. Elaine Rasmussen.
Back-office support includes understanding the business’s vision, strategy, marketing, communications and of course, finances. “You need to have a relationship with your finances,” Rasmussen said. “Every time you meet with your bookkeeper or accountant, you should come up with a question,” she said, and chase the answer until your next meeting.
ConnectUP!’s ideal customer is someone with a second-stage business who is looking to grow their business into a full-time job, she said.
“We are very intentional about the human behind the business,” she said. “How do we grow the business in a way that makes sense for them?”
ConnectUP! is supported by organizations including the Bush Foundation, Community Credit Lab and the Neighborhood Development Center.
Allied Executives
Allied Executives is a CEO peer group community in the Twin Cities aimed at helping second-stage businesses connect and learn from each other, said founder and CEO John P. Palen.
Launched in 2000, Allied Executives has grown to include 200 members across 18 different peer groups, Palen said. “Participating in the peer group is a learning exchange process where (entrepreneurs) explore how to run their business and figure it out together,” he said.
BrainTrust Founders Studio
The BrainTrust Founders Studio was created to help Black business owners in the beauty and wellness industry “create an ecosystem of winning,” said founder and CEO Kendra Bracken-Ferguson. “As Black founders, the lack of access and information is a leading barrier to success,” she said.
BrainTrust, which is an online membership-based organization, helps Black business owners by connecting them with mentors, hosting financial information sessions and bringing in advisers ranging from financial experts at JPMorgan Chase to global retailers like Sephora and Target, Bracken-Ferguson said.
BrainTrust offers three levels of memberships to meet entrepreneurs where they’re at. The first level is free and for pre-revenue founders. The second tier is for founders looking to grow their businesses that are bringing in between $10,000 and $1 million and costs members $66 per month. At $199 a month, the final tier is for those making more than $1 million in revenue and looking to scale their operations.“
Equity is derived from access to information and technology,” Bracken-Ferguson said, “We need all of those pieces so we can play in these spaces.”