All Categories - The Lightning Jar

New Startup802 Entrepreneurship Course Offerings

4/18/2019

What is an entrepreneurial mindset?
What does it take to succeed?

Being an entrepreneur is a lot more than simply creating or managing a business. Develop the skills you need to recognize opportunity, innovate, explore creative ideas, and learn what it takes to start your business.

Startup 802: An Entrepreneurial Mindset

6 Weeks | Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30 pm | September 4 - October 9

Classes held at the Lightning Jar.

Startup 802: Small Business Marketing

9 Weeks | Wednesdays, 5:45-8:45 pm | October 16 - December 11

Classes held at the Lightning Jar and CCV-Bennington.

To register, contact Nicole Stetson at CCV-Bennington: (802) 447-2361 or nicole.stetson@ccv.edu

Instructors

Robert Braathe of BE Your Start is a speaker, educator and mentor delivering engaging, interactive presentations on topics such as Marketing, Communications, Human Resources, Education, and more. His years in management with Disney, Gap and Apple as well as his 12 years as a business consultant and startup consultant give him unique perspectives on a wide array of topics. He has also mentored entrepreneurs through consultations, accelerator programs, college classes and high school programs.

Networking 501 Workshop

3/1/2019

Wed, March 13, 2019, 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM @ CCV

A followup to our event Networking 500 - How to Grow Your Network and Make Strong Connections.

Join Christine Smith of Wealth Advisory Group and Robert Braathe, Entrepreneur, Mentor and Owner of Braathe Enterprises to learn best practices and tips for

Determining and nurturing your Centers of Influence
Finding that one key new contact each week (quality vs quantity)
Identifying characteristics of the right connections
How to ask for intros to key targets

Participate in an interactive Q+A and activities to make you more comfortable with networking
Event is free - Optional Contribution if you'd like to contribute to the cost of running the event.

Register here.

Startup 802 Startup, Small Business and Idea Showcase

3/1/2019

Wed, March 13, 2019, 6:15 PM – 7:45 PM @ CCV

Stop by Community College of Vermont to meet current and recent students of the #Startup802 program and other friends in the startup community. Event will be held on the 1st floor in the Community Room. Refreshments and snacks will be available

Join Robert Braathe and his CCV students for the final night of their 8 week Ice House Entrepreneurship class to learn about their ideas and businesses.

Format of event is similar to a trade show or “poster session”. Stop by anytime between 615 and 745 to walk around and see 8-10 startup ideas in progress.

This is NOT a pitch event, and there are no formal presentations. Participants will be at various stages of the formation process, so walk around and give them feedback on their progress.

Companies / ideas include:
Kamryn's Closet
Event Player Live
The Beyond Gallery - coming soon to Bennington, VT
United Aircraft Technologies

Register here.

Free Workshop on Self-Employment

2/25/2019

Plan to make more money or turn your hobby into a business!

You are cordially invited to attend our FREE workshop, “Exploring Self-Employment” to be held at Bennington Free Library. On Tuesday, March 19, 2019, we will begin at 10:30 am and end about 1:30 pm. The library is located at 101 Silver Street in Bennington. You are free to bring a beverage and/or snack.

Are you curious what it takes to start a business or need some guidance toward self-employment. We will help point you in the right direction to your success and help you stay on target, so that you can become self-employed. BROC Community Action’s Business Counselor will provide an interactive, fun workshop with many resources available to you.

Perhaps you or someone you know is looking at self-employment. Please feel free to share with friends and colleagues.

Registration is requested and greatly appreciated, but please arrive about 15 minutes early if you were unable to pre-register. Please call (802) 665-1744 or email ahoyle@broc.org.

We look forward to helping you achieve your goals and dreams.

There will be a drawing for a door prize!

Entrepreneurship and Small Business Thrive in the Shires

1/13/2019

Vermont Wooden Mill - Manchester, VT

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS THRIVE IN THE SHIRES DUE TO COMMUNITY
Written By Cherise Madigan in partnership with the Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce

Starting a business can be intimidating, overwhelming—even risky. But here in The Shires of Vermont, the prospect of entrepreneurship becomes much less daunting when you consider the community full of resources and support committed to helping you succeed.

With a wealth of guidance, training opportunities, and professional networks on the local, regional, and statewide levels, it’s no surprise that small businesses have a legacy in the Green Mountain state. Here in Bennington county, vibrant town and village centers including downtown Bennington, Manchester, and Arlington have long been lined with shops and services built the Vermont way—from the ground up. And with such close-knit communities nestled in these mountains and valleys, those businesses often find their most significant support from their own friends and neighbors.

Read the full story here.

SCORE: My Business is Growing: Am I Ready to Manage It Effectively?

1/6/2019

It's easy to forget or overlook the fact that to benefit from growth profitably, your business systems must be ready to support that growth. What does that really mean? Are HR, accounting, and IT systems ready to roll? This session will provide you with important information to determine:

Staffing needs (hiring, resource reallocation, etc.)
Potential changes to HR policies and procedures
IT scalability
Accounting system growth needs
How to address identified issues

This event will have a panel of experts including:

Brian Curtis from DominionTech Computer Services (IT)
Andrea Gunther from Davis & Hodgdon Associates CPAs (Accounting)
Dave Mount from SCORE Vermont (HR)

This event is organized by Vermont SCORE.

Date: Wednesday, January 9th

Time: 5.30-7.00p

Location: New England Federal Credit Union
141 Harvest Lane, Williston, VT 05495

Cost: Free (but registration is required)

Registration:
Register online at: https://champlainvalley.score.org/event/my-business-growing-am-i-ready-manage-it-effectively

Seating is limited, so register today!

Looking Forward

12/18/2018

With the holidays upon us and the new year quickly approaching, December tends to be a time for celebration, reflection, and planning. In the last six months of my tenure as Director here at the Lightning Jar, I've had the privilege to meet many wonderful people and watch this community grow, and now I must move on.

To start with, you should know that the direction of the Lightning Jar will be in the very capable hands of the steering committee. These are the same folks that launched the project and kept it moving forward before I started in July. Because of their hard work coworking, programs, and events will continue to run as planned.

As any entrepreneur will tell you, starting a new venture like this one is challenging and exciting and, sometimes, scary. The beauty of the Lightning Jar is that makes it a little less scary. It's hard to really understand the power of the Lightning Jar community until you've joined it. I've seen young entrepreneurs build their confidence both organically and methodically here. Just last week the most recent Startup 802 cohort pitched their business ideas, and I was blown away. These folks are serious, and they're going to succeed. Some were makers, like carpenters and bakers, and others had plans to explore music management, fitness centers, and major tech innovations. There is a wealth of talent and enthusiasm in the Bennington community. Equally exciting, we have a community of mentors and support systems that is eager to help – I've seen casual conversations turn into learning opportunities and business referrals that eventually launched a new business.

For me, the best part of my time here has been the folks that walk in the door with an idea and no introduction. That's brave. Most people have fabulous ideas and only a few pursue them. For this reason, the Lighting Jar is hugely important. This community has built a place where others can come to explore their ideas and share their passions. I'm proud to have helped create these opportunities.

Looking forward, it's time for me to move on. It's bittersweet, but I'm not afraid. The Lightning Jar will continue on without me, and I'll get a chance to explore my own entrepreneurial tendencies. This is just the beginning for us both.

Thanks,

Michelle Marrocco

Something to Share

11/27/2018

Show & Tell with SYP

Posted by Joe Braim

To be honest, I wasn't confident I had anything worth sharing at last Friday's Show & Tell event coordinated by SYP and the Lightning Jar. As one of the youngest entrepreneurial minds at the event, I came unprepared to discuss a hobby or passion of my own. Quickly, I realized that was wrong..

Everyone has a small thing on the side that makes them cool. It's really just about being proactive. I didn't need anything visible to present, I could have simply spoken. I learned about unique ideas and passions from nearly a dozen people I never knew before. It's never too late or too early to start my professional network.

Even the start of the event was something different for me. I was used to beer, wine, and pizza options, but some smooth jazz set the mood while we chatted before the sharing started.

Matt Harrington of the Chamber got the sharing going by talking about motivation. Then a woman pursuing her passion for health and wellness told us about her new business as a health coach and how she helps others overcome food addiction and ditch sugar. Next, a gentlemen from Bennington showed us his website for his side gigs as a professional wedding and car photographer and videographer. His photos were great! Not only did he shoot these bizarre cliff- and road-side shots with tremendous views, each photo had a different car or truck in the shot.

The diversity of subjects throughout the night was really interesting. Later, I listened to a gentleman talk about his participation in hackathon events. In my head I said, "Well what the heck is a hackathon?" Come to find out, he tells me all about it! And I'm like, "Woah, this guy's smart." So he talks about what he did in these crazy 24 hour program and software development competitions called “hackathons.” They pop-up all over, and turns out he and his team came in second place in one. Learning about that experience was really interesting!

Switching fields completely, a lovely seamstress showed us her handmade puppet theaters that enhance kids' creativity at home or in a classroom! Seems like having your own characters to tell stories with would make story time fun again. To wrap things up, because there was a lot to share, we were able to hear a fellow member's entrepreneurial story. Achieving milestones after starting at home and getting his first office space at the Lightning Jar. After building his business, he moved on on his own and is still operating in town. All in all, I learned a lot. It was great to hear from so many people and get to know what they're passionate about. Maybe next time, I'll share something too.

Coworking Reciprocity

11/25/2018

A Season for Sharing

Posted by Michelle Marrocco

We're in it – it's officially the holiday season. So happy holidays! Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving? I hope you didn't get into too many political arguments and you were surrounded by people you love.

I'll admit it. I definitely spent some time working over the Thanksgiving break. I really believe in taking a break from screens whenever possible, so I tried to keep it to just reading and writing. If you're anything like most of the people I know, you probably checked your email too.

Thinking about the next month of parties, holidays, and travel (oh, the travel), I'm already planning how to get everything done. Last year, we drove the three hours to Boston for Christmas Eve then two hours to Connecticut for Christmas day, and then three hours back home the day after! Meanwhile, I'm trying to do whatever work I can in the car whenever I'm not the driver. It was overly ambitious.

This year, I'm excited to share that there are better options than working in the car. I recently learned about the Vermont Pass network – a partnership of seven coworking spaces across the state that offer reciprocal membership. (And yes, Lightning Jar is one of them.) That means if you're traveling to Woodstock or Stowe this holiday season (or ever), you can use your Lightning Jar membership to get in and do some work. That is, when you're not skiing.

We have partner coworking space in Bradford, Burlington, Montpelier, Stowe, Waitsfield, and Woodstock. Assuming the weather cooperates in early December, I'll be doing a state-wide tour of coworking and makerspaces. More on that to come.

For those heading to New Hampshire, we're also partnering with the Hannah Grimes Center in Keene. First of all, I was there in September and the Hannah Grimes Center is super cool! The Hive at the Hannah Grimes Center is specifically their coworking space. Next time you're in the area, bring you Lighting Jar badge and sign in at the desk. (I also suggest walking across the street and grabbing a smoothie at the co-op if you get hungry.)

The Hive Co-Workign at Hannah Grimes in Keene, NH. (Photo courtesy of the Hannah Grimes Center)

In case you can't tell, I've got feelings about this. One, I'm just really excited to be able to share these opportunities with our members. Two, the folks I'm meeting are amazing! I love meeting people and learning what they get excited about. Collaboration is my jam, and all these folks that run coworking spaces and innovation centers and incubators really embrace that. So stop in and let's collaborate. With the new year approaching, it's a great time to start working on that passion project or learn how you can help someone else with theirs. It is the season of giving after all.

About the Author(s)

Michelle started as the Director of the Lightning Jar in July 2018. Before that, she worked on regional community and economic development in Bennington County. She uses the skills and connections she made from that work to connect others to the resources, skills, and people they need to build successful businesses and careers.

Finding Startup Capital

11/2/2018

Almost everyone I know has a great business idea, but they don't all have great businesses. Most don't even have a business! There seems to be this in between place, like a purgatory for good ideas, where folks think they need more money before they can start. In general, I challenge people on that assumption, but sometimes a bit of startup capital goes a long way.

That's when loans come in. I get it. Taking on more debt is scary – especially if you bought a car or a house or went to college in the last twenty years (or ever). But if it meant you could finally launch or expand your business, would it be worth it? At the very least, understanding your options can help you answer that question.

Not all loans are the same. If you're interested in learning about those differences and how to choose the best one for you and your business, we want to help. Join us on Wednesday, November 7 at the Lightning Jar for a panel discussion moderated by the US Small Business Administration. The panel begins at noon and registration, at 11:30am. Get here early so you can meet the lenders one-on-one!

Find more information HERE.