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I can’t believe it is almost the end of my journey at The Lightning Jar. As usual, we had an exhilarating week that I'm excited to share with you - "Joe w/Jo" at Powers Market, networking with a local entrepreneur/farmer, and had an opportunity to meet the Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) staff and attend their monthly meeting.

Our event "Joe w/Jo" was a huge success. We are always so happy to see new faces who stop in at our events! Thank you to all who shared our events with others and brought their friends. It was awesome to hear all about the things happening in the community as well as your personal business ventures. I hope you all enjoyed our event as much as we did :).

Back in January when we presented at the Bennington Rotary Club, we met Renee Richardson who invited us to see her entrepreneurial adventure - raising Icelandic sheep! We of course said yes!! So this week we visited her farm in North Bennington, where she and her family were very kind to show us around their farm. We learned a lot about farming (creating meadows, canning, an apple orchard, raising pigs) and all of these amazing sheep with great names! It was a first for me as I had never seen Icelandic sheep.

Renee and her family (Art and Sam) have so much knowledge about farming and yet they were so humble with all the hard work they do to keep it going. We left the farm knowing that we got a big gift in establishing this amazing connection to build and pass along through The Lightning Jar's connections. In fact, we connected Renee that day to two other people we knew who also raise sheep and one even knew a lot about raising Icelandic sheep! I am pretty sure that I will beg Renee to let me hang out with her sheep when school starts as feeding them was a special experience. They were so beautiful. Besides the picture below, we have posted more pictures on our Facebook page, check it out. I am sure you will fall in love with them too!

Even though we had some crazy weather this past week, I also got to learn about what the Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) does and attended their monthly meeting. I learned about all the different projects they are working on and the challenges that they face. Their are so many project areas including transportation, energy, emergency management and community and economic development. It was cool to learn all that had gone into the Putnam Block and what the future will look like in downtown Bennington. What an amazing job they are doing in the community!

Next week will be my last week, but I'm looking forward to this amazing "Podcast & Pizza" event happening at The Lightning Jar in collaboration with United Counseling Service. It's all about wellbeing and sharing experiences of how to unplug and have balance. You can listen to the podcast here, but I think you should come and share some great pizza and conversation! Hopefully, I will see you then.

Happy February Everyone!

This is an update on my fourth week interning at The Lightning Jar. We sent out our January newsletter yesterday, and I was so surprised to see how much was packed into one month - all the events and so many wonderful people we met on the way.

On Monday, Wally Lother, a Financial Advisor at VSECU visited us and taught a course on “Financial Planning Basics”. I had an opportunity to learn more about creating budgets, investment concepts, and credit fundamentals. This was followed by a one on one financial planning session where I learned a lot about my own finances. If you want to retire in your 50s, then you should give Wally a visit at VSECU, and guess what? It is free of charge! We heard other people wanted to attend so we are going to do it again in March.

On Wednesday night, I audited the StartUp 802 course at the Community College of Vermont (CCV) in Bennington. I had an amazing time and was so happy to meet all of the people wanting to be entrepreneurs. They were hardworking, really engaged with their peers and they were all from different age groups and backgrounds! I can’t wait to see their amazing ideas grow in a local business! StartUp 802 is a 6 week course designed to help people understand the entrepreneurial mindset. It also exposes them to various principles to make business dreams come true such as practicing pitches and developing a networking plan. It's been a collaborative project between CCV and The Lightning Jar, and taught by Robert Braathe, who is an amazing instructor and an entrepreneur himself. He has worked for Disney, GAP, and Apple. He is also the founder of BE Your Start.

Lastly, it was quite a learning experience to see how much work goes into putting together the newsletter. While a bit challenging to understand the website it's built on, it was cool to see the final product and how many subscribers it has (over 500 people!). I had fun putting it together with Joelle, especially looking back at all of our fun times with all the people we met to get the word out about what is happening at The Lightning Jar and in the Bennington community.

I am really happy that my January has been wonderful. We faced some challenging projects but with a lot of hard work we got accomplished our goals. Can't wait for week 5!

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Week 3 - Halfway Point of Kunlek's Journey

1/26/2020

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Hi there! I can't believe it's my third week at The Lightning Jar and how I am already at the halfway point of my field work term. This week, we focused mostly on the internal organization and all the things that need to be done for it to run. I got a deeper understanding of how an organization runs (inside and outside) from the budget allocation, events planning, marketing, understanding grants, collaboration with other organizations and much more. It's all pretty incredible and a lot of work.

Additionally, we have successfully planned two events for the first two weeks of February - “Joe w/ Jo” at Powers Market (details at The Lightning Jar Facebook page) and “Pizza and Podcasts” - details to come this week on our Facebook page! It was great to meet people from both Powers Market and United Counseling Services who were more than happy to collaborate on these fun and community-focused events. We also focused on the space and how to make it more open and functional as well as Joelle teaching me how to create a budget. I didn't realize all the things you need to think about. As hard as it was, I enjoyed learning about it and look forward to our event on Monday, Financial Planning Basics.
Something that was really cool was visiting local artist Jackie Kelly at her studio. We met her through one of our connections at a Joe w/Jo event and we just finished decorating our walls with her amazing work. There are so many beautiful paintings filling the walls of our space till the middle of April. We are planning to change the paintings quarterly. Our members really like them as they are so colorful and bright. The Lightning Jar wants to provide its walls for local artists to show their work - if you are an artist and want to collaborate then we would love to talk and plan with you. If you are passing by our area, feel free to stop by to enjoy Jackie’s stunning work. Check out her story in our January Newsletter where she talks more about how she began painting and how she paints for great causes.
We've also begun creating an Instagram account for The Lightning Jar, and I look forward to building that up more as there is so much to share. Can't wait for week four!

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Week Two! - Kunlek's Journey

1/18/2020

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Hi Everyone!

My second week has been wonderful at The Lightning Jar!

Joelle and I met Jim Verzino, an entrepreneur who has co-founded many socially responsible businesses focused around energy, waste management and workforce. I learned a lot about the challenges for entrepreneurs in Vermont because of its many geographical locations, but also the opportunities the "Vermont" branding in the US market. Jim has already become one of my role models looking at his many contributions to the community and the environment.
I am also really happy with our success at organizing “Buzzword Bingo!” at TLJ this past Tuesday evening. We were joined by James Salerno (Hale Mountain Research and BAM - Bennington Area Makers) and students from Bennington College who are interested in becoming entrepreneurs. The event was planned to be both educational and fun. Sharing lots of laughs with food and drink, we learned a lot watching TED Talks and Shark Tank videos, but we also learned the most listening to each others opinions and dreams. The TED Talks on what happens when you answer SPAM was a highlight getting many laughs and hearing about a man becoming an entrepreneur at 66 was inspiring. Why don't we have a "70 over 70" list?! Thanks to James and his generous gift donations, everyone went home a winner with awesome prizes!
I also had an amazing opportunity to sit in on the interview for the Working Communities Challenge grant. The team who applied was a collaboration of different organizations from the Bennington community. It filled me with great happiness to see so many like-minded people putting a huge effort to fight the issues of generational poverty in Bennington and thinking beyond - to make a change in the bigger economic system of the community.
On Friday, Joelle and I were invited to speak about The Lightning Jar at the Bennington Rotary Club's January meeting on Friday. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to share our vision with rotary members and thinking of how we can collaborate to build a Bennington as an entrepreneurial hub focused on improving the quality of life.
In the last two weeks, I have met so many awesome people, and all of them have made me see the wonders of the Bennington community. Each day I am finding one more reason as to why the Bennington community is the best. Thank you to all I have met over the past two weeks of my journey, I can’t wait to keep meeting new people and also working with those who I have already met.

I hope to see you on January 27th at The Lightning Jar (12-1pm) for the Financial Planning Basics workshop hosted by The Lightning Jar and VSECU.

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Bennington College Student - Field Work Term My Journey @ The Lightning Jar

1/10/2020

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My name is Kunlek Tenzing and I come from Nepal. I am a student at Bennington College. My studies are focused on “Social Entrepreneurship”. I am interested in finding ways on how one can provide a platform for rural farmers to become entrepreneurs. Currently, I am an intern at The Lightning Jar (TLJ). TLJ is an entrepreneurial center in Bennington that provides a coworking space, resources and connections for startups, students, creative minds or anyone who needs help making their business dreams come true.

I started my internship from the 6th of January and I can’t believe how many awesome entrepreneurs I have already met in the last 5 days. All of them are doing amazing work contributing to the local economy of Bennington. I met Kevin (marketing guy) at one of the events ("Joe w/ Jo"), and we had a conversation on different ways to reach different age groups. I met Laurie, a branch manager at VSECU, from whom I learned the values and mission of VSECU in environmental protection, energy efficiency and social goods in Vermont. I also met Kate, a well being psychologist who helps entrepreneurs figure out how to enjoy their work and keep stress manageable. And my mentor Joelle Greenland, director at the Lightning Jar, who took every free second of her time to teach me something new from business planning to leadership skills.

The Field Work Term of Bennington has given me a wonderful opportunity to be engaged in the real world - it allows me to put my knowledge into actions. It has also helped me to connect myself with the town and increase the sphere of my network with people of similar interests. I am really happy to be part of TLJ and really excited for what's coming next. Stay tuned for next week's post - Week 2!

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Happy New Year! - Top 40

1/10/2020

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As we launch strongly into 2020 (can you believe it's 2020?) I wondered what could really be useful to our community of entrepreneurs?

I recently was talking with with a former boss/friend, who I always considered more of a mentor, with a door that was open to all, and an infectious laugh that was accented by his Tennessee drawl. He even pushed a lemonade cart down the halls of our department just so he could hear how people were doing and what he could do to help them in their jobs. He knew the importance of strong working relationships and how loyalty was developed in a company. If Norman was getting a cup of coffee in the kitchen he'd be the first to greet you with a huge smile and say, "what great things are in store for you today?"

To say Norman is a prolific learner and reader would be an understatement. He reads more than any person I know - and the perfect person to ask "what book would you recommend on this subject?" Over the course of almost a year, Norman set a goal for himself to deliver the very best article, every business day, and finish with a weekly review of the best books he'd read. The culmination of this work lead to his list of The 40 Best Books of Striving Strategically. Found at his blog Striving Strategically, the list is his way of providing, "the most useful thing you’ll read on any given day based on what I curate from my own research." I don't know about you, but I have very little time to sit down and read a 200 page (or 20 page) book on leadership, efficiencies or performance measures. Hence Norman's expertise - his ability to read and unpack the essence of what an author is trying to convey in a manner that is understandable. He has written hundreds of book reports, chock full of condensed knowledge - knowledge that he gladly shares with others searching for answers.

So, I now share this amazing list "The 40 Best Books of Striving Strategically" with you - because sharing and spreading knowledge is important at The Lightning Jar - it's what builds and supports an entrepreneurial ecosystem filled with creative people wanting to learn, create and build.

Here are the first 20, but all 40 provide amazing insights. Hope they prove helpful in making your business dreams come true - Happy 2020!:

The Best Book On Strategy: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy ;
The Best Book For Decision-Making: Sources of Power;
The Best Book To Cure “Busy”: Essentialism;
The Best Book For Self-Improvement: How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big;
The Best Book To Understand Data: Naked Statistics;
The Best Book For Lean Management: The Lean Startup;
The Best Books For Understanding Purpose: Man’s Search For Meaning + Bad Blood ;
The Best Book For Second-Year Managers: First, Break All The Rules;
The Best Book For Fixing Your Worldview: Factfulness; and
The Best Book For Confronting Issues: Difficult Conversations
The Best Book For Introducing Business Strategy: Playing To Win
The Best Book For Creating Change: Switch;
The Best Book To Introduce Behavioral Economics: Nudge;
The Best Book For Making Change Successful: Transitions;
The Best Book for Examining Our Motivations: On Desire;
The Best Book To Know What To Say: Words That Work;
The Best Book To Understand Uncertainty: The Black Swan:
The Best Book For Organizational Development: Work Rules! ;
The Best Book For Negotiation: Never Split The Difference; and
The Best Book For Starting A Data-Driven Practice: Lean Analytics

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Are You Making a Dent?

12/23/2019

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When you read the title of this blog, did you think Steve Jobs or what might have happened to your car when you didn't pay attention backing out of a parking spot during holiday shopping? If it's the latter than be prepared to read about how my life pivoted a year ago. A year ago, my family and I moved from Colorado to Vermont. You heard that right - we left Colorado. TWICE. Once in 2008 and again in 2018. A lot of things transpired in 2018, but one of the biggies was coming across this quote from Steve Jobs, who tragically passed at age 56. "We're here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?" How true.

So, I began to ponder this quote, ALOT. I had turned 50. Yes, I also put that in print, and thought, if I only had six more years on this Earth - what would I have done to make a difference? There's a reason, as Jobs puts it, why we are all here. And then I decided - it was time to make a dent and to make some big changes. To start taking big risks, calculated risks, and saying "YES AND - ".

Things started to magically fall into place as if I magically opened up a portal to the way I wanted to live my life - you know the kind of life where you lose track of the date and day. But it doesn't matter, because you're living every day fully whether it's a weekday, weekend, or whatever. I digress, but here's the point, ask yourself, "Are you making a dent in the universe?" Are you truly doing what you love to do? Because if you are - does it show in your business? Do your customers know why you do what you do?

But let's return to Jobs and why a lot of entrepreneurs look at how he built Apple. Simon Sinek, another one of my favorite people and the author of "Star With Why" (a must read) summed it up really well in his article, "Why Entrepreneurs Love Steve Jobs" which you can read here. Sinek talks about how Jobs created a company that just didn't create computers, but rather a company whose products became symbols for a set of values and beliefs. While much can be written about Jobs' work ethic and always surrounding himself around people who shared his beliefs, Sinek states that in order to lead like Jobs you have to have three must-have characteristics: 1) Clarity of why you do what you do; 2) Discipline of how you do it; and 3) Consistency of what you do. I couldn't agree more. If you know they why, then the how and the whats will fall into place easily. So, are you making a dent? If so, I'd love to hear about it!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS & HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

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The First Thirty-ish Days - Meaning of Entrepreneur?

12/6/2019

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It's been 34 days at The Lightning Jar and even that is not really accurate - it's the "at" that is the misnomer. My point is that while I've only been at the helm for 34 days, I've had the most amazing time visiting other co-working spaces/innovation hubs, and meeting people who have shown me a whole new world (e.g. Middlebury, Albany, Troy, Burlington, Springfield, Hartland, Keene). It's a world filled with creative thinkers, risk takers and those seeking to fulfill entrepreneurial dreams. (And yes, I always have to think and visualize how to spell the various forms of entrepreneur until I see that red line disappear and I know I've spelled it correctly.) So let's talk about that - what does the word "entrepreneur" mean? According to Merriam-Webster, entrepreneur (noun) means: one who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Hmmm, that's not how I would describe the incredibly talented entrepreneurs I've met these past 34 days. How about we give Entrepreneur.com a try? According to Steve Tobak's article, "The True Meaning of Entrepreneur" (entrepreneur.com/article/244565), being an entrepreneur is not a job. He then states, quite strongly, that anyone aspiring to be an entrepreneur should paste the following equation on his/her smart phone, mirror or wherever you will see it most:

ENTREPRENEUR + CAPITAL = PRODUCTS + CUSTOMERS = BUSINESS

He goes on to provide some examples of real world entrepreneurs (CEOs of Snapchat and Whole Foods), but concludes with you can't be a successful entrepreneur by just wanting to be one. You begin by identifying a customer problem and a product that solves it. The next step - capital. Then make the product, market it and gain customers. Of course, I would interject that many, many iterations of this process will ensue (and a lot of necessary failures), but, after a lot of determination, and with an insatiable need and passion to create your product, you'll become what Tobak sums up this way: "Someday you’ll wake up and realize what you’ve become: a guy who took a risk, started a business, and made money. An entrepreneur."

What do you think? What does "entrepreneur" mean to you? I'd love to hear your thoughts (joelle@lightningjarvt.com), or give a call at 802-321-3070 to arrange a tour of The Lightning Jar. We are always eager to talk to those who are creative, have great ideas and who want to be an "entrepreneur".

Cheers - JSG

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"Meet the Director" Event & Other News

11/8/2019

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Thursday, November 14, 2019, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM @ The Lightning Jar

Come meet Joelle Greenland, the new Chief Entrepreneurial Director of The Lightning Jar!

Whether you're a current member, past member, community stakeholder or just someone interested in what we do here, please join us to learn more about what we do. Joelle will talk about her vision for The Lightning jar as well as some of her ideas for programming, workshops and networking events. She is also eager to hear ideas and suggestions on how The Lightning Jar can make its members more successful. Lite hors d'oeuvres will be served along with a cash bar, with benefits to current members.

Special thanks to Tomasi's Sports & Awards for being a sponsor.

Please access this event from our entrance located on Depot Street. Should you have any questions, please feel free to email joelle@lightningjarvt.com

Shires Young Professionals/The Lightning Jar
Holiday Mixer/Networking
December 10, 2019 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. @ LJ

LJ members come meet up with the Shires Young Professionals for a evening filled with engaging conversation, games and laughter. Food and fun and a great way to meet new people and learn some new things.

DID YOU KNOW????

The Vermont Small Business Development Center (VtSBDC) offers no-cost expert assistance to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Are you ready to start or grow your business? VtSBDC can help. Since 1992, it has provided no-cost professional expertise and guidance to hundreds of business owners. It combines one-on-one confidential advising with training programs to give clients the tools and insight they need to reach their business goals.

The VtSBDC's goal is to help you make informed decisions so that you can grow and sustain your business over time. It can assist with startup planning, financing, marketing, financial management and operations. Find out more at www.vtsbdc.org

The local Bennington SBDC Area Business Advisor is Nancy Shuttleworth, who meets with clients at the Lightning Jar. Interested? Email Nancy at nshuttleworth@vtsbdc.org.

Stay tuned as The Lightning Jar will be working with Nancy to bring trainings to the LJ in 2020.

"There is no elevator to success...You have to take the stairs" - Simon Sinek

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New Startup802 Entrepreneurship Course Offerings

10/18/2019

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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 and mindset needed to recognize opportunity, innovate, explore creative ideas, and learn what it takes to start a business.

Startup 802: An Entrepreneurial Mindset

6 Weeks | Wednesdays, 6:00-8:30 pm | January 22 - February 26, 2020

Classes held at The Lightning Jar, CCV & Local Businesses.

Startup 802: Small Business Marketing

9 Weeks | Wednesdays, 5:45-8:45 pm | October 16 - December 11, 2019

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.

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Week 5 - Kunlek's Journey

Week 4 - Kunlek's Journey

Week 3 - Halfway Point of Kunlek's Journey

Week Two! - Kunlek's Journey

Bennington College Student - Field Work Term My Journey @ The Lightning Jar

Happy New Year! - Top 40

Are You Making a Dent?

The First Thirty-ish Days - Meaning of Entrepreneur?

"Meet the Director" Event & Other News

New Startup802 Entrepreneurship Course Offerings

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