New association in Longmont caters to small businesses

LONGMONT ? A new professional organization in Longmont is working to ensure local small businesses have the tools they need to grow and thrive in the marketplace.

The Longmont Small Business Association was started in 2004 after several small-business owners identified a need to establish a group, outside of the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, to address the common challenges faced by small-business owners.

?Small businesses have unique needs,? says Jo-Ann Holst, the group?s president and owner of Olympic Financial. She adds that the association seeks to meet those needs through educational events, networking and co-promotion.

Additionally, Holst says the association works as an advocate for small businesses and strives to cultivate a ?choose Longmont small business first? mindset in the Longmont area.

?You hear it a lot, that people like going to places with small shops because it makes the town unique,? she says. ?I would like to see Longmont stay unique with small businesses? instead of becoming a city overrun with big-chain stores. ?I would not want Longmont to become ?same town, USA.??

Perks of membership include monthly training sessions on topics such as marketing, time management, health-care insurance and accounting, taught by local experts. Following each lecture, attendees break into groups to share experiences about what has worked within their business. These breakout sessions allow people to get to know each other better and make connections, Holst says.

The group hosts monthly networking events. In April, the association co-hosted an event with the Latino Chamber of Commerce of Boulder County. Holst hopes the group will be able to co-sponsor similar events with other organizations to expand the circle of contacts available to members.
To promote interactions at networking meetings, Holst says the association has a ?no-wallflower policy? and uses icebreakers at each event. ?With networking events in general, people can be intimidated. We make sure (people) are talking to one another,? she explains.

According to Leonard Dodds, who co-owns LAD Hardwood Flooring with wife, Linda, a key benefit of being an association member has been the group?s help with marketing ideas on how to draw new customers and increase sales. Dodds recently partnered with another member business and shared expenses to produce 2,000 ad flyers distributed throughout Longmont. From the campaign, Dodds gained five new clients.

The Dodds have operated their flooring business since 1995. During that time, Dodds belonged to the Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce for about a year. However, he says he left after feeling that the chamber was geared more toward the needs of larger companies.

?(Small businesses) are a targeted group. People feel very comfortable when everyone is similar to them,? rather than being in a group with larger organizations, explains Sharon King, director of the Boulder Small Business Development Center. The center is a joint venture between the Boulder Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Similar to the Longmont Small Business Association, the center offers training and workshops to address the needs of small businesses. King says when she surveys owners to identify new classes that the center could provide, business owners sometimes tell her they are just lonely.
?They can?t talk to their own employees, and they can drive their spouse crazy with the day-to-day? details, she says, making opportunities to interact with other small-business owners an important survival tool.

Both the center in Boulder and the association in Longmont provide training on marketing and low-cost promotions, which are popular issues with most small businesses, King says.
?Any small business is always on a tight budget, and it has to squeeze everything it can out of every dollar,? she explains.

To help Longmont Small Business Association members promote their businesses to customers, the group plans to host an expo in August at Twin Peaks Mall. Holst says the association is investigating group-advertising discounts at newspapers.

The Association offers four levels of membership for small businesses, with increasing fees depending on the number of employees. Level one, for companies with one to five employees, costs $120 annually. Level four, for companies with 26 to 50 employees, costs $300.

So far, membership mostly consists of companies with one or two employees. While any business can join, companies with more than 50 employees do not have voting privileges on the group?s policies. To date, the association has 30 members. Holst hopes to double this number by the end of the year.

The budget for the association entirely relies on dues.

Longmont Small Business Association
P.O. Box 7564
Longmont, CO 80501
www.longmontsba.org

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