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The Region 10 office in downtown Montrose.
Staff Writer
The Region 10 office in downtown Montrose.
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Regional entrepreneurs in need of a business plan are in luck.
Region 10 is hosting three workshops within the next month to help entrepreneurs and local business leaders develop or complete business plans.
Susan Bony, Region 10’s business resource center program assistant, will lead the sessions. She works within the nonprofit’s business loan and small business resource center departments. She served as a consultant for Region 10 for 13 years before her official hire, specializing in business development and business plans.
Bony will assist attendees with executive summaries, market and competitive analysis, marketing plans, financial projections and other elements of a business plan.
The workshops return as Region 10 is experiencing a hike in visits from entrepreneurs around the region. Bony, who helps people with specific components of their business each month, said visits have doubled since the start of the pandemic.
“Since COVID hit, we have definitely become more of a target for services,” Bony said. “That was really why we opened the Gunnison office. The demand was there.”
Region 10 has a staff of two in its Gunnison location. One specializes in loans and the other in small business consulting.
The new office has helped the nonprofit spread support and services across the region as individuals of different ages have sought business advice. .
“About one to two businesses a month are doing a business plan and getting a loan out of it, which is huge,” Bony said.
Census data shows 5.4 million new business applications were filed in 2021.
Not all of those businesses came to fruition — Bony said some people decide to suspend their business ideas if the financial cost or logistical factors are too large
The 2021 Census numbers are far greater than the 3.5 million business applications in 2019, a 53 percent increase from 2019 to 2021: the highest increase on record since 2005.
The increase is also a break from what occurred following the Great Recession when new business applications hovered between 2.5 and 2.6 million.
Nathan Perry, an associate professor of economics at Colorado Mesa University, said Montrose’s increase in business filings from 2020 to 2021 is an indicator of small business activity in the area. (Perry cited from a quarterly Montrose County Economic Update last year.)
“We’ve talked about it here and we think the local economy is recovering well from the pandemic,” Bony said. “If you look at the city’s sales tax figures, the number of businesses that are popping up and loans that we’re doing, requests for funding, we’re doing well compared to the rest of the state and perhaps the nation.”
Colorado has the sixth best economy in the nation, according to a report from WalletHub. The finance-focused company compared each state across three categories — economic activity, economic health and innovation potential. It ranked Colorado ninth in the latter category.
Region 10 has hosted the class in different forms pre-COVID but it is the first time the half-day session format is being attempted. The nonprofit plans to alternate between the in-person and Zoom options through the end of the year.
Bony taught the workshop for several years before the pandemic temporarily shelved the program. But that hasn’t detracted interest — several people have already signed up for this year’s workshops.
“Research has shown that 90 percent of businesses are more likely to succeed if they write a business plan,” Bony said. “It just increases their chances of success because it’s planning. It’s something you create as a guideline to launch your business.”
The workshops give entrepreneurs, and business owners, an opportunity to complete their business plans, which can take around 20 to 30 hours to finish, Bony said. The classes help condense that timeframe.
The plans are often a must if individuals need to secure funding — most lenders require documentation that shows a clear and concise roadmap.
Bony has also found the classes help entrepreneurs identify their target markets, which is a key component of the plan, she said.
“It really makes them think of that business inside and out,” Bony said, “and we work on the numbers — how to project revenue and expenses.”
The sessions also give opportunities to entrepreneurs who put their plans on hiatus and want to finish. One participant is returning after starting a plan two years earlier, Bony said. They also help with decision making — a person could learn from a plan that they could be walking into a risky investment.
“We try to help because there really is nobody else out there to do it,” Bony said. “We’re a quasi-government agency that supports the counties we serve and that’s part of our role — supporting small business in growing and maintaining business but also launching new business. It’s community development.”
Region 10 in April was named the Jody Raskin Community Lender of the Year for its work during the 2021-2022 fiscal cycle. The honor is handed out by the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Colorado District Office and is given to an organization that demonstrates a “commitment to the creation, growth and expansion of small businesses in underserved markets.”
Region 10 is currently in the development stages for a new program that aims to overcome the language barrier for non-English speaking individuals who seek business-related services.
The nonprofit brings in interpreters for its business plan workshops or daily sessions, Bony said, but wants a program that assists and notifies the region’s Hispanic population of services that are available.
For more information on Region 10’s programs and services or to register for the workshop, visit region10.net.
Josue Perez is a staff writer for the Montrose Daily Press
Josue Perez is a staff writer for the Montrose Daily Press
The first session is in-person on June 16 from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. inside Region 10’s Montrose office. The other two, on July 19 and 21, are through Zoom and take place from 9 a.m. – noon. The registration fee is $85 and attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop or electronic notepad to the in-person session.
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