Handful Studios – Portland
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
2d ago
Julian Erickson-Watson’s love for pottery began during his senior year of college when he decided to enroll in a pottery class. Not knowing what would come of it, he chose to follow this passion to see where it would lead him. Eventually, Julian relocated to Maine, where he discovered the rich pottery community in Portland. Julian set out to put down roots by opening his very own pottery teaching studio. That’s when he turned to the SBDC!    Julian knew there was a market to pursue his dream but needed help navigating the legal, financial, and tax aspects of opening a business. He ..read more
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How to Reach your Customers
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
3w ago
Part 4 of the “Things we wish we knew” Blog series By: Tina Oddleifson, Business Advisor   “If you market to everyone, you’ll market to no one”  – Famous Marketing Guru As business advisors, we review a lot of business plans. One thing we see regularly are marketing plans with vague references to social media and a website but with very few details. Not having a detailed marketing plan is a big mistake — because marketing is the engine that drives your sales. That’s why it’s in the top five of our “Things We Wished We Knew” blog series. Identify Your Target Market When it comes to ma ..read more
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Palette Crêperie – Monhegan
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
3w ago
Originally hailing from Morocco and residing New York City, Redwane Gatarny, a trained chef, embarked on a journey back to his culinary roots. After seven years in public health, he decided to return to his passion for good food with a dream of sharing the authentic flavors he remembers from his childhood. He wanted to open a seasonal food trailer on Monhegan Island. For help making his dream a reality, Redwane reached out to Maine SBDC and was paired with Raynor Large, center director and business advisor at Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Raynor worked closely with Redwane on licensing, permitting ..read more
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Maine SBDC Releases 2023 Results: Supporting and empowering entrepreneurs throughout Maine
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
1M ago
February 26, 2024 The Maine Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) is proud to announce the release of its 2023 Annual Report. The report, available here, highlights the Maine SBDC’s impact in supporting Maine’s entrepreneurs and small businesses. The report showcases the tangible outcomes in 2023 and spotlights individual success stories that underscore the powerful effect of the program’s business advising and training services. In 2023, business advisors across Maine provided no-cost, confidential business advising to 2,289 entrepreneurs and small businesses. They spent over 8,600 hours ..read more
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Ease Massage & Manual Therapy – Saco
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
1M ago
Stefani Sellers has always been passionate about healing and helping others. This is why she launched her business, Ease Massage & Manual Therapy, in 2022. Ease is Maine’s only nationally board-certified medical massage therapy practice certified in manual lymphatic drainage. She provides her clients with effective healing solutions tailored to their individual needs including massage therapy, manual therapy, manual lymph drainage, and Reiki. Stefani met Anne Lancaster, Maine SBDC at USM Business Advisor, at an event and they began working together on overall business strategy. From the ou ..read more
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Create realistic financial projections
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
1M ago
Part 3 of the “Things we wish we knew” Blog series By: Tina Oddleifson, Business Advisor   We get it, you’re an artist, a baker, or love working on cars.  You’ve decided to start a business doing what you love, and you plan to let someone else worry about the financial details later.   But when we asked Maine SBDC Business Advisors about the biggest mistakes they’ve seen business owners make,“finance” came up — a lot.   There’s much to talk about when it comes to small business finance and the common mistakes we see business owners make. So, in this post we’ll sta ..read more
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How Much Capital Do You Need to Start a Business?
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
2M ago
Part 2 of the “Things we wish we knew” Blog series By: Tina Oddleifson, Business Advisor  Being a successful entrepreneur means understanding how much capital you need to start a business so that you have room to grow.  Not having enough capital can be a major pitfall for a new business owner, making it the second most important post in our “Things we wish we knew” blog series.   So what is capital exactly?  Capital refers to the money you need to start, operate and grow a business. You can “raise capital” through equity (your own or an investor’s money) or through debt (li ..read more
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Essential Steps Before You Start a Business
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
2M ago
Part 1 of the “Things we wish we knew” Blog series By: Tina Oddleifson, Business Advisor When we asked Maine SBDC Business Advisors about the biggest mistakes they see new business owners make (including themselves) many of the responses boiled down to the same essential thing: Moving forward before you are ready. We’ve all been there. You’re ready to leave your job and you have the perfect business idea. Enthusiasm and excitement are important ingredients for business success and over-analyzing or overthinking can present its own problems.  But to set yourself up for success you need to ..read more
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Things we wish we knew – Blog series
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
2M ago
Sometimes clients reach out to the SBDC after they realize they made a mistake while starting or running their business.  As advisors and former business owners ourselves, we know the feeling.  Owning a business means having to learn a lot on the fly, and sometimes you don’t get it right. But you’re not alone because many of us have been down that road before you. In this blog series, we’re writing about some of the things we, our friends, family, clients and colleagues wish they knew before starting their own businesses. We’ll include topics like overly optimistic financial projecti ..read more
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Main Street Provisions – Waterville
Maine SBDC Blog
by Jennifer Boutin
2M ago
Zachary Brann’s entrepreneurial journey is a testament to his passion for locally sourced food and beverages, coupled with a love for the Waterville area where he grew up and plans to raise his family. Now, he proudly contributes to Waterville’s revitalization through his new business, Main Street Provisions. To get his new business off the ground, Zach reached out to the Maine SBDC at the recommendation of the Central Maine Growth Council. Zach worked with Chris Dodge, business advisor at the SBDC at CEI. Together, they crafted a comprehensive business plan, fine-tuned financial projections ..read more
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