A love letter to small businesses
It’s hard to believe it, but this month Anthologie will celebrate its 12th year of business! There have been a lot of highs and lows during that time and no span has challenged small business owners like myself quite like the past 11 months. The pandemic has pushed us to cover new ground and develop new ways to achieve like never before. While it’s easy to focus on the negatives brought about by a devastating virus I still see so many small business owners and entrepreneurs continuing to succeed in the current environment — some are downright thriving!
With that in mind and given February is the month of love, I wanted to call upon a few of my fellow business people to share some of their thoughts on the value of small business as well as some insights that could prove helpful to those considering the plunge into self-employment or business ownership. Many of these folks have played a key role in my success over the past 12 years and I thank them for their invaluable support.
— All photos by Dan Iverson | Anthologie —
Jason Johnson has launched a number of successful businesses over the past decade and is currently putting his creativity to work pairing big-brand names, like KISS and Dog Man with an eco-friendly STEM product as Co-Founder of Cubles.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: You have the ability to run with ideas and make them happen. For example, with Cubles, we are able to ensure all products are 100% made in America instead of overseas, because it’s important to us as a company. It's also fun to see the final product when you have been spending months working on all the fine details of it.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: You will hear a lot of “nos” before you start hearing more “yeses.” Don’t get down if you pitch your story to local press and they won’t pick up your story. With Cubles couldn’t get local news to return any of our requests, but luckily organizations like People magazine, Buzzfeed and some large national blogs did pick up on our story, which was amazing.
Want to learn more about the posable papercraft creations of Cubles? Visit their links below and enter the code Anthologie15 at checkout to receive 15% off any order in February.
Kari Switala, chief creative officer and owner at Wild Fig Marketing has been helping her clients engage with their audiences for more than 10 years. Her company specializes in content creation and marketing automation.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: I'm right-brained to a fault. So, I love not having restrictions. I like being able to think outside-the-box when it comes to my business and the clients we serve. Everyday presents a new challenge or opportunity (depending on how you look at it) and I love being able to come up with ideas on how to solve or address it without any corporate constraints. I also love the fact that I'm building something that is not only providing for me and my family, but we’re also helping to provide for our employees and their families, the clients we serve and ultimately the community we live in, too. It’s like watching the trickle effect happen in real-time — it warms my heart.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: Wow, that's a loaded question. There is so much I wish I would've known, however, I think the biggest thing would be that I shouldn't have been afraid to hire employees. So many entrepreneurs talk about it being something you should avoid like the plague. However, I think I would have grown my business faster if I had actually hired employees sooner. The key is really finding the RIGHT people who are aligned with your core values and are passionate about the work they do and helping others, too!
Jake Sturgis, has spent more than 19 years working for himself in some capacity, including the past 7 years as full-time owner of Captivate Media + Consulting. His company has a focus on sharing stories from the k-12 educational environment and elevating often under-represented voices through video production and motion graphics.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: I love being able to see the difference I can make for my clients and to truly help them solve problems through communications. I also love being able to coach and mentor my employees and see them grow.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: I wish I would have known the importance of having systems in place. It seemed silly when I started and while my team was small. As we have grown, there are things we are having to go back and fix because we didn’t have systems in place from the beginning.
Elizabeth Porter is an attorney who’s spent the past 18 years practicing in family law and criminal law. She’s been her own boss for the past 14 years.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: I love to see the growth of my business over the course of time. Looking back over a day or a week, or even a year or two, it is hard to pinpoint clear growth but when I think of where I started compared to where I am now, I’m blown away at the change. The icing on the cake is that I have a great boss!
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: Self-employment is not an easy road and it is full of consistent uncertainty. It gets easier to manage the uncertainty with practice, patience, and skill but I still sing for my supper every day. There is an underlying fear that if I don’t work, I don’t get paid which leads to a lot of work during times I should be sleeping, exercising, and spending time with my family. That kind of fear can lead to burnout if you think the remedy is to work all day every day. I wish I knew early on that it is ok to take time to take care of myself and that by doing so, I’m also at my best for clients. Even now, I forget that fact and bury myself in work. When I step away from my office and allow myself to relax, I come back to my desk with fresh perspective and renewed enthusiasm.
Matt Lunde has been in the real estate industry for more than 15 years. He is owner and broker at Dwell Realty Partners, based in the Twin Cities.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: I think the simple, obvious answer is that you control your own outcome. In my world, having the flexibility to carve out exactly what you want to become while being able to tweak or make any adjustments on the fly is an amazing benefit of entrepreneurship.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: Ha! That true “days off” are few and far between. However, loving what I do honestly makes it feel more like a hobby where I’m helping out friends than actual work, which is pretty awesome.
Paul and Kammi Hoyt have been providing superior commercial and residential projects for more than 21 years with their companies Hoyt Exteriors and Hoyt Construction, both based in Apple Valley, MN. Their companies specialize in multi-family roofing, siding, gutters and deck projects.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general:
Paul: I love getting to know people, serving and improving our community. I have also loved encouraging and growing our staff.
Kammi: I love that it gave me the opportunity to work alongside my husband for so many years, and to help him to achieve his dreams. I love, too, that it’s allowed me to grow in different areas of business, to help teach and mentor a great team along the way.
I think I speak for the both of us, that we are proud of the “Hoyt Way” reputation we were able to build. We are even more excited that when our son Levi joined the team a few years ago and helped us to expand, the vision of a legacy began to form ... and the dream of our family business continuing long after we are gone was born.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now:
Paul: I would have taken more chances.
Kammi: That it’s ok to let go, to step back and to hire others to do some of what you do “in the business" so you as an owner can work “on the business.” That’s taken this Mom of what used to be a “Mom and Pop” company a while to learn. It’s important though and we have a great team to hand things off to now and then.
John Swaney has held numerous leadership roles that placed him around the globe throughout his career. He’s spent the past 8 years as his own boss at the helm of Precision Signs and Imaging in Burnsville, MN. His company specializes in signage in all shapes and sizes for business as well has vehicle wraps and graphics.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: Having been a leader in the US Air Force, and then within the international luxury hospitality industry, I always reported to a higher authority. Although I was given great discretion, authority and command, I yearned for my own business. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit, and felt that I always took “ownership” of the business units I was leading and managing, but lacked the control over my career that I desired. Starting my own company gave me that “control over my destiny” that I wanted and needed. That said, becoming an entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart!
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: There are many things regarding starting, owning and operating a business that I know now that I wish I knew in the beginning, but as they say: “hind sight is 2020.” Although I felt I did the necessary due diligence, research, and business planning, when you start a new business (versus buying an existing business), and it’s not an established franchise but rather an independent, you need to know who your best clients are, and more importantly, how to acquire their business and retain them as clients. Someone once told me: “80% or your total revenue will come from your top 30-40 clients.” But they never told me who those top clients would be, or how to acquire them!
Heather Lawrenz has spent the past 18 years in business on her own, creating upcycled jewelry and custom pieces for clients around the country. Her company, Lawrenz Jewelry, is featured in more than a dozen boutiques around Minnesota as well as in wholesale catalogs.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: My business represents my passion for creating, and provides me the opportunity to share that with a wider audience. I love the connections I have made over the years as a result of my business.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: Clearly define what projects you’ll accept; it’s okay to say no to a commission. In the beginning, I took on projects that weren’t necessarily within my repertoire. While I learned new skills as a result of these commissions, I also learned that I (and the client) am happiest when a project is aligned with my creative vision. I am now more strategic about when to accept opportunities which include exploring a new technique or a chance for creative growth.
Rich Frieder has been the owner of 3 learning centers around the Twin Cities for the past 12 years. His company, LearningRx, helps people of all ages reach their full intellectual potential by focusing on the root cause of cognitive struggles in the workplace and the classroom.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: Being a small business owner has been incredibly rewarding. Partly due to the freedom it provides and control over the type of organization and culture I want to build, but also because what we actually do at LearningRx can be so life changing for our clients!
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: To not sweat the small stuff. It was a new adventure opening a business and it came with many ups and downs. I’ve now learned to not sweat the down times as we always get through them.
Glenn Switzer has been involved in his family business for his entire life, including managing the business for the past 35 years. His current role is owner of The Gardens of Castle Rock, a place where his passions and purpose have aligned to create a wedding venue and event center that he and his family have been growing for the past seven years in Northfield, MN.
What do you love about being a small business owner or entrepreneurship in general: I enjoy the creative aspect of entrepreneurship and the ability to take an idea from concept to reality. Watching your business grow and take on a life of its own and the positive impact it has on those involved is very rewarding.
What do you wish you knew when you started your business that you know now: That there won’t be a time that you’ll know all there is to know about business. You need to be constantly learning and adapting because there are so many variables. Time and experience will alter your perspective but stay true to your core values and embrace change.
