Get Your Business 2020 Strong! 

Now is the perfect time to look at tools and trends to grow your small business. Check out these small business trends and tools we recommend to help your business get noticed.  

Trend: Collaborate with Small Businesses for Unique Products and Services
 Maybe 2020 is not showing you a lot of love, consider partnering with other small businesses to create a space for your products and solutions to be shared. We see it all the time, and clients love pairing small business products and services together. Check out this Shopify article on collaboration to give you some ideas from mainstreet to creating your own local shopping guide. 

Trend: Be intential with social media

Did you know people are decluttering social media? This just means with folks opting out, you have to give them a reason for going beyond a social media like. Here are ten social media trends that give you some good ideas and goals for 2020 that can help you grow your business. 

Trend: Set your 2020 Goals with intention
Did you know that by February 15th, most 2020 resolutions a.ka. goals are already forgotten? We know you still have yours front and center and now you need to take your goals to the next level with a clear path and with intention. Check out these 8 steps to crush your 2020 goals throughout the year, instead of ditching them.  

Client Success Story: Grandma B’s Sweet Treats

If there’s one thing that Rebecca Biesenbach loves, it’s Blue Bell’s old-fashioned ice cream. That’s what led her to open her own ice cream shop in Rockport, Texas, in 2018, after Hurricane Harvey destroyed the town’s only purveyor of Blue Bell ice cream the year before. “After Harvey,” Rebecca said, “I just kept saying ‘God, I miss my ice cream.’” And so, Grandma B’s Sweet Treats was born.

To help get Grandma B’s up and running, Rebecca went to her bank to inquire about a small business loan. She was originally denied for a loan due to the fact that Grandma B’s wasn’t “an established business,” but was referred to LiftFund, a San Antonio-based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). CNote partners with CDFIs like LifeFund in communities across America, funding loans to small businesses and empowering local entrepreneurs like Rebecca.

Rebecca applied for a LiftFund loan and got the capital she needed to keep Grandma B’s afloat. “LiftFund helped us with some of our operating costs when things slowed down coming out of the winter months,” Rebecca said. “We were able to use the loan to help keep us steady, and it helped us to get that ice cream machine that’s sitting out there now. That was one of the big purchases.”

However, the most important thing LiftFund provided Grandma B’s with was stability. “Without that loan, it would have been a struggle,” Rebecca recalled. “I probably would have had to let people go. But because of me getting that money, I was able to keep people employed.”

Celebrating Martin Luther King Day

Next Monday, we will be closed in observation of MLK Day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the path he lead to civil and economic justice in the U.S. He knew the path was long, but he was not alone, and we continue his legacy in our commitment to leveling the financial playing field and keeping the faith just like you.