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    Changing Course
Continued from page 8
Veronica Garcia has launched two new ventures, Latino Marketing Agency and a platform called Viviendo Sin Limites — Living Without Limits.
and younger men and women, those representing many ethnic groups, and people with varied
backgrounds, from professionals to retirees, to some not far removed from the college classroom.
The class, as might be gleaned from its title, focuses on the basics — writing a business plan, legal considerations, licensing, insurance, busi- ness entities, and much more.
“We don’t give advice during the class,” she stressed. “The goal is to give information to the attendees so they understand all that is involved with starting a business from an administrative, practical point of view; we don’t get into business models, and we don’t get into whether you have a good idea or not.”
Many who sign up for that class will eventually reach out for one-on- one advisory services from the agency, she said, adding that there has been a decided uptick in the number of people seeking such services.
Grape Expectations
As for her own venture, Greylock Consulting, Hogan is confident she has a good idea, one born from a desire help more small-business own- ers, especially minority-owned businesses. Her plan is to consult for individual businesses and also the various groups assisting such busi- nesses and help streamline and improve the programs they provide.
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     She said she has several clients in the pipeline and is confident she can succeed in the challenging world of consulting.
“I’ve done consulting before,” she said. “You have to have a good, healthy pipeline of clients, there’s a lot of proposal writing involved, a lot of meetings prior to reve- nue-generating activities that you have to be willing to do and invest your time in. It’s a different world, but I like it.”
It’s a different world for Beaudry, as well, but one that she long desired to be in.
“
out and tired of this. I knew it was time to do what I wanted to do.”
I was getting burned
    That said, she acknowledged that starting her importing and dis- tribution company required more than time and inclination. It also requires capital, and a lot of contacts.
“It took a lot of tenacity — finding a warehouse, securing the insur- ances, the licenses, and everything else you need,” she told Business- West. “It’s really just been about working my contacts, people I know who tell me, ‘this is where we buy our great wines; the person who owns it is this ... go introduce yourself.’ It’s been typical sales-call daily activity: going out, shaking hands, letting people know who I’m representing and some of the wines that I have available.
“It’s also very new — it’s just starting to gain momentum now,” she went on, adding that there have been distribution issues to contend with and other challenges, but, overall, she is making steady progress.
The next step is to create her own import activities, Beaudry said, adding that she will soon be traveling to Europe to meet with some small, boutique vineyard owners and winemakers, with the goal of importing some labels on her own.
 10 DECEMBER 8, 2021
FEATURE
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