Page 9 - BusinessWest September 28, 2020

a lot of things out of our control, but what we did want to do was support them, whether it was with help navigating PPP loans or even just applying for unemployment. We were doing a lot of one-on-one support and just helping peo- ple however we could.”
And such help was certainly needed, she said,addingthat,inthecaseofPPP,manysmall
pivot. It did so by offering classes online, then
a shift to outdoor classes, more one-on-one personal training, and finally a reopening of the studio in July, with a host of restrictions.
“We’ve even done some space rental to bring in some revenue,” she told BusinessWest, adding that EforAll has been invaluable in helping to not only identify ways to generate business, but make them reality.
“The biggest thing we learned is that we have to pivot our business,” she explained. “We came in with an idea of what we wanted to do, and it’s been working out OK, but EforAll really opened our eyes to the fact that we have to think differ- ently, and that your beginning result may not be your end result.”
In Good Company
While companies are pivoting, so too are some of the agencies within the ecosystem that serves them. And VVM is probably the best example.
Hope Gibaldi, who was serving the agency in a part-time role when the pandemic hit and is now full-time, serving as engagement man- ager, told BusinessWest that the agency has had to readjust as a result of the pandemic and its inability to stage the large gatherings it became known for.
Meanwhile, is doing what its mentors advise entrepreneurs to do — assess needs within the community and go about meeting them.
“There were listening sessions prior to the pandemic,” she noted, “and we’ve been taking the priorities identified during those sessions with an eye toward addressing them, while also trying to figure out how we can continue to pro-
vide value to entrepreneurs during COVID and what programming might look like when we come out of COVID.”
Elaborating, she said hybrid models blending in-person and remote programming are being considered, while, in the meantime, the agency is creating ways to bring people together on a remote basis to share ideas and work through common problems.
One such program is the introduction — or reintroduction, to be more precise — of ‘Entre- preneurial Roundtables,’ a peer-led “account- ability group,” as she called it, that meets via Zoom.
“It’s a place where mentors and entrepre- neurs can come and address their challenges,” Gibaldi explained. “It gives people a place to come and brainstorm as a group and impose that accountability that can sometimes be miss- ing when you’re running your own venture.”
Other initiatives already in place or in the planning stages, she said, include everything from the agency’s once-thriving Community Nights (now handled remotely) to expert-in- industry mentorship, to a book club, to be launched in January, focusing on offerings in entrepreneurship, marketing, personal and pro- fessional growth, and more.
Overall, VVM looks a little different, but its mission hasn’t changed, Gibaldi said, adding that it is working to partner with other agen- cies and initiatives within the ecosystem to help them succeed.
One example is WIT, and helping to recruit
Ecosystem
Continued on page 37
“What always inspires me about entrepreneurs is that, if you tell them ‘no,’ they just say, ‘OK, let mefindoutawayto make this work.’”
businesses didn’t know if they were eligible, and if they were, they certainly needed assistance with paperwork that most estab- lished businesses turned over to a seasoned accoun- tant. Meanwhile, a number of local, state, and federal grant programs emerged, and small businesses need- ed help identifying which ones might be appropri- ate and then navigating the application process.
Beyond that, EforAll also helped some businesses identify ways to pivot and find new revenue
streams in the middle of a pandemic, Murphy- Romboletti said, adding that such assistance was provided to restaurants — helping them move beyond takeout and Grubhub, for exam- ple — and to other kinds of ventures, like 413 Family Fitness, which is one of those businesses that just ‘graduated’ from the most recent accelerator.
Like all fitness centers across the state, this operation had to shut down back in the spring, said Elsie Vasquez, forcing the company to
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SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 9