Waste less food and save energy!

Wasting food? Wasting energy. Here's a great case for eating local and eating less.

A painless way to achieve huge energy savings

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

Why Every Entrepreneur Needs a Mentor

This is a great post on why every entrepreneur should have a peer mentor. The post focuses on new entrepreneurs, but the reality is even founder-entrepreneurs of early stage and growth stage companies can benefit from having a mentor. CEOs and entrepreneurs have a natural tendency towards self-sufficiency that can lead to decision making in a vacuum or the feeling that no one understands what they are going through. Peer mentors can serve as a management think tank and as a trusted source of ideas and expertise - and honest advice.

In Vermont, there are a number of different programs to fit the different mentoring needs of entrepreneurs? The VSJF's Peer to Peer Collaborative (www.vsjf.org/what-we-do/peer-to-peer) offers peer advisory teams of 3 (CEO, COO and CFO) that work with founder / entrepreneurs of growth stage companies over a 12-18 month period on core strategic issues for growth. The Vermont Family Business Initiative (VFBI) offers support for family and privately held businesses through its monthly CEO groups, educational forums and management development seminars (www.uvm.edu/~vfbi/). Vistage (www.vistage.com) is a national organization that has a Vermont chapter offering advisory peer group meetings and one-on-one business mentoring.

There are many ways to find a mentor informally through your network, or formally through programs like I just mentioned. No matter how you find one, get a mentor today!

Slow Money moving a little faster in Vermont

VSJF is getting really close to the launch of our new Flexible Capital Fund that will offer flexible risk capital (in the form of subordinated debt and royalty financing) to growth companies in Vermont's natural resource markets.  We're almost to our launch goal of $1.0 million in capital and will let you all know when we're on the ground running.  To learn more about what we're doing and see who's invested in this new initiative to date, visit VSJF Flexible Capital Fund web pages.

Local food, local energy. Why not local money?

It's the latest talk - investing local.  We heard about it recently at the Slow Money National Gathering event at Shelburne Farms in June.  Individual investors disillusioned with what's happening on Wall Street, are looking at ways to invest in "Main Street."  Vermont mission-based organizations are starting to look at ways to put at least some (rather than none) of their investment assets in Vermont.  There's something to it - like keeping your money working in your own community, preserving Vermont's working landscape, building a healthy food or energy system.  The opportunities are there. 

There are many different ways to get involved - as an individual, an accredited investor, a foundation, an organization with an endowment.  Investing doesn't just mean putting your money in the bond or stock market, or in a mutual fund.  It can mean lending or donating to your local community loan fund or foundation, or donating to a local organization doing on the ground work for your community.  Either way, investing local keeps your dollars circulating in the local economy where you can see, touch and feel it work. 

If you're looking for ways to invest in Main Street, talk to organizations like the Vermont Community Loan Fund, Vermont Community Foundation, or the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, about finding opportuities that match your financial needs and values.