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Pathways to Entrepreneurship: Buying An Existing Business

When people think of entrepreneurship, usually they assume it means starting a new business. But there are other pathways to entrepreneurship.

The Savvy Entrepreneur has previously looked at entrepreneurship in non-profits, as well as franchise ownership.

In this episode, Deb Curtis, founder of Curtis Business Solutions, shares another pathway: buying an existing business. It’s a path that many don’t think about. But Deb shares insights on how it can be done — especially with the aid of an SBA loan.

She talks about the kind of person that might make a great fit, the likely costs, and some of the ins and outs of SBA loans. Is this an option for you? Listen in to find out!

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Does Your Brand Need a Refresh?

Your business’ brand (or your personal brand) is the market’s perception, and the value that it/you have.

Sometimes, your company or product/service needs a refresh, or maybe a complete rebranding. Maybe your product sold well at first, but sales are tapering off. Maybe your industry or the demographic for your product has changed significantly. Or maybe you just feel it’s time for a fresh approach.

Joe Krueger, principal of Inspira Consultancy, joins The Savvy Entrepreneur Radio Show to talk all things branding. He shares the learnings of the Pony Tools brand refresh he oversaw while President of the company.

He shares some of the factors that may suggest it’s time for a brand refresh. We chat about the differences between rebranding and a brand refresh. He talks about the importance of market research and feedback, and some different ways you can go about getting that without spending a lot.

Finally, he shares some of the activities you can create to help build excitement and energy around your brand refresh. These can help build new awareness in the market. But if done well, they can also generate employee engagement and enthusiasm.

Listen as Joe shares the story of Pony Tools’ brand refresh, along with a process that you can use for your own brand refresh.

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How to Build a Fitness Business: Marvil Fit

Have you ever wondered if you could turn your passion for fitness into a business of some kind?

Marisella Villano, founder of Marvil Fit, has done just that. Marvil Fit offers spin-related fitness classes (including some unique spin and floor combination classes). She also offers personal training. She’s tried different combinations of offerings over the years, and found this works best for her and her clients.

Marisella shares some of the challenges she’s faced. But she also has lots of suggestions on how you might go about creative a fitness-based business, as well as some key things to think about.

Her creativity and ability to pivot helped her through difficult times, including Covid, which caused a lot of smaller fitness studios to go under.

She shares her story with The Savvy Entrepreneur. She’s full of energy and enthusiasm — just what you’d expect from the owner and founder of a successful fitness studio like Marvil Fit!

Click on the arrow to take a listen to her fun and relatable story!

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Entrepreneurs: Say “No” to Silos!

Laura Gallagher, the founder & CEO of The Creative Company, talks with The Savvy Entrepreneur about some of the many challenges women entrepreneurs face.

Laura started The Creative Company, a full-service marketing firm, during her senior year in college. That was in 1989, the year after Wisconsin finally allowed women business owners to sign for a business loan in their own name.

Laura says there were so much she had to learn the hard way. But she realized just how much she still didn’t know, after attending Goldman Sachs-sponosored programs at Colombia University and Babson College. She saw the huge gap between what was readily available to women business owners and what they needed to know.

That led her to sponsor and organize the first two Wisconsin Women’s Entrepreneurship Day. Although well-attended and well-received, she took away some painful learnings from these events as well.

In the end, I sensed that Laura doesn’t feel these big 1-day splashy conferences are really the solution. She offers a number of thoughtful suggestions — listen in as she shares the learnings from her journey, and her thoughts on how women entrepreneurs can truly support each other (Hint: break down barriers and just say “No” to silos!)

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Blythe-Martin Productions: How to Be a Successful Enterpreneur

Ever dreamed of making a living by singing, acting, or dancing? If so, this is an interview you need to listen to!

Jamie Blythe Martin is a self-professed “Enterpreneur” — a successful entrepreneur in the entertainment world. She found success on the stage as early as middle school, and was buoyed by lots of support from her parents.

As a musician and performer myself, I know how easy it is to fall in love with music and performing. The key, of course, is figuring out how to make a decent living doing that.

Jamie has pivoted a number of times in her life, but for several years now has successfully built a stable business around lucrative voice over work and doing farm-themed musical performances to entertain young kids as “Miss Jamie.”

Jamie shares some major nuggets of advice for anyone thinking of becoming an enterpreneur. Most of us think that we don’t do it because we might not be talented enough. Miss Jamie says that’s “hogwash!” Jamie believes that there are actually many successful enterpreneurs who don’t really have that much talent.

She says two things separate successful enterpreneurs: (1) they face their fears and move forward, believing in themselves and (2) they are very disciplined about treating their talent & gigs as a business.

Click on the arrow to listen to The Savvy Entrepreneur’s interview of “Miss Jamie” Blythe-Martin, as she shares how she & her husband worked through several personal challenges in building Blythe Martin Productions. And for those of you aspiring enterpreneurs, she shares plenty of candid tips to help you build your business.

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