Visit a shop for gifts located in Southeast Alaska, and you’re likely to find a variety of smoking seafood, jars of hot sauce and kelp salsa that line the shop. Visit a liquor store and you’ll see glass bottles that are decorated in marine animals, filled with liquor made in Haines. Wildfish Cannery, Barnacle Foods along with Port Chilkoot Distillery are all the success stories of the small-scale business competition known as Path to Prosperity.
“Really suggest their Hot Sauce, Bullwhip Hot Sauce,” said business coach Marc Wheeler, speaking of Barnacle Foods’ award-winning hot sauce. Wheeler collaborates with Spruce Root, which runs the contest. Spruce Root is an Alaska Native nonprofit that is focused on helping small businesses grow and the concept of an economic regenerative system in Southeast Alaska.
“This term regenerative is a word that sticks in your mind and you’re like”What does it really means?’ It’s like jargon,” Wheeler said, “But it’s actually thinking about sustainability at the next step. What can we do to operate within this environment and make it a better? It’s not just about how to continue to operate and how can we make it better, so that our children and our grandchildren’s grandchildren have a bright future?”
Wheeler owned an ice cream and coffee store during Juneau – Coppa – that was a first participant in the competition for business plans. The shop was sold in November but claimed that taking part in the contest helped shape his business approach.
“I had not considered the sustainability of the community, and how we can build social capital” Wheeler said. “Thinking about this has really influenced our business practices and had an important effect on the way we operate.”
Wheeler created local workers, who employed individuals working in the kitchen, who may be unable to find employment elsewhere due to their physical disabilities.
“It simply helped us become, I believe that we’re more human. It in addition, it added a lot to our business in a manner which is difficult to define,” Wheeler said. “And I believe that it was due to the fact that we had to compete.”
Wheeler explained that Spruce Root has re-tooled its competition for business development this year and it’s now renamed Business and Balance. It’s a nine-week, virtual business class, which is offered every Friday, via Zoom and will help participants develop a business plan along with financial plans.
“That plan is important in determining whether the idea is viable and if it is not” Wheeler explains. “They are also able to sort of help you clarify your ideas about your company.”
The competition and course is open to all who are looking to launch the business of their own or take an existing company to the next step. Wheeler explained that this year, there will be three prizes worth $20,000. The nine-week program costs $175. Wheeler stated that the cost is refundable if business owners go to the majority of the training sessions.
Wheeler added that it’s also an method to connect with other entrepreneurs from the region.
“It’s very lonely being an business owner,” he said. “You don’t have the opportunity to communicate with employees, and perhaps the spouse isn’t keen know about it. It’s a lot of fun to build a an online community of people.”
Brooke Leslie works with Spruce Root and the Sustainable Southeast Partnership as what’s known as an “catalyst,” focusing on creating opportunities for community development.
She elaborates: “[It’s] kind of shifting the way we conduct business in Western culture, and constructing the new model that is built around Indigenous beliefs and community first. This is essentially a full-grass approach. It’s common to hear the words “top-down or ‘grassroots’ however we’re actually trying to find an integrated approach to the entire grass blade.”
Being a part of the business as well as Balance program and competing will help to eliminate some of the trials and errors of starting a small-scale business, she explained.
“You could really save lots of time and even moneyby the trial and error procedure through taking courses such as those in the Business and Balance course,” Leslie said.
Spruce Root is taking applications for the Business and Balance course until the close on the 31st of each month. Get more details by clicking here or contact Marc Wheeler at marc@spruceroot.org.
