Intro: Inside the programs that fuel "Lost & Found" stories

This podcast is a labor of love coming out of our Startup workshop experiences. In this special episode, Jenna Thorson interviews Betsy Bonnema to learn more about the origins of Startup and the concept for the Lost & Found podcast.

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Transcript

Jenna Thorson (00:07):
Welcome to the Lost and Found Podcast, episode zero. My name is Jenna and I am on the startup and Lost and Found team. On this special episode, I have the privilege of interviewing our host, Betsy Bonnema. You'll learn more about Betsy's unique approach to help entrepreneurs in rural Minnesota, and we'll take a closer look at the programs that inspired these lost and found stories.

Jenna Thorson (00:36):
Here we are sitting in Willmar, Minnesota at our podcast studio. Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself and your work history, and then also what are you passionate about?

Betsy Bonnema (00:47):
Thanks, Jenna. Again, I'm Betsy Bonnema. I believe that loving your work can be contagious, and my job is to help small business owners, entrepreneurs, fall back in love with their businesses. And I'm also a big believer in collaboration. I just believe collaboration makes everything better, and that is a spirit and culture that I've cultivated in my marketing agency, which I've been running for over 30 years now.

Jenna Thorson (01:16):
Okay. So within your 30 years of being a marketer, in that time you started a coworking space called Workup. And since from then to now, there's been a lot that has changed with that business in itself, but a couple of years ago you found yourself in this coworking space and you had people coming in and out of there working. Why don't you tell me a little bit about who was in that coworking space and what were you learning about these people that were working together?

Betsy Bonnema (01:49):
Yeah, we started Workup in 2015 and it was really a real passion project to create a space that had that collaborative culture that Redstar, our marketing agency, really has cultivated over the years. Like Seth says, people like us do things like this, and Workup was a space that attracted a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners and they became a core group of our membership.

Jenna Thorson (02:20):
What were some of the struggles that you were hearing from these entrepreneurs?

Betsy Bonnema (02:24):
Well, entrepreneurs are unique, driven, courageous people, and some of the struggles that they came to Workup with were just one number, feeling isolated and needing to be around other people that they can relate to that understood the challenges of being an entrepreneur, so that's really why Workup became a destination for those types of people. They really had a passion and a drive for what they were doing and building, but maybe didn't always know how to go about all of the parts and pieces of building a business, marketing being one of those.

Jenna Thorson (02:59):
So at that point you felt like you had something to offer as somebody who has 30 years of experience in marketing, and so what was your response to that? What did you provide for, or felt like you could provide for these entrepreneurs?

Betsy Bonnema (03:19):
Well, I have a heart for entrepreneurs and I'm such a big believer in collaboration, I just felt like I think I can walk you guys through this process you need to go through to get the marketing foundation and branding foundation set for your business, and I think we can do it together. And if I create a process where we can do it together, I think it'll be really powerful and it'll meet you where you're at and give you a tool to help you help yourself.

Jenna Thorson (03:48):
So you held your first bootcamp and that's the name of the program at the time and it stuck, the Startup Bootcamp. When was the first class?

Betsy Bonnema (03:59):
Our first Startup Bootcamp was in early 2016, and since that time we've probably brought... We probably took over 60 companies through the Startup Bootcamp from that early date until sometime in 2019.

Jenna Thorson (04:18):
So I joined the team in 2019, and at that point in time we were really ready to grow the startup programs and the bootcamp program. We had awesome partners like Southwest Initiative Foundation who had joined us and were ready to help us invest in the program as well. And then COVID hit and we found ourselves at a standstill and we couldn't meet face-to-face like we had done. And as an entrepreneur yourself, how do you feel like COVID impacted you as a business owner, and then how did you turn that around and turn it into something that helped others?

Betsy Bonnema (05:02):
As most entrepreneurs and small businesses owners had to do, they had to quickly plan for the short-term and then hopefully begin to wrap their brains around the long-term. So on the short-term, I had to close the doors at Workup, and that was a difficult decision, but it had to be made, not unlike a lot of business owners had to make difficult decisions during that time. But once that decision was made, we had to decide, okay, but what does that mean for the startup programming that we were offering in the space? Can we continue that mission? Can we continue to work with entrepreneurs? And especially now when I think they need us more than ever.

Betsy Bonnema (05:45):
So the idea was Workup needed to reinvent and so did countless other entrepreneurs and small business owners in Upstate Minnesota during this COVID crisis. So why not create a process that could get us from where we were to where we needed to be, to reinvent ourselves for this COVID situation and for what we were going to be facing when COVID was done. And how do we create a process where we can bring companies together through it so that we can end up on the other side with better ideas, more community, more support, and a different way of seeing things.

Jenna Thorson (06:32):
And so this reinvention program really was started because of COVID, but what we found is that it sticks. It's something that's relatable and can transform a business at any point. And really it pushes the participants to put everything out on the table. And I think that specific program, we've seen a lot of change from start to finish, as well as the bootcamp, where people walk in thinking their business is one thing, and they leave maybe feeling a little confused like, oh man, they have to rethink everything, but they come back the next day and they are more clear on their business than when they started.

Jenna Thorson (07:16):
So really these two programs, we've seen a lot of inspiring stories come out of, and we've met really hardworking, passionate individuals who, like you've said, just really want to make a difference in the world. And so our whole idea, our whole reason for starting this podcast is to share those stories. You are somebody who... You know a lot of these businesses really closely. Some of them have gone through the bootcamp, and then with our reinvention, since it's online, we've met businesses all over southwest rural Minnesota. Why do you feel like these stories are important and why do you feel like our listeners should care about them?

Betsy Bonnema (08:03):
They're important for so many reasons, because small business is the backbone of small communities in our rural areas, and for that reason, we need to support them. We need to hear them and be there for them. COVID really highlighted that for everyone, and I think we saw that in how people responded to COVID and how many people in small communities stepped up and said, "Hey, we want to make sure the local restaurant doesn't close," or, "We want to tip the waitresses a little bit extra because we're going to all get through this together and we need these businesses to survive." So these stories are important because these brave people stepped up and did something incredibly difficult and they came out the other side better and stronger and continuing to support and be a part of their communities in important ways. Their stories are inspiring as well, so listen to how some of these businesses have really been taken to their knees and confused about what they were going to do next and see how they built themselves back up to be bigger and better.

Jenna Thorson (09:21):
Yeah. So if you're somebody who likes listening to other people's stories of how maybe somebody started a business or ways that maybe you can relate to struggles that small business owners or entrepreneurs have and you're curious what did they do, how did they come through that, or how did this program help them, those are really the stories that are going to be shared here on this podcast.

Jenna Thorson (09:47):
Okay, well, one of my final questions, Betsy, is this podcast is called Lost and Found. What does that mean? Where did that stem from?

Betsy Bonnema (09:57):
Well, that Lost and Found concept is the culmination of five years of working with small businesses and seeing that one common thread that happens every single time with every single business we work with in that they come to our programs, they feel lost, and they can feel that way for a variety of reasons. They can feel isolated or frustrated or be in a difficult financial position or in a difficult partnership, any number of reasons they come to us feeling lost.

Betsy Bonnema (10:30):
And what happens through our programs is they find something that changes everything. And that thing can be different for each business, but typically it's something about reconnecting to the reason why they started the business in the first place: that passion, that commitment they had to making change in the world or to making things better. And once they find that, it just changes everything. It just reignites the passion they have for the work they do, and the stories themselves just show that happening. And so they're really inspiring in that way because you can just... And in our programs, that's the honor and the privilege Jenna and I have, is we get to watch that happen. We get to watch it actually happen where all of a sudden someone comes to a session and they're just different. There's a different light in their eye. There's a different sound in their voice. All of a sudden something clicked and they're back on track, and that's really the essence of this whole storytelling time for us.

Jenna Thorson (11:37):
Well, thanks, Betsy, for answering those questions and for letting me put you on the spot, because usually you're the one asking questions, so it gets to be me this time. We hope that you guys find these stories inspiring and relatable. And if you are interested in learning more about the startup programs that we offer, you can head to startupscene.cc to learn more, and enjoy the stories. Thanks for listening.

Betsy Bonnema (12:02):
Thank you.