SMALL BUSINESS LESSONS WITH A SIDE OF BISCUITS AND BACON
Written by Jessica Murray
I’m excited to share my experience from joining the Nashville Chamber of Commerce’s Growing Together Women in Business Breakfast last week. I posted a summary on LinkedIn earlier this week, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share a more complete briefing. The small business lessons shared can be valuable and uplifting to anyone in the Empower community trying to design their business for long-term success. I was inspired!
This was the Chamber’s inaugural event for its Growing Together initiative, which supports female entrepreneurs, non-profit and corporate leaders through opportunities that promote business success. The keynote speaker for the Women in Business breakfast was Gina Schaefer, a female entrepreneur who built a successful small business “empire” from a single Ace Hardware location in Washington, D.C. to 13 stores with over 300 employees and mid-8-figure revenue. Her story is a testament to the impact of local businesses and the power of serving a community’s untapped needs.
Keynote insights from Gina Schaefer: Building a network of small businesses
Gina’s journey deeply resonated with me and reiterated why I started Empower. In Edition 001, I shared that one of my main drivers was to see more emerging businesses thrive and to play a role in driving those outcomes. In my experience, local businesses create the pulse of a neighborhood, shape their character, and, the good ones, foster a deep sense of community building. While I’ve seen many, unfortunately, not make it and get replaced by corporate entities, I’ve also been encouraged by those that I’ve seen flourish and expand, like my old gym (SESSION) and regular coffee shop (Butler Bakeshop), both in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In both cases, the owners understood from the beginning what it meant to be a part of the community and how to cultivate it. They also delivered curated experiences for customers and members that were hard to replicate. Now, they each operate multiple locations across neighborhoods.
Gina also emphasized small businesses' role in a community and how she didn’t take that responsibility lightly as she built her retail locations and teams. She urged the audience to strike the word “just” from our vocabulary. I won’t get the exact quote right, but the message was that we are not “just” women or business owners or homeowners or neighbors; we make up the fabric of our respective communities and have the power to help the businesses within them thrive.
Her entrepreneurial journey began without experience running a business or in the hardware store industry. What she did have was vision, conviction and resilience. She had a vision for the future of her neighborhood - Logan Circle - which, at the time, was filled with boarded-up windows. She observed more people moving into the once-empty homes and fixing them up. She saw change and, then, she identified a gap. There was nowhere in the neighborhood where people could buy lightbulbs, nails, paint or a hammer to complete these projects. So, she filled the void with that first Ace Hardware store and built from there.
Her key message from her initial experience and successes: Go where nobody is and find the white space. That lesson rings true today. It’s a highly competitive, fast-moving economy. Small business owners must identify unmet needs and offer differentiated solutions to drive success.
Consider these questions before deciding to open a small business:
Is the market already served with what I plan to provide?
Do I have a unique proposition to offer the community?
Will people pay for my products or services?
In addition to finding the white space, Gina shared thoughts about how small business owners can be more successful. She called upon a concept from the book The EMyth, which I’ve recently been re-reading. The book outlines three distinct business personalities – the Technician, the Entrepreneur and the Manager. The Technician is the one who does the tactical work and is responsible for making, selling and delivering the products and services. Frequently, small business owners are, by nature, Technicians. They’re masters of their craft and those skills give them the confidence to start a business. However, Technicians don’t always know what it takes to run a business. As both the book and Gina indicate, this leads many Technicians to struggle finding sustainable success. The more a small business owner learns to flex into the Entrepreneur and the Manager and finds ways to work strategically on the business vs. constantly in it, the more likely they will tilt success in their favor.
Gina shared other valuable lessons during her talk:
The state of small business today
During the Q&A, I asked Gina about the biggest challenges small businesses face today and the support owners need. She highlighted access to capital, especially for women and minorities. She also stressed the importance of leveraging your network for guidance and not being afraid to ask questions. Lastly, she reiterated that owners need to recognize that running a business is fundamentally about people.
When someone else asked her what she attributed her success, she mentioned a couple of things, but made sure to highlight, “If you don’t toot your own horn, no one will.”
One of the last messages Gina left the audience with doubled as a word of caution. She talked about the “Silver Tsunami” and how that trend could lead to significant small business and local job loss without proactive planning by cities. The Silver Tsunami refers to the large increase in the aging population, primarily driven by Baby Boomers, and the impact this has on society and business. A Live Oak Bank report stated all Baby Boomers will be 65 by 2030. According to the same article, that generation accounts for approximately 2.3 million small businesses in the U.S.
Gina’s story is a powerful reminder of the possibilities for small business owners. It highlights small businesses' significant economic contributions and underscores the importance of finding your niche and supporting community building.