Business owners learned from one another at the “Writing for Your Business” workshop series. From left are Dick Mitchell, Robin Jordan, Kim LaRoche and Jean Rouillard.

Entrepreneurs learn new skills to succeed

FARMINGTON – The University of Maine Cooperative Extension recently presented the “Writing for Your Business” workshop series for five Franklin County small businesses.

Kim LaRoche (Sunshine Pools), Jean Rouillard (J. & J. Rouillard and Sons), Dick Mitchell (Maine Energy $aver$), Robin Jordan (Robin’s Flower Pot) and Lynn Thurston (Blue Sky Produce) took part in the three-evening workshop taught by Marc Edwards of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Caroline King of Maine Word.

The series covered a number of topics to help small business owners tell their story with words. It gave business owners the skills necessary to write effective and creative marketing materials to use in their growing businesses.

Participants created a core statement for their individual businesses and learned how to use that statement in other marketing applications.

Jordan said, “The class provided me with information on the many resources that are available to promote my business. It also made me look at my business in a different way.”

LaRoche said the most significant elements of the class were “the ideas and brainstorming that we were able to do as a class; ideas to advertise for free and how businesses that compliment each other can collaborate to provide support and awareness of each other’s businesses to the public.”

Edwards said, “Having Caroline King, a small business owner herself, partnering with University of Maine Cooperative Extension in providing this program was a large part of its success. The participants really exemplified the entrepreneurial drive needed to succeed as small or home-based businesses, especially in these economic times.”

For more information about future classes, contact Edwards at University of Maine Cooperative Extension at 778-4650 or Caroline King of Maine Word at 491-9810.