Community Impact Take Charge of Your Personal Finances During COVID-19 The COVID-19 pandemic is causing financial disruption for everyone on a global scale. We’re sharing strategies to help you get... Building Capacity Is It Time to Hire? The great news is that your business is thriving. But, you’re finding it challenging to keep up with everything. Are... Getting Started Tips for Your First Year in Business Your first year of business is an exciting experience. You’ve held onto your business idea for so long, and now... Business Retention Recession Proof Your Business With the increasing number of headlines pointing to a potential recession, we’ve had several business owners ask us how they... Business Retention Surviving the First Five Years This year, we turned five! Like it was yesterday, we remember that feeling we had when we unveiled our website... Building Capacity Start the Year Off by Organizing Your Business Happy New Year! We’re excited to write our first post of the year. Toward the end of last year and... Entrepreneurial Journey From Trunk to Store: Chris McMichael, Threadz Culture + Fashion This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris McMichael, co-founder of Threadz Culture + Fashion. Threadz is an urban... Thinking Holistically Overcoming Perfectionism in Your Business This week, we’re continuing to look at the ways that entrepreneurs frequently sabotage their businesses, specifically letting perfectionism take over. Perfectionism... Thinking Holistically Stop Procrastinating and Get Down to Business This week, we’re continuing to look at the ways that entrepreneurs frequently sabotage their businesses. One of those ways is... Thinking Holistically How to Take Back Your Power in Business In our last blog post, we looked at the ways that entrepreneurs frequently sabotage their businesses. One of those ways... Thinking Holistically Are You Sabotaging Your Business? As entrepreneurs, we start our journeys with great intentions and aspirations. But as we realize how much goes into building... Business Planning Tips for Making Better Business Decisions As a business owner, you are faced with many opportunities and decisions that can affect your business’ strategic direction. It... Getting Started Why You Should Share Your Business Idea We often see new entrepreneurs hold on tight to their business ideas for fear that someone might steal them. This... Business Planning Common Business Plan Mistakes to Avoid Writing a business plan is an important part of your entrepreneurial journey. In our experience, it’s also one of the... Entrepreneurial Journey A Business Love Story: Asara Tsehai, Ancient Treasure This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Asara Tsehai, founder of Ancient Treasure. Ancient Treasure is the all-in-one natural... Business Planning Do I Need a Business Plan as a Freelancer? Like many self-employed people, I fell into freelancing. I stumbled through marketing to former colleagues, taking whatever interesting projects came... Thinking Holistically Are You Cut Out to Be an Entrepreneur? Last week, I had a couple of different people in our classes ask me, “Do you think everyone is meant... Funding a Business What Funders Want to Fund We often hear new entrepreneurs say, “I need to raise money so I can quit my job and work full-time... Thinking Holistically How to Prepare Your Business for Your Vacation As a business owner, it’s hard to find the time to take a vacation. Even if you are able to... Funding a Business Are You Starving Your Business? If you’re in the early stages of your business development, you’re probably very familiar with bootstrapping. That is, funding your... Thinking Holistically Managing Your Mental Health as a Business Owner Last week, we looked at some warning signs that might indicate that your business might be affecting your mental health.... Thinking Holistically Is Your Business Affecting Your Mental Health? As we’ve written about in the past, starting and growing your own business is an emotional rollercoaster. Navigating those highs... Getting Started Know Your Ideal Freelance Client As a freelancer, you have limited time and money to spend on marketing your business. So, before you begin marketing... Freelancer Is Being a Freelancer for Me? Freelancing offers the opportunity to work with more flexibility and the freedom to create a desirable lifestyle. While becoming a... Entrepreneurial Journey A Modern Lemonade Stand: Vicktor Stevenson, Gourmonade This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Vicktor Stevenson, founder of Gourmonade. Gourmonade is a San Francisco-based gourmet lemonade... Getting Started What to Do If Your Business Idea Already Exists You had an “a-ha” moment when you came up with an amazing idea for a business. You quickly looked it... Business Planning The Right Time to Write Your First Business Plan Writing your first business plan is an important step in starting your business. Your business plan is your roadmap for... Thinking Holistically How to Prevent Decision Fatigue in Your Business Last week, we discussed how decision fatigue can show up and affect your business. This week, we’re sharing some tips... Thinking Holistically Is Decision Fatigue Affecting Your Business? After a long day, I was trying to decide what to write about in this blog post. Even though I... Business Planning What to Pay Myself as a Business Owner? Over the last few weeks, we’ve been focusing on financial forecasting in a couple of our accelerator classes. As we... Getting Started How to Prepare Your Personal Finances for Business Ownership In last week’s blog post, we discussed the importance of preparing yourself financially for business ownership. This week we’re sharing... Getting Started Starting a Business? Prepare Yourself Financially You’re looking to start a business. You have a great idea. You are starting to evaluate the feasibility of your... Entrepreneurial Journey Creating Things for Everyday Use: Geana Sieburger, GDS Cloth Goods This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Geana Sieburger, founder of GDS Cloth Goods. GDS Cloth Goods is an... Funding a Business How to Create Your Elevator Pitch Last week, I had the opportunity to present a pitch workshop at a wonderful conference hosted by the Center for... Building Capacity Responding to a Client that Says You Charge Too Much Last week, I was tabling at an event for entrepreneurs and organizations that serve entrepreneurs in our community. At these... Thinking Holistically Ways to Say “No” Without Hurting Your Business In our previous blog post about setting boundaries in your business, we started the conversation about why it’s important to... Thinking Holistically Setting Boundaries in Your Business As business owners, we often don’t set boundaries for fear of losing existing clients or not being able to find... Thinking Holistically Fall in Love with Your Business…Again It’s the week of Valentine’s Day, and I’ve been thinking about love and business. More specifically, falling in love with... Entrepreneurial Journey Building Family Teams: Joy Colino, Nannies Plus This week, I had the honor of interviewing Joy Colino, founder of Nannies Plus. Nannies Plus creates authentic and impactful... Building Capacity How to Follow Up with Customer Leads You’ve received the name and contact information of someone who could be a potential customer. Now, how do you begin... Getting Started How to Choose an Entrepreneurship Program You recognize that you and your business could benefit from joining an entrepreneurship program. But, there are so many programs... Getting Started Should I Join an Entrepreneurship Program? This is the year you’re ready to start your own business. And you’re trying to decide whether you should join... Thinking Holistically New Year’s Resolutions for Your Business As a business owner, the beginning of the year is an exciting time. It brings an opportunity to reflect on... Building Capacity How to Measure the Success of Your Strategic Plan Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been writing about the benefits of having an annual strategic plan and how... Building Capacity How to Create an Annual Strategic Plan It’s time to start thinking about how you will grow your business in the upcoming year. Last week, we discussed... Building Capacity Why Your Business Needs an Annual Strategic Plan As the year draws to a close, there’s no better time to reflect on your business and consider your business... Thinking Holistically A Moment to Say Thank You to Our Community With Thanksgiving this week, I’m taking some time to reflect on my entrepreneurial journey and the many reasons I am... Thinking Holistically Where to Find Business Mentors A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about why entrepreneurs need mentors. From that post, several people contacted me asking... Entrepreneurial Journey Showing Off Oakland by Bike: Rehema Allen, This Is Oakland Bike Tours This week, I had the honor of interviewing Rehema Allen, founder of This Is Oakland Bike Tours. This Is Oakland... Thinking Holistically Why Entrepreneurs Need Mentors As a freelancer, small business owner, or startup founder, you may be the only person working on your business. And,... Entrepreneurial Journey Creating Her Own Pathway as a Musician: MJ Lee. This week, I had the honor of interviewing MJ Lee., singer songwriter and freelance wedding violinist. In this interview, MJ... Entrepreneurial Journey Why We Are a Cooperative Last week, I was invited to speak on a panel about ownership at the wonderful and inspiring CoCap conference in... Business Planning How to Set Your Freelancer Rates When you are an employee, your employer tells you what your rate is through your salary. But as a freelancer,... Getting Started Guide to Getting Started as a Freelancer Freelancing is on the rise. For individuals, freelancing offers a compelling way to work with more flexibility and the freedom... Getting Started Is Starting a Business Right for Me? If you’ve ever considered starting your own business, you may have wondered if that’s the right thing for you to... Getting Started Is Your Business Idea the Right One? As an entrepreneurial person, you probably have no shortage of business ideas. It’s not difficult to come up with potentially... Business Planning Is a Business Plan Necessary? It seems that every businessperson has an opinion on whether a small business or startup founder should write a business... Thinking Holistically Fighting Hate Through Business In the wake of Charlottesville, many top business executives have begun to stand up and publicly condemn hate by resigning... Entrepreneurial Journey Supporting Black-Owned Businesses: YaVette Holts of BAOBOB August is Black Business Month. And, this week we had the honor of interviewing YaVette Holts, founder of BAOBOB –... Funding a Business How Much Money Do I Need to Raise? A couple weeks ago, we looked at how to assess whether you are ready to raise money for your business.... Funding a Business Are You Ready to Raise Money for Your Business? When we interview entrepreneurs for our accelerators, we ask them about their biggest challenge in starting their business. The answer... Building Capacity Reduce Your Stress with These Tips for Managing Your Business’ Cash Flow Last week, we shared how to analyze your business’ cash flow. Since this is such an important topic for business... Business Planning Guide to Analyzing Your Business’ Cash Flow When I was an investment banker, I went through extensive training on how to analyze the health of a business’... Entrepreneurial Journey Healing Her Community: Daisy Ozim, Resilient Wellness This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Daisy Ozim, founder of Resilient Wellness, an innovative, cooperatively-owned healthcare system designed... Business Planning Tips for Pricing Your Product or Service For many entrepreneurs, setting a price for your product or service can feel intimidating. Your ability to attract customers, generate... Freelancing Guide to Creating a Self-Employed Budget Being self-employed has its perks, including flexibility in your work schedule and the ability to work with the clients you... Thinking Holistically Manage Energy, Not Time Late last week, I came down with a cold. For me, colds never come at the right time. It’s always... Entrepreneurial Journey Growing from Freelancer to Cooperative: Aaron Joseph, Identafire This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Aaron Joseph, freelance web designer and developer. In this interview, Aaron shares... Thinking Holistically Working for Yourself Doesn’t Have to be Lonely You’re working for yourself. You get to work from home. Work with clients you choose. Work on projects you enjoy. ... Entrepreneurial Journey Delivering to Her Community, April Fenall of Piikup This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing April Fenall, founder and CEO of Piikup, delivery services for businesses and... Entrepreneurial Journey Announcing Our San Francisco Business Accelerator Uptima Business Bootcamp is proud to announce the opening of our second business accelerator. We have partnered with Impact HUB... Entrepreneurial Journey Supporting Local Bookstores: Hannah Onstad, H2O Content Strategy & LOAKL This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Hannah Onstad, freelance content strategist at H2O Content Strategy and founder of... Getting Started Guide to Exploring Your Business Idea You have an idea for a business! You’re eager to dive in and turn that idea into an actual product... Entrepreneurial Journey Creating a Business on Holistic Principles: Nubian Flunder, The Healing Place Apothecary This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Nubian Flunder, founder & CEO of The Healing Place Apothecary, an Oakland-based... Business Planning Guide to Getting Started on Your Business’ Financial Forecast Many entrepreneurs struggle to put together the numbers, or financial forecast, for their business. However, understanding your business’ financial outlook... Entrepreneurial Journey Creating a Business Out of Telling Stories: Jared Karol, Storytelling for Good This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jared Karol to learn more about his story of becoming a freelancer... Freelancing How to Respond to “Can I Pick Your Brain?” As a freelancer or business owner, you may have been asked on more than one occasion, “Can I pick your... Entrepreneurial Journey Following Her Passion: Ariana Marbley, Esscents of Flowers This week, I’m excited to roll out a new feature on our blog. Every other week we will tell the... Thinking Holistically The Hidden Benefits of Asking for Support Later this month, we will graduate another cohort of our funding a business class. Soon, they will go out and... Thinking Holistically Are You Ready to be CEO of Your Startup? We were halfway through our business planning class last week – this is the point when we see many participants... Thinking Holistically Embrace Your Vulnerability as an Entrepreneur Some years ago, I told a business partner that I didn’t want to be a CEO. I was terrified of... Thinking Holistically Create Relationships, Not Just Transactions Since Valentine’s Day is this week, I’ve been thinking about love, relationships and business. You may ask “What do love... Getting Started The Power of Entrepreneurs Right Now Anyone who has been keeping up with the news knows that we are living in a new era, where a... Business Planning Can’t I Just Hire Someone to Write My Business Plan? This past weekend, we started another cohort of our business planning class, Module 2: Creating a Business Roadmap. Every time... Getting Started Laid Off? Try Freelancing During the mortgage crisis of 2008, I was laid off from my job in investment banking. This was the second... Getting Started Don’t Quit Your Day Job… Yet When I am interviewing aspiring entrepreneurs for our programs, I always ask about their short-term personal goals. In almost every... General Welcome to the Uptima Business Bootcamp Blog When I started Uptima Business Bootcamp in 2014, I drew from my own experience as an investment banker, advising businesses...