Conference fires up businesswomen

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 13, 1999

Monday, September 13, 1999

Tabatha Severtson was there because she’s looking at purchasing an established business in Albert Lea and she needs financial help.

Penny Kinney was trying to see how she could turn what she’s already doing part-time – entertainment – into a profitable business.

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Barb Jagerson is on the ground level starting a pet-sitting business, so she was looking for advice on how exactly to get started.

All three said they left Saturday’s "Creating Connections for Women and Business Conference" with a much better idea of how to go about accomplishing those goals.

"It was all very interesting, although some of the information was beyond where I’m at right now," Jagerson said. "The lunchtime panel was good too. We got to hear from a variety of women business owners, from the home-based business owner who’s in it alone to someone with a separate location and several employees to consider."

Five local businesswomen sat on the lunchtime panel, each offering her own slant on the perks and perils of running your own business. Included on the panel were Bonnie Mogen of Bonnie’s Hallmark, Pat Ray of Gift Gals and Parkside Pete’s, Faye Bollingberg of Bollingberg Chiropractic Clinic, Bonita Moeller of the Albert Lea bed and breakfast Fountain View Inn and Kris Graff of Kristen’s Therapeutic Massage.

Avoiding burnout was a popular question for the five, two of whom – Bollingberg and Graff – admitted they’re still working on the answer for that one. Ray and her partner Toni Slavik, on the other hand, award themselves with an annual trip "somewhere warm", while Moeller occasionally gives herself a day off and Mogen makes the most of her Hallmark Seminars by including her husband in the trip.

Conference organizer Janet Anderson had good feedback on the day-long event.

"One woman was absolutely thrilled – she didn’t know there was such a thing as a business initiative grant," Anderson said. "I think there was a good variety of topics for people, lots of different resources they can tap into as well as people to meet and maybe network with in the future."

This was the second year for the Creating Connections conference, which was sponsored by the Development Corporation of Austin in partnership with Riverland Community College Women’s Centers, the Austin Chamber, SE Minn. Private Industry Council, Small Business Development Center of Rochester and the Initiative Fund.

As for Severtson, Kinney and Jagerson, each of them will be reminded of their specific goals in two months, when each receives her own goal-setting comments in the mail as a gentle reminder … or a pat on the back … depending on the progress made.