Hack My Business

Mark Herbert talks with hosts Jesse & Sid about what it means to advocate for policies that are important to entrepreneurs as well as making sure they have access to all the funds and tools they might need during their small business journey. 

About The Guest:

Mark Herbert directs Small Business Majority’s operations throughout California. (Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization.) As Vice President in California, Mark oversees the policy, outreach and development efforts across the state while also directing the work on responsible small business lending issues nationwide. Mark was appointed to the California Small Business & Innovative Startups Recovery Working Group, which will advise and support the small business priorities of the Governor's Jobs and Economic Recovery Task Force.

Previously, Mark served as the organization’s California Director, Project Manager and Outreach Manager in California where he developed strong relationships with small business owners and business organizations across the state. Prior to joining the organization more than six years ago, he worked for state and federal lawmakers where he directed business operations and built relationships with small business owners and key stakeholders as they pertained to public policy issues. An entrepreneur himself, Mark runs a small consulting business specializing in volunteer management and organizational capacity building. He also serves on the advisory boards for both the Northern California and the San Diego and Imperial Valley Small Business Development Centers networks, which oversee a total of 22 SBDCs in California, serves on Covered California's Marketing, Outreach and Enrollment Advisory Group and serves on the board for the California Association for Micro Enterprise Opportunity (CAMEO).

More From Mark Herbert:

Visit the website Small Business Majority

Email directly at [email protected] 

Connect on LinkedIn

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*If you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

“People who advocate always advocate”. How can one continue to put the issues that are most important forward and to motivate and mobilize, while your business’ current status is unsure of whether it will sink or swim? Gail expresses how leadership in advocacy starts with communication and finding ways to express the message and connect with those who are going to be most affected. 

About The Guest:

Gail Lillian is a serial entrepreneur, restaurant owner, and business coach. She’s a facilitator-in-training for Stanford’s MBA program, in the department of Organizational Behavior, and a Regional Advisor for the Small Business Development Center Network, providing support to small business owners across Northern California. She also volunteers as a mediator, facilitating conflict resolution in corporate and community settings. You can find more on her consulting site, Intent2Impact.com.  Our listeners in Northern California probably recognize her name in association with her famous cafe Liba and I know there are many that tip their hat to her for helping to launch the food truck scene.

More From Gail Lillian:

Visit her site: www.intent2impact.com 

Her restaurant: Liba

Visit the SBDC

Twitter: @naillilliag 

Instagram: @sweetsideoakland

Connect on LinkedIn

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*If you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

Mark Villalovos guides us through the details of what it means to minimize the friction of a guest or customer returning to your business. How do we begin to prioritize safety, not only from the perspective of health but from a perspective of a new customer experience that breeds trust and care. 

About The Guest:

Mark Villalovos has designed and implemented numerous physical and digital Customer Experience innovations.  As the Director of Strategy and Transformation at Sears Holdings Corp., Mark is responsible for the customer experience strategies of the Shop Your Way loyalty platform and helping return the prestigious Sears and Kmart brands to profitability. Mark’s specialty is human-centered, customer-obsessed design as he fully immerses himself into the lives of his customers and removes friction from the awareness, selection and all purchase processes which grows customer engagement and increases loyalty and revenue as a result.

The foundation of Mark’s expertise is derived from 18 years with the Walt Disney Company. Here Mark helped pioneer the sales philosophy of “Mission Magic” which is credited as a key factor in the return of the Disney Store to profitability between 2008 and 2016.  

More From Mark Villalovos:

Email him directly: [email protected] 

Connect on LinkedIn

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*If you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

Hosts Jesse Torres & Sid Voorakkara sit down to have an intimate conversation about the current civil unrest in this country, the black lives matter movement and what it means to be a person of color in the United States. 

Resources:

-Black Lives Matter   -Reading about the Black Lives Matter Movement (articles are free to access until August 31, 2020)   -Reading about policy solutions to improve policing in our communities   -National Association for the Advancement of Colored People   -American Civil Liberties Union   -Know your rights   -How to protest safely during a global pandemic   -26 Ways To Be In The Struggle Beyond The Streets   -American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass by Douglas S. Massey and Nancy A. Denton  

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*If you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

 

Hosts Jesse Torres & Sid Voorakkara talk with Rachel on how she approaches effective policy and stakeholder development and her insights on how the COVID-19 has impacted retail in California and what the future holds for the industry.

About The Guest:

Rachel Michelin is the President of the California Retailers Association. The California Retailers Association works to be the most significant voice representing the retail industry in California’s public policy arena, at the State Capitol, in City Halls and with regulatory bodies across the state.  Rachel oversees a diverse board and membership representing retail throughout the state and nation from small brick and mortar, to franchises to national retailers and on-line merchants.  She has as impressive professional background and has spent the past 20 years leading associations with particular expertise on strategic growth and engagement, increasing revenue, developing partnerships, statewide influence and public awareness.  

More From Rachel Michelin:

Visit her website: https://calretailers.com

Contact her directly: [email protected] 

Connect with Rachel on LinkedIn

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*If you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

Hosts Jesse Torres and Sid Voorakkara quickly partnered on developing and launching a website in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the effect it is having on small businesses and entrepreneurs. As the site develops more traction and integration from you, the small business owner, it’s shape and content continues to better reflect the resources most needed and asked for. Jesse and Sid discuss the inception, creation and behavior of the site by inviting on special guest Lia Nitake, who has been spearheading and managing the development and operation of the site.

What is the site for: 

covid19biztools.com is a continuously updated site that connects COVID-19 impacted businesses in California to grants, programs and resources that are being offered by federal, state and local providers.

About Our Guest:

Lia Nitake is a public affairs and economic development specialist based in Sacramento. She has worked with government, non-profit, and multilateral institutions in support of business and economic development at the local, state, and international levels. Previously, Nitake was the Director of Public Policy at the California and Sacramento Asian Pacific Chambers of Commerce, where she oversaw advocacy, strategic partnerships, and programmatic development in support of the state's API small business community.

*If there is a specific resource you would like to see on covid19biztools.com you can reach us HERE.

*And if you would like to be featured in our Q&A segments of the show, email us your business questions [email protected]

*Thank you for listening and please share the show or an episode you love with someone who might need it during this challenging time. We believe that when you succeed we all succeed, so let’s share the knowledge and resources! 

In this new series host Jesse Torres of Arroyo West along with his occasional co-host Sid Voorakkara of Ten Page Memo have important and valuable conversations with guests such as policy makers, economic development agencies, CEO's, entrepreneurs, and more to provide resources and assistance to small businesses to hack their way to success.

With a special current focus on Covid-19 resources for small businesses who are being impacted.

For more info visit: www.covid19biztools.com

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