Being an LGBT enterprise proprietor isn’t at all times straightforward however with the Nationwide LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) at your facet, you turn into a part of a community that’s right here and able to assist at a second’s discover.
Listed below are NGLCC’s ideas for LGBTQ entrepreneurs to greatest put together their enterprise for what lies forward this summer time and past.
1. Get your NGLCC certification
NGLCC is the unique third-party certification physique that verifies that eligible companies are majority-owned by LGBTQ people. By acquiring the Licensed LGBTBE® designation for your small business, you may open up further channels of contracting and procurement for your self.
Licensed LGBTBE® firms are routinely wanted by NGLCC Company Companions, who want to improve their spending with the LGBTQ enterprise neighborhood by way of our inner, proprietary database. In flip, Licensed LGBTBE® firms have entry to lots of of company representatives and provider variety skilled contacts. By way of these contacts, firms can start constructing strategic relationships and making preparations to satisfy face-to-face with them at NGLCC matchmaking and networking occasions, that are held all year long.
As enterprise ramps up and turns into extra aggressive this summer time, these contracting alternatives turn into all of the extra sought-after and beneficial. Acquiring certification for your small business provides you first choose at these alternatives, in addition to lets you take part in particular skilled growth applications. Licensed LGBTBE® firms are eligible for scholarship applications, mentorship and management coaching, and different enterprise growth instruments!
2. Attend LGBTQ networking occasions
There isn’t a higher approach to develop your small business than to repeatedly work together with different LGBTBE house owners. Our community of LGBTQ entrepreneurs proves that all of us develop and be taught extra successfully with help from one another.
One of the best ways to satisfy different Licensed LGBTBE® house owners and entrepreneurs is thru NGLCC’s numerous array of occasions! Each month, we provide a wide range of informational programming by way of our Webinar Wednesdays initiative, overlaying every thing from office battle, digital work ideas, PPP loans, and extra. By way of these occasions, LGBTQ professionals can join and talk about what they’ve realized.
NGLCC additionally presents a month-to-month Sip & Pitch program. Sip & Pitch is an opportunity to informally current your LGBT-owned enterprise to a panel of specialists and your fellow enterprise house owners for constructive, constructive suggestions and new concepts. Though these are mock pitches, these applications are an amazing alternative for publicity for companies of the NGLCC neighborhood. For the ultimate hour of Sip & Pitch, all members of the LGBT and allied enterprise neighborhood within the NGLCC community are welcome to pour a drink of their alternative — with every thing from espresso to cocktails welcome — and casually community with their fellow neighborhood members over video.
It’s unclear what number of occasions will likely be in individual this summer time, however NGLCC’s digital programming is right here to remain. Occasions like Webinar Wednesday, Sip & Pitch, and different neighborhood applications are useful alternatives to get to know our community and to satisfy fellow entrepreneurs because the scope of enterprise continues to alter with the pandemic.
3. Interact with platforms like Hey Alice
NGLCC accomplice Hey Alice helps entrepreneurs to develop their companies with a wide range of instruments and personalised assets. Hey Alice is a digital platform that helps small enterprise house owners strategize round and construct elements of their companies that they could need assistance with. It presents information insights and a customized person expertise to members as they make their means additional into the platform’s programming.
Hey Alice additionally presents all kinds of on-line communities for enterprise house owners to instantly work together with one another, get their enterprise questions answered rapidly, and collaborate. This programming is completed by way of a sequence of content material partnerships with quite a few discipline specialists and companions that may assist entrepreneurs proceed to construct. A few of these companions embrace Salesforce, Bumble, Chase, and plenty of extra.
NGLCC is proud to accomplice with Hey Alice in deepening their analysis with parts of our America’s LGBT Financial system Report.
You’ll be able to join free at helloalice.com! Click on right here to learn our dialog with the co-founder of Hey Alice, Elizabeth Gore.
About NGLCC
The NGLCC is the enterprise voice of the LGBT neighborhood, the most important advocacy group devoted to increasing financial alternatives and developments for LGBT individuals, and the unique certifying physique for LGBT-owned companies. At NGLCC, we acknowledge {that a} rising enterprise wants not solely a powerful native community the place enterprise house owners dwell and work but additionally enterprise certification and entry to all of the strategic development alternatives provided by our nationwide group.
The LGBT enterprise house owners NGLCC represents generate over $1.7 trillion in financial impression, create jobs and innovate enterprise options nationwide. Moreover, NGLCC is the main public coverage advocate working to incorporate Licensed LGBTBE® companies in procurement alternatives on the federal, state and native stage. NGLCC World is increasing its attain to 5 continents, bridging financial alternative and LGBTI human rights worldwide.
