Roaring Fork Business Resource Center

When Kimberly Henrie saw an uptick in traffic at her business early this year, it wasn't a good sign. It wasn't that Henrie wasn't happy to have customers coming into Exclusive Athletic Club. It's just that last January, daytime hours at the gym started to fill with people who used to be at work. Many were construction workers who either found themselves out of work or with fewer jobs than they used to.

No amount of green on Black Friday can put Roaring Fork Valley businesses on par with last year, but when it comes to weathering the recession, midvalley businesses are faring better than their neighbors upvalley and downvalley.

The Roaring Fork Business Resource Center (RFBRC) was recently awarded $10,000 from the city of Glenwood Springs and $10,000 from Alpine Banks to support the center's activities. Other area governments and chambers of commerce have contributed start-up funding, and a number of state, federal and foundation grants are in process. The center will serve both as an incubator that nurtures start-up enterprises from Parachute to Aspen as well as a resource center that helps established businesses. The center will serve aspiring and achieving entrepreneurs and business owners, promote existing business resources, create new learning opportunities, and identify ways for small businesses to access capital.

A network of service providers will serve as advisors and mentors. "We are looking for businesses interested in becoming sponsors, mentors to other business owners, and members of our advisory council, and we are gearing up to offer small business subscribers access to virtual technology such as VoIP phone service, conferencing solutions, and online faxing," said Randi Lowenthal, president and CEO and the former Carbondale Chamber of Commerce director. Lowenthal has also enlisted the help of Colorado Mountain College, which is making available its campuses between Rifle and Aspen for a variety of programs and services.

The center will begin to interview prospective clients during the week of Oct. 19. For more information, call the center at 945-5158 or go the website at www.rfbrc@org. 

Randi Lowenthal, president and CEO of the Roaring Fork Business Resource Center, will appear in a five-minute interview on CNN Headline News, local Comcast TV Cable channel 44, throughout October. The interview was conducted by Comcast Newsmakers in Denver and will be broadcast locally on Mondays at 4:54 p.m.; Tuesdays at 12:54 a.m.; Wednesdays at 4:54 p.m.; Thursdays at 12:54 a.m.; Fridays at 4:54 p.m.; Saturdays at 6:54 p.m., and Sundays at 8:54 p.m.

The Roaring Fork Business Resource Center is a business incubator located at 817 Colorado Ave. in Glenwood Springs. The center will serve entrepreneurs and business clients from Parachute to Aspen, and will begin to interview prospective clients during the week of Oct. 19. The center also is recruiting experienced volunteers to become business advisors and mentors. For more information, call the center at 945-5158, or log onto www.rfbrc.org.

A new nonprofit organization aimed at giving area businesses the tools to survive and thrive now has an official office, and is ready to take the next step in developing its mission.

A brand new organization dedicated to helping new and established businesses flourish got a financial boost from Garfield County on Monday. The Roaring Fork Business Resource Center, which came into formal existence in March, was promised $25,000 after County Commissioner John Martin declared, "It's right along the same lines, I think, that we've been promoting for 10 years."

"There are lots of resources out there already, so the goal is not to duplicate those efforts," Lowenthal said. "But people don't often know how to get to those resources." That's where the Business Resource Center would come in, serving as a central referral agency that can direct business owners to the specific kinds of services they need. That can include help in starting up a new business, modernizing an established business, finding various financing options, education training and technology, and even how to wind down and close or sell a business.

Randi Lowenthal has seen small businesses come and go during her many years as the local chamber of commerce director and in other roles assisting the business community. Many could have saved themselves from going out of business had they simply been directed to the right resources, Lowenthal said, pointing to Small Business Administration statistics suggesting more than 70 percent of small businesses fail within the first three to five years.

In her next endeavor, the Roaring Fork Business Resource Center, Lowenthal said she plans to focus on helping new and established local businesses succeed in today's tough economic times, as well as in the future. And, she thinks that this is the perfect time for the nonprofit resource center to blossom. "What can we do to be positive given the craziness of the economy?" Lowenthal asked. "I think this is something for the Roaring Fork Valley that will be extremely positive for businesses in the valley."