FIT2order Joins the Nation’s Graduates of Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses Program

[The Program, In General]

FIT2order was honored yesterday as one of nearly 120 small businesses who graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10K Small Businesses program. The philanthropic brainchild of Michael Bloomberg, the program provides small business owners with a practical business education and support to help them grow and create jobs. The curriculum, developed by the highly acclaimed Babson College, includes more than 100 hours of practical, peer-learning education including financial management, negotiations, and marketing. Being selected to participate in this program was an opportunity to not only apply this knowledge using FIT2order as our case study.

 [The Program’s Secret Sauce]

The classroom lessons were top notch, but what catapulted our learning experience was the deep camaraderie that emerged among the scholars rather early in the program. In addition to corporate wellness, the graduates included contractors, restaurant owners, engineers, acupuncturists, lawyers, plumbers, proposal writers, IT professionals, store owners, and event planners. The diversity of occupations as well as gender, race and age within the cohort seemed to somehow deepen our connection, as we quickly understood that we were more alike than different—we shared the same business struggles, the same work ethic, the same driving desire to succeed, and the same values. After four months of intense sharing, learning and networking, 90% of us were doing business together and nearly all were scheduling gatherings for continued group support and accountability.

[Our Growth]

What was our biggest take-away from the program?

• Regarding opportunities: in the Growth Module, we learned how to chart our strategic opportunities; over breakfast, a Government Contractor opened another opportunity, by showing us that our onsite services are included in the GSA Schedule.
• Regarding accounting: in the Financials Module, we learned how to use our financial statements to make decisions about our businesses; walking to the parking garage, a Restaurant Owner shared how she structures quarterly meetings with her accountant for consistent and effective consultations.
• Regarding tracking sales data: in the Sales and Marketing Module, we learned about the sales funnel and lead generation; at Happy Hour an IT Consultant recommended a process that helped us decipher our Customer Acquisition Costs.

There were so many take-aways, on so many levels.

The FIT2order team looks forward to our next level of growth with the help of this amazing program—and the supportive culture is has created, nationwide.