As business assistance coordinator for the community based, non-traditional lending organization, Kelly came on board the Common Capital team in January and is eagerly settling into her position. She will be working directly with Common Capital borrowers, providing technical assistance and coordination of supportive business services and training.

Kelly brings a uniquely blended knowledge base, with experience in economic development as well as community collaboration as she worked for a number of years with families in need of social services and with small businesses on their fiscal management.

I work with Kelly on the Common Capital enewsletter, and with Ruth Griggs and The Creative, in bringing marketing services to Common Capital clients. It’s easy for me to see that Kelly brings the same passion and knowledge to the job of helping businesspeople as I imagine she did to the work of bringing resources to struggling single mothers many years ago.

About Common Capital

The Common Capital Business Assistance Program is designed to provide one-on-one support to borrowers, offering access to resources needed for the long-term success of local small businesses. Through goal setting, accountability work and networking, Kelly works with business owners to develop a true structure of support.

She’s a whiz at thinking about the needs of Common Capital’s clients and the marketing and other channels that will best help them grow. When she’s determined that financial coaching would help them, or perhaps graphic design services, Kelly works to pair the clients with Common Capital partners like myself.

Kelly’s mind is constantly at work, brainstorming additional ways to raise awareness for clients and how to continue to build on the resources that Common Capital already provides to them.

The organization recently announced a new training component to the Business Assistance Program. Called Lynda.com, the platform will allow borrowers and prospective borrowers to access free learning on in-depth topics ranging from business principles to money management to social media marketing.

That’s an impressive reveal in the first few months on the job, when most people are struggling to learn their role and remember their new passwords (and colleague’s names). And Kelly has gone further than that. She is also hard at work, writing new Business Tips for entrepreneurs and clients to read on the Common Capital website.

I am especially impressed by this skill. Kelly is using editorial content and the written word to help clients build knowledge and raise awareness, and, in this way, she is also raising awareness for Common Capital. Super smart. And also well-done. I told Kelly she did a great job writing her tips!

Last month, Kelly penned a tip on understanding the differences in borrowing from different types of lenders. Her second tip was about building relationships on social media, my personal favorite.

You too could use the written word and storytelling to raise awareness about and grow your business. Follow Kelly’s good lead: Write a blog about a client’s successful experience. Post a quote from a happy client on social media.

These new marketing channels make it so easy to grow your business, and if you’re not as adept as Kelly and need help with that, you can send me an email.

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HOLYOKE—Common Capital Inc. has created the new position of director for its Business Assistance Program and hired longtime business coach, advisor and entrepreneur Bill Horowitz to fill it.

Horowitz began on Feb. 1 in the new role at Common Capital, an innovative nonprofit that provides loans and consulting services to small business owners throughout western Massachusetts.

His mission is to enhance the Business Assistance Program by developing new offerings for clients and the wider community and serving as a liaison between clients and the contractors who provide services to them. Horowitz’s key responsibilities as head of the Business Assistance Program will be to assist businesses seeking funding, offer post-loan assistance and oversee Common Capital’s team of area consultants who provide services to clients.

Horowitz has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business coach and advisor. He founded and has operated WRH Ventures, Inc. in Longmeadow since June 2009, offering business turnaround and crisis management advising.

Involved for many years in family owned businesses launched by his grandfather, Horowitz said he also has entrepreneurship “in his DNA.” He has served at Amerbelle Textiles, LLC of Vernon, Conn., as president and partner, and at Amerbelle Corporation of Vernon as president and chief operating officer.

“My role at Common Capital gives me an opportunity to continue using my skills and education to help privately held businesses,” said Horowitz, who holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from George Washington University and completed a special studies program at the Philadelphia College of Textiles & Science, now known as Philadelphia University.

Through its Business Assistance Program, Common Capital connects its clients to services that range from marketing and communications consulting with The Creative of Northampton to financial consulting and accounting with Jen Turner of Belchertown.

“This is what differentiates Common Capital,” Horowitz said. “It is not just a source for funding but also a resource for helping businesses grow and succeed. We help business owners meet their challenges. You’re not going to get that type of assistance from an online lender.”

“We’re trying to broaden the scope of what’s offered,” Horowitz added, noting Common Capital is looking to add legal and retail consulting to its slate of offerings, as well as programs that will benefit the business community at large, including a monthly Business Owners Roundtable and Business Education Webinars.

Horowitz said the feedback it receives from clients points to successes that range from income growth to improved quality of life. A veterinarian in the region recently emailed at midnight to say, “I’m so appreciative of the help you’ve offered,” he said.

Claudine Gaj, a chef who founded The Magic Spoon Catering in Munson in 1998, is another grateful client.

Gaj has received two Common Capital loans, one in 2013 to buy kitchen equipment for her facilities in Monson and one in 2015 to expand the kitchen. She said the added value of being a Common Capital client was that she also received marketing and accounting services.

Gaj worked with The Creative in Northampton—a collaboration of Ruth Griggs, marketing strategist; Janice Beetle, copywriter; and Maureen Scanlon, designer—to enhance her branding via menus and business cards, and to create a marketing enewsletter. Griggs met with Gaj, did a marketing and communications assessment and then developed a marketing plan, bringing in Scanlon to provide the design services.

“The approach taken by The Creative, and their expertise, are a winning combination for Common Capital to help businesses align their marketing activities with the owners’ goals for success and help them grow their revenues,” Horowitz said.

Gaj also worked with Jen Turner to get bookkeeping processes and procedures in place.

“The value is there,” Gaj said. “Whatever I’ve paid in interest on my loans, I’ve gotten back twofold. Common Capital follows through with the people they lend to. They help support them as well. It’s not just a one-way door.”

Common Capital’s seven essential goals are to: create and retain jobs in Western Massachusetts, provide an opportunity for low-income businesspeople, provide essential community services, rejuvenate neighborhoods, develop sustainable environmental practices, support businesses with local ownership and recirculate local dollars.

For more information on a loan from Common Capital, call (413) 420-0183, extension 100. For more information on investing locally through Common Capital’s Community First Fund, contact Michael Abbate, Common Capital’s chief operating officer at (413) 420-0183, extension 102, or mabbate@common-capital.org.

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