Photos by Ginny Kropf: Ricky and Katrina Standish stand near the banks of Lake Alice on family-owned property, of which they have become managers. Katrina recently graduated from the Spring 2025 Microenterprise Assistance Program, which she took to help them run a business.

ALBION – The Spring 2025 Microenterprise Assistance Program class recently graduated 11 aspiring business entrepreneurs, whose prospective new businesses are very diverse, according to MAP director Matt Holland.

“We had an excellent group of businesses this year, from a wide variety of backgrounds and stages of business,” Holland said.

This included agriculture, retail, food service, property rental and maintenance – some of which are concept, startup or have been open for more than two years.

“I believe this diversity benefitted group discussions and collaboration,” Holland said. “All of them were enthusiastic and worked hard drafting their business plans. I look forward to seeing what the future holds for their businesses.”

Holland took over leadership of MAP when Diane Blanchard retired in 2023. He said MAP is education and he has always enjoyed education.

“Most importantly, because small businesses are the backbone of a small town area,” he said.

Jeremy Bow of Kent signed up for the Microenterprise Assistance Program to take advantage of the resources they offer. He has started a new business, JB’s Stump Grinding.

They didn’t restart the MAP program until 2024, Holland said.

“We took a step back to see if any changes had to be made and what we could do to get small business centers involved – with the EDA,” he said. “Small business centers bring great programming to the class.”

The Microenterprise Assistance Program has graduated 569 individuals to date. Two graduations are held a year, always with a similar curriculum, Holland said. They teach the basics a business person should know, including legal, marketing, financials, bookkeeping and pricing.

“We always have an entrepreneur come in and tell the class what it’s like to be in business,” Holland said.

One such businessman was Kyle Brent, who just built a new modern building for his business, KJ Motorsports in Middleport. The class was very impressed with his story, starting his business in his home, right out of high school.

“Sometimes a person takes the class and realizes they don’t want to be in business,” Holland said.

The newest graduates and their businesses are Ellen Blanc, Paws Only Grooming; Jeremy Bow, JB;s Stump Grinding; McKenna Christ, The Grove 1848; Megan Davenport, GH Grooming and Spa; Duane DeRoller, Liberty Meadows; Emma Drisdom – Emma’s Nail Room; Shawn Malark, North Star Ammo and Defense; Deborah Mannix – Seasonal Retail; Katie and Christopher Oakes – LynOaken Upick LLC; Alicia Sargent, Medicare Advocacy Center; and Ricky and Katrina Standish, RKScapes (rental property, landscaping and property management).

Two of the recent graduates shared their stories of becoming entrepreneurs.

Graduate Katrina Standish and her husband Ricky both have full-time jobs at Community Action of Orleans and Genesee, but recently took over management of property her father owns, mostly on the banks of Lake Alice. Katrina registered for the class, but Ricky came along also.

“The class helped us understand a business plan,” Katrina said.

“They also hook you up with an attorney, who connected us with the Small Business Legal Clinic at the WNY Law Center,” Ricky said.

The couple plan to expand their rental holdings to include Amish shed cabins, accessible to the water for fishermen, as well as a fire pit, canoe and kayak rentals and golf cart rentals. This is something Katrina has always dreamed of, she said.

“I think MAP was a great opportunity for us,” Katrina added.

Jeremy Bow is also employed full-time, but decided to start a side business after discovering how expensive it would be to hire someone to grind up a bunch of stumps in his yard.

“I picked up a stump grinder to do my yard, and then started helping my friends,” Bow said. “At first I thought I’d take care of my stumps, then go help my friends and sell the grinder. But, last fall I decided to get an LLC form and insurance.”

He enrolled in the MAP class, something he said he wishes he had done sooner.

“MAP showed us a lot of resources out there I didn’t know existed,” Bow said. “I also met a lot of class members in all phase of business. Some don’t have a business yet, just a business concept. We shared ideas with some who are fully established and some whose business is still in the works.”

He was impressed with how much they learned – about the paperwork involved, how to motivate employees and the importance of taking good care of your employees.

“Some questions brought up were things I’d never thought of,” Bow said. “There are so many things you don’t know. They don’t make it easy to start a business, but MAP covered a lot of the bases and showed us where help is available. It’s a very good program.”

Bow said he hopes by being affordable and doing a good job, his new business will be successful. His goal is to buy a dump trailer and mini skid-steer so he can clean up after a job.

He wants no dissatisfied customers, he said.

Applications for the next MAP class will be accepted beginning July 15. The fall class will begin the first Thursday in September.