For those starting a business, knowing where to turn for assistance is hard. For women business owners, this can be even more difficult as there have been traditionally fewer of them. The Sphere Northampton aims to give business owners the tools they need to succeed.
“We place a strong emphasis on community and supporting one another with advice and feedback,” says Christina Webster, co-founder and chief of wellness for The Sphere.
Megan Allen, co-founder and chief of momentum, agrees. “It’s the connections between people that give energy to ideas and sometimes just knowing that others are going through the same things is the best help.”
The Sphere’s mission is to “connect and uplift driven women entrepreneurs so they can unleash their potential, thereby impacting their community and the local economy.” The goal is for this to spread to others, building a community of supportive entrepreneurs.
“We are constantly thinking outside of the box to find solutions to problems that business owners face. While there are many resources for businesses within the Valley, we hope not to overlap, but to work with these other organizations so that we can fill lingering gaps,” explains Christina. “We also use a data-based approach, so every decision we make is tied to research, data, and assessments for success such as key performance indicators.”
The project began as a passion project with Tiffany Chapman of Tiffany Chapman Photography, Carrielynn Fournier of BusyBee Cleans and Megan, who owns The Community Classroom. The group combined to tell the stories of woman-owned businesses in Florence that had survived and thrived during the height of the pandemic, which provided the impetus for continuing their work.
With 44 percent of Northampton businesses being woman-owned, but having virtually no resources for supporting them in the Valley or in the state, The Sphere was born. While it doesn’t provide funding, the organization focuses on its three pillars - connection, wellness and momentum - to provide the services and support that its business owners need.
“We try to leave room in our mission for the ever-changing needs of entrepreneurs in Northampton. We aim to be responsive to those needs,” says Megan. “We can’t fund businesses, but we can point them in the right direction of our partners who can help them find funding.”
The teaching backgrounds of both Megan and Christina, as well as their fervent desire to make these experiences painless and even fun, have helped to make The Sphere, and its members, successful.
“While working to provide resources and knowledge, we also work very hard to provide these opportunities in a fun, less intimidating format,” explains Christina. “In December, we had a 'Cookies and Conversation' cookie swap regarding business topics. In January, we hosted 'Taxes, Trivia and Tequila'. Both were a huge success. While others may shy away from your typical networking event, we welcome them to try a more intimate, lighthearted format.”
“And we use this lighthearted format to tackle subjects that we might naturally shy away from talking about, like taxes and finance,” adds Megan.
Another project on the horizon is the opening of The Sphere Innovation Lab, a coworking space at 82 Maple St. in Florence, scheduled to open in July. Starting in the fall, the lab will also host drop-in office hours.
“We’ll have entrepreneurs in our network available at the Innovation Lab for our community,” explains Megan. “This could be ask-an-attorney, ask-an-accountant, etc.”
The Sphere also relies heavily on its interns. Currently, Christine Cui and Abigail Ellis, both Smith College students, are working on developing a concierge/assistant service, scheduled to start later this year.
“Some of the biggest obstacles women entrepreneurs face are due to the overwhelming amount of busy work and menial tasks they have to tackle each day,” explains Christine. “Even necessary tasks like bookkeeping and content creation take up time and energy that could otherwise be used for expanding their businesses.”
“We hope that the pilot concierge service will assist the Sphere community members by reducing their mental load and taking care of certain tasks for them,” adds Abbie.
In addition to the concierge project, Megan and Christina have their eyes on building other services. They’d like to do yearly refreshes of the trail maps, research more co-op solutions for owners in their network, create a collection of one-page resource manuals for common questions about the running of a business and build a strong partnership with Smith College to build that pipeline for students who want to be entrepreneurs.
“We hope the organization is a seamless part of the economic ecosystem of Northampton,” says Megan. “We aim to be a fluid organization that addresses the changing needs of the entrepreneurs we serve, helping the local economy thrive through research-based solutions and strong partnerships.”
For information, visit www.SphereNorthampton.com.
"We can’t fund businesses, but we can point them in the right direction of our partners who can help them find funding."
"While others may shy away from your typical networking event, we welcome them to try a more intimate, lighthearted format."
