Entrepreneurship: How to start and grow your own business

MARION — When people kept asking Julie Lammers for entrepreneurial guidance, she did what any self-starter in her position would do. She turned her advice into a business.

“At first, I was volunteering and, over time, economic development entities have requested my help in working with potential entrepreneurs and existing business owners,” she said. “Thus, there was a need to create my own firm.”

  Buy Photo

The Cedar Rapids native founded Lambro Business Services, offering advice to people considering starting a business as well as those who already own a small business. The company launched in May 2022 and is based in Marion.

  Buy Photo

“This work spans everything from how to set up a business structure in the state of Iowa, to how to write a business plan, to how to create useful financial forecasts,” she said.

For example, Lammers helps clients prepare documentation for bank loans.

For existing business owners, Lammers helps them “strategize and create a plan for taking their business to the next level. This could include process mapping, organizational audits, financial benchmarking, and possibly creating a business plan to seek additional funding.”

In 2016, Lammers sold one of her businesses, Coffeesmiths, but continued to stay engaged in Eastern Iowa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Over the last few years, I provided services for the Small Business Development Center, Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business Program, city of Marion, University of Iowa, and NewBoCo, as well as individual clients.”

Lammers, 60, hopes her husband, Scot Brown, will be able to join her business in the next few years to provide technology and accounting services.

Lammers calls this period “a fun chapter in my life” but acknowledges that “being an entrepreneur can be quite lonely. Only other business owners can understand the weight you carry to make your business successful.”

Business plans

In Lammers’ experience, every successful business plan should include:

Ultimately, she adds, you must answer the question: Do you have a enough money to start the business, to pay the monthly bills, and, in time, have some money left over for yourself?

Lammers also has another business, Lambro Properties. It is a commercial property investment company in Nebraska, and she is its president.

What makes her proud?

“Every time someone opens a new business or takes a big growth step,” she says.

Getting help

Lammers’ advice for anyone who wants to start a business is to simply ask for help.

“Seek out resources in the community,” she advises.

Those resources include the Iowa Small Business Development Centers, which offer personalized, confidential and no-cost business counseling to small business owners and entrepreneurs.

SCORE is a national organization that helps entrepreneurs start, grow or successfully exit a business. the East Central Iowa chapter provides free, expert mentoring, resources and education.

NewBoCo, in Cedar Rapids, supports entrepreneurship, education and innovation through hands-on programming, technical talent and community building.

Entrepreneur Edge has a goal of lifting the entrepreneurial community in Cedar Rapids and the surrounding areas through education, mentorship and social capital growth. Part of Four Oaks, the group develops and supports small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Iowa City Area Development is a network of business and public sector leaders who collaborate to support local companies, guide investment and grow the economy in Johnson County.

The ‘secret’

What’s the secret sauce in Lammers’ experience to being a successful entrepreneur, starting a business and growing it?

“Perseverance, following your passion,” she says, “and acknowledging what you do not know.”

  Buy Photo