BANGOR CHAPTER LEARNS FROM LOCAL BUSINESS OWNERS ABOUT ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Marco Orlando & Krista Kennedy
June 6, 2019 – Being self-employed and owning a business has long been touted as “the American dream.” For many, including those among us with a disability, these lofty goals often seem out of reach. With so many variables and so many moving parts that go along with it, it can be tough for anyone to know where to turn for help or even how to get started.
Thankfully, not all hope is lost. For Bangor Chapter representative Marco Orlando, starting and maintaining a business runs in the family. He comes from a family of “self-starters,” people with drive and ambition, who take initiative and don’t wait around for other people to come along and do their work for them. When other members of the Bangor Chapter recently expressed an interest in learning more about entrepreneurship, Marco knew exactly who was at the top of his list to help facilitate a discussion with them about it.
Linda Orlando, Marco’s mother, has had a variety of experience throughout her life in numerous fields from accounting to teaching. She has also had relevant experience in leadership positions at nonprofit organizations. In 2012, Linda saw a growing need for a better quality service in the Bangor-Brewer area for people she knew who needed it, which led her to take a chance and start her own business in social and human services. She stuck with it for over six years through the many ups and downs of her business before she closed up shop in the summer of 2018.
Joining her was Kat Markwith, an area DJ who also hosts karaoke, and one of Marco’s closest friends. She had attended the UMA-Bangor campus wanting to work with animals when life started throwing her a few curveballs. Kat has freely admitted that becoming a DJ and hosting karaoke was not something she had initially planned on doing, and that the opportunity fell into her lap when she least expected it. In 2013, on the advice of another area DJ, Kat gave it a fair chance, discovered she had a knack for it, and she ended up learning a lot about herself and even more about running a business along the way.
Kat and Linda spoke with the group for nearly two whole hours about many of the things they had both learned about starting and maintaining a business. Many relevant points were made about numerous related topics, including marketing and having a recognizable online presence. They could not emphasize enough the importance of having a marketable image that makes eyes pop and a well-designed business card that people will remember.
There were also valid points made about many of the intricacies and behind-the-scenes aspects of running a business that are often overlooked by the general public, especially around investing into a business, bookkeeping, maintaining boundaries, and appearing professional to potential customers. Kat and Linda also offered some advice to the group on how each of them could start and maintain a business someday.
All told, time flew right by as Kat and Linda covered a lot of ground, and the group came away from this discussion with a better understanding of what it takes to run a business.
