Coach Ingrid Marielos Marthy helped Melissa understand the pros and cons of each business structure and outlined steps she would need to take to incorporate The Border Chronicle. Melissa and Todd decided to register as an LLC and find a fiscal sponsor for grants. With Ingrid’s help, Melissa filed her LLC paperwork, registered for her EIN, opened a bank account and began working on an operating agreement to formalize her and Todd’s relationship with the Border Chronicle. She also learned how to track the operation’s cash flow and create financial forecasts. Bringing structure to The Border Chronicle’s financial operations increased Melissa’s confidence in her own abilities and helped her feel more confident as a founder.

Ingrid also helped Melissa think about how to break down her large-scale revenue goals into incremental, metric-driven milestones around membership conversion and revenue generation. Instead of focusing on a seemingly-unattainable “big number,” Melissa now has a roadmap of incremental goals and milestones to work toward that will eventually lead The Border Chronicle to stability.

Successes:

• Won their first grant

• Nearly met their incremental earned revenue goal of $38,000

• Filed LLC paperwork and opened a business bank account