Fargo INC! August 2016 | Page 28

PROGRAMS 0 3 0 5 0 4 2015 Emerging Leaders Graduate Tamara Anderson, Dale Carnegie of North Dakota Why she did it "It was a combination of the reputation of the SBA—when you partner with them, you know you're going to get a quality experience— and it was something that was time-tested in other markets. The differentiator for me was that it focused on the more operational aspects of the business: marketing, strategy and putting some of those pieces in place." The biggest benefit "I was really particularly interested in the operations aspect of it from a numbers perspective. Where before I'd been really focused on managing 26 AUGUST 2016 a team, leading sales efforts and doing facilitation. It was helpful for me to have some framework and some ways to analyze some of that and have a better idea of what I was looking for." Who should do it "I would recommend it to a business owner who's probably in years three through five. In years one and two, you're really just figuring it all out and it's go, go, go. And you're likely doing a lot of it yourself. So to be in a place where you can really sink your teeth into it would be great. To have some staffing in place so that you feel like the time you might spend away from the business in the class, that you can do it. And that you've got some structure in place. Because when you're building structure from the ground up, it might be hard to apply some of it."