Latest / WashCo Insider / Max Miller & Christie Johnson
Transcript
- speaker-0: Washington County has no shortage of people with great ideas. But turning those ideas into successful businesses takes more than inspiration, takes resources, guidance, and a community willing to support entrepreneurs. Today we're joined by Max Miller and Christy Johnson from Washington and Jefferson College's Ignite Business Incubator, an organization helping entrepreneurs turn their ideas into reality right here in Washington County. We're going to talk about how Ignite got started. The resources available to aspiring business owners, and some of the success stories coming out of the program. Plus, we'll preview their upcoming Maker Mart, which is quickly becoming a small business Saturday tradition. Max and Christy. Guys, thanks so much for joining us today on the Washco Insider. before we dive into Ignite, can you tell us just give us a little background on yourselves and and your roles at WNJ? speaker-1: Yeah, of course. speaker-2: Yeah, hi everyone. I'm Christy Johnson. I serve as the Director of Operations and Engagement at Ignite. I have been part of the Ignite team for about three and a half years. We are part of the college, so before that I was in their career services department since 2018. And in that role, I served as the employer relations coordinator, so really had a community facing role there as well. So it was kind of a natural transition to Ignite, you know, with the the big support of the community, and I already had. a lot of relationships started. my background is actually in social work, which we laugh because sometimes in the entrepreneurial journey that social work background comes in handy a lot. So that's what I am technically and now you know I've I've made this career leap to managing a business incubator. speaker-0: Next. speaker-1: I'm a professor at the college and I'm the executive director of Ignite. I like to say that I'm a re reformed attorney. Okay. So I did practice for a lot of years on the corporate side with H. A. Hines company and then switched to the business side with them and bought and sold ketchup for a while and have been running my own business in addition to teaching now for, you know, 18 years. So had a pretty circuitous professional journey here that's led me to to higher ed and and just really enjoying you know what we're doing at W and J and at at Ignite. speaker-0: Well let's talk about that journey and talk about W and J by going back. Let take us back to the beginning of Ignite. Where did it come from? How was the idea originated and and what was it originally designed to address? speaker-1: Sure. So it predates my arrival at the college. So I got to the college around 2016. There were some conversations going on with the then mayor and then president of WJ to think about a way to number one, improve sort of city-college relationships. So that was sort of top of mind at the time. but also leverage a model that was evolving really around the country and the world of creating these business incubators that are typically partnerships with the higher ed partner. And with the local economy, cities, municipalities, and so forth. And so that was the kernel of the idea. A consultant was hired, did a lot of, you know, surveys and things until, you know, I arrived in 2016 to direct the entrepreneurship program at the college. and there was a thought that that would be a there would be a synergy, you know, really to sort of look at both enhancing the student and faculty experience through innovative ways as well as being a part of the community and using small business as sort of that synergistic kind of interface there. and that gave birth to the concept. We had a lot of, you know, great minds talking about it, did a lot of surveys. Remember the first survey we did was about three hundred respondents. And we had a lot of road shows just kind of asking Washington what they wanted. And you fast forward a year and a half, we It pretty much had Ignite. It went through a I think it was called the Washington County business incubator initially. and then it evolved into a a branded element of of Ignite and that's where we are today. speaker-0: I think it's it's interesting that, WNJ is obviously well known for educating students, but Ignite represents maybe a different segment that the college now serves in the community. how has that been in important for the growth of our business community to have you all as a resource, not just to our students but to fledgling businesses? speaker-1: really important and so we had a we had a two focuses really in in building out the strategy. One one was community impact and one was college impact. And unlike other incubators, you know, around the country, especially ones that are founded out of colleges, we went community first. In many, many of the other colleges, there's a focus on you know developing curriculum at the incubator and getting the students in to start their own businesses and and we're gonna get there. But but our strategy was More so build the relationships first. And it's turned out to be the right move because now all the businesses that we've had in here, we're up to what, 240 some that have been through the programming, and almost 500 have had some touch points with us. Those relationships with the businesses are now the content that we use with the students. So I teach the introductory business course. The final project in that business course is to interview companies from Ignite and make Recommendations on how to improve their value proposition. And that's been the case for five years now, keep doing that. And so that's well over a thousand students. Almost all of my sections are 40, 30 to 40 students. That's only a thousand students that have been exposed to these businesses in real time to actually see what they're doing. So the student experience is great. The companies, you know, I would love to see us, you know, serve a lot more companies. but at where we are now, for five years. five years to be where we are, I think we're well ahead of schedule in terms of company impact. speaker-0: I'm gonna pull that mic a little bit closer to you then. speaker-2: The other opportunity just to piggyback on that conversation about our student involvement is the internship opportunities. So we're offering all of the businesses that we deal with on a day-to-day basis or through our Ignite programming, they may need or want an intern, but they've never had one or they don't have the budget for it. And then Ignite steps in and fills that gap. I become the supervisor for that project that a small business owner wants, we pay them, and our student gets the experience. So it's win-win-win speaker-0: What a great opportunity for your students to get in on the ground level with a new company. that's awesome. And and that you have so many different I'm sure we'll get to this. So many different industries served and types of companies. I mean great opportunity. speaker-1: All over the place. that that was another big difference in the beginning. Some incubators and certainly when you look at some of the larger universities around the country will will focus on one particular vertical. and we just wanted to test the waters and see, all right, let's see who shows up. Yeah. and now we've started to see, food businesses, we've had a ton of food businesses, a ton of wellness. speaker-2: Yes. Businesses. A lot of service-based businesses. and and definitely there was more food when I went back and counted food-related businesses than than I thought that we had served. But yes, we cover all of it. From nail salons to SAS models. you know, it it's yeah. So from from a candle maker all the way up to software. speaker-0: It's incredible. Now I think when you talk about economic development and you hear those words, oftentimes you think about landing major companies in in the county or significant investments and w what you're doing is a little bit different, right? So can you talk about the importance of organically growing economic development from within our own communities and from our own people? speaker-1: It's so important. when you look at the data, I think we're hovering around forty some percent of the national GDP is from small business. All right. So it's it's it's not the businesses that you hear about in the news every day. but certainly when you start to look at situations like we have here in Southwestern PA where there's been, you know, a basic transition from, you know, manufacturing to service based businesses, and a lot of people left in the wake of that, you know, with with skill sets that Have been outdated. You have to have a structure like this that gives people opportunities that they may not have had. And it's kind of wild when you start looking at a lot of the research around how these things work, the mentality, you have to have a culture of entrepreneurship that empowers people to say, you know what, I actually can start a business. They may not have known anyone, you know, in their in their closest friend or family service circles that's done it. And so a part of the battle is, you but you can do this. and so that we see a lot of that, and that's one of the big I say it's part of the secret sauce, I think, of what's speaker-2: I agree, and and it's so much it's just a supportive environment. When you walk through the door with an idea, whether it's a a solid idea or a crazy idea, or you've thought about it for 20 years or you woke up with it this morning, you're going to walk into Ignite, you're going to deal with Max and I. That's it. So it's not like some you know large incubator where there's a ton of staff and you don't know who you're gonna get every time you email or or call. It's always us. It is always us. day or night, we're always on call for our entrepreneurs. And that's where they feel supported. So they come in with the crazy idea and maybe we never see them again, but then maybe they come back with a little more clarity that next time and then we keep talking through the process with them. speaker-0: It seems like there's so much room for niche products and services, not just offered locally but, you know, globally. When think back to every town having a general store, a few general stores, they didn't have the capacity to offer the breadth and depth of services and products that we can today. I mean, you can get very niche with these things and and now we've come to expect specialized products and services and it just opens up so much more room. speaker-1: It does. And one thing I would add is that, another data point is the amount of blight that exists, around the county and number of rental properties. And when you start talking about the roles that these businesses can play, they can move into these shops, that were otherwise vacant. And we've been pretty deliberate and work closely with, the Redevelopment Authority and the CDC, everybody, chamber, everybody's around the table here to try to figure out, you know, where are the gaps and can we can we create some businesses that are gonna fill these gaps. Do we need to have more food businesses and put them on a certain block? Do we need to have the the artists and makers things that you can't buy on Route 19 because that's where people are going, for mass shopping. Then you can't get there, you can get them specialty items, in and Kennensburg is doing a great job of this. And hopefully Washington will follow suit. we're having discussions through the Mon Valley with the same mindset of can we get small businesses to inhabit some of these these Yeah. speaker-2: And you can open a shop on Main Street and have this brick and mortar store, but maybe a year later you're out of business. That's where Ignite fills the gap with the education and the sustainability part of it. We want to make sure that they are strong business leaders and in the community and for their own business. You can you can make great you I always go to food, but you can be really great at making pizza, but it doesn't make you a good business person. So that's again where Ignite wants to hold your hand through the process because we want you on Main Street longer than a year. speaker-0: Absolutely. And and a child it takes a village to raise a business and and I think with all the resources that you just mentioned there from around the community, that's really creating a fire here in Washington County. Now let's let's get a little bit deeper into Ignite's programming. Christy, can you tell us a little bit about the resources that you offer? speaker-2: Yes. Everything we do on our business incubator side of Ignite, because we're also a co-working space, but as a business incubator, we offer free programming, free resources, free mentorship, free consulting. The word free is all the way through it. I I say it over and over and then I get finished describing the programs and they're like, okay, so how much does that cost? No, I'm serious. It is free of charge. so Come in with that idea that you've had for 20 years and we'll c have a consult with you. We put you on the calendar for one hour, you get one hour of our time, Max's business expertise, and our community connections. And again, you're gonna either feel confident to take that next step or you need to think about it a little bit more. But whether you want to do that one time or 20 times, we consult with you for free. Again, connecting people in the community is a specialty, and I really love doing that. For businesses, so you could reach out and say, Do you know of anyone offering Excel classes? Maybe I don't, but I'll find it for you. same with the business plan. I just went to PNC or the local credit union and they said I need a a stronger business plan. Can you help me? Yes, we can. Again, free of charge. But the program that gets us so excited is our Ideas to Enterprise program. We call it our signature program. I2E for short, I the number two and E. so if you hear us say I2E, that's it. it is a five-week program. We offer that three times a year, February, June, and October. We also offer that in two locations. So we do it six times a year. We put six cohorts through two February, two June, to October. We offer that here at our Ignite building on 57 East Chestnut Street. and that's here our Washington location, our headquarters, but we expanded last year into the Mon Valley. So we our partners there, the Mon Valley Alliance team, opened up their beautiful CFS Bank res business resource center and we used their space there and brought the programming on the road. So it was kind of like we did it three times a year. We knew we needed to do it more and we jumped in and did it and it was successful. I feel like it was really flawless. we just and it's still it's just Max and I, so once a week we're on the road to Mon Valley. That program, five weeks, we cover a variety of topics. And I talked about sustainability earlier, and that's basically what this is about. We want you to have the business education and foundation to be sustainable. So week one, we talk about market research. And back when Max talked about Ignite being an idea and you know everything all the steps that brought us to five years later. It's exactly the journey we take you on as an entrepreneur as well. So we talk about the idea and then market research to validate your idea and looking at the trends in the market. Week two is marketing and sales because they are while they they coexist, they are separate. And week three is op operations framework. Week four is this is testing my memory, everyone's favorite. it is financial projecting. So I say that's everyone's favorite because most people don't want to talk about that, they don't want to struggle with that, but we we dive into it and again hold your hand. And then week five is pitch tactics. So we teach you how to pitch your business because you will always be pitching your business, no matter if it's a traditional lending, non-traditional lending, friends and family, or you get invited to be on a podcast and you want to pitch your business. So we teach you all of that. At the end, you will have a business plan. And you will have a five-year financial projection. So you will have your pro forma. And those are the two documents that lenders will ask you for when you go for a business banking loan. Again, traditional lending or non-traditional lending. So after that, now you know all about your business and you have your business plan and now you know how to pitch. We give you the opportunity to pitch by assembling a panel of judges, and we give you the opportunity to pitch. About twelve businesses go through each cohort. So out of those twelve, the judges listen to all twelve pitches and then they choose a first place, second place, and third place out of the twelve. And $5,000 is awarded to the first place, $3,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place. So each cohort we give away $9,000. So you know speaker-0: Great seed. speaker-2: every year it's over $50,000, you know, we put right back into the community. For our local entrepreneurs. speaker-0: And how how is that funded? Do you have grants that are coming in? speaker-2: Yes, we we rely heavily on grants. So EQT has always been a supporter. and we we couldn't do it without EQT without without their support. Ellen and her team are amazing and they provide judges for each cohort as well. So they stay involved throughout the year and support it even beyond financially with their expertise as well. But recently we've also secured some sponsorships. Washington Financial Bank supported us generously and Groundworks also gave us a lovely donation, which helps offset some of the costs that are associated with six cohorts of this a year. Continuing to offer it for free is is always our goal. speaker-0: This is great village to be in when it comes to speaker-2: It sure is. speaker-0: race. can you talk about some of the maybe recent fledgling businesses that have come through the program and some of those success stories? And before you do, I know I just experienced one of them maybe two weeks ago, Boga Taco. yeah. Fantastic. Excellent. I had an hour to burn and I stopped by. The tacos were the best I've had in Washington County. If you haven't been, check it out. It's unbelievable. Anyways, can you tell us about some of those success stories? speaker-2: Yeah, so Boga is definitely worth worth mentioning. came to us right when they started their business and they've been through several, I think, iterations of their business plan, you know, pivoted a little bit, scaled some, you know, things that happened on the other side, and and here she is several years later really killing it. Just all of their food is homemade from scratch. So if you like Terrizo It's like a three or four day process, but she puts in that love and time because you're gonna get the best. So I agree it is one of the best in in the in in our area for sure. speaker-1: kids went to WJ had one of them in my class. He worked there for a while, helped manage it. It's one of those places where you really do see it all come together. Where because he was certainly using some of his knowledge, you know, that he'd he'd gained at at the school, implementing to implementing it real time. But that that's one of those perfect examples of a business where especially because it's a food, quality food is gonna, you know, if it tastes good and it's the right experience, you can sort of shape your model around it. Yeah. And and she always, always, always had the food part right. And so now she's I think she's getting to the point where she's at an inflection point to really start growing and driving more traffic, at the store itself. speaker-0: I can see it. It's a gem. speaker-2: I like to think about the w the the businesses that I walk into and they have their check displayed. So when I talked about you know awarding some of that seed money, we get to give away the big checks. Those are fun in themselves. So but so comes to mind vet pets actually as well. They started they they were formed and and doing small, you know, smaller work. I I I don't want to diminish it by any means, but Omar came to us, went through the programming and excelled in when That I think just you know blew us away. So he's doing fantastic work in our community and for our first responders and veterans with training service dogs and then giving them away for free. So he's doing his nonprofits. So that's the other thing. We also serve nonprofits. so for-profit, not-for-profit, idea existing, come see us. But Omar is definitely one of our success stories. He's doing wonderful things in the in the community. But the a classic entrepreneurial story that I really love to tell is Jess Garda from The Cheerful Balloon. She this her entrepreneurship was born out of COVID, as a lot of things you know happened during COVID and you know entrepreneurship really did flourish. She was at home with her kids, a birthday came along, and she made balloon art to make it festive and celebratory because they're you know they were alone. And no family and friends could come and join them. She, lo and behold, posts pictures on social media like we do. Everyone fell in love with it and started saying, Well, can you do that for my kids' COVID party, you know? And she did. And she quickly outgrew her dining room and then came to Ignite. And again, we opened our doors in June of 2021. So fast forward about a year. And she outgrew her space, came to Ignite, was using our space as a maker space and running her business out of there. She eventually went through our programming to help again, you know, solidify her business foundation, won one of the top three prizes, and graduated to Main Street. So I I call that, you know, we're sad to see someone outgrow our space, but it was amazing. So she had a wonderful store on Main Street and and really dove into more party decor and all things party, not just the balloons. So speaker-0: Yeah, she's wildly talented. speaker-2: it's crazy talented. Everyone needs to go and look at her socials right now and hire her for your next event. But but but she's the a great example of being ready to pivot at any time because she realized that balloons were really that was her business. She didn't really need all of the other stuff. She made an amazing pivot and came back to Ignite it right back to the meat and potatoes of what she did and why she was successful. And her most recent success includes the draft. So she got accepted as one of the vendors for the draft and had I think it was about five huge projects for the draft in Pittsburgh. So I I think from that maybe got a Steelers contract and something with the convention center as well. So she's out there killing it as an entrepreneur, as a busy mom. And works full time. So again classic entrepreneurial st speaker-0: That's gotta be wildly satisfying for you guys to get to see from start to finish and now she's on Main Street, right? what a great thing for downtown Washington to have you as a resource and feeding new businesses out into the community. speaker-2: Yeah, we love being part of it. whether it's big or small, again holding hands or cheering from the sidelines, that's that's our favorite thing to see our entrepreneurs succeed. speaker-0: So we've talked a lot about how Ignite helps people take their ideas to the to the market, and also how the community helps to support that business. You have the sixth annual MakerMart coming up, a great opportunity to support local local businesses. Tell us about that event. speaker-2: Yeah, so it's our sixth annual Small Business Saturday Maker Mart. What better way to celebrate our local community than to bring bring together a great day of shopping? So the day after the day after Black Friday is Small Business Saturday, and that is nationally recognized. A lot of towns celebrate that and a lot of entrepreneurs celebrate that. We celebrate that because we sit in that entrepreneurial ecosystem. So you know, we of course have to celebrate that. We our sixth year last year we had a record number, we had over fifty vendors. I thought we were gonna outgrow our space, but I capped it this year. We have fifty-two vendors showing up on Small Business Saturday from ten to two, which is I I keep saying that it's it's November twenty-eighth, so it is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And again, on Black Friday, we're all out shopping at Walmart and Target and Macy's. But Small Business Saturday is a way for us to then honor our entrepreneurial ecosystem in the area. It is ten to two. Free to free to attend. Food speaker-0: You said it's ten to two. Food trucks in the parking lot. speaker-2: trucks in the parking lot. So you're going to show up and you're gonna have a full day experience. You're going to shop at 50 plus vendors. You're going to be able to eat food from Mediterranean tastes, which is always a huge hit. You're going to be able to get your beverages hot or cold from Buzzworthy Beverages who also came through our programming. You will be able to grab your your bring your dog as well because you can bring it into the building but also the Scoop Dog Canine Creamery is there with their trailer outside selling all sorts of fun things for your for your dog, including their advent calendar which my two g have to get every year. And this year we're excited to be offering Ashes to ashes mobile cigar lounge. So guys, you cannot get out of this. exactly. you bring your wife and you can stay outside and enjoy a cigar. speaker-0: So I I can only imagine that a few of these vendors have probably come through the Ignite program. speaker-2: Yes, actually eighteen of them. So you know, pushing twenty vendors out of the fifty two that came through Ignite programming. So they are part of what we just call the Ignite community. They show up, they support, and we support them back. speaker-1: One of the reasons this works so well is that the the business model for a lot of these businesses is event driven. So they're they're either going through to the farmers market or they're doing pop ups and you know, the more they do, the more volume they get. The more they do, the more they learn about customer behavior. It's it's like it's the the the maker mart i i is like an experiment too in a sense that speaker-0: The miniature market ecosystem. Yeah. speaker-1: Exactly what it is. And then, we've seen some businesses evolve from a market scenario so that they can say, go wholesale. So they say know that there's a demand. Now they can try to find other retailers, but it's it's such a critical part of the startup phase for a lot of the businesses. So it to have the maker mark and the farmers market and other places for them to be, this is a really important part for that first one to really four years. That one to three, one to four years is where they're driving a lot of a lot of Yeah. speaker-0: So, November twenty eighth, vendors are inside. Cold that day, so speaker-2: They are inside. So and it usually is cold that day. So the the vendors, so think about it for next year, everyone out there. I call it, you know, calling all makers, bakers, crafters, you know, you name it, we do it. some people call and ask if if service based businesses can be there and we never turn anyone away because That's w that's where we sit in the community. We're going to support you, but people are looking to shop. So most businesses are selling something. And yeah, so I I I made a quick little list of some fun things that you could and I have to put my glasses on for this. I didn't trust my memory. But anything from candles, wax melts, car diffusers, handmade wearables, hand-spun yarns, craft kits. secondhand goods, so somebody's even doing upcycling this year, soaps, salves, lotions, handmade accessories and decor, bookmarks, stickers, note cards, the blind date with a book that are so popular right now. Ryan probably knows what I'm talking about. plants, actually, you know, live plants. So that time of year to have live plants and an expert horticulturist to give you the advice, Gina Della Sala with Cedar Brook. or Cedar Bridge Botanicals will be there as well. Some new businesses this year. So hair pomade for men, sewn items, handcrafted sewn items or custom made. You can stop and talk with Kay from K Designs and and say, I really love this dress. Can you make it? And and I'm pretty sure she can. Concert tickets and apparel with the Washington Symphony Orchestra. Period Zero, a nonprofit that came through Ignite. will be there with the teens that they serve selling novelty gifts and holiday merchandise. There's health and wellness, there's sourdough, there are handmade clay and resin jewelry and trinkets, I just clothing, t-shirts, hoodies, leather, leather goods. Perfectly imperfect. I know all the businesses are like, I wish you would mention me on there, but Perfectly Imperfect also came through our Programming and she does all handmade leather crafted items. Just quite remarkable with what she does. etched glass, dog treats, CBD dog chews, DIY paint kits, books, merchandise, food, ceramics, jewelry, baked goods, make contain nuts, bake shop is there. and you do not want to miss their their treats for sure. speaker-0: You have covered the gamut and capital race. speaker-2: You will not walk out of there without having Quite a few people and dogs crossed off of your Christmas list. I get a great head start on Christmas shopping that day. speaker-0: There you go. You heard it here first. November twenty eighth, be there. Now Max, as you look ahead for the future and the vision for Ignite, what do you see for how it will play into Washington County's economic future? speaker-1: Yeah, there's several dimensions here. One one is just we need to get to that thousand company mark and we're we're fast getting there. I think we're hovering around five fifty or so. So we're about halfway there. and I say that just because, you know, there's natural attrition with small businesses, but we need to get a critical mass just to really start to measure. I mean we're we're starting to dig into total revenue and tax impact and those kind of things that are really important metrics. And I think when we get to a thousand companies, we'll start to have some Some critical data there. I'd like to see you know, the college relationship with the the county and the city continue to grow. we've already attracted, you know, pretty significant investment from R. K. Mellon, you know, into the city and the college. And I think that that's a signal of something. Big, when we start to look at infrastructure, I think, a big part of what we're offering, we're we're just one piece of larger infrastructure in the county. The more capital we can attract to the infrastructure, the better off everyone's gonna be. So better housing you know, more stores equals more foot traffic equals better housing. You know, these these economies are symbiotic in that way. and so I I would love to see, you know, attract more capital, certain certainly. Not just from the foundation side, but also from sort of integrated into the municipal spending or state spending and these kind of things. And I know, you know, the DCD has been very supportive to date. So I just think there's there's a lot a lot of upside on that front. I'd like to see more communities involved. I mean, so we've got the students going, we know they're involved. I think when you start to look at parts of the county that need to be empowered. or maybe there's some underserved communities where we need to beef up employment rates and things like that. This this is a way to do that. And I think that we could be more intentional, you know, about getting to some of those some of those folks as well. speaker-2: Yeah, I was actually going to say that ex the exact exactly what you just said. the intentionalness of being in the Mon Valley That was that was with a purpose. we have had businesses, we've always served that area, but sometimes when you're working all day, you get off at five o'clock and our programming starts at five o'clock. Or, you know, maybe had to take some PTO time to get to us at five o'clock. You had no time for dinner, you have no time for anything, and you get home at ten o'clock at night because our program runs five to nine usually. so us being there has enabled all of those businesses in the Mon Valley to have access to us and our programming for free and without without a huge strain or drive to to Washington. speaker-0: We're extremely fortunate to have you guys in the county and doing what you're doing. Now, Christy, for someone who has listened to this podcast, they've got that idea or fifteen ideas and want to take that to the next level. Maybe they're interested in your co-working space or ideas to enterprise. what's their next step and how do they connect with you? speaker-2: So they could do a variety of things. They can stop in, they can reach out through the website, which is igniteforsuccess.org, and there's a you know a questionnaire on there or info, it just comes right to my email. They can call or they could email. And so no matter how you get a hold of us, I will get back to you. again, day or night. the walk-ins, if you walk in our door and I don't have a meeting already scheduled, I'm gonna take time with you, I'm gonna walk through the programming that we do. I'll talk about our co-working space, which I would be remiss if I didn't sell that a little bit because I'm always selling something. Again, always pitching. But our co-working space is a beautifully designed professional office space, which has private offices, dedicated workstations, and flex co-working. We also have two different conference rooms, one seats five and one seats twelve to fourteen people. They both have amazing tech in them. And So a a lovely main space, free parking, unlimited Wi Pi Wi-Fi, printing, copying is all included with your membership. The lowest membership is seventy dollars. So that will be raising to eighty five dollars in January because we haven't had a price increase in three years. speaker-0: Better deal anywhere, I challenge you. speaker-2: You cannot, I challenge you as well. And we are here to support entrepreneurs. We cannot say that enough. That is why our prices and amenities are what they are. We want to you know, we want to everyone to share overhead at low costs and have the amenities that they deserve to have. speaker-0: Incredible. Thank you both so much for one, for being here today, but for how you're supporting entrepreneurs in Washington County. speaker-2: Thanks, Chase. We appreciate the opportunity to talk about it. speaker-0: And to everyone listening, remember, Small Business Saturday is November twenty eighth, the day after Black Friday. Make plans to visit the sixth annual Maker Mart at Ignite, where you can shop fifty-two small businesses all under one roof. You can also learn more about Ignite and its programs through Washington Jefferson College at Ignitefor Success.org. As always, thanks for joining us for another episode of the Washco Insider. We'll see you next week.