A group of five people of diverse backgrounds are gathered around a bright turquoise table in a creative, industrial-style workspace. They appear deep in discussion, with notebooks, sketches, and coffee cups spread out. One person gestures while others listen and take notes. White text across the center of the image reads: “You can take the lessons with you.” In the bottom right corner is the Collective Agency logo in pink and navy.
Lessons from the NH Women’s Business Center
Welcome to the second edition of our Getting to Know Us series. In the last post, we shared how Collective Agency came to be. Today, we’re reflecting on the chapter that shaped us deeply: our time leading the Women’s Business Center (WBC).
This experience highlighted for us what works and what doesn’t in small business support - especially for those disconnected from traditional resources. It’s where the seeds of Collective Agency were planted.
Milestones and Meaning
During our time at the WBC, we hit meaningful benchmarks:
We earned a Center of Excellence designation 2 years running.
We tripled the number of Women of Color clients served.
We created trauma-informed communication training for business advisors, launched Empowered Business Practices with licensed clinician Anena Hansen, hosted Community Pop-Ups, and publicly amplified client businesses.
We collaborated on NH Community Loan Fund’s Community-Driven Economic Empowerment (C-DEE) Accelerator - a grant program that shifted power to local community leaders to decide how funding was distributed - and provided business advising for applicants, whether they were awarded or not.
Behind those numbers were stories, real people, relationships, and insights that meant even more. The milestones we reached weren’t accidental. They reflect the trust we earned through deep listening, consistency, and values-aligned action. And when we were invited into new spaces to share our work and best practices with other small business resources, we knew our work was being taken seriously not because we followed the rules, but because we centered people, and we spoke up, over and over - and showed up, over and over.
A group of five people of different races, genders, and hairstyles gather around a desk, smiling and looking at something together. They appear to be collaborating in a warm, casual office space. Over the bottom of the image is a bold magenta banner with white text that reads: “What we learned about providing business help for people who didn’t fit the traditional business definitions.”
Time and again, clients told us what made a difference:
“You didn’t just give me information - you made me feel seen.”
“You encouraged me to slow down with intention, not hustle harder.”
“You didn’t push me to say yes to something that didn’t feel right.”
We learned that entrepreneurship, for many, isn’t just about income - it’s about healing, reclaiming agency, and building a life on their own terms, in ways that uplift their communities too.
We also saw clear patterns emerge across hundreds of client relationships:
Many entrepreneurs were undervaluing themselves, struggling with pricing and visibility, and internalizing the belief that their businesses weren’t “serious enough.”
Neurodiverse and executive-function-challenged entrepreneurs were falling through the cracks.
Lack of credit, assets, or “ideal” documentation kept many out of capital access, despite strong ideas, expertise, community backing, and deep commitment.
Structural barriers - like dependent care, housing insecurity, or health access - were often mis framed as personal challenges, when they were systemic.
And still, our clients were creative, perseverant, and resourceful. We saw women build collaborative relationships - amplifying one another, pooling wisdom, and redefining success as something rooted in joy, not just revenue.
What We Did Differently
We listened to our clients and to the broader small business resource community. We heard the challenges, the hurt, and the hope. We saw where trust was broken and where it could be rebuilt. And from all of that, we chose to do things differently.
Relational support: We led with listening - not advising. Taking time to hear someone’s full story is advocacy in itself. It creates space for entrepreneurs to reconnect with their own “true north” - often drowned out by hustle culture and urgency.
Acknowledge the gray: Most entrepreneurs live in the space between success and failure, and they define what that means.
Flexible design: We blended live, in-person, virtual, and self-paced options so people could participate in ways that matched their actual lives - from full-time workers, gig and creative freelancers with and without kids building side hustles and empires late into the night sometimes.
Curated networking: We introduced clients to others with shared values and intersecting goals - making community feel more natural, less intimidating, and more impactful.
Joyful, accessible events: Our Community Pop-Ups combined food, music, headshots, and real conversation. They weren’t just events - they were spaces of belonging that helped people see local business resources as meant for them.
Values-aligned service delivery:
We vetted facilitators carefully to ensure their approach respected the full humanity of our clients.
We validated lived experience - even when we didn’t have a quick solution.
Care is a business value, not a personal indulgence - rest, boundaries, empathy, are what allow business owners to stay at the helm.
Redefine Resilience: True resilience isn’t a solo job. It’s communal. It’s structural. It’s about designing systems that don’t require superhuman effort to access basic support.
A bright, empty room with wooden floors and sunlight streaming through large windows, casting shadows on the floor. Centered at the top is a bold blue banner with white text that reads: “The slow down gives us space to reimagine the small business system so that everyone has an opportunity for economic stability.” Below the text, in the middle of the floor, is a white eight-pointed star, part of the Collective Agency visual branding.
What We’re Carrying With Us Into Collective Agency
Our experiences at the WBC - both the affirming and the challenging - inform what we’re building now.
We’re not just offering services. We’re co-creating systems rooted in what we’ve seen work in real life:
Collaboration over competition
Slow, sustainable growth over pressure to scale
Meaning-making and mental health over perfection and performance
Community and relationship over rigid individualism
Information alone isn’t enough. People need care, context, and connection.
That’s what we’re building through Collective Agency.
Thanks for walking with us.
Let us know how your business might feel different with this kind of community walking beside you!