In this episode, Sharon dives into the transformative impact of Community Futures, a nationwide program supporting rural Canadian entrepreneurs since 1989. Her guest, Corinne McGirr—General Manager at Community Futures Lloydminster & Region—explains how the organization goes beyond traditional banking with developmental lending that considers factors like capacity, character, and community impact alongside credit and collateral. 

Community Futures Lloydminster serves local businesses from inception to expansion, offering vital resources such as the Expert on Demand program for customized expert advice and Digi Futures, an online learning platform. Highlighting inspiring success stories, including a thriving female-led trucking company and a retail store that provides health benefits to employees, Corinne emphasizes the program's unique ability to empower entrepreneurs and foster community growth.

Listeners will gain valuable insights into Community Futures' application process, the importance of a strong business plan and market research, and the organization's collaborative efforts with regional partners like Startup Lloydminster. Corinne encourages entrepreneurs to explore these resources, especially if traditional banks have turned them away, and underscores the value of mentorship, coaching, and ongoing support. This episode is a powerful reminder of the role entrepreneurs play in building stronger, more resilient communities.

Corinne McGirr is a dedicated advocate for rural entrepreneurs and a key leader at Community Futures Lloydminster. Since 1989, Community Futures has supported small businesses across Canada with tailored guidance, developmental lending, and strategic resources.

Known for her creativity and problem-solving skills, Corinne fosters growth and sustainability by addressing the unique needs of the Lloydminster region and surrounding communities. Through strong partnerships with organizations like Startup Lloydminster, Alberta Innovates, and the East Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network, she ensures businesses at all stages have access to critical support.

Corinne’s expertise in rural entrepreneurship, innovative lending, and community-driven solutions continues to empower business owners to succeed and make a lasting impact.

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Transcript:
Sharon DeKoning: [00:00:16] Thank you for joining us for It's Time For Success: Business Insights Podcast. Today we get to meet with Corinne McGirr from Community Futures, and I think we got a lot of insight coming down our pipeline here. As a business owner, Corinne, I'm really excited to meet with you. I didn't know about Community Futures, and I wish I'd known about it when I started this business almost 20 years ago. I needed help, and I have stories I can tell you. I like her little quote here, it says 'be bright, be creative'. I found that on your LinkedIn profile and I think that's very cool. Corinne is always looking for different angles and puzzling out how those pieces can fit together effectively. Please help me welcome Corinne to our podcast today. Corinne, we're going to talk about Community Futures, let's just jump right into it and tell us what Community Futures has to offer.

Corinne McGirr: [00:01:07] Sure. Community Futures is a nationwide program. We provide business and entrepreneurial supports to rural Canada. We were created back in the late 80s, we've been here in Lloydminster serving the region since 1989. We still get people wondering who we are, what we do, never heard of us, all those kinds of things. We're here as a nonprofit organization, and we're governed by a board of directors. That board of directors represents our communities and our entrepreneurs in our region, so that we can better serve entrepreneurs. We are federally funded, we bring the federal dollars to our community and our region for entrepreneurs to take advantage of. Our whole goal is to make sure that businesses get started on the right path. There is so much information out there, and it is virtually impossible to know where to start. Whether your business is just starting out, whether you're trying to grow or thrive, or even starting that discussion of shutting down the business. We can provide support, resources and tools throughout the whole entrepreneurial journey.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:02:31] What's different between you guys and a bank?

Corinne McGirr: [00:02:35] What we do is, we call it developmental lending. When you go to a financial institution, they're looking at the numbers and they're looking at returns for their stakeholders. Whereas our philosophy is that we're here to serve our communities. Through developmental lending, we're looking at more than just your credit score and how much collateral you have. We're considering your capacity, your character, the community impact that your business might have, as well as credit and collateral. We have the ability to take a little bit higher risk on those businesses that can't get lending through the traditional financial institutions out there. We pride ourselves on supporting what a community needs to grow. For example, if a retail store came to us in one of our communities, and there's already four of those retailers, it's not going to have that much impact on the community. We may be like, we're not really interested in that loan. However, if that business was to open up in a different community that had zero retailers and we knew that small business would hire two part time high school students and make a true impact on the growth of that community, we would maybe consider that more favorably for that community. We take that into consideration as well.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:04:06] I love it, I think I'm picking up what you're laying down. Back in the day, I believe that banks used to have that mindset. They did more so but now they're locked, so thank you for being there for us. If a company, like for myself, I see here you have 'growing a business', sometimes a business almost maxes and then they need help to get to that next level. I believe that is in business, you get stuck there and it's like, how in the heck do we get to that next level?

Corinne McGirr: [00:04:42] We can help with that whole growth mindset. Sometimes we think we want to grow, we think we're ready for the next level. We want to make sure that you are ready, that you've got appropriate markets out there, that you're able to have sales, that you have the capacity to grow your business, then how can we step in? Quite often we have dedicated and very loyal clients that, perhaps we've started them out 4 or 5 years ago, they got their business started. Then over the years they've grown, then they get to an expansion level. We 100% could go back to that client and say, how can we get you to the next level? Do you need a operating loan? Do you need to buy new inventory? Is it a new piece of equipment? What gets you to the next level? We deal with multiple companies that we go through all the journey steps with them.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:05:43] You are Lloydminster, what's your area of circumference?

Corinne McGirr: [00:05:48] Because Community Futures program is across Canada, we all have our little designated areas, the Community Futures Lloydminster and region includes the RM of Wilton and Britannia on the Saskatchewan side, so Lashburn, Marshall, those RMs. The City of Lloydminster, Onion Lake Cree Nation, the County of Vermilion River, Town of Vermilion, and then everything in between like Paradise Valley, Islay, Blackfoot, Kitscoty, Marwayne. That's our little region. We sometimes have people on the perimeters that maybe are a Manville person. Manville is technically in the Vegreville office, but if that client does all their business in Vermilion, for example, we reach out to the other office. We're like, hey guys, this client does all their work in our region, are you okay with us working with that client? The boundaries aren't super restrictive, but we do stick to just supporting our little region here.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:06:52] There is an application process and it's quite in depth, I would imagine. Is it? Tell me a little bit about the application process, how does that work?

Corinne McGirr: [00:06:59] We're still looking for a solid business plan. We need an entrepreneur to have done their homework. We need to know that you have the understanding and the mindset to become an entrepreneur, if you're not already one, because it's a lifestyle that is not suited for everyone. One of the things that we see lots of is, somebody's the best at whatever they do. They're the best welder in town, they're the best hairdresser in town, they're the best at whatever they do or create, but they don't necessarily know how to run a business. That's all of a sudden throwing 15 other hats on your head, and we have to make sure that clients are prepared to take that step if that's where they are. Our application process is, it's not cumbersome, but we need you to do the homework. We need you to be prepared, we need you to have a plan, we need to hear more than just mom supports your business idea and thinks it's a great idea. We need some market research, we need statistics, we need numbers to make sure that it's viable. We are going to dive into your personal finances a little bit, because when you become an entrepreneur, there's no separation. Becomes no personal money and business money anymore. Even if you're setting it up as a corporation and all that kind of stuff, they become melded together. We never want anybody to go down the path that it will personally impact their lives. It's very different for somebody who has a $70,000 a year job to quit that guaranteed income to start their own business, and for them to expect they get that same level of a wage, virtually never happens. We go through that process, we want to find out if you have other financial supports in your life, partner, what does that all look like? Because we never want anybody to be financially burdened without being prepared for that or have a plan in place.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:09:11] Some people jump into business and not understand that completely. For me to go get a car loan, especially when you're first starting up, if you're an entrepreneur, it's hard. If you have two entrepreneurs in the family, it is really tricky to get mortgage loans, credit cards, all that kind of stuff. I can appreciate why you guys deep dive into that for sure. Some people, they're really good at their skill. I could go back to when I started It's Time Promotions, I used to love the sound of that embroidery machine running. I always said, it's the noise is making money. I used to love doing that kind of stuff, I don't get to do that anymore. Everything that I started It's Time Promotions for, I don't do.

Corinne McGirr: [00:10:05] No, because you have 15 other hats to wear, and it falls on you. It's you and your shoulders only.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:10:13] That's perfect, thank you for that. I do know that Community Futures works really closely with Startup Lloydminster, also. They can help with those things that you just talked about, is that correct?

Corinne McGirr: [00:10:29] 100%. Within Lloydminster, even if I hone in on our physical space here where Community Futures is located, in case you haven't visited us, we're behind Superstore in the little strip mall where Pet Pad and Panago Pizza are. Startup Lloydminster, Community Futures, we're all in here. Within our physical space, we have five organizations that operate out of our space that are supporting entrepreneurs. We have Community Futures, we have Startup Lloydminster, we have the East Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network, we have Alberta Innovates and we have BDC. That collectiveness of organizations and programs provides almost 90% of resources and tools for anybody wanting to start a business. We have innovation and technology experts through the RIN and Alberta Innovates, Startup Lloydminster has some amazing skills with business training, business plan development, all those kinds of things. Community Futures plays that role of long term financial planning and all that kind of stuff, then we have the lending piece as well. Between the whole team, an entrepreneur can walk through any door, call any number, send an email to any of the emails, and we'll make sure that they get to the right person that they need now. We understand that entrepreneurs need to be fast decision makers and responsive, so we have to be the same way. The last thing we want is to play ping pong with clients. Before we were all co-located here, it was happening. We would literally have to say, now you have to call this number over there, go to the other side of the city to go visit with this agency or this support person, and this support person is over there in that building. We've done a great job with co-locating a bunch of these entrepreneurial services right here in one spot. People can come in and we'll get them to the right person the first time.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:12:45] So basically, I have an idea. I would reach out to Startup Lloyd. Startup Lloyd helps me, they think it's a great idea, then they're going to send me over to Community Futures.

Corinne McGirr: [00:12:53] If you need funding, yeah.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:12:56] What happens if I design, because it says 'innovate', so innovates would be, for example, we created our own software at It's Time Promotions, which we're quite proud of. That would be innovates?

Corinne McGirr: [00:13:10] 100%. If you need help growing that, marketing that, integrating that into your systems, we have the resources with the East Central Alberta Regional Innovation Network, we have Alberta Innovates on hand as well. Then they open up that whole other network of programs, services, experts that can help with technology and innovation. We sometimes get caught up in the world of, I'm not doing something, I'm not inventing something, who's going to help me if I'm not inventing something? Innovation is doing things in a different way. It's not always technology, but it's doing something in a different way that's never been done before. How do you integrate that? Even if it's intellectual property or things like that, or different systems or ways of delivering a service, that can be innovation. How can we help? Are there programs out there? Are there other granting programs available? That's what we all want to try to triage when you first come through the door. Where are you in your journey? What exactly do you need? Sometimes we have to pull people back and say, you got to take a few steps backwards, we need to resolve some questions. Other times they're so far ahead of us that we can hardly keep up. How can we help them? How can we make sure that they get to the right person that's going to help them?

Sharon DeKoning: [00:14:39] I still find that a lot of entrepreneurs, people don't know enough about you guys versus the traditional banks. Why is this?

Corinne McGirr: [00:14:52] I don't know.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:14:55] Is it just me? Have you heard that?

Corinne McGirr: [00:14:58] It's everyone, we hear it constantly. Startup Lloydminster has been around, in some form, since 2011. Community Futures has been around since 1988, almost literally in this exact same physical space for 30 years. Our greatest resource is our clients. Somebody comes to us, they're telling somebody. They're like, you need to come. Sometimes we get the vision of, they're only there to help new businesses. Sometimes if you have, like Startup Lloydminster, they think, they're only helping startups. It's the continuous fight against branding and communication and awareness. It's a challenge if you're not there at the exact time that somebody's paying attention to it. It's one of those things that not everyone, every day is thinking about starting a business. They think about it once and then they go with it. Sometimes they just keep going and they don't ask people about it. That is one thing that we do hear. People want to keep their ideas secret, because they've got the 'greatest idea'. They don't want to tell people, they don't want to tell their neighbors, they don't want to ask people for help, because they're like, somebody's going to steal my idea. The only thing that does is delay your progress and it will put you down the wrong path. We really want to encourage people to, if you've got an idea, you tell ten people. Get their opinion, get their thoughts, find out more. The more market research, the more trial and error businesses can do. I think that is part of the reason why they sometimes don't reach out. Sometimes they're already an employee, and they don't want their employer to find out that they're thinking about starting a business as well. It's a few different things. We're supporting, 300+ people are coming through our doors a year with ideas or coming to a training or a workshop or something like that.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:17:18] They're getting there. Hopefully there's more of this kind of stuff that we can help, for sure. I know everybody's going to want to know, how does the interest rate compare from Community Futures to a bank, approximately? Is it comparable? I know it's a higher risk, usually, so I get it.

Corinne McGirr: [00:17:34] It's comparable, but probably slightly higher than a financial institution. We are finding that the financial institutions have tightened up, and they're not in the position to support brand new businesses. That's a key part that we can step in. Our whole goal is, we want to get our clients bankable. We want them to get to the spot where, they come to us, we take the initial risk, we get them going, and in 2 or 3 years when their business is established, we want them to be able to walk into their favorite bank and be bankable, and have that bank open their arms and love them the rest of their lives. That's the perfect scenario, that's what we always want to do. We're never here to compete with the banks, because we're meeting very different needs and supporting different types of businesses.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:18:30] That so makes sense. There's a story, back in the day I wanted my first embroidery machine. This was probably back in 2006. It was a little desktop, cost $9,990, and I could not get it. I remember being so mad. I could go get a car for triple that amount no problem, but I could not go get this embroidery machine. I remember being so angry over it. I did end up getting it, and that's why It's Time is here, but it's a thing. Say, for example, a business gets funding through Community Futures. Do you guys monitor, do you help them, do you consult with them, what does that process look like?

Corinne McGirr: [00:19:17] Our favorite clients are the clients that stay in touch. We know that a business that gets developmental lending and all the supports that go along with it through organizations like us, Startup Lloyd, they're 80% more successful. They grow faster. We're always available to our clients forever. They come and go, they succeed, they move on, they come back five years later with their next business idea. We do annual check ups at minimum first year, we're often checking in quarterly with them, making sure that they're on track, things haven't gone sideways. We're always trying to monitor and make sure that they have the tools that they need. Quite often, you start out and then six months later you're like, I'm ready to hire somebody. How can we help you with that? Here's some templates of job descriptions. Here's a standard employment policy manual. This is where you need to go to get your deductions and all that kind of stuff. We try to be available and nurture those relationships because that's the only way it can work successfully, is if they want to be part of a relationship with us.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:20:36] Everything is a learning curve. You jump in, you be an entrepreneur. You talked about that, we call it employee handbook, but the employee policy, all that kind of stuff. You can't mess around with payroll. You got to get those deductions hammered out, there's no room for error. You got to be very careful with that. Sometimes when you jump in, there's so much more going on behind the scenes, you don't even have a clue. To have somebody in their corner like yourselves, that's huge. I wish I would have known about it.

Corinne McGirr: [00:21:06] We wish you had known, too. You persevered and you got it done.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:21:11] It's a lot. Even being an entrepreneur, when you meet with them regularly, I used to just look at the bottom number on my financials, that's all I did. I didn't know how to understand the in-between. It's not uncommon, I'm not the only person.

Corinne McGirr: [00:21:29] 90% of business owners don't know how to interpret and use the financial information that's facing them.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:21:37] I always think of, the employee payroll percentage to sales, all that kind of stuff, your gross profit margin, you got to know all that. There's so much more going on there.

Corinne McGirr: [00:21:50] There's so much. So many times we think, I'm just going to be a welder and own my own truck. It can seem really simple on the surface, but it can get complicated very quickly.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:22:02] I don't know for sure if there's anything else to elaborate on that kind of stuff, your programs, anything before I jump to?

Corinne McGirr: [00:22:10] We're here to deliver training, coaching, advising. We have a few key programs that we're offering. We offer an expert on demand program, we just launched this program. What we have heard from the business community is that, they want to come to our training, they want to come to conferences, and they have zero time for it. What we put together was a little expert on demand program, where a business owner can buy a little package of the solutions that they need for their business. For example, instead of sitting through a two day marketing conference or whatever, which you probably don't have time to. Maybe you're like, I just need to do Canva basics. I just need to do website troubleshooting. We have a whole list of solutions from A to Z, depending on what your business needs today. Then what you do is, you pick your price, you pick your solution, or solutions if you want a package, then we work. You get two 2 hour sessions, one on one with whoever on our team is the expert. We're talking about cash flow basics, getting control of your digital files and email. There's so many businesses out there that don't even have a physical, digital structure of their files.

Corinne McGirr: [00:23:30] We go in, we look at their system, we guide them with, this is how you need to get it done. We've got time management, business plan, a whole variety of things, using AI in your business. That's a new way of delivering the services that we hope is personalized and customized directly to entrepreneurs. We also have an online learning portal for entrepreneurs, it's called digifutures.ca, we launched this about a year ago. It's a bunch of videos, some of the videos are paid and some of them are free. Some of it is just a five minute video on, what does your credit score mean for your business, or how to name your business, what are some tips on that? It's developed by content from us, locally, here, our experts. We're continuously trying to get new videos up there and help people get some of those very specific details. Those are some of the ways we try to be creative in delivering services. You're at the hockey arena all weekend, just download a video from Digi-Futures and learn about branding your business, or cash flow 101. All those exciting thing.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:24:46] That is so clever. So that's digifutures.ca, and expert on demand, where do we find that one?

Corinne McGirr: [00:24:53] You'll find it's on our website, our Community Futures Lloydminster website. It's a terribly long website address, lloydminster@region.albertacf, but you should be able to just Google Community Futures Lloydminster and get there.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:25:12] I know it's not one of our questions, but can you explain the impact? I always say, it takes a business to build a community and a community to build a business, that's my little phrase. How important is it for businesses in communities?

Corinne McGirr: [00:25:30] It's critical. A business relies on the community for sales, for employees, for support, and people need jobs. Where are they working? They're working for small and medium businesses that have less than ten employees. That's our primary employer in both of our provinces, is small businesses. It's a symbiotic relationship that one can't happen without the other. Every time we have the collective opportunity to raise awareness of what businesses need. How can we support them? Can we think local? Can we shop local? Can we raise that vibration of small business? It's super important, and it's important that those businesses are visible and attractive for people to want to work for them as well.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:26:27] I'm getting all excited right now, because I can tell how passionate you are about it, about the whole community and the growth of the community. Thank you for that, that's really exciting. Can you highlight a success story of how Community Futures has helped somebody?

Corinne McGirr: [00:26:42] We have so many, and we're so proud of it. We have businesses that got a loan back in 1988 and those businesses still exist. There's a handful of them that are still businesses here in our community, and it's amazing. Over the past couple of years, we've had some great success stories. We had one young couple that was determined to get into a retail business, and they wanted to do their business differently. They wanted it to be helpful and they wanted their team to be knowledgeable. One of their goals was, they wanted to be able to have full time staff that got health benefits. We funded their startup, they were so successful, and they lived their value proposition so thoroughly that they were so successful. They paid their loan off two and a half years earlier than ever expected. They paid off their family members that had invested in their business, and all of their staff have health benefits. That's amazing because you think, it's just one little retail store, but they've employed, I believe they have about seven employees now, plus supporting themselves, which is awesome. Another favorite story that we have is, we're oil and gas around here, and that's a male-oriented sector. We had a young lady come to us and she's like, I'm a truck driver, I want to own my trucking company. My partner is going to work for me and this will be my business. She has contracts with the major contractor for oil hauling in our community, she has hired a second female driver and a second truck. She's just flourishing and doing so well. We're so excited to be part of her planning process, as well as support her with those purchases of the first truck. We've allowed her another loan to grow the business. She's rocking it in that male industry. We've got great things. We help youth, we help seniors, we help women, we help newcomers, we help everyone and they're doing great.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:29:17] That's so exciting. I was honored the businesswoman of the year this year through the chamber, which was very exciting for me. Hearing that story, that is mind blowing. Good for her, that is so exciting. Is there anything else you want to add before we end the session?

Corinne McGirr: [00:29:41] We love entrepreneurship, we love the ecosystem that we have going on here. Things like this help spread the word. I think one of the things that entrepreneurs think, is that they're alone. They are not alone, we have an amazing group of people. We have mentors, we have coaches, we have other expert entrepreneurs like yourself that are spreading the word and making sure that the next group of entrepreneurs that start up are going to be successful and have a better chance than what you guys had when you struggled through all the things. Whatever we can do to help people struggle less and be more successful and more efficient and faster, it truly takes that community. Thank you so very much for having me on today. We totally support what you're doing.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:30:43] Thank you so much. I love business, and of course I get to do business every day, and that's our clientele, is business. Talking business is important, like you said. Having you guys in that corner when they need just a business chat is important. It's different than going down the road and having a coffee with your friend. It's a different mindset, different outlook, totally. Again, thank you very much for joining us. If it's okay, I might reach out to you again for another. I think I'd like to focus on a couple items for another podcast down the road, if that's cool with you. I think there is some help there to help people out there, so thank you for that. I guess a little tidbit is, don't be deterred if the bank says no. Reach out to you guys, there's other options. I'm just going to do a quick recap, to help prepare them for a solid business plan, do your homework, come prepared, market research, personal finance. There are things that they need to do before they come to you, but they can get help with all of those. Some of that's scary.

Corinne McGirr: [00:31:48] Absolutely. Not everyone knows how to use a spreadsheet. We have a super basic, we have very complex ones as well. Depending on the client, you need a basic one, we're going to help you fill it in, we're going to walk you through the process, we're going to help you understand why that cash flow and that three year projections is important. We'll help you use the spreadsheet. Sometimes we get them and they're handwritten. Sometimes they're handwritten in, totaled with a calculator, totally cool. It's not about delivering something that's super polished, 100 page business plan, that's not necessarily what we're looking for either.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:32:33] If you have an idea, be real and go to you. That's really all you need, is for them to be real. Be honest, be real. Thank you very much for joining us, I really appreciate it.

Corinne McGirr: [00:32:43] Thank you very much, and best of luck with the podcast.

Sharon DeKoning: [00:32:48] Thank you so much.