5 Steps to Being a Great Boss

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The worst thing about being a bad boss is less obvious than you might think. No, it’s not the feeling of conversations abruptly ending when you walk in a room. It’s not even the fact that you’re the only one not invited to parties. It’s that you can be a bad boss, and not even know it. It doesn’t stop there. Bad bosses don’t keep their negativity contained– that poor leadership spreads through employees, often resulting in low morale and even lower productivity. To fight back, take a look at our list of tips and tricks to help you be the best leader you can be– for your employees and your business.

Communicate Your Vision

More often than not, your employees show up to work each day wanting to do a good job, so help them with that! Be certain that your employees understand why they do what they do, and what’s expected of them. This not only engages them, but it also makes them feel more involved and motivated each day at work.

Allow Your Employees to Communicate

That being said, communication is a two way street! Empower your employees by maintaining a work environment where honest communication is not only accepted, but expected. This allows your staff to not feel like they have to handle stresses alone, and it allows for improvement of products, processes and procedures.

Build Trust

Without trust, your staff is more cooperating instead of collaborating. Build this bond by setting an example. Be honest and fair, through both negative and positive situations, and show that you’re a team player who can be relied upon. This not only builds trust, but also team-comradery.

Provide Feedback

In any leadership position, you should never underestimate the power of feedback. In fact, according to Globoforce, 81% of employees showed greater job satisfaction following recognition from their superior. This earned praise helps employees feel valued, confident and accomplished. The return? A more efficient, motivated workplace.

Encourage Happiness

There’s a fine line that separates good employees from great employees. In that line, you’ll find happiness. Whether your employees are flipping burgers, stationed at a computer or interfacing with guests, there’s always opportunity for fun and productivity. Maybe that opportunity is something as simple as verbal encouragement, or maybe it’s something less obvious like a lunchtime desk chair race. Whatever that looks like for your office, don’t allow it to be overlooked. Sometimes the smallest activities or actions are what makes an employee excited to come in to work each day. As a bonus? Chair races are great-team building exercises!

We understand– being a boss is a tough job, and unfortunately, there’s no magic formula to make sure that you’re always being a good one. But with these tips, in combination with our 60 years of lending expertise to new and growing businesses, we’re confident that you don’t have anything to worry about. Contact us today!

New Leadership for AEAF

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Kathleen Lawson, executive director of Economics Arkansas; and Steve Rice, entrepreneurship instructor for the Arkansas School of Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA); have been elected as new members to the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation (AEAF) Board of Directors.

AEAF was established in 1999 as a 501(c)(3) affiliate of Arkansas Capital Corporation. The mission of AEAF is to be a catalyst in an environment focused on ideas and initiatives that nurture Arkansas’s future entrepreneurs, especially young Arkansans living in underserved communities.

“The Delta Plastics Arkansas Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition and the Youth Entrepreneur Showcase for Arkansas are our most notable initiatives,” said Sam Walls, president of AEAF and president and COO of Arkansas Capital. “To date, more than 11,000 Arkansas youth and young adults will have competed, gaining a real-world entrepreneurial experience and a further development of the financial knowledge and skills they need after they leave school.

“Economics Arkansas and ASMSA have long supported AEAF and its mission,” Walls noted. “Through these organizations, Kathleen and Steve have a direct pulse on what teachers in our middle, junior high, and high schools say their students are hungry for when it comes to financial and entrepreneurial education. Their expertise will greatly help AEAF stay relevant and true to its mission in the exciting times ahead, especially given the ongoing advances of technology.”

In addition to his role at ASMSA, Rice is also the founder of “Start Here Little Rock,” a community-led initiative that seeks to close the gap in access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs. Lawson has more than 15 years of nonprofit management, including serving as the director of the Arkansas Discovery Network for six years before joining Economics Arkansas.

Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase Winners Announced

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Boone, Pulaski, and Van Buren County Students Top Winners at Youth Entrepreneurship Showcase (Y.E.S.) 5th – 8th Grade Business Plan Competition

“Sweet Feet,” “Mac Magic,” and “Sports Boards,” were named this afternoon as first place winners in the Arkansas Capital’s 12th annual “Y.E.S. for Arkansas” business plan competition for elementary, middle, and junior high school students.

The winners were announced this afternoon by Rush Deacon, CEO of Arkansas Capital, in an awards ceremony that followed “Y.E.S. for Arkansas Expo Day” at Park Plaza in Little Rock. Twenty-five teams from 15 Arkansas counties beat out 127 other teams to be invited to Expo Day for the opportunity to compete for cash and other prizes in four divisions, pitching their business ideas to judges and making their products or services available for sale to mall patrons.

The winners are:

Most Innovative Division:

  • Sweet Feet, Omaha School, Omaha – First Place
  • Mac Magic, Pinnacle View Middle School, Little Rock – Second Place
  • Sal de la Vida, Omaha School, Omaha – Third Place
  • Pape-R-Us, Forest Heights STEM Academy, Little Rock, – Fourth Place

Best Marketing Piece Division:

  • Mac Magic, Pinnacle View Middle School, Little Rock – First Place
  • JK’s Mystical Lights, Cutter Morning Star Elementary, Hot Springs – Second Place
  • The Giving Girls, Pangburn School District – Third Place
  • Dog Deli, Sheridan Intermediate School – Fourth Place

Best Retail Booth Division:

  • Sweet Feet, Omaha School, Omaha – First Place
  • The Natural State V.O.V. Bracelets, Lakeside Middle School, Second Place
  • JK’s Mystical Lights, Cutter Morning Star Elementary, Hot Springs – Third Place
  • Flower of Life Gourmet Chocolates, Omaha School, Omaha – Fourth Place

Best Business Plan Division:

  • Sports Boards, Southside Bee Branch School District, Bee Branch – First Place
  • Trendy T-Shirt Tribe, Cotter Public Schools, Cotter – Second Place
  • The Compact Case, Don Tyson School of Innovation, Springdale – Third Place
  • Sal de la Vida, Omaha School, Omaha – Fourth Place

In addition to winning cash prizes totaling more than $6,400, each team member received a commemorative medal and their schools were presented a 3-D-printed trophy, produced by the Innovation Hub in North Little Rock.

The Y.E.S. for Arkansas competition is managed by Arkansas Capital’s 501(c)(3) affiliate, the Arkansas Economic Acceleration Foundation (AEAF). AEAF’s mission is to nurture people and ideas to generate future Arkansas entrepreneurs.

Since AEAF launched Y.E.S. in 2006, 7,436 elementary, middle, and junior high students have been impacted by the competition by creating and submitting 2,210 business plans. Arkansas Capital has provided nearly $73,100 in cash prizes awards to teachers and students.

In addition to Y.E.S., AEAF also manages and produces the Y.E.S. for Arkansas 2.0 High School Business Plan Competition established in 2011, and the Donald W. Reynolds Governor’s Cup Collegiate Business Plan Competition, established in 2001.

Arkansas Capital is a certified financial development institution with five affiliate and subsidiary companies – Six Bridges Capital Corporation, Arkansas Capital Relending Corporation, AEAF, Heartland Renaissance Fund, and Pine State Regional Center.

Heartland Renaissance Q & A with Christa Clark

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Heartland Renaissance Q & A with Christa Clark

Arkansas Capital is proud to announce that its CDE, Heartland Renaissance Fund, LLC, has been awarded a $65 million allocation in New Markets Tax Credits to foster investment in businesses and economic activities in low income and underserved communities throughout Arkansas. This allocation is the second-largest amount Heartland has ever been awarded. To learn more about this momentous occasion, we enlisted Christa Clark, Vice President of Heartland Renaissance Fund, to answer a few questions about the allocation, and give some insight on what how this money will change Arkansas communities for the better.

Q: What was your process for receiving the allocation?

A: New Market allocations are awarded by the Dept. of Treasury’s Community Development Institutions Funds in a competitive process each year. Heartland staff spends several weeks completing the application and analyzing the impacts from our prior investments when submitting the application. The applications are reviewed by third parties and by U.S. Treasury staff and scored.  Historically, only about 28% of applicants are awarded allocation in a given year in this highly competitive process. We are always honored when we are selected, as there are always over 200 other CDEs in the applicant pool with us. We are especially thrilled this year that this is our fifth award of allocation.

Q: What areas of Arkansas has Heartland worked most with in the past? What areas do you foresee benefiting from these funds?

A: Heartland focuses almost exclusively on investing in Arkansas’ low-income communities throughout the state.  We focus on areas that are underserved by traditional financing sources and direct our investments in the projects that have the most community and economic impacts to that area. As with prior allocations, Heartland will make investments statewide with at least half of its transactions in rural areas.

Q: What industries typically see the most benefit from these allocations?

A: That is one of the benefits of a flexible lending product like New Markets Tax Credits – we can use the funds to finance a variety of projects.  We have financed a wide range of projects with New Markets, everything from educational facilities to non-profits and large rural manufacturing. We will continue to focus on our three core areas of education, health care, and economic development projects throughout the state.

Q: What has been one of your most rewarding experiences working with Heartland?

A: It is hard to narrow that down to one. We have so many projects that I have been blessed to work with that are improving their communities. There was one manufacturing project that we worked several months to bring to financial closing that was located in a town in the Arkansas Delta with very high unemployment and had several large employers that had closed down in recent years.  When the project was about to open, I was doing a site visit and the company brought in BBQ and we ate with the newly hired plant workers in the cafeteria. The plant manager stood and thanked me, and explained how grateful they all were that they had jobs again and were able to provide for their families.

Q: How have you seen Heartland’s work positively impact the underserved businesses, the communities of underserved businesses and the entire state? 

A: There have been so many benefits to underserved areas from our investments.  Our New Markets financing was used to build a state-of-the-art life skills and work training facility for disabled adults in northwest Arkansas.  We have seen hundreds of first generation students attend college for the first time. There has been thousands of quality jobs created in Arkansas’ manufacturing sector that are located in some of the most economically disadvantaged areas throughout the state. Our investments have enabled environmentally-sustainable products to be produced here in Arkansas and have revitalized Main Streets transforming once shuttered properties into vibrant city centers.We continue to see positive impacts for years after we close a transaction as these investments serve as catalysts for economic growth in these communities.