North Shore
Business Alliance
Building Businesses, Strengthening Communities
Be the small business owner you always wanted to be.
(before the daily grind set in)
We help small businesses solve their biggest challenges.
Life's too short to not love what you do. Let's identify the things that hold you back.
Accounting.
Hiring.
Budgets.
Customer retention.
Time management.
Difficult Partners.
Marketing.
Operations.
Managing.
The Competition.
Going It Alone.
Now, let's find you a solve.
SOLVE YOUR BUSINESS ISSUES.
We offer an array of professional educators, financial institutions, public and private business service providers to give you the education, mentorships and consulting assistance you need to jump on the fast track.
CURATE YOUR BUSINESS BLUEPRINT
We're the only alliance in the Seattle area offering small business owners like you a curated marketplace to "shop" for a solution to your challenges and a blueprint for your individual business needs – all the tools and methodologies you need under one roof.
BUILD YOUR OWN COMMUNITY.
We are in the local area – Bothell, WA and surrounding cities. We live and work here so we understand your particular needs. We facilitate small business community-building so you can expand your network with like-minded business owners.
NSBA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit alliance helping individual startups and existing small business owners further develop the professional capabilities needed to launch, run and grow healthy, vibrant and innovative small business operations. We help build your networking community too.
Partnering:
Get advice, support from our partner programs like the SBA (Small Business Administration), other non-profit service providers and independent small business consultants.
Mentoring:
Receive mentoring from sources like SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and other federal, state and local programs.
Education:
Six local educational institutions have formed partnerships with us –including the University of Washington, Bothell – to offer classes, seminars and conferences on subjects as diverse as startup launches, small business marketing, and accounting.
Financing:
Connect with local area bankers who are in the business of offering loan programs to help your small business.
Consulting:
Discover our hand-selected consultants with decades of experience helping businesses find solutions to their challenges in every discipline.
Networking:
Connect with small business owners just like you across the Lake Washington's greater north shore area, covering Snohomish county and parts of King county.
We facilitate the creation of your own small business community with companies that may share your challenges and have some solutions of their own, such as those who are working through budgeting and accounting difficulties.
We also match you to "clusters" – those who are in the same business as you. For instance, restaurants or e-commerce, so you can share inspiration, best practices, camaraderie and more.
We do this by holding networking events, creating lists and forums on the website and grouping by email introductions.
Your Own Community of Like-Minded Businesses:
Okay, what remedies do you offer?
1. Click Here
2. Talk to one of
our advisors
3. Become Headache Free!
This is your local support system:
Let's get a bird's eye view of our area's professional pulse –
Executive Director
Michael Ervick
Board Member
Board Member
Doug Hall
Posy Gerhing
Michael owns SYSDIM, a unique professional services firm providing advisory and consulting services as well as interim management capabilities to help business owners and managers succeed with the development and implementation of business strategies and transformations.
Doug has a foundation of experience in businesses with 5 to 5,000 employees. He honed his skills to become a successful general management leader and product marketer. These disciplines give me a well-rounded experience in the key functions of manufacturing, distribution and professional services organizations in B2B markets.
Posy provides practical step-by-step guidance to build the business asset, get the “secret sauce” out of the owner’s head, help the owner design the next chapter, and set the business on course to succeed for years after, thus insuring the payout.
Board Member
Dean Van Dyke
Board Member
Tobias Klauder
Dean is the Founder and CEO of The Pillars Group. He is a Persian Gulf War disabled veteran with 14-years of service in the Navy and Army Guard. His desire is for people to discover the "aha" moment in their business and professional life. The profound impact the“aha” moment has on a person and their business is tremendous.
With over two decades of experience in the business world, Dean’s proven track record shows he can make a positive impact in the business and
non-profit communities.
25 years in public and private sector IT and product technology leadership roles.Led amazing technologists in aligning their personal goals with the needs of the business unit to deliver outstanding resultsSpecialties: Leadership, Team and Organizational Development, Technology Management, Business Development, Business problem solving via innovation
Founding Member
Lorae Halstten
Founding Member
Larayne Decoeur
Lorae is a creative strategist and partner at Charmed Minds, an ad agency for small business marketing.
She brings her years of experience in art direction, marketing, graphic design, copy writing/technical writing/editing, illustration and photography to the table. As one who ideates between the visual and the verbal, she focuses on how best the imagery relates to the narrative and vice versa as an integral component in strategically conveying and positioning the brand story.
Larayne is a marketing strategist and partner at Charmed Minds, an ad agency for small business marketing.
In Los Angeles, she owned a small business, a music and sound design company, so she's walked the small business walk before. She also honed her management, writing and visual language skills producing TV shows there. In Seattle, she has supported marketing efforts at T-Mobile, AT&T and Bungie. She helped create ad campaigns at boutique ad agencies, including Tether, Cornerbooth and MHP.