MONROE — There is a piece of an essay from the 1960s that’s often retold and referred to as the “starfish story” where, although some details change, the moral stays the same. 

The story describes a young girl walking along the beach with her grandfather where thousands of starfish have washed up on the shore. She begins to pick them up and throw them back into the water when he questions why she would do it since she could never possibly make a difference to so many creatures. 

She pauses to toss another into the ocean and then turns to him to say, “It made a difference to that one.”

That tale is one Kristi Smith tells when she explains why she finds herself meeting with business owners, entrepreneurs and dreamers at all hours of the day. She was hired as a part time business consultant last year, allowed through a grant received by the Green County Development Corporation. She works in several surrounding counties. 

The Chicago native who wound up in Monroe after living here intermittently in a vacation home has a degree in political science and a master’s degree in Mexican politics. She spent several years traveling between Monroe and Chicago, tending to her own business, a business consulting firm where she did something similar on a larger scale.

“I used to say our hearts were here but our jobs were in Chicago,” she said. 

Eventually, Smith and her husband moved to Monroe permanently. She is now the owner of Rainbow Confections and Fudgeraiser on the Square. She said like many people around town, she pressed her face up against the empty store front one day and couldn’t get the image of the beautiful building out of her mind. She felt it needed to be a confectionary again. Rainbow Confections opened in 2012. 

“It’s fun to see the locals who can tell so many great stories and share memories of this place,” Smith said.

Eventually, Fudgeraiser was born, providing a fundraising opportunity, mostly to youth based charities and school groups in the area, by selling fudge made at Rainbow Confections. 

Serving as a business consultant in the area, along with running her own businesses, has been a positive step for Smith, who uses her own successes and failures as teaching examples for her clients. 

“I didn’t realize how much I missed working with other business owners,” she said. “If I can’t help you, I’ll find you someone who can – even if your idea seems crazy – like opening a candy store when you know nothing about it.”

Smith works with all kinds of entrepreneurs. Some are still dreaming of starting up their own business or opening a storefront; others are in multi-generation family businesses and are struggling with changing markets and times. She also helps those looking to transfer away from their business or sell it. 

Smith, along with Brock Waterman and newly hired Jason Schleip, work together to cover six counties.

The services from the business consultants are free and confidential. Smith said she looks at financial projections, developing bank documents and offers a business plan template she can aid in completing, along with several other tools.

“We do everything throughout the life cycle of the business,” Smith said. “I’ve lived that whole life cycle myself. It can sometimes feel lonely to be a business owner, but we all struggle with the same things.”

Smith travels over southwest Wisconsin and has enjoyed meeting people and being a part of success or at least successful transitions. She has worked locally with clients like Cherri Bell, who opened Twisted Tree Eatery in Monticello; Erick Wells from Sniff-n-Fumes body shop and Jen and Bryce Riemer, multi-generation farmers who own Riemer Family Farm, which now produces grass-fed meat and eggs for customers. The range of businesses and issues are vast, which brings a welcome challenge to Smith.

“There is a lot of demand for this position,” she said. “Sometimes you can work too much in your business and not on your business.” 

The downfalls and upsets in her own businesses through the years have taught her about making mistakes. Helping people through them is her passion. 

“My goals are to leave the world a better place than I found it,” she said. “You will have bad days and dark hours, but there is a path forward and I’ll help you find it.”

As the only female in the job for the time being, Smith said she’s happy to say she often receives a warm welcome as a woman business consultant. Since March 2018 she has worked with 108 entrepreneurs and 53 of those clients are in Green County.

She said Green County offers several resources for businesses and the challenge is sometimes as simple as letting people know about them. 

If a business owner or someone with a business idea would like to learn more about free, confidential business consulting services, they can register online at wisconsinsbdc.org/swwi or reach Smith directly at 608-287-9464.