Starting a new business is hard enough in normal times but there is no denying that a pandemic adds challenges to that process that are unimaginable. “I was just starting to get my feet wet,” Aaron McClinton said when describing how COVID-19 affected his business.
McClinton started his photo-booth business in 2019 not realizing that he was going to have to shut right back down because of this virus. But Aaron did not let this minor hiccup stop him.
“When COVID hit … I started to do virtual photo-booths,” McClinton said.
Once the pandemic began to ease up in 2021, Aaron was looking forward to expanding his business. He heard about the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) and decided to apply.
“If I could do a backflip, I would,” McClinton said once he found out that he was chosen for LEAP.
LEAP One and All is a program in which 20 Lansing entrepreneurs are selected and provided with etiquette training to help grow their businesses. The program is two-months long and participants are awarded $2500 following their completion.
Darrien Gibson, owner of Elite Eatery LLC, can already see the success LEAP is going to bring to his company.
“I know the destination I want to go to but the relationships that I’m building …