Templar follows her Native Spirit in business

By Michelle Lovato

Leader reporter

reporter@leaderadvertiser.com

It is in her Native Spirit for Arlene Templar to grow.

For the next four years the Ronan resident will continue to grow her three-pronged business so that when she retires from her ‘day job,’ she can run her business, Native Spirit, full time.

Templar is not alone. About 300 women-owned businesses are part of the Lake County Community Development Corporation and its Mission Valley SubNetwork that meets monthly in Ronan.

Templar said the ladies of the LCCDC who offered her a three-fold blessing: Support, education and resources.

The business-womens’ group offers native and non-native women needed training and education tools to help them succeed, said Laurie Dassonville, Mission Valley-Missoula Businesswomen’s Network Chairman. The LCCDC mission is to enhance the quality of life and economic well being of Lake County and the Flathead Indian Reservation.

“LCCDC has been offering support to Lake County businesses for many years. They provide thousands of hours of training and education to hundreds of businesswomen here in Lake County all free of charge,” Dassonville said. “They are also a great financial resource to small business offering loans and aid in writing grants.”

Templar is a tribal member who took advantage of the business outreach’s offer.

“I go there regularly, get their trainings, network with their people,” Templar said. “They helped me write a business plan, helped me apply for grants. They’ve been a wonderful part of my life.”

For the past 30 years, Templar worked as a department head for the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribe in Pablo, and began her new business endeavors about two years ago when she opened a general construction business.

“The Business Development Center collaborates with partners to provide technical assistance, education and financial support relating to planning, management, marketing, government contracting, cooperative development, accounting, food processing and product exportation,” Dassonville said.

Templar knows the benefit of that help first hand.

“They helped me understand a business plan. They helped me on the financial end, marketing and networking,” Templar said. As time progressed, Templar applied her love of equestrian riding to the business world and began teaching others to horse-back ride as well.

“You can’t just do one business and stay in business,” Templar said.

But the LCCDC and its caring members were right beside her with resources, advice and experts. The ladies of the LCCDC meet each month in Ronan, which gives them an opportunity interact.

“When they have teaching or training on a specific topic, that’s when I go,” Templar said.  “I enjoy meeting other business women, exchanging information and use their businesses as well. It’s a good group of women. It’s never always the same. There’s always something new, and that keeps it interesting.”

Now at the apex of transformation between a on-the-clock-day job and an entrepreneurial, Templar is looking forward to her next business move. She is working with the business ladies to write a grant for the purchase of a ‘woodmiser,’ a portable saw mill that she hopes to use to produce rough-cut lumber, something that will help her make money in the future.