[Image: FlintConf 2023/Will Milne]
BY CAMILA GONZALEZ • MAY 5, 2024
Whether you’re a small business owner, freelancer or any other kind of entrepreneur in Denton, this event aims to help you grow your business.
The sixth annual FlintConf, a conference for local entrepreneurs and small business owners created by Denton coworking space Stoke, will take place on Wednesday, May 8. The event will feature speakers from a variety of fields who will share advice and knowledge with participants based on their own business experiences.
“The purpose of [FlintConf] is to be a one-day conference summit that helps provide education, inspiration and connection for entrepreneurs,” said Heather Gregory, owner and executive director of Stoke Denton.
Gregory said that Stoke is partnered with the city of Denton’s Economic Development Department, which allows it to put on programming that promotes economic growth in the community: “We are trying to help the people of Denton that want to start and grow a business [by connecting] them to peers, mentors [or any] people that are subject matter experts that can help with specific information that you need to know to start and grow a business.”
There will be seven speakers at the event who represent different business fields and areas of expertise. Lucas Holl and William Scazzero from Denton law firm Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant will be there to talk about legal aspects that business owners should know about. Michelle Williams, vice president of Texas Strategy at Mass Challenge and former executive director of the Dallas Entrepreneur Network, will give a talk about common small business mistakes in order to help new business owners avoid those mistakes.
The keynote speaker will be the founder and owner of Soma Massage Therapy, Amber Briggle. Gregory said Briggle was chosen not only because she is in the process of franchising her business, but also because Briggle managed to help her business grow during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Briggle has been working as a massage therapist for about 20 years. At the first Denton Community Market, she had a booth where she offered chair massage. As she continued to give massages at the markets, she also built up a list of clients, many of whom are still her clients today. She opened a physical location for massage therapy in 2013. But when the pandemic hit in 2020, she had to temporarily close her doors.
“This business that I built with my bare hands, I had to build all over again during one of the most difficult times in recent American history,” Briggle said. “And we succeeded.”
Briggle said that when her business opened its doors again in May of 2020, her primary focus was safety. She maintained a strict mask policy, invested in an air scrubber and encouraged employees to stay home from work if they were feeling sick. She communicated the safety measures in place for her business both in office and online, which she said helped her business grow.
“I think people saw how we were doing things differently during a time when they wanted to feel safe and cared for,” Briggle said. “They saw that we were really taking this seriously and so we attracted a lot of new clients through that that are still with us today.”
Soma moved to its current location at 531 N. Elm St. in early 2021. This location has twice as many rooms as the previous location and Briggle’s staff is almost double what it was before the pandemic. Soma has been named Best in Denton every year since 2014. Soma also recently won Small Business of the Year from the Denton Chamber of Commerce.
Briggle said she wants to share her experience with FlintConf attendees because, even if they are in a different field, she hopes her story can provide them with knowledge and inspiration.
“We can learn from each other,” Briggle said. “Regardless of what industry you’re in, we all have that similar entrepreneurial dream and drive. And so I think it’s great for us to spend a day, [as a] community, learning from each other.”
This year, for the first time, FlintConf will not only last one day. On Tuesday May 7, Stoke will host First Strike at 6 p.m. at Denton County Brewing Company. This event, which will focus on Denton’s creative economy, will be free and open to the public. It will feature a panel of three local creative entrepreneurs and a roundtable conversation for attendees.
“[Denton] is really a creative place,” Gregory said. “My personal mission is to make sure that it has a thriving local economy and really continues to embrace its quirky and creative culture.”
For more information about FlintConf, visit flint.stokedenton.com.