America’s SBDC Blog

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Success Story: Missouri

July 8, 2014

large red digging equipmentJaymie Mitchell, proposal operations manager, Schultz Surveying & Engineering, Inc. (SSE), is originally from Waseca, a small town located south of the Twin Cities in Minnesota. She still pronounces certain words with an unmistakable Minnesota accent.

Stan Schultz, owner and founder of SSE, is also from the small town of Doniphan in southern Missouri. Like many small-town entrepreneurs, Schultz realized his employment options were limited, so he struck out on his own, opening the company doors of then-Schultz Engineering Services, Inc. in 1997 with just one employee in an abandoned farm house at the edge of Poplar Bluff. He regularly pulled all-nighters and his wife and parents frequently pitched in to make the business work.

And work it has. SSE has grown to an approximately $5 million civil engineering, materials testing, surveying and water treatment systems firm employing more than 45 engineers, surveyors, materials testers and support staff in a main office in Poplar Bluff with additional offices in Branson, Lake Ozark and Doniphan.  (more…)

Find out what’s trending on Google search

July 7, 2014

Google Trends isn’t just for monitoring the search trends of your favorite television shows, it can also be used for your business. It’s a free online tool that can help you learn about your customers’ interests. You can use it to answer questions like:

  • How popular is a search query on Google?
  • How has the popularity of this search changed over time?
  • Where in the world are people searching for this?
  • What related topics are growing in search popularity?
  • What search queries have grown significantly in popularity?

This can be valuable information for your business. By understanding how people search Google, you can make smart decisions about how to market your business, both online and offline. For example, if you were researching for a bakery business, you’d see that people searching for “red velvet”  are looking for cake. But, they also search for “red velvet cupcakes,” “red velvet frosting” and “red velvet cheesecake.”  This can give you ideas how to expand your website, and possibly your menu offerings.  (more…)

7 Steps to Declare Your Independence

July 3, 2014

As Independence Day quickly approaches, I’ve been giving thought to how this special day celebrates the American spirit to break free, and not only in the political sense. We are a nation built on “start-ups” and entrepreneurship. Our forefathers, and in many cases our grandfathers, grandmothers, parents or great grandparents, came to America to break free and pursue what was, and still is, considered “The American Dream.”

For them and for us, the word freedom represents many things. It can mean that you decide how hard to work and how far you will take your success. It can mean your own schedule. It can mean life… on your terms. It all needs to start somewhere though with a fearless leap, whether big or small, towards independence.

Here are some steps in declaring your independence:

1. Figure out what you are interested in as well as your unique skill set. If you are really interested in a certain area, you will, and may have already, authentically tapped into a targeted community of like-minded individuals. They are your customers/clients. Give them what they want and need.

2. Do your research. Is there a market for what you offer? Are you filling a need? Who are your competitors and how are you differentiating yourself? There are many sources for market research. The ASBDC provides clients free research packets that can serve as a portion of your overall due diligence.  (more…)

Cloud Productivity

July 2, 2014

Have you ever had one of those days when life just decided to come crashing down all at once? You know, one of those days when the alarm clock died (or maybe you just hit the snooze button one too many times), there was absolutely NO food in the fridge, your kids got up early and decorated your briefcase with flower stickers (in an attempt to make it pretty, of course), the dog tracked mud in from the backyard, and when you finally made it out to your car, you discovered you’re out of gas? So much for getting to work on time.

When life decides it’s time for a hectic day, it’s easy to forget some of the most important things — like that PowerPoint® presentation that lays out the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The presentation you’ve been tirelessly working on so you can impress your boss at today’s meeting. The presentation that is currently saved on your home computer.

So, what do you do?

You can’t turn around and go back to the war zone that is currently your house — after all, it’s likely that your creative kids decided to decorate the handouts that were supposed to accompany that presentation, and while unicorns and Dora the Explorer stickers make them giggle, your boss might have a different reaction. How are you going to save what’s turned into a rather cloudy day?  (more…)

How to Handle Negative Online Comments

July 1, 2014

Even if your business has never been vilified online, you likely know someone who has that can testify to how detrimental negative comments can be. Whether or not the complaints are valid, they’re now on the record for all to see.

When faced with this situation, you have three options. One is to ignore it and hope it goes away. It won’t.

The second option is to respond online by calling out the customer as irrational. Before you do that, know that caustic comments reflect more on the sender than the receiver and there’s really no delete button in cyberspace.

Your third choice, and the one that’s best for your business, is to publicly acknowledge and address the situation immediately. How you go about resolving the issue will make all the difference when it comes to maintaining your reputation and increasing customer loyalty.

Here’s a three-step process to solving the problem.  (more…)