America’s SBDC Blog

A “Forbes 100 Best Websites for Entrepreneurs”

From High School Job to Dream Business: One Woman’s Passion Creates Joyful Beginnings

June 20, 2024

DEVILS LAKE – Helping address the pressing issue of a shortage in child care providers, Margy Prozinski has created an invaluable asset for the community of Devils Lake and surrounding area with her business, Joyful Beginnings Child Care & Preschool.

Margy loves watching children learn and grow. She’s had a passion for working with children from an early age. She started working at a child care center when she was a freshman in high school, and worked at the same child care center in Bismarck foreight consecutive years. Through this experience, she saw that there was a great need for child care. Her work experience, along with fantastic bosses who grew her passion and encouraged her to open her own business, led her to the decision to do just that.

Continue reading

 


More BOI Reports will be Filed than Business Income Tax Returns in 2024 and Small Businesses Need Your Help

May 14, 2024

New legislation creates a burden for business owners to file BOI reports with the federal government before year-end - Let’s break down the numbers.

Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) reporting began January 1st, blindsiding millions of business owners. The United States government expects to receive more BOI reports in 2024 than business income tax returns. That’s right – despite almost non-existent public awareness of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), the law giving rise to BOI reporting in 2024 has broader-reaching implications for millions of businesses nationwide than their IRS tax filings. Delinquent filers may face substantial penalties for missing the reporting deadlines, some of which have already passed.

To help spread awareness among its advisors and mitigate risk with streamlined filing for its members, America’s SBDC has partnered with FileForms. As BOI awareness begins to spread, a few statistics that small business advisors must know:

Continue reading

 


Long-Term Partnership with UGA SBDC Fuels Ecolink’s Growth (4x Sales!) – A Success Story

May 2, 2024

Brandon Pelissero knows the value a long-term relationship with the University of Georgia Small Business Development Center (UGA SBDC) can add to a small business. Pelissero, owner of industrial chemical company Ecolink, has worked with the UGA SBDC for more than 15 years, beginning with a website audit in 2009. Over the past few years, the success of the partnership has been reflected in Ecolink’s growth—by 2023 the company had quadrupled sales and expanded both domestically and internationally.

The Benefit of Knowing How Consumers Find You

Ecolink manufactures industrial cleaning compounds. Their products are created in a novel way that lessens the amount of cleaning material required, resulting in lower costs for the customer, less harm to the environment and a lower carbon footprint. Ecolink’s product line includes industrial cleaners, degreasers and solvents.

Continue reading

 


Find Diverse Businesses Easier with DBEsearch.com – A Success Story

April 25, 2024

In 1983, the first Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) provision was enacted by Congress, requiring the U.S. Department of Transportation to ensure that small disadvantaged businesses must be included as suppliers on federal, state, and local infrastructure contracts. Since then, the policy of helping socially and economically disadvantaged minority, woman, veteran, and disabled owned businesses has expanded.

A 2017 Transportation Act made it a requirement for any government contractor to spend a certain percentage of dollars on diverse suppliers for road, railroad, and other infrastructure projects.

It was this requirement that essentially sent Matthew Reed, President of JCR Construction on the path to create DBEsearch.com. JCR Construction is a utility contractor who builds power lines for various utility companies in the Northeast.

Continue reading

 


Big financial mistakes and how to avoid them

April 23, 2024

By Barbara Nuss, CPA
Profit Soup

What must you get right to be financially successful? At Profit Soup, we LOVE numbers. You probably expect us to say something like this:

“To avoid financial problems, study your numbers.”

Academically, it’s a sound approach. Realistically, you cannot build a profitable, sustainable enterprise without a skilled and passionate team living out a selling culture with efficient operations.

Financial statements and KPIs represent the voice of your business, giving you feedback on how well the team is managing the important business functions. Having a sound, regular financial review routine is an important function of a profitable enterprise. It points you to problem areas you need to investigate, such as rising costs and timely price adjustments.

Continue reading