Success Stories

Success Story: Indiana

Jennie DiBeneditto and Dawn Spyker together own Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC., in Jeffersonville, Indiana. This educational art studio offers art camps, classes, parties, and more. Jennie and Dawn designed the studio to be a relaxing space for adults to have a wonderful creative experience, but children who love to paint are also welcome! Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. has a small gallery space where they feature a new local artist’s work every two months.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, Jennie was, and still is, a graphic designer. When Dawn isn’t busy at the studio, she is working as an art teacher in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Dawn and Jennie met at the University of Louisville. They are both very passionate about art and started playing around with the idea of starting their own art studio. Dawn and Jennie believed that there weren’t enough art opportunities in the Jeffersonville area.

Dawn and Jennie talked about opening their own business for over a year. Their passion for art urged them to move forward with their dream.  Three months after taking classes at the ISBDC and legalizing their LLC, they opened Silica Ceramic Studio, LLC. on October 4, 2013.  (more…)

Since 1951, the Wrazidlo family has been providing the Twin Ports area of Duluth MN, Superior WI, and surrounding communities with quality meats. Wrazidlo’s Old World Meats continues a tradition that started with Paul Wrazidlo’s grandfather, Frank Wrazidlo, when he opened Frank’s Quality Meats in Duluth, MN. Today, Old World Meats continues to grow and provide quality products made with the same meat recipes and techniques handed down through the generations.

Paul Wrazidlo first came to the Center for Economic Development (CED), Northeast Minnesota’s Small Business Development Center, to participate in the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Student to Business Initiative (SBI) Marketing program in fall 2012. UMD students provided him with an integrated communications and marketing plan that really impressed him.

“The marketing program was the boost we needed,” Paul said, “we have used 99% of their proposed marketing suggestions and today when I walk through the door of a prospective customer I think ’People Buy What I Believe.’ The students stressed this to me in their presentation.”  (more…)

Ryan Rickert, founder and president of Clean Slate Group, was vacationing in Canada when he noticed an opportunity. While waiting at a crosswalk, he saw that unwanted graffiti and adolescent “tagging” blighted the street corner. At the same time, Rickert noticed a crosswalk box wrapped with a vinyl map of the city. The clever use of a utility box made him wonder, “Why not use wraps to stop unwanted tagging?”
When Rickert returned to Bozeman, he called a friend at 3M™ to pitch his idea. Coincidentally, 3M™ had just finished developing a graffiti-resistant vinyl and the company was looking for someone to put it to use. As one of the only people with access to the exclusive product, Rickert founded Clean Slate Group. Ryan’s company now employs the only team of vinyl installers in the region who are fully endorsed and certified by 3M™.

Mr. Rickert founded his company three years ago and due to the quality of his management and innovative products it has experienced phenomenal growth. The company designs and manufactures vinyl wraps used to prevent graffiti and beautify commonly overlooked community assets such as garbage cans and power boxes. Ryan is a passionate and principled business owner who measures the success of his company with the double bottom line approach. In other words, Ryan is equally concerned with the profitability of the business and the impact it has on others. (more…)

Starbuck Machining has been chosen by the SBDC as the West Michigan Region’s Best Small Business of 2013

When Rich Starbuck contacted the West Michigan Region SBDC for help with a business plan in 2000, he didn’t know he’d be beginning a working relationship that would last through all stages of his business’s growth. For two years Starbuck and his SBDC consultant, Dave Sayers, worked on a business plan that would allow him to receive the financing needed to purchase an existing machine shop’s assets and start his own.

On the day Starbuck Machining opened in April of 2002, owner Rich Starbuck recalls running machines as fast as they could get them started.

“We literally moved our first machine into the shop, hooked it up and had somebody run it while we went and got the next one,” Rich laughs. Since that day twelve years ago, both the staff and the machine equipment at Starbuck Machining have never stopped moving, and never stopped growing.

Since this Holland, MI based business opened Rich Starbuck and his son Aaron Starbuck have grown Starbuck Machining from six employees to twenty-seven, and currently have $3 million in sales. Starbuck Machining manufactures products for the agriculture, aquatic, automotive, electronic, security and oil industries, and are government sub-contractors of military armor. Most of their sales come from within Michigan, but they are beginning to do business in other states as well. (more…)

Strategic Planning Sets the Pace for Rapidly Growing Alpharetta Firm

“If you have a long-term vision for growing your business, this is a must-do program.”

Many entrepreneurs learn about the Georgia SBDC through the well-honed network of public agencies that support the state’s small business growth. That’s how business owner Sidd Ahmed met Sharon Macaluso, area director of the DeKalb office of the Georgia SBDC.

“We were selected for the Georgia Mentor Protégé Connection in 2012, which pairs smaller businesses with larger corporations,” says Ahmed, president and CEO of the global IT staffing firm VDart Inc. in Alpharetta. “The Georgia SBDC plays an active role in the program. Sharon’s session caught my attention, and we got involved.”

Ahmed, a computer engineer, started VDart in 2007 after working for several smaller firms. Soon after meeting Macaluso, he asked her to conduct a strategic planning session with his senior management. She and consultant Bob Thiele also took them through a SWOT analysis and situation analysis and helped them identify an operational structure that would meet their goals. After the planning, Ahmed and his senior managers participated in the SBDC GrowSmart™ program. (more…)