Success Stories

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…)

Hard-working co-owners Shawnta’ Ray and Rick Harmon are living examples of entrepreneurs who can toughen up when life throws them a steep challenge. They also know how to “Happy Up,” which is why – eight years ago – they incorporated their toy store business under that moniker.

The duo’s successful business, which currently includes storefronts in Glen Carbon, Ill. and Clayton, Mo., are solidly operational due to their own tenacity, extremely loyal customers and the support of the Small Business Development Center.

Ray, who worked for 10 years as a sales clerk and later as manager for the company’s previous owner, bought what was then known as Once Upon a Toy (Edwardsville) and LagoonaMagoo Toys (in O’Fallon, Ill. and St. Louis). The Small Business Administration (SBA) provided Happy Up with a guaranteed loan on their business.

In 2008 the recession hit, adversely affecting the nation’s small business community and especially independent toy retailers. After three years of anemic sales – combined with months of careful consideration – the pair made the difficult decision to close two locations and consolidate operations. (more…)

Cathy Hale, Madison Railroad’s CEO, has been with the company for 36 years. The Madison Railroad operates a 25-mile mainline extending from Madison to North Vernon, Indiana. The railroad offers daily train service, and interchange is accomplished with CSX Transportation at North Vernon. The Madison Railroad also owns and operates 17 miles of railroad track within a 3,400-acre industrial park, offering a team track and rail car storage facilities.

Cathy is very passionate about her position at the Madison Railroad. She loves utilizing the revenues the Madison Railroad earns and stretching them to accomplish the most she can. She finds pride in knowing that communities believe in the Madison Railroad, and when they offer to help, they do so as a hand up not a hand out.

The mission at the Madison Railroad is to provide economic development to the communities they serve. They are preserved to be an economic development tool. The Madison Railroad has a nine member board of directors made up of businessmen and businesswomen. Although all the board members each have a broad range of backgrounds, they all have the same mission of making sure the railroad thrives. They believe it is important to maintain jobs and create new ones. (more…)

It’s a bright, cold day in January. Traffic is sparse and sunlight glitters on freshly fallen snow. Inside the industrial-zoned building on Fay Street just northeast of downtown Columbia, sparks fly and construction workers grind, weld, nail and otherwise ready the former meatpacking plant to become Logboat Brewing Co. LLC in February.

Tyson Hunt, CEO and one of four partners of Logboat, graciously points out the offices and a conference room and the tap room, where thirsty patrons can sip at tables. He explains the purpose and location of steam generators, a glycol cooling system and the huge stainless steel tanks trucked in from Oregon.

Every beer lover knows it takes a combination of hops, barley, malt and water mashed together and cooked to make beer. But there’s much more to brewing than that. The resulting fragrant mash, blended to exacting specifications, must then be steam-heated and vented through stacks that will carry the steam out of the brewery, giving the whole building that intoxicating, malty-sweet aroma of beer in the making. The beer must then be pumped and cooled into fermenters, mixed with carbon dioxide, aged and then finished before it can flow from a tap or keg into a frosted glass. (more…)

Bullet Tools began in a garage in 1998 with a simple idea born of necessity – a longtime flooring installer, Dalen Gunn, decided there had to be a better way to cut flooring and launched the MAGNUM Shear.

From its humble beginnings, Bullet Tools has evolved into a major U.S. manufacturer and world leader in innovative flooring, siding and insulation cutting solutions. Its mission is to “Continually improve the lives and livelihoods of tradesmen across the globe by providing cutting edge solutions.”

The Idaho Small Business Development Center (SBDC) helped the company create its first business plan and obtain initial financing. When the company began to struggle in 2006, SBDC consulting recommended the owners attend a workshop called “Entrepreneurial Leadership Training.” The workshop, combined with consulting services, resulted in a 30 percent increase in revenue and improved warehouse capacity the following year.

“The class offered more than information,” said President and CEO Ben Toews. “It offered interaction with others that shared the same challenges and concerns that we were experiencing.” (more…)