America’s SBDC Blog

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Success Story: Florida

October 28, 2014
Joe And Sons Olive OilsJoe and Son’s Olive Oils comes to fruition with help of Florida SBDC at USF

In the summer of 2011, Andrea Messina Gebbia had an idea for a retail business and a partial business plan. All she needed was some direction to get her started. That’s when she reached out to the Florida SBDC at USF.

“My family has been in the grocery business here in Tampa since the 1930s, so I always just sort of had this passion for food and cooking but never really wanted to go to culinary school,” Gebbia said.

Gebbia’s great-grandfather, Giuseppe (Joe) Favata, left Sicily and eventually established Joe and Sons Grocery in historic Ybor City, in 1938.

“He, like me, was just trying to pursue his American dream,” she said. “This was my way of paying tribute to the family store.”  (more…)

Why permission based marketing matters

October 27, 2014

Constant Contact has long been an advocate for permission-based marketing. We know that it is the best route to developing the long-lasting customer relationships that small businesses work so hard to achieve —the relationships that can drive customer engagement, and encourage repeat sales and valuable word-of-mouth for your business.

Over the summer, this topic was brought to the fore in the world of email marketing, as Canada began enforcing a new Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).The legislation requires all those that market to Canada with commercial electronic messages (email, some forms of social media, etc.) regardless of where in the world they are located, to adhere to the some of the strictest anti-spam regulations in the world or risk serious penalties: up to $1 million for individuals and up to $10 million for businesses. (Note: Visit Constant Contact’s CASL Resource Center if you’d like to learn more.)

Even if CASL doesn’t affect your business, it serves as an essential reminder of how important it is to get your customers’ permission before adding them to your email marketing list. Along with helping you develop stronger ties to your customers, permission-based email has better open rates, less spam reports, and is generally more effective.  (more…)

Launch Your Business Online in 3 Steps

October 22, 2014

I’m a lucky guy. For work, I get to talk to hundreds of entrepreneurs and people who help small business owners. I’ve talked to piano teachers, wedding photographers, and roller-derby merchants. I’ve talked to bloggers, designers, and musicians. I even talked to a guy building a castle for his business in New England. Stone by stone. See what I mean? Inspirational, creative stuff.

A lot of them have one thing in common: they know they should be online, but something is keeping them back.

What is it? Is it too technical? Is it like learning a new language? Maybe. In a lot of cases, it’s all of the stuff they think they need to worry about that holds them back: cloud-based computing, HTML, WordPress,Twitter, A/B split testing, analytics, metadata, SEO, image resolution.

Listen, getting online is a lot like learning anything else. No one pulls out Rachmaninoff when they first start learning to play the piano. They learn Chopsticks. They learn Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. They start small, get good, and then go bigger. Getting online is the same. There are three initial steps that you can complete in a couple of hours, and once you’re done, you’ll have something cool to put on your new business cards.  (more…)

Success Story: Ohio

October 21, 2014

Center: SBDC in Elyria at Lorain County Community College

Client: Woof House (dog boarding kennel)

Bob Sell had been dreaming about owning his own business for years. After spending 10 years working a second job at a kennel in Pennsylvania, he decided to find a kennel to buy. After a long search, he found a kennel in Sheffield Village, OH and began working with John Guidone, a local commercial bank officer at Lorain National Bank. Mr. Sell had everything he needed to qualify for an SBA Small Business Loan with LNB, except a business plan. He had never written a business plan, and didn’t know where to start.

John connected Bob with Kim Plzak, Director at the Small Business Development Center at Lorain County Community College. The fact that Bob was out of state did not deter him or the SBDC! Kim and Bob scheduled several phone meetings and exchanged information via email. The SBDC obtained research to assist and communicated regularly with Bob. Bob worked many hours, with the assistance of the SBDC, to write his plan. About two months later, Bob’s plan was complete. (more…)

Success Story: Wisconsin

October 15, 2014
Fox Valley Entrepreneur Believes in SBDC “Magic”

Link ComputingWhen unexpected and costly building renovations threatened to delay or possibly end Ray Reinders’ dream of launching his own IT business, he turned to the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW Oshkosh. SBDC director, Colleen Merrill, was instrumental in connecting Link Computing with financial resources that supported the start of the business in October 2013.

“A friend of mine said, ‘go to Colleen Merrill. She makes magic happen,’” Reindeers says. “Colleen understood what I was trying to accomplish. She worked up numbers and business concepts, and told us what we should expect. She cut every piece of red tape imaginable. Within a month I had a $90,000 loan to complete the project. I can’t imagine doing all that on my own.”

Once financing was secure, Reinders was able to put his focus on business development. Merrill help him implement processes and procedures that were scalable, efficient, and transferable.  By developing these tools, the company was in a position to grow at a pace they determined, hire additional employees, and feel comfortable knowing a plan was laid out.  (more…)