Small Business Resource

USA Today interviews the SBA’s Karen Mills

admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:44:00 +0000

Karen Mills, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration affirms in a USA Today interview that small businesses are indeed the backbone of our economy and need access to capital to continue growth and create jobs. She continues to urge Congress to pass the small business aid bill in front of them.

SBDC at UNF employees receive CBCP designation

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:36:00 +0000

The Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida announced today that Robert Myers and Cathryn Hagan have received their Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) Designation from Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII), whose certifications are recognized worldwide as the professional credential in business continuity management.

In order to obtain certification, applicants must complete a two-part process that includes a qualifying examination and an application that is reviewed by a panel of experts in business continuity. DRII’s CBCP certification is reserved for individuals who have demonstrated knowledge and skill in the business continuity and disaster recovery industry. Additionally, regular recertification requires an ongoing commitment to continuing education and industry activities.

Myers and Hagan are the first in the Florida SBDC network to earn the designation and are among only a few in the ASBDC national network.

About Robert Myers: Joining the UNF Small Business Development Center in 1992, Myers is responsible for management assistance efforts in Duval as well as surrounding counties. Being a former business owner, he has over 20 years experience in sales, finance, marketing, product development and computer information systems. In his business career, he was involved in startups, acquisitions, divestiture, venture funding, small business loans and many other small business matters.

About Cathy Hagan: As an Area Director for the SBDC for over 16 years, Hagan facilitates workshops and meets one-on-one with existing and potential business owners. She serves on the Florida SBDC’s statewide Business Continuity & Risk Management Team, helping small businesses prepare for and respond to disasters. Hagan earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Emory University and her Master’s Degree from the University of South Florida. Prior to joining the SBDC, she worked in the field of marketing and training in both the health insurance and banking industries. She is a member of Oceanside Rotary and a graduate of Leadership Jacksonville’s Class of 2002.

About The SBDC at UNF: Since 1976, the Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida has helped over 30,000 small businesses in an 18-county area. The SBDC at UNF provides assistance through management advice and technical training with little to no-cost to the potential, fledgling and/or well-established small business owners. For additional information, see www.sbdc.unf.edu.

Entrentrepreneurship lessons to be learned from Miami Heat

admin — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:11:00 +0000

Nice article in the Miami Herald about the management team of the Miami Heat. The article points out that not only will the teams acquisition of top talent (LeBron, Dwyane Wade and,Chris Bosh) bring in a lot of dollars for merchants in the Miami Area, there are also entrepreneurship lessons to be learned. The teams management set long term goals knowing years ago it wanted to assemble this cast of players. They carefully worked the salary cap to position themselves in front of their competition.

In the article, Jan Bell, director of the sports administration program at St. Thomas University.

“Since [the Heat] won the championship in 2006, they have been looking toward the next one, and trying to figure out a way that they could build another championship team,” she said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you’ve really got to plan how you’re going to do it.” Read the article here.

Useful Fundraising Strategies

BUSINESS SHARING — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:11:00 +0000

Every single charity in existence relies on fundraising to stay afloat. This is the main way that charities bring in money before redistributing it to help their cause – whatever the cause might be.

But if you want to make the most of every single situation you use to raise funds from, you need a proper strategy to back you up. A strategy is merely a way of focusing on your needs and wants. For instance instead of just going along to an event and thinking you will raise some money there, you will plan a strategy in advance instead. This will enable you to squeeze every last penny out of the potential funds you can raise there.

So how do you come up with a strategy in the first place?

The secret lies in the planning stage. Let’s suppose you have decided to hold a summer fun day to raise funds for your charity. The best place to go from here would be to create a good strategy to help you achieve the maximum income for your charity from that day.

Ideally you would give yourself enough time in advance to plan out how the day will go. A good way to start is to jot down plenty of ideas for how you can raise money on the day. For example you could charge a nominal fee to everyone for attending. On the other hand you may prefer to let people in for free but charge them a small fee for taking part in all the games and challenges you could lay on.

Get other people involved and ask them for ideas too. For example what stalls could you set up to make money from? Second hand book stalls, home made cake and biscuit stalls and tombolas are always popular and draw a lot of attention. Try and provide things for the adults as well as the children who will be attending, and remember to provide prizes for the lucky dips and other stall and game ideas you come up with.

You can see that by planning well in advance you can expect to get better results and a higher return for your time. If you just turn up on the day and expect to bring in a lot of money, you will be disappointed. Proper planning and plenty of promotion are the secrets to having a good time when you plan a strategy to use throughout the fundraising event.

This does not mean you should use the same strategy over and over again though. Different events and times may call for different strategies, so always be sure you focus on the different things you can do to make the most of every single situation.

There is no doubt that fundraising is exceptionally important for every single fundraising event and every charity that exists. How will it help you?

By Christian Wilson’

An interview with Peter Schönning, president, Polyhistor International

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:28:00 +0000

Polyhistor international is a Jacksonville company that helps people and companies take an idea and turn it into a product. We caught up with UNF SBDC client Peter Schönning and asked him to tell us more about his unique company.

How did you come up with the name Polyhistor for a company name?

Polyhistor (?pä-l?-?his-t?r) = A person with broad knowledge, from Greek poluist?r, very learned

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition). I was looking for something different, but still a name that had meaning. I figured – what a great name for a consulting company that has experience in a wide range of market segments!

What do you believe are the three most important services you offer.

Bringing rough ideas to finished products

We do the entire product development chain from paper napkin sketch to Industrial Design to 3D CAD to Prototype to Manufacturing. We can do any or all steps. Our designs are always made with the manufacturing process in mind.

Manufacturing and Prototyping

We do contract manufacturing which includes assembly, castings, injection molding, sheet metal, and CNC machining. We deliver turn-key products to our customer.

Engineering

Designing and reengineering of machinery parts and equipment. We also do some engineering analysis.

I am very proud of that we have worked successfully in so many product fields, like fiber optic and LED lighting, defense contracting, medical, consumer products, and the automotive industry. Additionally, we have helped many inventors with their dream products.

Polyhistor is an 11 year old business here in Jacksonville. What do you believe are the factors that have contributed to your success?

We believe our success comes from a sense of persistency, a smile on our face, and a “can do attitude”. We are driven to maintain our great reputation, and we want our customers to feel good about our workmanship. Inventor, Margaret Bynoe says: “The drawings look Greeeat!! Makes me want to run out and buy one, tell me where to pick it up…” and Brian Clark, an inventor who used someone else before coming to us wrote: “The prototype looks so much better, the gray metallic looks really, really good ”. We stand by our work, this is important in the long term.

What would you say to someone who believes that no one is inventing or making things in this country anymore?

That is not really true. There is still a steady stream of inventors (lots of paper napkin sketches) that are coming up with great creative ideas to solve problems. In fact there seems to be an increasing number of inventors that want to develop their products now when the economy is slow. With respect to manufacturing, it is possible to be very competitive here in the US, especially with shorter lead times and getting to market faster. There is nothing like eye to eye contact and a hand shake with your customer. This is still the land of opportunities and entrepreneurship.

Polyhistor International, Inc.

Peter Schönning, President

11200 St. Johns Industrial Pkwy N.

Suite 7

Jacksonville, FL 32246

904.646.5666 phone

413.332.0315 fax

phi2.com

Can you work from home? Really?

admin — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:58:00 +0000

Nice link in Candace Moody’s WorkSource post about working at home. She discusses an apparently legitimate website called FlexJobs that matches you with real work you can do at home. read her post below.

http://atworkjax.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/work-from-home-really/

Importance Of A Professional Business Plan

BUSINESS SHARING — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:13:00 +0000

Getting into business is not an easy task; it requires enough time and cost. There are many entrepreneurs in corporate world, who have good ideas for business in their head, but do not have the capital to start it. There are a lot of investors seeking for entrepreneurs who have good ideas for business, but all they need is a solid business plan.

In order to acquire funds it is necessary to impress potential investors and lenders. If you can manage to impress them you will easily get the capital. Investors and lenders, each day, come up with hundreds of business plans. The success ratio for getting funds is about 1 or 2 in 1000. Taking a chance will ruin your business. All you need is strong and powerful business plan, something that will catch the attention of the investors and lenders.

A business plan is an important document that will take you on to the heights of success, but on the other hand if it is not crafted professionally it will also take your business towards failure. All you need is to plan carefully you can really get that singular magnificence.

Getting considered and starting a business plan is not a big deal, all you need is to plan it in a manner that in last you will get a business plan that stands out in front of investors and lenders. Search carefully about the different kinds of investors, before starting the business plan. The two main kinds of investors are:

• The angel investors

• The venture capitalists

THE ANGEL INVESTORS: Angel investors are the investors who have so much wealth that they have nothing to do better than taking risks by investing in a business. In return they get a share in the business and also attain profits.

VENTURE CAPITALISTS: Venture capitalists are the type of investors who invest in high profit companies with fixed amount of money. Their target is to get high stake of ownership in the business. Attaining funds from venture capitalists are much difficult than an angel investor, but a solid written business plan can do much for you.

Business plan has so much importance, the main and the most important one is that it helps to impress potential investors and lenders. No matter, how good you have idea in your mind, without a solid written business plan the idea won’t works.

By Adil Rehman.

An interview with Crissie Cudd, Manager, Watson Realty, Southside

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Crissie is a dynamic marketer and networker for all things Watson. She is constantly looking for new ways to make her Realtors more successful. We caught up with her at the SBDC office…

How did you wind up in real estate?

I used to sell “bodies” for a living – I was in the temporary employment industry. And I grew tired of my “product” either not showing up or not performing. I figured if I was going to sell something I’d sell something more dependable – like houses. They always show up. Twenty years later, here I am, still in the business, only as a manager now.

Why Watson?

You’ve heard the expression “size doesn’t matter”? Well, in this business it really does. Watson has been a part of Jacksonville for over 40 years and we have over a 20% market share. That’s huge. The name “Watson” has come to mean something in the community. We get calls from customers whose parents were Watson customers or who have been repeat Watson customers over the decades.

Mr. Watson is still at the head of the company and he still believes in delivering “legendary, quality service” to our customers. We will always do what’s right. You can’t ask for more than that in the company you work for.

How many people do you have at the Southside location?

We have 28 of the greatest folks ever in our office. I may be a bit prejudiced, but I believe that great people make great Realtors® and vice versa. Not all of our agents live nearby. We have agents who live at the beach, in St. John’s County, on the Northside, etc. But our office is the epicenter of Jacksonville and we can service clients all over the area within about 15 minutes in any direction.

What kind of support do you give to your realtors?

Watson as a company provides great training and at my office I do individual coaching, based on each agent’s needs. Plus, we have a team of “givers” who share ideas, help each other out, and pitch in to make it a great team. And of course, we have all the Watson tools at the agents’ disposal, with more and more being added all the time.

What advice would you give to someone who has never sold real estate but might want to explore it as a career?

Well, first of all, you couldn’t pick a better time than now. Unlike during the heyday of a few years ago, customers need a good Realtor® now more than ever. So it’s easier to establish your credibility with customers who are facing a much more complex market than before. The market has also weeded out the agents who were just dabbling in the business and what’s left are professionals who work hard to stay on top of their game. Getting in now allows a new agent the time to actually learn the business the right way and actually make a good income. Some of my top agents have are relative newcomers to the field. And, of course, a new agent needs the support of a quality company and a great office!

Crissie Cudd , ABR, CSP, CDPE, Branch Manager, Watson realty Southside

http://www.watsonrealtysouthside.com/

Email:crissiecudd@watsonrealtycorp.com

Office Phone:

(904)
641-4343

Mobile Phone:

(904) 254-0980

An interview with Crissie Cudd, Manager, Watson Realty, Southside

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 17:57:00 +0000

Crissie is a dynamic marketer and networker for all things Watson. She is constantly looking for new ways to make her Realtors more successful. We caught up with her at the SBDC office…

How did you wind up in real estate?

Why Watson?

How many people do you have at the Southside location?

What kind of support do you give to your realtors?

What advice would you give to someone who has never sold real estate but might want to explore it as a career?

Crissie Cudd , ABR, CSP, CDPE, Branch Manager, Watson realty Southside

http://www.watsonrealtysouthside.com/

Email:crissiecudd@watsonrealtycorp.com

Office Phone:

(904)
641-4343

Mobile Phone:

(904) 254-0980

Florida Small Business Development Center Network Receives National Accreditation

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:51:00 +0000

Accreditation is critical for the SBDC to secure continued funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration (U.S. SBA), and is also essential for the national SBDC program to be recognized as a high quality economic development organization. On May 31, 2010, the Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDC Network) was notified that the statewide network has received full accreditation by the national accrediting agency—the Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC). The SBDC at the University of North Florida is a member of the Florida SBDC Network. No other publicly-funded program undergoes the annual accountability examinations and review that SBDCs receive to ensure management strength, financial accountability and economic impact. Read more about the FSBDC Network’s Accreditation at: http://www.floridasbdc.org/.