Don's first contact with the Brevard Community College SBDC came when he attended one of their New Venture Clinics, a sort of "nuts and bolts of starting a new business" class. Although he had been planning his startup for many months, somehow sitting in a room with a group of the similarly insane, listening to speakers who had already done what they all dreamed of doing … somehow for the first time, it seemed possible. There was too much to absorb in one day. Soon Don began attending many of the SBDC's (free) Roundtables hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce. Don says that much of what he knows about developing a business plan, marketing, accounting and taxes, business insurance, business law, banking and finance, and writing a press release he learned at the Roundtables. He says he heard more good ideas than he could scribble down, several of which he shamelessly stole and incorporated into my own business. Over the next few months, Don phoned several of the presenters at their offices for advice (at their invitation). He received counseling from SCORE, and downloaded forms and software from the SBA website. He made several contacts that led directly to new business. And several of the professionals he uses, including the accountant, he met at SBDC functions.

In early 1998, operating out of a corner of our family room, the Kramers opened Senior Partner At-Home Care and began offering non-medical homecare and and related services designed to help seniors live at home. Senior Partner grew rapidly, and today has four administrative staff and over forty employees delivering approximately 1,500 hours of home-care every week to clients all across Brevard County. In late 2000, the company incorporated as Senior Partner Care Services, Inc. and also became an authorized provider of Lifeline™ Personal Medical Alarm systems.

In the summer of 2000, the company undertook an expansion designed to position Senior Partner as a one-stop source of elder homecare and services. The months-long application process for an expanded Florida license was initiated. Three full-time administrative staff were added - Administrator/Director of Nursing, Marketing Director, and Scheduler. Then, in September, the company rolled out the "new" Senior Partner at the grand opening of their new south county office. Located inside the Fountains retirement community on Stack Boulevard near the Melbourne/Palm Bay border, the new location was selected to extend the company's service area south into Palm Bay, Barefoot Bay and the south beaches. In November, the expansion project was complete when Senior Partner received licensure as a Florida Nurse Registry.

As with any new business, growing pains are part of the package. With questions ranging from financing to marketing, Gregg and Dave met with Certified Business Analyst Alex Sokoloff, at the Florida Atlantic University’s Key West SBDC, in March, to get an outside perspective on how best to orient their business. Alex reviewed the business and marketing plan and made some suggestions on where Cool Breeze should focus their efforts. He also strongly encouraged them to seek SBA financing to help them manage their working capital needs. Following this meeting, Cool Breeze met with First State Bank who has put together a loan package of $300,000 that is pending approval from the SBA. In the interim, they have approved a $50,000 working capital line of credit to allow Cool Breeze to fill their orders.

The team approach-uniting SBDC consultants’ expertise, Liza’s determination and business savvy, and the services of an excellent architect named Robert Kolany, collectively worked with Benchmark Construction Co. –has shown results that can only be described as “beautiful.” Liza’s spa is indeed a haven for men and women where they can experience a tranquil retreat from the humdrum world, relax, and enhance their appearance and self-esteem.

One of the salon’s most distinguished features is its designation as a “Paul Mitchell Signature Salon”. This designation only bestowed on salons that demonstrate serviced based on an advanced level of education in the cosmetology field.

Along with the creation of seven new jobs, Liza has recently added hr own line of cosmetics called Liza Marie Designs. This line features a professional grade of cosmetics featuring sunscreens and vitamins freeze dried in the manufacturing process, a much sought after feature not offered in department store cosmetics.

Liza’s experience in yoking her talents and aspirations with the expertise offered by the SBDC personnel and the financing opportunities afforded by the SBA have inspired her to refer several entrepreneurs to the SBDC. It’s her way of passing on her freshly minted tradition of success based on careful planning, well considered decision making, excellent advice, and a willingness to adapt her dreams to real world realities.

This motivated him into starting his own business. He acquired different types of relationships with Medicare, doctors, Insurance Companies, Hospitals and Lending Institutions, since then he has ventured in to opening other companies, as in a Physical Therapy and Durable Medical Equipment Company.He has a degree in radiology from Broward Community College.He came to our office on 01/19/01, requesting assistance on preparing a loan package to be presented to he SBA.The loan was for acquisition of Equipment and working capital.The loan was submitted to Commerce Bank for their analysis and consideration and was approved and funded.His Business has grown around 30% since loan was granted.He has been able to establish other Business related to the Stat Mobile.He is in the process of opening a Medical Equipment Co. and a Rehabilitation Center. This will give him the opportunity to create additional jobs. He came to our office on 01/19/01, requesting assistance on preparing a loan package to be presented to he SBA.The loan was for acquisition of Equipment and working capital.The loan was submitted to Commerce Bank for their analysis and consideration and was approved and funded.His Business has grown around 30% since loan was granted.He has been able to establish other Business related to the Stat Mobile.He is in the process of opening a Medical Equipment Co. and a Rehabilitation Center. This will give him the opportunity to create additional jobs.

Client Profile
Cathleen Carr is the founder and owner of Miami Beach's Ego Trip Salon. She has been a successful hairstyle and make-up artist for the last 14 years. She has trained and worked with professionals in the beauty industry including "Tony and Guy" in London, Paul Mitchell in Dallas, and Bruno Dessage at the London World Congress, one of the most prestigious yearly beauty events. Cathleen Carr has also worked consistently in France, Great Britain and Italy, making several yearly trips over the past 14 years. She has been hired on a regular basis by some of the top international beauty and fashion magazines in the world such as "Vogue", Elle", "Allure" and "w". Mrs. Carr was named a "Rising Star" in 1999 by Allure and also appeared in their December 2000 "Bets Of" issue. Mrs. Carr's well-established Miami Beach Ego Trip Salon Inc. serves an upscale market, consisting of bankers, attorneys, ballerinas, movie and music stars as well as of he model scene. Opened in April 1997 the Miami Beach Ego Trip Salon Inc. turned out as a very successful venture for Mrs. Carr and will invariably contribute with synergetic effects to a successful implementation of her latest venture "South Beach Ego Clip Inc." She worked for an Italian Salon for many years as her business grew with in their Company (Ugo d'Roma). She knew it was time for her to open her own place when hundreds of dollars in overflow was traveling around this salon. She went to the Bank to investigate programs for loan proposals and came up with the SBA program. Her first loan with them was $35,000. Mrs. Carr says, "This program was very hard to apply for, but worth it." The second loan she also received by the SBA was much harder to work for the challenge was going back on revaluating. The risk of any business is that a better-financed competitor will weaken the business market position. The Ego Trip Salon Inc. strategy to mitigate the risk is to enter the market before competitors and to quickly establish the brand and the market share, before the bigger money (which is often the slower money) can capitalize on this particular market opportunity. Ms. Carr started her education in the beauty industry in 1986 where she attended the Miami Academy of Beauty Culture until 1987. At the same time, she also was involved in an Apprenticeship program at Salon Aruj until 1989. From there on she participated in World Congress, in London England, Advanced Academy Tony and Guy London, England and in 1990 in the Horst International Dallas, Texas. She came to the Miami SBDC Office on 8/23/01, and Miguel Nieves, Certified Business Analyst, explained to her all of the SBDC's services, especially how the different SBA Loan programs work. He provided her a list of requirements needed to start working on a loan package to get a loan to acquire equipment, inventory, fixtures and working capital to open a new location for her salon. She received assistance in preparing a Pre-Qualified loan package in the amount of $100,000. Financial projection, personal financial statement and all SBA forms were prepared. The new location "South Beach Ego Clip Inc. will be located in the heart of South Beach (Miami, Florida) on Washington Avenue and 6th Street, adjacent to the old Paris Theater. South Beach Ego Clip Inc. plans to employ about 10-15 individuals. Although Ego Clips concept is based on a client's contemporary experience and on modest pricing, Mrs. Carr does not want to compromise quality. In order to maintain this principle, the majority of the staff will be thoroughly trained at Mrs. Carr's upscale Ego Trip location. Mrs. Carr's Miami beach Ego Trip Salon Inc. is very well respected for the superior level of training provided to its employees, as well as for the long-term employment of its staff.

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Bryan credits his ongoing relationship with Cathy and the SBDC with keeping him on track and helping him look at issues within his company from a different perspective. He values the feedback Cathy provides him and feels it has had a positive impact on the growth and direction of Desloge Home Oxygen. Bryan will continue to work with Cathy in the future as his business and personal goals evolve.

Why Data-Maxx? Their products allow you to significantly reduce manual paperwork such as time cards while automating and streamlining your entire information collection and processing efforts. Data-Maxx gives you: time and attendance tracking, payroll integration, job, task, cost, production, and equipment tracking, job site security, and more.

Founded in 1997 with corporate headquarters in Fort Myers, Florida, Data:Maxx™ Software Systems, Inc. is quickly establishing itself as a leading solution provider with systems installed worldwide.
Data:Maxx became a client of the FGCU Small Business Development Center in 1998 in which the SBDC provided business plan assistance and a business plan seminar training. Dan Regelski critiqued the business plan and subsequently Data:Maxx was approved for a $140,000 small business loan. The SBDC has counseled the owners to restructure as a woman-owned business and get their MBE certification. That certification process will be completed in 2002. Also, Suzanne Specht counseled President Jeannie Brantley on potential SBIR opportunities for the future.

Client Quote
"LHC has referred several firms to PTAC for similar services because of the personalized service we received. Our PTAC experience was helpful and conducted in a very professional manner. The importance of the details in the GSA contracting process cannot be overstated; Laura Subel of PTAC helped us maintain focus and attend to fine points of the application. We look forward to working with the PTAC and its representatives as we develop an aggressive marketing program for Lampl Herbert Consultants in the government / military arena," says Linda Lampl.

Client Profile
Lampl Herbert Consultants (LHC) was founded in 1978 by Linda L. Lampl, Ph.D. , and Thomas A. Herbert, Ph.D. Linda Lampl is the majority stockholder. Dr. Lampl is trained as an anthropologist and holds a doctorate in communication; Dr. Herbert is a professional geologist with a doctorate in resource development. From 1978 to the mid-1990s, the consulting business focused largely on the private sector with clients active in the oil, mining, pipeline, and fisheries industries. The market for the original mix of services offered by the Lampl Herbert Consultants change in the mid-1990s, in part because of mergers and acquisitions in the resource industries. LHC revised its business plan to include more in the areas of organizational and business consulting. The strengths of the small business are rooted its ability to meet the needs of a client base in an expanding marketplace and to respond quickly. The firm offers high-level skills in research. LHC’s access to electronic sources predates the Internet; the firm entered the “online” world in 1981.

While LHC expanded its markets c. 1994, a very small portion of the work – generally in the form of grant-style contracts -- was conducted for government agencies. Additional compression within private industry markets, led Lampl Herbert to consider local, state, and federal agencies. In late 2000, LHC received a small sole-source contract and later a follow-on with a military installation. While the client was pleased with the services, the lack of a contractual vehicle stymied immediate contracts. Coincidently, client staff had been briefed on GSA contracting procedures and encouraged LHC to consider the GSA contract. That idea was reinforced in discussions with the SBA office at Eglin AFB. The SBA office at Eglin recommended that we discuss contracting opportunities with GSA with Laura Subel at the PTA Center in Pensacola.

Lampl Herbert Consultants contacted Laura Subel, PTAC in Pensacola, and discussed the situation in several telephone calls. Subel directed us to GSA web sites for forms and information to apply for a GSA MOBIS (management, organization, business improvement services) contract. We downloaded the forms and reviewed them and called Subel in Pensacola for consultation to develop strategies for preparing the contract application. We spent about 60 hours on our own preparing the documentation while following Subel's suggestions to the letter. Once we completed a draft, Linda Lampl and Thomas Herbert met with Laura Subel of PTAC, in Pensacola to go over the documents. An all-day session and line-by-line review of application documents was held in Pensacola. We incorporated the changes and suggestions and filed the application with GSA. We got immediate feedback from GSA reviewers that the application was one of the best they had seen. We had only minor clarification questions to answer during the review process and the GSA contract was finalized 33 days from date of delivery. LHC set the record for how quickly a GSA contract can be obtained. LHC followed the MOBIS application with an application under the GSA Environmental Services category with Subel's suggestions and had similar success. Once we had the contracts in hand we followed up with Subel at PTAC with consultation on ways to effectively market to the federal government throughout the United States with these GSA contracting vehicles. In November 2001, LHC obtained its first contract under the GSA MOBIS with a military client for $60K for a three-month study; follow on work is pending. A separate contract under GSA MOBIS with a military client is also pending. LHC has also submitted proposals to the National Park Service and has responded to requests from other agencies for quotes. We have had several follow up calls and a face-to-face meeting with Subel in Pensacola to discuss ways to market and refine our strategies.

MRA's mission is to support its customers by identifying and implementing practices to maximize reimbursement for the services they provide, while maintaining awareness of the legal and regulatory issues affecting today's healthcare market.

The Seminole Community College SBDC provided marketing, business planning and management assistance to Julie and Nancy.

The Bishop Group provides professional engineering services for the introduction and application of new technology for early adopters. The company is experienced in design of high-rise premises and campus telecommunications design using high-speed copper and fiber media. The Bishop Group is the only engineering company in the country offering vendor-neutral air blown fiber designs.

The Small Business Development Center has provided Mr. Bishop with valuable assistance and support in the areas of business development, evaluation of proposal alternatives, development of business financial data, and computer network support.

Client Profile
In 1992, Jerry Mistretta found himself a laid-off electrical worker with a dream. He wanted to open a Cajun restaurant in Pensacola. While drawing unemployment he began to develop recipes and to develop the concept in his head.

In that same year, he began attending seminars at the University of West Florida Small Business Development Center. There he learned about the necessary steps to start his business, about business planning, financing his venture, accounting and record keeping and marketing his venture.

In 1993, Jerry began his business with four employees, little capital, no advertising and no grand opening in a 1200 square foot space in a small strip mall - and people came. The restaurant grew and so did the number of employees. In 1995, he approached the UWF SBDC again for assistance with writing an employee manual. A student team, guided by the SBDC Director, wrote the employee manual as requested and also helped Jerry evaluate the potential for moving to a new, larger location.

Plans progressed and in 1997 the SBDC worked with Jerry and his wife Bobbie to put together a business plan and loan proposal to build a new restaurant on 9th Avenue in Pensacola, just up the street from his original location. Jerry was approved for an SBA guaranteed loan and, today, Jerry's Cajun Café and Market occupies a beautiful 5100 square foot building and employs over 50 full- and part-time people. His sales have followed suit, growing over 300%, from just under $500,000 in his first year to over $1.5 million.

Jerry has continued his relationship with the UWF SBDC through the years. Most recently he has sought advice on marketing, an operational analysis and is examining the prospect of franchising or licensing, and the SBDC is delighted to be of assistance.

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Client Profile
Michele Berger, the owner of Mobileyes, is a licensed Optician and had a plan to offer her services as a mobile optical shop using her van, setting up her equipment in the parking area of a company, school, or other locales needing optical services. Here she would provide on-the-spot optician supplies and services, including new glasses, frames, adjustments, safety glasses, etc. The benefit to both emplore and employee is the immediacy of her service right there on the company premises, truly minimizing time off the job to get this service, particularly for company mandatory safety glasses.

Ms. Berger came to the SBDC seeking assistance to review her business plan and advice on obtaining a loan. Her plan was very well done so basically all she required at this time was an introduction to the bank. Both her plan and her verbal presentation was impressive and she had no problem getting the funds she needed for the equipment necessary for the start-up.

Per Ms. Berger's request, this office will continue to assist her as needed for expansion plans, marketing strategy, and financial management.

Sterling has recently increased their advertising efforts to attract more retail customers, and have placed advertisements in Hispanic newspapers, and on Hispanic television and radio stations to take advantage of the large Hispanic population in Orlando.

Ms. Leydi Nunez, the company’s president, was born in Cuba and came to the United States at a young age. She and her husband started Sterling Sleep Products with limited resources and experience. Ms. Nunez is involved in many community projects such as the Red Cross, St. Judes Hospital, Salvation Army, and feeding the elderly. In addition, she is professionally involved in the Professional Hispanic Woman’s Association, and the National Minority Supplier Development Counsel.

Ms. Nunez is very optimistic about the company’s future. The company has a track record of longevity and being able to survive under turbulent conditions. Sterling is certified as a Minority Owned Business. Ms. Nunez intends to continue working with the UCF SBDC to help the company grow.

Client Profile
Meadows Business Systems, Inc. is owned and operated by Jerilee "Skip" Meadows and her son, Andy. MBS has been in business since September, 1985 and they offer record management products and service. Their products include file folders and color-coded labels of all types, cabinets and shelving, high-density mobile storage, and computer-generated label programs. They offer on-site production of color-coded folders, supply of on-site workers to purge inactive records, and cabinet and high-density storage installation. MBS is located in Clearwater, Florida and has 10 employees.

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Client Quote
With 15 years in the defense industry, I knew I had the right experience and entrepreneurial spirit needed to launch a business model that played to my strengths, in order to meet the needs of an underserved target market. With the support of SBDC professionals and advisors, I am realizing my dream for Aerospace Integration Corporation."

Client Profile
Aerospace Integration Corporation (AIC) is a minority-owned, SBA 8(a) certified small disadvantaged business. AIC provides cost-effective aircraft systems engineering (design, integration and test), light electro-mechanical manufacturing, and technical support services to commercial, conventional military and the military's Special Operations Forces (SOF). AIC's customers include the Air Force Special Operations Command, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Booz-Allen & Hamilton. AIC is a rising star in NW Florida. In its first three operating years AIC has grown to over 80 employees, located at more than six sites across the United States. Corporate revenues have grown more than 300% per year.

Recently, AIC was awarded a $3M contract to provide professional engineering services and research support to the U.S. Army. This line of business is in concert with the corporate strategic vision aimed at supporting new defense technologies. Additionally, the corporate vision includes the designing and building of a hanger in Crestview, Florida to add to AIC's capabilities. The key to the AIC success is the delivery of a rapid technical response. Historically, the AIC technical response has met and often exceeded the customer's requirements. Possessing a workforce with great depth, AIC specialists deliver turnkey solutions to its customers. Their core capabilities, supporting this approach, include program management, engineering analysis, avionics system integration, system testing, data acquisition, technical documentation, computer-aided drafting, and production assembly.

AIC has been an SBDC client since 1998. Early in the company's growth, the SBDC provided tremendous support in the development of our initial business plan and strategy. The SBDC has been an integral partner in supporting our business efforts in many areas including:

· Providing quarterly base reviews and insight/advice on our continued growth;
· Provided technical support in the development of our Small Disadvantage Business and 8(a) certification documentation;
· Provided access to the PTAC Library and other source information;
· Provided complete financial performance analysis and addressed considerations relating to company value AIC's dramatic growth and success is a direct reflection of continued SBDC contributions.

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