Help available for local entreprenuers

Being a small business owner is exciting and challenging. The issues that need to be taken into consideration and well-thought out are endless. Items for consideration include financing business and personal, market identification and opportunity analysis, staffing, operations, financial and time management.

Without careful consideration, an entrepreneur that has invested significant time and funding to start a business has a higher likelihood of failure.

Fortunately for Rochester area entrepreneurs, there's help just around the metaphorical corner.

Business Assistance in Rochester

The Region 10 Small Business Development Center is supported by Rochester Community and Technical College and funded by the Small Business Administration, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and local funding sources. The center provides southeastern Minnesota businesses with technical and managerial assistance at no cost to the client.

Staff members offer assistance for starting a new business or buying an existing business. They also help with exploring financing options, present educational seminars and provide managerial and technical assistance.

Consultants work confidentially with the small business owner in analyzing the current situation, devising strategies for improving operations and guiding the business owner through implementation. By identifying support resources early in the process, small business owners can ensure that they are effectively spending their time and managing their businesses with useful information and technical guidance.

According to Michelle Pyfferoen, the center's regional director, there are five offices throughout the region, serving an average of 280 small businesses per year. In 2007, consultants assisted small business owners in accessing over $16.9 million to start or expand their businesses. "Assistance with financing is the most frequently requested service, but is only one of many services provided" Pyfferoen said.

Extreme Powder success story

Among the center's success stories: Greg Peterson and Extreme Powder Coating of Blooming Prairie, which transforms a powder into a lustrously painted sheen.

Two decades ago and several career moves after he first learned about the process, Peterson started his own powder coating business with the help of a Small Business Association Administration guaranteed loan.

If it's got a surface, Greg Peterson can paint it. But, there's one thing even Peterson can't paint over: If not for pure luck, he might not be in business today. "I didn't have a customer when I started and didn't have a clue what I was going to do," Peterson said. "We were really struggling after nine months. I was really hurting."

That's a common issue for people getting a business started, said Troy Wing, a counselor at the development center. "They have a skill they know they can sell, but it's not as simple as just building a widget. What they forgot -- or never knew -- is there are real business issues to deal with."

Fortunately, Peterson landed a big client at just the right time and provided just enough financial foundation for Extreme Powder Coating to survive and eventually grow.

Wing did the loan packaging and underlying financial analysis that secured a $875,000 SBA loan that helped the company build a $1 million, 12,500-square-foot facility. "I don't want to brag, but it's a pretty cool place," said Peterson. "Was I prepared for owning my own business? No. Especially, business basics."

The positive effects of the expansion are already showing. Sales have quadrupled in five years and net income is up 42 percent over last year. Peterson keeps 10 full-time and two part-time employees busy.

He paints a dazzling picture of his experiences with the SBDC. "It was a pretty easy process, really," he said. "We would never have been able to expand without the (center) helping us to get that loan."

Conrad is director of the Augsburg College MBA program in Rochester and is a freelance writer for the Post-Bulletin.