Advertisement
SBDC: Building Small Businesses One Big Dream At A Time
Leesburg Today - June 11, 2008 - Alicia Biggs
Why is it we take for granted some parts of our community that are often so critical to its success? In fact, sometimes we underestimate their value so much that people forget about them or don't even pass on the word that they exist.
That's part of the Loudoun County Small Business Development Center story. But during her two-year stint so far as executive director, Robin Suomi has changed that mentality. In the coming years, she has plans to continue to make the center more noticed, remembered, and one crucial economic engine in Loudoun County.
She scored a victory in May when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors reinstated the $122,714 in budget funds it had threatened to cut out.
Why is it we take for granted some parts of our community that are often so critical to its success? In fact, sometimes we underestimate their value so much that people forget about them or don't even pass on the word that they exist.
That's part of the Loudoun County Small Business Development Center story. But during her two-year stint so far as executive director, Robin Suomi has changed that mentality. In the coming years, she has plans to continue to make the center more noticed, remembered, and one crucial economic engine in Loudoun County.
She scored a victory in May when the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors reinstated the $122,714 in budget funds it had threatened to cut out.
"When we heard our funding was cut, we said to our clients: please support us, send an e-mail or fax to your supervisors and tell them to restore our funding. Let them know you support the SBDC. It actually strengthened our relationship with the board of supervisors," Suomi said. "I had to stop everything. Part of our value is getting our resources to our clients."
According to Suomi, some 10,814 home-based businesses and 7,000 commercial businesses currently exist in Loudoun County by ZIP code. Two-thirds of Loudoun Chamber of Commerce members include small businesses and apparently that number continues to grow. The SBDC, free of charge, has helped a significant number of those small businesses get started.
"The [overall] small businesses are much larger than that," she said, adding that she can't get the exact figures because of confidentiality. "We think that small businesses do have a huge impact in Loudoun."
Loudoun County's small businesses act as a mirror to the economy here.
"One [home-based business] just pulled in a $1.8 million contract in [federal contracting]," Suomi said. "Home-based business doesn't mean small, low income business. It doesn't mean that at all. For a lot of businesses that's the pinnacle of their career. They're through with the corporate world and they just want to have the home-based business for that work life balance, for the commuting and make better use of their time. The home-based business is actually a goal for a lot of people."
Last year, 1,092 people visited the SBDC and 926 attended the "Start Your Own Business" seminars, the most popular of all the informational programs offered by the SBDC. "People are amazed we can put on the same seminars 23 times per year and we still get attendees time after time," Suomi said.
"[We had our] busiest year ever in 2007, in part because of the growth of Loudoun County, but also because the economy slowed," she said. "We did a better job of marketing. We have an amazing network that we continue to look at. We have great partnerships with banks. We basically went to our stakeholders ... and we took a fresh look at our seminars."
Because she realized people didn't know how to structure an elevator speech, the brief overview presentation entrepreneurs make to pitch investors, the SBDC now has created a seminar on it with an eye towards how to dramatically deliver it. It also offered the art of selling seminar.
"We're doing a lot of marketing but selling is part of marketing," she said. "That worked out really well. We've gone into blogging and search engine optimization. Instead of saying...this year it's social networking, we have to be reactive to what's out there."
And as she has added new, more relevant seminars, attendance has grown.
"It's delightful to be able to be paid to give back to the community," she said. "I'm taking the funding sources that come to us and leveraging those dollars to our volunteer counseling program, our board of directors and giving the larger package to the community."
It seems in counseling Suomi finds the most satisfaction. Her eyes light up as she talks about entrepreneurs' ideas that bounce off the walls inside the conference rooms at the SBDC offices on Whitfield Place in Sterling. In a sense, Suomi helps connect the dots for people and helps them see how to turn their dreams into a reality. "Some people are so passionate about what they do. And they say to us, 'I had no idea you were here.'"
People feel lost with so much information out there these days, and the SBDC acts as a mentor and coach on how to sort through it.
"Today was an export day, [with two] export counseling sessions," she said. "There's money to be made in the export process. It's something they are purchasing and sending. We are so diverse now. All of those people have contacts in their homeland."
As far as the future, Suomi hopes the SBDC will become linked to an incubator, currently in the discussion phase at the ad hoc committee level at the county's Economic Development Commission. Mason Enterprise Center currently manages the incubators in Fairfax and Prince William counties. In the incubator, the SBDC, the Virginia Procurement Technical Assistant Program, and different businesses could share space.
"They're getting the ability to walk down the hall. You want to know what contacts they have. You have the ability to kick around an idea with them. Somebody will tweak it. Entrepreneurs want that to happen more. It's the shared computers, resources...they'll talk..."
Currently, the Town of Leesburg is in the throes of a feasibility study on the incubator. "SBDC and PTAP will council the clients," she said. "Incubators typically are people who have been in business a couple years and they want to go to the next level."
Already, Suomi sees the SBDC as a virtual incubator. Taking that to the next level "is a goal I see developing in the county," she said.
New and more demands have been a constant evolution at the SBDC since Suomi started two years ago. "Funding sources have not grown with the increased service demand," she said.
With the demands have come new and exciting challenges for her.
"I've seen more export businesses and definitely the greening of America," she said. "Green, gray (federal contractors) and kids."
She said Virginia has started to become more of a destination state for seniors as well. "They are coming down to Virginia to be with their kids," she said.
For more information on the SBDC, visit www.loudounsbdc.org.
According to Suomi, some 10,814 home-based businesses and 7,000 commercial businesses currently exist in Loudoun County by ZIP code. Two-thirds of Loudoun Chamber of Commerce members include small businesses and apparently that number continues to grow. The SBDC, free of charge, has helped a significant number of those small businesses get started.
"The [overall] small businesses are much larger than that," she said, adding that she can't get the exact figures because of confidentiality. "We think that small businesses do have a huge impact in Loudoun."
Loudoun County's small businesses act as a mirror to the economy here.
"One [home-based business] just pulled in a $1.8 million contract in [federal contracting]," Suomi said. "Home-based business doesn't mean small, low income business. It doesn't mean that at all. For a lot of businesses that's the pinnacle of their career. They're through with the corporate world and they just want to have the home-based business for that work life balance, for the commuting and make better use of their time. The home-based business is actually a goal for a lot of people."
Last year, 1,092 people visited the SBDC and 926 attended the "Start Your Own Business" seminars, the most popular of all the informational programs offered by the SBDC. "People are amazed we can put on the same seminars 23 times per year and we still get attendees time after time," Suomi said.
"[We had our] busiest year ever in 2007, in part because of the growth of Loudoun County, but also because the economy slowed," she said. "We did a better job of marketing. We have an amazing network that we continue to look at. We have great partnerships with banks. We basically went to our stakeholders ... and we took a fresh look at our seminars."
Because she realized people didn't know how to structure an elevator speech, the brief overview presentation entrepreneurs make to pitch investors, the SBDC now has created a seminar on it with an eye towards how to dramatically deliver it. It also offered the art of selling seminar.
"We're doing a lot of marketing but selling is part of marketing," she said. "That worked out really well. We've gone into blogging and search engine optimization. Instead of saying...this year it's social networking, we have to be reactive to what's out there."
And as she has added new, more relevant seminars, attendance has grown.
"It's delightful to be able to be paid to give back to the community," she said. "I'm taking the funding sources that come to us and leveraging those dollars to our volunteer counseling program, our board of directors and giving the larger package to the community."
It seems in counseling Suomi finds the most satisfaction. Her eyes light up as she talks about entrepreneurs' ideas that bounce off the walls inside the conference rooms at the SBDC offices on Whitfield Place in Sterling. In a sense, Suomi helps connect the dots for people and helps them see how to turn their dreams into a reality. "Some people are so passionate about what they do. And they say to us, 'I had no idea you were here.'"
People feel lost with so much information out there these days, and the SBDC acts as a mentor and coach on how to sort through it.
"Today was an export day, [with two] export counseling sessions," she said. "There's money to be made in the export process. It's something they are purchasing and sending. We are so diverse now. All of those people have contacts in their homeland."
As far as the future, Suomi hopes the SBDC will become linked to an incubator, currently in the discussion phase at the ad hoc committee level at the county's Economic Development Commission. Mason Enterprise Center currently manages the incubators in Fairfax and Prince William counties. In the incubator, the SBDC, the Virginia Procurement Technical Assistant Program, and different businesses could share space.
"They're getting the ability to walk down the hall. You want to know what contacts they have. You have the ability to kick around an idea with them. Somebody will tweak it. Entrepreneurs want that to happen more. It's the shared computers, resources...they'll talk..."
Currently, the Town of Leesburg is in the throes of a feasibility study on the incubator. "SBDC and PTAP will council the clients," she said. "Incubators typically are people who have been in business a couple years and they want to go to the next level."
Already, Suomi sees the SBDC as a virtual incubator. Taking that to the next level "is a goal I see developing in the county," she said.
New and more demands have been a constant evolution at the SBDC since Suomi started two years ago. "Funding sources have not grown with the increased service demand," she said.
With the demands have come new and exciting challenges for her.
"I've seen more export businesses and definitely the greening of America," she said. "Green, gray (federal contractors) and kids."
She said Virginia has started to become more of a destination state for seniors as well. "They are coming down to Virginia to be with their kids," she said.
For more information on the SBDC, visit www.loudounsbdc.org.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
