Bella Casa Staging & Redesign Growing with Assistance from Florida SBDC at Eastern Florida State College
December 4, 2018
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Martin Duffy, Director, FSBDC at EFSC, 321.433.5573 or duffym@easternflorida.edu
Orlando, FL – “How do I take my business to the next level?” It’s a question that entrepreneurs and small business owners are asking constantly. Even as they meet the daily challenges of exceeding customer expectations while running a business, they need to be looking ahead and planning for the future. When they can do both – manage the day-to-day while looking ahead – small business owners can and will be successful. Especially with the help of the Florida SBDC.
Lisa Pelc is the owner and chief executive of Bella Casa Staging & Redesign in Melbourne, FL, a home staging and interior design company with experts in preparing homes – both occupied and vacant – for a faster, more profitable sale. As redesigners, the professionals at Bella Casa help families reconnect to each space in their home, so that it’s organized, beautiful and a perfect reflection of the family.
In 2017, Pelc found herself at a crossroads of sorts. She had started her business and it was growing, but she was asking herself some key questions: where next? How do I grow from here? That’s when she turned to Marty Duffy, the center director and consultant at the Florida SBDC at Eastern Florida State College (FSBDC at EFSC), a sub-center of the Florida SBDC at UCF.
“I came to the FSBDC for assistance because I was having some growing pains,” recalls Pelc. “I wanted to grow my business but wasn’t sure what to do and how to do it. So I reached out and found all of these different business courses and seminars, as well as no-cost, one-on-one consulting. Marty and the FSBDC team at Eastern Florida State College were extremely helpful in areas like strategy, inbound and outbound marketing, financial analysis as well as market research.”
“There is so much at the FSBDC that a small business needs,’” continued Pelc. “You don’t always know what you don’t know, as the saying goes. Working with the FSBDC has really shown me the opportunities that are available for my business. Meeting with Marty every month was like having a personal MBA professor dedicated to addressing my specific business needs. The time together was incredibly helpful and insightful.”
The list of Bella Casa’s business issues addressed with the help of the FSBDC at EFSC is long: reviewing and then gaining an understanding of monthly and year-to-date financial results and profitability; conducting market research and building industry knowledge; identifying new market opportunities; and learning how to balance marketing and operations.
“The FSBDC has really guided me and helped me learn how, as an entrepreneur, to work on the business and not just in the business so it can grow and be more profitable every year,” concluded Pelc. “We’ve gone from a team of 2 to a company of 5, and our business has grown by 50% in just the last year. Marty and his team have been instrumental in helping me stay on task and provided a sense of accountability for myself and my company. When you tap into the resources that are at the FSBDC, the sky’s the limit for your business.”
For information about Bella Casa Staging & Redesign, please visit www.BellaCasaStagingAndRedesign.com.
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
With its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF Office of Research & Commercialization and the Florida SBDC Network. The FSBDC at UCF provides business seminars and no-cost, one-on-one business consultation to emerging and established businesses. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 10 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2016, the FSBDC at UCF served over 2,400 entrepreneurs in Central Florida through consulting and training, resulting in nearly 6,700 jobs created, retained or saved; $980 million in sales growth; $92.7 million in capital formation; $154.6 million in government contract awards; and 120 new businesses started.
About the Florida SBDC Network
For over forty years, the Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance [Fl. Stat. 288.001], has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development to provide existing and emerging small and medium-sized business owners with management and knowledge resources that enable overall growth, increased profitability, and economic prosperity for Florida’s economy.
Since 2011, Florida SBDCs have provided 513,107 hours of professional business consulting to 74,669 client businesses, resulting in 252,955 jobs created, retained, or saved; $33.3 billion in sales growth; $2.6 billion in government contract awarded; $1.4 billion in capital investments acquired; and 4,159 new businesses started.
A statewide network of over 40 offices, the Florida SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Defense Logistics Agency, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network, headquartered at the University of West Florida, is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs and is a 2016 recipient of the President’s E Award for Export Service. Florida SBDC services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Language assistance services are available for individuals with limited English proficiency. For more information, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
sbdc@ucf.edu | www.sbdcorlando.com
