Popcorn Junkie

Popcorn Junkie

Minetta and Neal Crosier were just such entrepreneurs. Building upon successful business careers and a passion for popcorn, they had a vision for a gourmet popcorn company like no other, one with extraordinary flavors found nowhere else, made with the highest quality ingredients, and handcrafted and made fresh daily. Their question was: where to start?

The Crosiers turned to the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) in Lake County, near where they lived. Minetta Crosier is a UCF graduate and had heard about the FSBDC’s  no-cost consulting, business seminars & workshops and market research resources, all focused on the needs of small-to-medium sized businesses. It was just these services that the Crosiers decided to access at the FSBDC.

Popcorn Junkie, FSBDC at UCF, Lake County, Small Business

FSBDC Consultant Eddie Hill (L) with Neal Crosier

It happens often. An entrepreneur has an idea but is uncertain about how to turn their vision into a real business. And then how to make that business a success.

“When we first started out, we had no idea how to do what we wanted to do or exactly where we wanted to do it. What we did know was what we wanted to do,” says Neal Crosier. “So we went to the FSBDC for help with taking our concept to an actual business.”

With their Lake County consultant Eddie Hill, the Crosiers rolled up their sleeves and started to work. They attended business education seminars about starting a business and using social media to market that business. The relied on Hill’s expertise and experience for business guidance and consultation. And, using the FSBDC’s databases, they accessed extensive market research and industry information.

Further, as the Crosiers progressed toward launching their business, the FSBDC helped them find professional assistance with retail interior design, branding, legal issues, bookkeeping and store build-out construction.

With the FSBDC at their side, the Crosiers were able to make major course corrections in their business plans. They abandoned their original idea of operating from a mall kiosk in favor of a retail store. They adjusted their choice of location from I-Drive in Orlando to the Church Street Station downtown area. And the results have been excellent.

Popcorn JunkieTM, the Crosier’s wonderful new store, opened on Church Street in May 2107 and has been enjoying terrific success. They have been helping customers from all over ‘Get Hooked on Good” with an amazing selection of gourmet popcorn flavors, featuring Classic, Cheese, Sweet, Nutty, Chocolate and Seasonal Varieties. They are close by the downtown sports venues and see extensive foot traffic on game days. And they are building a loyal downtown Orlando following in nearby office buildings and apartments.

“The FSBDC was there when we needed them,” Neal Crosier concluded. “I take my hat off to them. Every time I reached out to them, I received an immediate response or, if they didn’t have the answer, they found it for me fast. They gave us excellent, really excellent service. I didn’t imagine it would be that good. But it was, and helped us a lot.”

My Nona's Garden; Chuck Wheeler; Amber Harmon

My Nona’s Garden

Finding the work-life balance you seek inevitably means making choices. Sometimes there are hard choices and sometimes not so hard choices.

For Amber Harmon, the founder and owner of My Nona’s Garden, her choices weren’t so hard. Yes, she gave up a lucrative career. But it required extensive travel and time away from the young family she and her husband were building. Instead, she gained the life she wanted with her young children and the opportunity to follow her passion: gardening.

The challenge she faced was how to make a living pursuing that passion. And so it was, with the help of the Florida SBDC at UCF, that Harmon’s company was born. My Nona’s Garden is in the business of selling and servicing 2 x 8 foot low-maintenance, elevated cedar vegetable box gardens for both business and residential customers. The company makes a fresh, organic, non-GMO vegetable garden possible and its goal is simple: “to bring health into our communities, one garden at a time.”

“My Nona’s Garden is my first time as a business owner. I was going out on my own and didn’t know where to start. That’s why I turned to the Florida SBDC at UCF for help,” Harmon says. “They offered seminars that set me on the right path from the beginning. I learned the basics, received the templates and resources I needed, and was able to get my business plan in order.”

“Then I took advantage of the FSBDC’s unlimited, no-cost consulting services,” Harmon continued. “My FSBDC consultant Chuck Wheeler gave me the guidance I needed. I got in depth assistance on my business plan. He helped me test and validate my ideas about my business concept and my product and services. He enabled me to strengthen my financial projections. And he provided me with ideas and resources to manage important business functions, like obtaining insurance and finding the employees I needed. Chuck was there for me every step of the way.”

Launched in September 2016, My Nona’s Garden is off to a good start. The company had its first customer the day it opened its doors! Along with advertising and exhibiting in the Lake Nona area, she is partnering with a major local developer to promote its community gardens with a gardening workshop series. She is also working with the U.S. Veterans Administration Hospital to teach veterans about the rewards of gardening. Another workshop series is planned for a local retired-living community. And Harmon continues to serve local and metro-Orlando clients interested in purchasing the company’s raised gardens as well as having them serviced by My Nona’s Garden.

“I’m happy with the progress we are making,” concluded Harmon. “I would definitely highly recommend the Florida SBDC to anyone building a business. Whatever stage your business is at, the FSBDC can help. It covers all the bases and can answer all your questions. I’m looking forward to their assistance as I add structure to my business and start to manage its growth.”

For more information about My Nona’s Garden, please visit www.MyNonasGarden.com or www.facebook.com/MyNonasGarden.

VAMP, The Vocational Academy of Makeup and Prosethics, FSBDC, UCF

Vocational Academy of Makeup & Prosthetics (VAMP)

You have a passion. You have creativity and skills. And you have a vision of how others can become experts in your chosen craft in the RIGHT way – with in-depth training built upon a unique curriculum taught by industry professionals. With all of this in hand, what do you do next?

If you are Heather Fildes and Kimberly Spratt, you set to work to open a school teaching modern special effects and beauty professional makeup artistry. And you start in the right place: by writing a business plan.

It was there that Fildes and Spratt found themselves in 2015. With a clear view of the business they wanted to be in, a sharp definition of the kind of training they wanted to offer and a keen understanding of how their experience in special effects and beauty makeup could be used to turn makeup enthusiasts into professionals, writing their business plan was an exciting opportunity to articulate their ideas, and turn them into a blueprint for realizing their dreams and business success.

Producing the financial plan for the school presented challenges, however. With neither having a background in accounting or finance, Fildes and Spratt were in unfamiliar territory. That’s when they turned to the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida and consultant Hunt Dawkins.

“We were OK until we got to the budgets and financials,” recalls founder and owner Kimberly Spratt. “We thought we had to take everything down to the penny and our progress stalled. So we turned to the FSBDC and thank goodness we did. We met with Hunt Dawkins at the FSBDC’s offices. He made the financials easier. He simplified it all. He guided us through the process.”

And very successfully it turns out. First, Fildes and Spratt completed their business plan, and at Dawkins’ urging, entered and became finalists in the Orlando 2015 Business Plan Competition of the National Association of Woman Business Owners (NAWBO). They used their plan as the basis of their successful application for school certification by the Florida Department of Education’s Commission for Independent Education. And it served as their road map for beginning their business: finding a location for the school with proper zoning, forecasting startup costs and working capital needs, designing the school’s construction buildout and building improvements and launching their marketing efforts.

Today, The Vocational Academy of Makeup & Prosthetics (VAMP) is off to a great start. It offers a special effects makeup laboratory and a beauty applications classroom that are both state-of-the art. A respected faculty of experienced professionals is in place and the school has graduated its first Modern Effects Makeup Artistry class; the next one is starting soon. And a Beauty Professional Makeup Artistry class is forming. The FSBDC is now working with them on their second stage marketing campaign.

“We would absolutely encourage everyone to work with the FSBDC,” commented founder and owner Heather Fildes. “Being a business owner takes so much more than we expected. I don’t know if we could have done what we’re doing now if we hadn’t had their help. The FSBDC is a great resource.”

Nanospective; Roger Greenwald; Brenda Prenitzer

NanoSpective, Inc.

One of the greatest challenges a small business faces is transitioning from its startup phase to being an established, high-performing second stage company. It is not for the faint of heart. The changes in strategy, organization and culture are often profound. But the rewards can be dramatically positive for all of the key stakeholders: owners, employees and clients. Nanospective, Inc. certainly found that to be the case when it made the transition to its second stage of growth with assistance from the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF).

Nanospective likes to say is delivers “Big Solutions to Small Problems” because it provides advanced materials characterization analytical services and consultation to clients around the world using advanced imaging and spectroscopic instruments to determine what atoms are present in a material and how they are arranged. Those two relationships determine every physical property about a material: is it brittle, will it bend, does it conduct electricity, can it be seen through, for example. It is this kind of information associated with molecular science that the experts at Nanospective provide to their clients, primarily related to quality control and intellectual property protection.

The company was founded by four UCF PhDs in 2003, with initial assistance from the UCF Business Incubator and the Florida SBDC at UCF. Based upon what they had studied in school and then used in corporate America, they innovated with a heavy emphasis on client service. The company grew to be a profitable business but, like most startups, hit a wall where growth was harder and harder to come by. It was then that Nanospective turned again to the FSBDC at UCF and its consultant Roger Greenwald.

“We started working with the FSBDC again and with Roger because we wanted to change from being a lifestyle business and put ourselves in position to understand how to really move forward and grow,” says Brenda Prenitzer, President and CEO of Nanospective. “At the time, we had four, then three, owner-employees leading by democracy, each with different visions for the future. We had evolved into three different companies each working from home. We had reached a plateau.”

At no cost to the company, Greenwald and the FSBDC team were brought in to help Nanospective make the transition to being a second stage growth company. They assisted by helping to develop a strategic growth plan, providing financial analysis, giving marketing and business development direction and offering guidance on organizational structure and development.

“Our experience with the FSBDC has been fabulous,” Prenitzer says. “Roger Greenwald has been immensely helpful to us. While it wasn’t easy and required extremely delicate navigation, we have transitioned successfully to a single-owner company with a unified vision and strong corporate culture. We are fortunate that the two other owners chose to remain to do what they love: be great scientists. We have developed a Nanospective ‘Way’ focused on both our clients’ and our employees’ success. And we have achieved superior business results, delivering an average of 25% revenue growth year over year and adding 9 new employees to meet the needs of our clients, she concluded.”

Harvey Cohen; Cohen Grossman; Jill Kaufman; ABC; Advisory Board Council; FSBDC; UCF

Cohen Grossman Attorneys At Law

Law firms are more than a group of lawyers coming together to practice the law. In fact, they are businesses that face many of the same challenges as other kinds of businesses; how to manage growth, deal with human resources issues, improve financial performance, drive marketing effectiveness and much more.

Cohen Grossman Attorneys at Law is precisely that kind of law firm: a business entity comprised of a group of lawyers engaging in the practice of law. Led by founder and owner Harvey Cohen, the firm has practices across multiple legal specialties, including insurance claims, personal injury, criminal law, family law, wrongful death, renters’ rights and the list goes on.

Cohen Grossman is a successful firm and was becoming more successful every day.  And that success was demanding that more and more of Harvey Cohen’s time be spent managing the daily operations of the company. As he became more businessman than attorney, Cohen started to ask himself how he could make himself the best business owner possible.

Through networking and a friend, he was referred to the Florida SBDC at UCF and its Advisory Board Council (ABC) program. “My friend told me she’d really enjoyed her Advisory Board and that it had helped her business tremendously,” remarked Atty. Cohen. “I was intrigued and my friend put me in touch with Jill Kaufman, a consultant at the FSBDC as well as the program manager of the ABC program.

The Advisory Board Council is a no-cost board of experts providing advice and council to help businesses grow.  It acts as a matchmaker between established local businesses and area professionals who volunteer their expertise as members of an advisory board, with the volunteers selected to address the specific needs of the FSBDC client.

“Jill Kaufman put a great board together for me,” says Atty. Cohen, “and we had our first meeting in July of 2013. Since then, my Board has been an invaluable resource and gets some of the credit for our ongoing success. We’ve been growing rapidly: we have seen a 167% revenue increase from 2012 to 2015; our employee base has grown more than 160% over the period; and very recently we moved our firm into our own, 33,000 sq. ft. building.”

“For me, one of the best benefits of my ABC was that it forced me to focus time on my business. Anyone who manages a business knows how hard it is to take time away from dealing with day-to-day operations, away from working in the business,” said Atty. Cohen. “My ABC made me take the time, with their help, to evaluate myself and my performance while sharing exemplary ideas to help the firm’s business. The Board’s different perspectives and experiences contributed significantly to how I run the firm today and how I will run it even better in the future.”

“I would recommend the Advisory Board Council to everyone, and I have. It can only help you. I can’t imagine where we’d be without it,” concluded Atty. Cohen. “I think it is such a valuable resource for small businesses that I have even gone a step further and become an ABC volunteer advisor myself.”

Wilson Equipment, FSBDC, Valerie Wilson, Hunt Dawkins

Wilson Equipment

Buying a business can be fraught with risks, even if you already work for the company. And that was the case for Valerie Wilson. She and a partner owned Wilson Equipment Etc., a company in the business of selling water filtration systems for food service equipment. The filters perform a crucial function by removing the taste and odor of chlorine from the water used by equipment like ice machines, steamers and soda systems while at the same time reducing or eliminating the amount of scale build-up inside the machines which reduces their efficiency. The partner wanted to sell her half of the company and Valerie was interested.

As she looked at purchasing the business from her partner, removing or at least minimizing the risks in buying were a top priority for Valerie.  Questions like “is it the right price?”, “are the cash flows adequate to cover a loan?”, “how do I obtain a loan?”, “am I prepared to run this business alone?” describe the risks she saw that needed answers. Fortunately, Valerie knew where to turn.

Based on her own previous experience, as well as that of her father from years ago, Valerie turned to the Florida SBDC at UCF. Initially she wanted help with producing a business plan, but then the opportunities offered by the FSBDC quickly turned her initial goal into much more. And Valerie couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

“My experience with FSBDC at UCF has been very positive on multiple fronts,” says Valerie. “My FSBDC consultant, Hunt Dawkins, was my cheerleader. He helped me determine a fair value for the company, see opportunities for growth, and find ways to make myself a better business owner. We developed strategies to make the business more profitable and put in place financial controls like budgets and forecasts that made the numbers make more sense for me.”

And the results have been extremely positive. Valerie was able to buy the company. Profits are up at Wilson Equipment Etc. and she has put the company on a consistent growth path. She has found new ways to leverage the fact that hers is a certified woman-owned business. By partnering with a much larger manufacturers rep company who could take advantage of her company’s woman-owned status and who could add her filters to a vast product list that will be put in front of customers that would probably not have found Wilson Equipment Etc otherwise, Valerie has found an important new sales channel for her products.

When asked what she would say to other entrepreneurs and business owners considering seeking assistance from the FSBDC, Valerie didn’t hold back. “The FSBDC is a great resource. Do it. Run to them,” she says. “I myself have referred people to the FSBDC and gotten nothing but great feedback. When I bought the company, my role changed from sales to business owner and it was the FSBDC gave me the business knowledge I needed and taught me how to run a successful business.”

Chill Pop Lounge, LaThesia Hardy, Chuck Wheeler,

Chill Pop Lounge

LaThesia Hardy – everybody calls her “Te” – is one of the smart ones: she knows what she doesn’t know. She knows she has a successful career in the pharmaceutical industry. But now she’s been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and she didn’t know which way to go or even how or where to start.

So “Te” decided to start at the beginning.  That’s when she found the Florida SBDC at UCF s office in Kissimmee/Osceola County. She attended the seminars and workshops offered by the FSBDC about starting a business and business fundamentals. As a result, she built her competence and confidence in her abilities related to the many facets of running her own business that she did not know.

Building from the base she gained in the seminars, she engaged with one of the FSBDC’s consultants and took advantage of their confidential, no-cost, expert counseling. Together with her consultant, she tackled putting together her ideas for the company she wanted to start and addressing the multiple questions about her start-up that would need to be answered.

“My experience with the FSBDC has been tremendous,” “Te” says. “It was great to go to the seminars and learn what I needed to learn and then have access to high quality consulting and mentorship outside of the seminars.”

As with all entrepreneurial endeavors, there were bumps in the road. “Te” was comfortable with writing her business plan because her vision for her company was clear and she knew she’d be able to articulate her goals and plans. But then there were the financial projections. They brought “Te” to a standstill. Without a background in finance, the prospect of doing sales and revenue and expense forecasts was daunting for her.

And so she turned again to her FSBDC consultant for assistance. “I was able to complete most of my business plan but I wouldn’t have been able to do the financials, “ “Te” acknowledged. “But with my FSBDC consultant Chuck Wheeler’s help, I was able to understand the financial end of my business, what I could afford and not afford and how to make reliable projections of my company’s financial performance.

All of “Te”s hard work and wise use of the FSBDC enabled her to launch her company, Chill Pop Lounge, in July of this year on N. Narcoossee Rd. in St. Cloud, FL. The Chill Pop Lounge specializes in gourmet frozen treats, with specialty ice cream choices this year and innovative – as well as gourmet and fabulous – ice popsicles starting in 2016. The business is off to a great start, and “Te” is looking forward to expanding and bringing new employees on board in the next few months. Her brother, Reginald Adams, who is retiring from the military, will co-manage the Chill Pop Lounge starting in January 2016.

“I would say to any would-be entrepreneur out there: use the FSBDC’s services!” concluded “Te”. “They have everything you need to start a business, write a business plan, and understand finances. If being an entrepreneur is not necessarily your forte, the FSBDC is the place to be.”

Different Perspective, Roger Greenwald, FSBDC, UCF, Hugo, Priscilla, Azzollini

Different Perspective

When Hugo and Priscilla Azzolini founded creative advertising agency Different Perspective in 2004, internet advertising was only just picking up speed. Fast forward 11 years later and today, Different Perspective has helped hundreds of businesses develop their own unique brand, market their business online and attract customers through custom-created websites.

For Hugo and Priscilla, the secret was not keeping up with current technology, but helping businesses stay ahead of it. Today Hugo sits on the marketing board for The Orlando Philharmonic orchestra and the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, extending his expertise in marketing to local nonprofits and for-profit organizations, as well as companies from all over the world including their native country Brazil.

Located in downtown Orlando, FL, Different Perspective has developed from inconsistent year-to-year growth to a 91% increase from 2014 to 2015. Although Hugo’s steadfast vision to start the business without investors or taking on debt allowed him to take more risks and realize greater rewards. Different Perspective’s recent sales increases and 2015’s anticipated growth is attributed to the guidance and advice of the SBDC at UCF’s Growth Acceleration Consultant, Roger Greenwald.

“Roger not only provided us the support we needed to grow our business, in the areas of financial management and new business development, but he gave us insight into how to be better entrepreneurs and leaders within our own industry. His extensive knowledge and genuine commitment to our success helped our company refocus our vision, strengthen our sales strategy and personally inspired us to be more proactive within the business and in the community.”

ScreenWorks USA, FSBDC, Business Consulting

ScreenWorks USA

For a small to medium-sized business, growth can be as much of a challenge as a revenue decline. And managing rapid growth was the problem, albeit a good problem, confronting Screenworks USA, a multi-million dollar screen printing, embroidery and dye sublimation business that supplies theme parks and other entertainment companies with customized apparel (t-shirts) and other wearables.

Co-owners Sharad Mehta, President and Brian DiZavala, Executive Vice President and COO wanted to be certain they were steering Screenworks and its growing business in the right direction. Based upon very positive past experiences Mehta had had with the Florida SBDC at UCF and its Advisory Board Council program, the company applied for and was approved for another  Advisory Board Council.

The Florida SBDC at UCF’s Advisory Board Council (ABC) is an economic development program that creates a no-cost professional advisory service for local companies. By acting as a matchmaker between businesses and volunteer advisors, all of whom are professionals in the community, the Advisory Board Council program acts to provide companies with business expertise that can directly address the company’s issues and that would otherwise be cost prohibitive and unavailable to a small to medium- sized business.  And the contribution that Advisory Board Council assistance can make covers many sides of a business including operations, marketing, financial management, cost reduction, leadership development and succession planning, among others.

Mehta and DiZavala worked with Advisory Board Council Program Manager Jill Kaufman, who hand-picked a team of board members to address the company’s needs and manage their growth. Experts in corporate finance, operations and marketing, comprised Screenworks’ board of advisors. The Board met with Mehta and DiZavala quarterly for review and counseling on a variety of issues, including operations and growth management strategies.

Over the course of the board’s tenure, Mehta and DiZavala made some important decisions about how they wanted to grow their business going forward and took some strategic options they were considering off the table. “We had very experienced people on our board. We made sure we were well prepared for each meeting and had a clear picture of our company’s direction and our financial performance,” Mehta said. “As a result, over time a strategy for the company’s growth became clear.”

According to Mehta and DiZavala, the assistance of their Advisory Board Council has paid handsome dividends for Screenworks. “Our success has come as a result of some of the efforts of our Advisory Board and has helped us not only quadruple our sales but also increase our employee base by about 100 and build our building,” remarked DiZavala.

“I do not think any business which is growing should be without an Advisory Board Council,” commented Mehta. “Every business can benefit from using not only the services of the FSBDC but also an Advisory Board Council.  I wouldn’t want to be a company without an ABC.  And I recommend every business in Central Florida avail themselves of all the resources that the FSBDC offers.”

Pauline Davis, Michele Daniele, All Star Property Services, Small Business, Consulting

AllStar Property Services

For Michele Daniele, CEO of AllStar Property Services, it was a time to rebuild her business. From its founding in 1999, AllStar had been a successful, full-service commercial property maintenance company serving Central Florida. Its services included power sweeping, porter services, pressure washing and window cleaning – all of the services a commercial property owner needs to keep their buildings and grounds in top shape.

In 2006, however, Michele was mobilized and served her country in the military until 2012. When her deployment was over, she returned home a service-disabled veteran, only to find that her company had suffered during her tour of duty. Between her absence and the downturn in the economy, the business had withered. Her time away left her feeling an immense disconnect from it. Michele knew she had to do something and she knew she needed help.

And so she went to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs looking for assistance. They referred her to the U.S. Small Business Administration who in turn referred her to the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (SBDC at UCF). There she found the help she was looking for.

“The FSBDC helped me tremendously. They helped me make a fresh start. I went back to the basics and enrolled in their New Venture (now Business Fundamentals) Seminar Series which gave me a new perspective on my business,” said Daniele. “And they opened my eyes to important steps I needed to take to get AllStar growing again, especially the value in writing a business plan.”

After producing a draft of her plan, Daniele began working with FSBDC consultant Pauline Davis to bring it to completion. “With Pauline’s assistance, I was able to understand how to grow my business,” commented Daniele. “The business plan allowed me to see the future of my company.”

The work with the FSBDC has paid off. Since beginning with them, AllStar has grown significantly. It now has 12 employees, more than 130 contacts and sales have tripled. “I wasn’t sure if I could succeed or not when I restarted my business,” Michele says today. “But the FSBDC guided me and influenced me, and helped me find the way forward. I can truly say ‘Thank You” to them for giving me the advice I needed to build my business to where it is today and the encouragement to take my business where I want to go.”

As Michele looks ahead, she is excited about the opportunities she sees in diversifying her customer base to include selling the company’s services to the government, another place the FSBDC can help. “I have come to understand the value of government certifications from the FSBDC and the programs and seminars they offer to help me find and win government contracts,” said Michele.

“Don’t hesitate. Go for it,” Michele said when asked what advice she’d give entrepreneurs about the FSBDC. “They have the ability to grow your business to your highest expectations.”