Turning a vision into a growing business able to win a multi-million-dollar government contract may sound like a daunting impossibility, but it is not. Lizbeth Walker, CEO and owner of Qwalifize, LLC has proven it and credits the Florida Procurement Technical Assistance Center at the University of Central Florida (Florida PTAC at UCF) with assisting her in making the impossible possible.

Doing business as Qwalifize Staffing and Consulting, the firm connects high-caliber companies with exceptional professionals. The business focuses on technology, human resources, and administrative roles that help shape organizations. With more than 20 years of extensive experience in recruitment, operations, and human resources, Qwalifize serves a client portfolio of Fortune 500 company employers in the Health Tech, Microelectronics, Aerospace, Defense, and Attractions industries. It can now add providing staffing solutions to government institutions and creating strategic partnerships to its “company resume” as well.

“Our mission is to prepare, attract and place professionals into jobs that are meaningful to them while problem solving the workforce issues challenging our employer clients,” says Walker. “What’s important is that we have integrity, transparency and reliability and we’re here for our clients, no matter what the problem.”

When she started her business, Walker had a vision and a plan in mind to achieve it. “I knew where my vision and plan could take me but I needed real world guidance about how to get there,” Walker continued. “That’s why I sought assistance from the Florida Small Business Development Center at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) and later from its affiliate, the Florida PTAC at UCF.”

“The FSBDC helped me create a stellar business plan and to think like a business owner, not just an employee. They set me up for success,” recalls Walker. “There’s so much I learned, especially about financial management, targeting clients, expressing what we do and our value proposition. They taught me what it takes to run a business.”

“And Kara Vernon, our PTAC Specialist, has been instrumental in providing me with focus areas, tools and templates that brought my government marketing strategy to life. And that helped us win a huge, 5-year transportation contract. I know without her help and all of her attention, that contract might not have been a possibility for us,” Walker added.

“We have achieved so many positive results with the FSBDC and PTAC. When Covid hit, we saw our commercial business slow down, so I opened my mind to government contracting. I relied on Kara and PTAC and, on our very first response to an RFP, we were able to win that 5-year, multi-million-dollar government contract with a major transportation agency here in Florida. It has been a game changer for us,” says Walker.

“If I had to use one word to describe the FSBDC and PTAC, it would be ‘winning’” concluded Walker. “Whenever I work with them, I know their goal is to set up Qwalifize Staffing & Consulting for success and for us to win.

To learn more about Qwalifize Staffing & Consulting, please visit qwalifize.com.

For a small business owner, the first challenge is making sure you’re offering the best products or services in town. The second is delivering on that promise to your current customers. And the third is attracting new customers who can benefit from what your business has to offer.

Over the past 30 years Andy St. Denis, the owner and chief mechanic of Andy’s Auto Service, has established his full-service repair facility as the best there is in St. Cloud, FL and he has loyal customers to prove it. But it was that third challenge – attracting new customers in his rapidly growing and changing community – that prompted St. Denis to seek assistance from the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) and its Kissimmee/Osceola County satellite office.

“We repair and maintain automobiles really well,” St. Denis says. “We have the most up-to-date training, technology, and equipment available, so our customers’ vehicles get the best service possible, maintained and repaired to the latest factory specifications. We make our customers happy and that’s the way we like it.”

St. Denis is also very involved in and cares deeply about his community. “It’s what makes us different from the franchises and big box stores out on the highway,” he says. “I am proud that Andy’s Auto Service is located in St. Cloud’s historic downtown district and to personally be part of the St. Cloud Citizens Foundation, the American Legion and other local organizations.”

However, just as he has made sure to have all the latest diagnostics tools, computerized repair manuals and trained technicians, St. Denis also wanted to make sure he was using the latest marketing tools to draw the younger new residents moving into his community. “I know how to repair cars but, as far as marketing the business, I was unfamiliar with the most recent strategies and activities, like web marketing for instance” St. Denis states. “That’s where my FSBDC consultant, Rafael Pratts, came in.”

In the beginning, St. Denis and Pratts met every few weeks, analyzing the company’s current marketing activities, trying different strategies, building a marketing plan. St. Denis also attended some of the FSBDC’s business seminars where he learned new approaches, heard how other business owners did things, and got new ideas.

“That’s what the FSBDC is great at: teaching old dogs new tricks,” recalls St. Denis. ”It showed me new things I could do that I wasn’t aware of. And they never aimed me in the wrong direction. I may not have always liked what I was hearing but sometimes you need to hear it. I know I did. And its all been a positive for my business. I see the results every day.”

“The FSBDC has helped me and Andy’s Auto Service greatly,’ continued St. Denis. “The seminars, the one-on-one consulting with Rafael, the market research have all made a difference. Since I started working with the FSBDC and began my marketing plan, I‘ve seen more incoming phone calls from potential new customers; I’ve seen an increase in returning customers; and I’ve seen my revenues improve by more than 25%. I would recommend the FSBDC highly, and I do to my friends and family.”

For information about Andy’s Auto Service, please visit https://andysautoservice.net/.

Managing a small- to medium-sized business is all about challenges: some big, some small, some harrowing, some pleasing. But whatever size or shape they come in, they are still challenges and must be met or consequences will ensue.

Midstate Caulking & Construction Services LLC, and its founders and principals Brenda and Leon Clement, faced a major challenge in 2014. Fortunately, it was the good kind. The company they had started in their garage – really – was exploding and growing faster than they could finance.

Midstate provides caulking, waterproofing, fire stopping, stucco, and deck coating services for commercial buildings in Central Florida and across the state. Their construction contractor customers find that work quality, scheduling and safety are as important to the company as they are to its clients. Midstate understands the need for timely project completion, working with other trades, shift work, and accomplishing zero (0) punch list. It’s a formula that has meant exceptional growth and success for the company.

“We expected to be small and stay small,” says Brenda Clement. “But this is a niche market that started growing faster than we could ever have expected. As a small business with low overhead, we came out of the ’08 recession in good shape. When the economy started to grow again, demand for our services did too.”

And that’s where the challenge for Midstate arose. “In construction, you pay your people and expenses before you get paid. When you are growing fast, it can be tough to manage that float,” Clement continued. “We needed to know where to go to get more money to finance our growth.” That’s when she turned to the Kissimmee office of the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) and it’s Area Manager, consultant Rafael Martinez-Pratts.

Clement and her bookkeeper met with Pratt-Martinez to develop a financing plan. Together, they identified Midstate’s financing options, who might provide the needed funds, what information they would want and what kind of questions would need to be answered by the company. In the end, Clement was ready and fully prepared when she approached the bank she had selected for financing, and was successful in getting the funding that Midstate needed to pay for its continued growth.

“I recommend the FSBDC to any business owner,” concluded Clement. “If you have questions or need information, ask the FSBDC. If they don’t have the answer, they’ll lead you to someone who does.”

“Rafael and the FSBDC have let us know we are not alone in this. They care. They let you know you are supported. They have worked to build a relationship with us and have been a great resource for our company,” says Clement. “Along with helping us deal with our financing needs, their seminars and workshops have been very valuable. We’ve been able to learn new things and network with other, local business owners. We’ve gotten assistance with human resources issues and recruiting. I don’t see us outgrowing the need for them in any way, shape or form.”

Ever wonder how that colleague of yours at work always manages to successfully navigate around the day-to-day drama that seems to exist in every modern company?  Have you wished you had more of what they have? In fact, you probably have more of that special quality than you think.

That special quality is called emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.

Dr. Wanda Bonet-Gascot recognized that EQ is an under-emphasized skill set in today’s business and personal life. Seeing that gap, she undertook to build an emotional intelligence educational institution that would teach EQ coaching skills and help create careers for EQ coaching professionals. And from there, the EQ coaches and trainers could begin training individuals and corporations in emotional intelligence skills that will help them manage their personal relationships and improve their leadership abilities.

So was born the DRW Life Skills Institute, based in Kissimmee, Florida. Like all new concepts, it was an uphill fight at the outset. Although DRW joined the UCF Business Incubator in Kissimmee and benefited from their support, as time passed the company found it was having trouble attracting audiences to their seminars and didn’t know what next to do.

It was at that moment that Wanda decided to step back and look for additional assistance. She decided she wanted to work “on’ her business, not just ‘in’ her business is how she describes it. She turned to the Florida SBDC at UCF’s office in Kissimmee/Osceola County for the help she needed.

It started with her attending a FSBDC seminar where she learned about its services: no-cost, confidential consulting, seminars and workshops, and extensive information resources. Wanda latched onto the consulting services and made an appointment to meet with Rafael Pratts, the FSBDC area manager for the Kissimmee/Osceola County Office.

“I decided that brainstorming with an expert like Rafael was my best option,” says Wanda, “and I was right.” They reviewed DRW’s business plan, assessed new options and dug down into the company’s value proposition. “They are so welcoming, honest, calm, thoughtful, and analytical,” Wanda states. “As an entrepreneur, I rely  upon the FSBDC to help me with guidance to make better decisions about where I want to take the Institute.”

Based on their discussions, the company set out on an expanded path built around offering a complete emotional intelligence curriculum aimed at those wanting a career in EQ and a meaningful return-on-investment from their Institute tuition.  And the transition has worked. The DRW Life Skills Institute is looking forward to graduating 25 coaches in December 2105 and is looking at international and domestic expansion plans.

“The FSBDC has been and is an amazing resource,” concluded Wanda. “For those entrepreneurs and business owners looking for that push, that mentorship, that information which will get them over hurdles in the market and up to the next level of success, the FSBDC is the place to go.”