Drive Group Makes 2018 a Banner Year
Florida SBDC at Daytona State College Helps Ormond Beach, FL Digital Marketing Agency Grow
January 31, 2019
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Margaret Incandela, Consultant, Florida SBDC at DSC, 386.506.3579 or Margaret.Incandela@daytonestate.edu
Orlando, FL – Going it alone is sometimes the curse of owning and running a small business. You have the idea and the passion and the drive but there are only so many hours in the day, and a small business person wears so many hats. Fortunately, the Florida SBDC at UCF (FSBDC at UCF) and its sub-center, the Florida SBDC at Daytona State College (FSBDC at DSC), are there to help.
Bill Payne, owner and chief creative of Drive Group, found himself in just such a position early on in his company’s history. Drive Group is a branding and digital marketing agency in Ormond Beach, FL that gets results for its local and national clients by building websites that work as well as delivering top-of-the line SEO/SEM, messaging and branding.
Starting out, Payne was on his own and finding more than enough clients that wanted his assistance. “I won a terrific assignment,” recalls Payne “but it would have made it impossible for me to service my other clients. I realized I needed to hire someone if I wanted to grow my business. The FSBDC helped me find my first intern through Daytona State College. He worked out great, became an employee and is still with us. And that’s how it all started with the FSBDC.”
“Working with FSBDC has been fantastic,” says Payne today. “I can confidently say my business would not be where it is without them.” Taking advantage of their no-cost, expert business consulting, seminars and workshops, and now their market research services, Drive Group has thrived with the help of the FSBDC, led by consultant and FSBDC at DSC Assistant Director Maggie Incandela.
“From the beginning, they have helped me,“ Payne continued. “Back in 2013, they laid out a roadmap for how I could grow my business. How to hire. How to build processes and procedures that would allow us to scale. There has not been a question that I have had that there hasn’t been someone at the FSBDC with the knowledge and expertise I needed.”
In addition to benefiting from the consulting and other services of the FSBDC, Payne is a member of the FSBDC at DSC’s Growth XChange. Growth XChange is a facilitated, peer-to-peer coaching roundtable program where business owners engage in collaborative thinking and problem-solving, discussing vital business issues, opportunities and challenges with a goal of leading their companies to the second stage of growth.
“The Growth XChange has been hugely helpful. Everyone brings their expertise and experience, and we talk through our trials and tribulations,” comments Payne. “2018 has been a great year for us as a result of the FSBDC, including the Growth XChange group.”
“Since starting with the FSBDC, my company has grown and grown,” concluded Bill Payne. “We have more clients. And better clients. I now have 2 full time and 2 part-time team members. Revenues have grown by 400% over the period, and by 100% in just the last year. Working with the FSBDC has been transformational for my business. I cannot stress enough how much they have helped me.”
For information about Drive Group, please visit www.drivegroupllc.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
