Vision & Heels
Ask any small business owner or entrepreneur -regardless of their business’s size or industry- “Have you ever felt like you are ‘on your own’ while trying to manage everything?” and they will likely answer “Yes!” The cliche about it being “lonely at the top” is too often true. Jeannette Rodriguez, the CEO and founder of Vision & Heels, a female-forward co-working space located in the heart of downtown Deland, FL, was dealing just such aloneness as she worked to grow her business. She turned to the Florida Small Business Development Center at Daytona State College (FSBDC at DSC), a service center of the FSBDC at UCF, for assistance by utilizing its no-cost, expert consulting and a new specialty program called Growth XChange.
Vision & Heels is a coworking space built for women and women allies. Its space offers opportunities for Central Florida to experience a new way of working together and connecting. Through its memberships and space, the company offers a range of amenities to help clients do their best work. “What makes Vision & Heels different is community,” Jeannette Rodriguez explains proudly. “We’re not just space. Yes, we have offices and conference rooms, but we are also truly a community. I don’t want an empty, cold space. I want a space where folks can come in, feel like their home, and connect with everyone here.”
Research has shown that one remedy for the isolation that can come with building and leading an organization is connecting with and collaborating with like-minded and like-positioned executives to share challenges, experiences, solutions, and more. To that end, and borrowing from the FSBDC at UCF’s award-winning CEO XChange, the FSBDC at Daytona State launched its Growth XChange, a roundtable program serving progressive business owners in Volusia County. Growth XChange provides a confidential setting to discuss vital business issues, opportunities, and trends with a group of peers designed to assist its members with managing the solitary nature inherent in leading an enterprise.
“I sought out the assistance of the FSBDC because I felt I needed, as a new business owner, to learn the ins and outs of owning a business and to know I wasn’t alone,” recalls Rodriguez. “All the feelings, all the fears that come with owning a business, from starting a business, from self-funding that business, I needed help in all aspects and being part of Growth XChange has allowed me to get that help. I have also had access to the FSBDC team, specifically Trecia Arrington, the FSBDC at DSC director and consultant,” shares Rodriguez. “She was able to make it comfortable for me and it’s been a great journey working with her.”
“I had the wonderful opportunity to start with the Growth XChange program from the very beginning,” Rodriguez continued. “I was able to get the support of the group and the services of the FSBDC that I needed to make the right decision, to make those marketing-spend decisions, to make those hiring decisions to continue to run my business while trying to expand. All of these services were provided by the FSBDC and they were amazing for me.”
“The FSBDC at DSC helped Vision & Heels grow to where we are today,” concludes Rodriguez, noting that, after only two years in business, the company has increased its available space by 100% and projected revenues have increased 50%. “In an area that was in decline, we are growing and we’re still growing and I have the FSBDC to thank for that.”
For information about Vision & Heels, please visit https://www.visionandheels.com/.
