Warehouse Equipment Growing with FSBDC at UCF – Kissimmee/Osceola County Assistance

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FSBDC at UCF’s Kissimmee/Osceola County Office Assists Storage Racking Systems and Materials Handling Company

November 11, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu

Elly Membreno, Consultant, FSBDC at UCF – Kissimmee-Osceola County, 407.847.4311 or Elly.Membrano@ucf.edu

Orlando, FL – Building your own business can be a monumental undertaking, even if you have had previous success in your industry. And the degree of difficulty increases dramatically when you are a woman whose new company operates in a historically male-dominated world. It’s time like these when business assistance can help, and why Linsy Di Pietro, founder and owner of Warehouse Equipment and Supply, Inc (WES), turned to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) and its Kissimmee/Osceola County office for help.

Warehouse Equipment and Supply is in the business of providing material handling and storage racking systems. Di Pietro and her company have as their primary objective to provide customers with quality products at competitive prices, and with service they can depend on. WES offers a full range of warehouse solutions, products, and services including: Racking Systems, shelving, material handling equipment; Forklift and lift equipment, rolling ladders, pallet jacks, safety accessories for racks, forklifts and warehouses, dock equipment, and more. WES also assists in planning additions to a customer’s present racking system with the right equipment or fixtures to blend in for maximum efficiency.

While today WES is a full service and fast-growing company, there were struggles in its early days. After parting ways with a former partner who is now a competitor, Di Pietro knew what she wanted to make happen but was not sure how to do it. “When I originally came to the Florida SBDC, I was kind of lost on where to go, on what direction to follow, about how to help my business grow,” Di Pietro recalls.

“At the SBDC, I found a lot of valuable information and guidance,” she continued. “Their workshops and training, and expert no-cost consulting has helped me bring my business to where it is today.” In fact, FSBDC’s consultant Elly Membreno from its Kissimmee/Osceola County Office assisted her with establishing her business guidelines; obtaining insurance and permitting references; budgeting and finance; hiring and payroll; creating business contracts; and, most recently, marketing, ecommerce, and social media.

“My experience working with the FSBDC has been amazing,” states Di Pietro. “Since I started working with them, I have seen big changes in my business. They encouraged my commitment to great customer service, so I have happy customers and WES’s reputation is strong with many Google Five Star reviews. We have earned an exclusive relationship and become the main distributor of a leading pallet manufacturer. And we have grown so fast that we have already had to move to a larger location. Best of all, not only are we profitable, but we have tripled our gross sales.”

“And all of this is thanks to the SBDC,” concluded Di Pietro, “because of the way they helped, the way they supported me, the way they allowed me to see how important it was to be serious and focused on my business. If you have the opportunity to work with the SBDC, I can tell you: do not lose that opportunity!”

For more information about Warehouse Equipment & Supply, please visit https://www.warehousequipment.com/  or email at Linsy@wesracks.com or call 321-216-7032.

— FSBDC —

About the FSBDC at UCF

Hosted by the University of Central Florida (UCF), and with its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF Office of Partnership & Innovation and the Florida SBDC Network.

The Florida SBDC at UCF provides aspiring and existing small businesses with no-cost consulting, low-cost training, and access to business data and research resources. In addition to its core service offering, the Florida SBDC at UCF also offers specialized services to qualifying companies, including capital access, market growth, government contracting, international trade, business continuation, cybersecurity, disaster planning and recovery, and more. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 9 service centers across Central Florida.

In 2019, the FSBDC at UCF served almost 2,500 entrepreneurs in Central Florida with consulting services, resulting in more than 10,000 jobs created, retained or saved; $1.2 billion in sales growth; $62.3 million in capital formation; $213.2 million in government contract awards; and 125 new businesses started. For more information, please visit www.sbdcorlando.com.

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.

In 2019, Florida SBDCs provided 114,064 of professional business consulting to over 12,500 client businesses, resulting in almost 38,000 jobs impacted; $4.4 billion in sales generated; $496.5 million in government contracts acquired; and $255.3 million in capital accessed.

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