Helping Entrepreneurs Create, Grow and Run Successful Businesses

By Tom Lowles, director, Portland Community College Small Business Development Center

Imagine: A successful business that serves your life! As an entrepreneur, is this the vision that drives you as you start or develop your business? A vision is one thing; making it a reality is another. It is challenging, to say the least. However, there is a way to get help addressing those issues you’re facing whether you are starting a business or taking your business to the next level.

SBDCs provide focused business assistance
This help is at your nearby Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a part of a state and national network of over 1100 centers that provide management and technical assistance to more than 1.3 million small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs each year. The SBDCs provide two main services: one-on-one business advising and a variety of practical, timely and focused business education workshops, seminars and classes.

The SBDCs were started in Oregon in the early 1980s in response to the difficult economic times as a way to help entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. Today, Oregon hosts 19 SBDCs under the umbrella of the Oregon Small Business Development Network (OSBDCN). The 19 SBDCs are located throughout the state, hosted by local educational institutions and supported by additional funding from the State of Oregon (through the Oregon Economic and Community Development Department) and the U.S. government (through the U.S. Small Business Administration). These centers provide technical assistance and business education to thousands of Oregon entrepreneurs each year. Your taxes fund these services, so why not use them to improve your business?

The SBDCs are all about building strong employers through confidential, in-depth, one-on-one business advising using a team-based approach coupled with business skills training over the long-term. Our business advising and business skills training are delivered in person, through various training events, and online through our electronic SBDC (the eSBDC) at www.bizcenter.org. We work with all stages of a business’s life cycle, from start-up to mature companies, with the goal of creating long term wealth. Our services are available to anyone who owns or operates – or is considering starting – a small business in Oregon.

SBDC services include assistance with financial, marketing, production, organization, and international trade and feasibility studies. We can help you develop a business plan, assess a new market, create cash flow projections, control costs, access capital or break into the global marketplace. Through our combination of long-term business advising and business skills training we work with you to help strengthen the management side of your business.

Confidential one-on-one business advising
Business advising is our primary service. Business advising is confidential (all our clients, their businesses and information are kept strictly confidential) and the service is free of charge to Oregon businesses and entrepreneurs. This service is available through the 19 SBDCs located throughout the state, usually by appointment.

You can schedule a meeting with a business advisor who has real-world experience in owning or operating a business by contacting the nearest SBDC or by registering online at www.bizcenter.org. Your application will be sent the nearest SBDC (Bizcenter) based on the zip code you enter when accessing the web site. Registration is fast, easy and free. By registering through www.bizcenter.org, you gain access to the full suite of Bizcenter website features, such as advising services from experienced business advisors; your Bizcenter homepage that is tailored to your needs, with direct client-advisor communications; online file exchange and more. You’ll also receive resource recommendations from your advisor that are customized to your business needs.

Skill building through practical business education
The SBDCs also offer a variety of affordable workshops, seminars and classes from introductory programs for start-up businesses to more advanced programs for existing businesses. If you are thinking about starting a business but have not owned your own business you might consider attending our “Going into Business” class, a three-hour program to help you assess your aptitude for business and the feasibility of your idea, as well as review information about legal entities, regulations, taxes and protecting your idea.

If you are developing your business, there are classes and workshops on building essential business skills in finance, business operations (record keeping/accounting, customer service), marketing, business plans, understanding and using financial statements to manage your business profitability, understanding QuickBooks accounting software, and accessing the global marketplace to sell your products or source parts or products. A listing of the current programs offered by the SBDCs throughout the state is available at www.bizcenter.org.

Small Business Management program (SBM)
For existing businesses (in business at least one year), the SBDCs offer the Small Business Management program which combines business training and long-term business advising in a structured program delivered over 10 months. We call this our “transition” program, as this is where business owners move from being “self-employed” to being a business with the goal of creating long-term wealth. This program focuses on helping entrepreneurs “work on their businesses, rather than work in their businesses,” as noted business consultant Michael Gerber expresses so well.

The “T” initiative for accelerated growth
Does your company have:

• A profitable and scalable business model?
• High potential for significant job creation?
• High potential for significant sales growth by reaching regional, national or global markets?
• Intellectual property that can be patented or utilized for competitive advantage?
• Entrepreneurial drive to build a significant and rapidly growing company?
• Readiness to offer equity for outside capital in order to accelerate growth?

The Oregon Small Business Development Center Network has a Technology Team available to assist the most promising start-up and early-stage ventures or existing companies looking to accelerate growth. Through this initiative, the OSBDCN T-Team provides specialized, team-based consulting that brings the right resources from around Oregon at the right time to assist high-opportunity companies in the following areas: strategy, IP, management, commercialization, international business, technology tools, financing alternatives, and networking and resource identification. To learn more about how this initiative can assist your business, visit our website and click on the Technology Initiative link.

Frank Mauro, co-owner with his wife, Darlene, of Raized Printing in Portland sums up the value of the SBDCs very well when he states: “The SBDC program is a system, a train of thought that works. It is a proven system. Anyone in business should go. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

We encourage you to follow Frank’s advice and contact us to see how we can help you turn your vision into a successful business that serves your life.

About the author
Tom Lowles is the director of the Portland Community College Small Business Development Center located on the third level of the Lloyd Center Mall. Prior to becoming Director of the SBDC, Tom spent 30 years in banking, the past 22 years with KeyBank in Oregon. Tom has 22 years of international banking experience and established the International Banking Department for KeyBank in Oregon. He can be contacted at tlowles@pcc.edu.