Expanding My Role at the SBDC

I recently accepted a full-time position with the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center (NEISBDC), where I formerly worked part time as marketing coordinator.  The move was made for a variety of reasons, including a higher paycheck, full benefits (I have not had any health insurance nor paid time off for more than three years), and growth opportunities.

Financial analysis is a component of a business plan and
is needed in order for a company to get funding.

To transition to my full-time position, which includes business counseling as an added responsibility, I have been studying materials in a Business Advisor’s Notebook to become more thoroughly educated on business plans, market analysis, financial projections and other skills so that I have the expertise needed to assist entrepreneurs and business owners with starting or growing their business.  Last semester, I also took business courses in accounting and economics at IPFW in anticipation of this career move, and completed training in the SPIN sales process that we use as a tool in analyzing our clients’ needs.

In addition, I recently traveled to Indianapolis to attend business counselor training with some of my colleagues from around the state who also work for the Indiana Small Business Development Center network.  It was an interesting experience that helped me increase my understanding and comfort level so that I can be more confident when dealing with a variety of unique situations that we encounter while working with business clients.  It was also fun to meet professionals from the other centers who are glad to serve as mentors for someone like me who is fairly new to business counseling.

As part of our activities, we studied various test cases that were representative of actual cases that had been handled by Small Business Development Centers.  This experience helped us hone our business analysis skills to get to the bottom of the situation so we can better assess how to provide assistance.  Sometimes when a client comes to us, we uncover a certain problem that ends up being totally unrelated to the reason they made the appointment.  That’s where the SPIN skills come in handy, allowing us to assess the Situation, Problem, Implication and Need of the client and develop an action plan to take care of their needs.

Role playing was a big part of the recent training at the Indiana Small Business Development Center headquarters in Indianapolis.  The participants were divided up and partnered with someone else of their own skill level, and a third person served as an observer to critique our presentation skills.  Half the time I played the role of the client, and the rest of the time I served as the business advisor.  It was a lot more fun being the client, but the learning experience really came when I played the role of a business advisor, rehearsing how to ask the right questions so that the client and I can both get to the heart of the situation.  While I started out being really nervous in this situation, by the end of the training I was pretty confident, and I came back to Fort Wayne ready to use my newly-refined skills with the variety of clients that I serve.

One of the first projects I tackled with my new training tools was the review of a business plan.  Having just completed the related training, I was able to look at the plan with a keenly critical eye, pointing out missing sections, incomplete information and numbers in the plan that did not match up with those in their financial statements, along with information that we business advisors call “fluff.”  A lot of times clients include statements in their business plans that are just assumptions lacking the needed statistics to make them credible.  We must point these weak areas out so the client can do the needed research and make their plans substantive enough to meet the requirements of the banks or other lending institutions where they are seeking funding for their business.

I look forward to continued learning and growth opportunities as I move forward with my work at the Northeast Indiana Small Business Development Center and help entrepreneurs make their dreams come true.

'Serving the Children of the World' through Kiwanis

A few years ago, a good friend of mine talked me into going with him to a Kiwanis Club meeting.  “Kiwanis – I thought that was a men’s organization?” was my reply.  He explained that originally it was a men’s organization – in fact, when it was founded in Detroit in 1915 by Allen Simpson Browne, it was called the Benevolent Order of Brothers.  A decision was later made to change the name to “Kiwanis,” an American Indian term meaning “We make ourselves known.”  The club’s founder agreed Kiwanis was an appropriate name, because he hoped the organization would provide better business opportunities for its members to make themselves known.

Somewhere over the years, the focus changed from being a business organization to becoming a community service group with a mission of “Serving the Children of the World.”  The club’s headquarters were moved from Detroit to Indianapolis, and Kiwanis spread throughout the United States and into other countries, becoming an international organization.  Eventually, women were welcomed into Kiwanis and have since become some of the most active members of the organization.

Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Appleseed at a Kiwanis activity.

My visit to a Kiwanis meeting grew into my becoming a member.  My membership grew into becoming a club secretary.  Within my first year of service, the club secretarial position grew into becoming a co-chair of the Indiana District Convention, responsible for planning, organizing and hosting the statewide convention in 2008; and from there I became a member of the District’s Public Relations Committee, traveling to Indianapolis to attend meetings to strategize on ways to promote Kiwanis.  In between leadership stints, I flipped hamburgers while working at a food booth at the 4-H Fair, sold barbecued duck sandwiches and buffalo jerky at the Johnny Appleseed Festival while dressed as Mrs. Appleseed, helped with a bike rodeo to teach bicycle safety tips to local children and encourage them to wear helmets while out and about on their bikes, and hosted a roller skating party for participants of Big Brothers Big Sisters.

I also took a tour of Riley Hospital for Children, one of the main beneficiaries of Kiwanis fundraising, and visited the mobile neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) that Kiwanis funded and furnished to help safely transport medically-fragile children to the hospital.  I have organized and hosted Governor’s Dinners, helped found a new club, led meetings as Club President and organized fundraisers to benefit local charities.

Our most recent fundraising activity is the making and selling of chocolate-covered, peanut butter cream Easter eggs.  As a result of two weekend production lines, members of my club, the Northwest Summit City Kiwanis, will have made more than 1,000 chocolate egg halves this month to raise money for our newest venture, the sponsorship of the Fort Wayne area’s first-ever Aktion Club.

We are partnering with Easter Seals Arc of Northeast Indiana to organize this Aktion Club, which is a community service organization that is specially designed for those with special needs.  All members will be adults with disabilities, and they will elect officers, run their own meetings, and conduct their own fundraisers and community service activities, just like a regular Kiwanis Club.

The first organizational meeting will be April 6, and the club will be chartered as soon as a few dozen potential members are secured.  The Northwest Summit City Kiwanis will use the money raised through the Easter egg sales to fund the new club, providing free one-year memberships to all those interested in becoming a part of the Aktion Club. There is a lot of excitement building about this new club because adults with disabilities have limited opportunities for social interaction and community service.  It will be interesting to see how it all turns out, and I am excited by the possibilities.

In the meantime, I am selling packages of five peanut butter/chocolate egg halves for $5 each to raise the money needed to get this Aktion Club up and running.  Want to buy a pack and help a good cause?

Coming Home to the Home Show

Last week, my family and I decided to brave the crowds and go to the Fort Wayne Home & Garden Show.  While I don’t have any spare money to spend on home remodeling right now, I think it’s fun to occasionally go to the show to get some home improvement ideas to dream about and work toward.

Working in the promotional marketing field, one of the things I focused on, in addition to looking at all the home improvement ideas and visiting with the various acquaintances I ran into, was the type of marketing techniques the various companies used to get you to stop by their booth or come and talk to them.

Of course, there are a couple of well-known techniques that always get a draw.  One of them is to have a drawing for a popular object (a free iPad and gift certificates for remodeling projects were some of the items available), and to have people stop by and fill out an entry form.  Of course, there are blanks for your telephone number, email address and home mailing address, in addition to your name – so it makes it easier for these companies to contact you after the show to try to sell their services.

Windows, Doors & More had a well-refined strategy.  They had an extensive welcome booth at the entrance to the show where you were instructed to fill out your entry form for their drawing, then you were given a coupon to take to their booth on the show floor for a chance to “spin the wheel” on their wheel of fortune and win a prize.  Needless to say, there was a long line of people waiting to win their prize, which ranged from a free candy bar to restaurant gift certificates or a free pizza from a local pizza shop.  It was not unusual for the lady assisting the spinners to stop the wheel mid-spin to try to help you win what she thought you might like.  Since we had a couple of young children with us, she helped us win a couple of candy bars for them.  Windows, Doors & More also had a number of elaborate displays – not only of windows and doors, but also kitchen cabinets, roofing, and a variety of other home improvement services that they offer.

Speaking of candy, that was also a big draw to get people into your booth.  The kids were not afraid to go up to each booth that had a candy jar; and, after making all the rounds, they had a bag filled with loot similar to what they get on Halloween.  Another way to keep the kids happy was to have a separate room for children’s activities.  A martial arts studio had head bands the kids could decorate and wear around their heads to advertise their business; kids’ birthday party entertainers had face painting and balloon sculptures available for a “tip;” and there was a petting zoo offered by another business.

Another attraction for both kids and adults was a flying bat that flew in circles over the Critter Control booth, and they added a candy dish to entice you to stop by and check out their services.  Chocolate candy makers were also giving out free samples to entice you into buying their candy.

A health studio was offering free massages for adults using a specially-designed massage chair.  Other draws were an antique Model T Ford, free trinkets, pens or pencils, and of course free literature for any type of service imaginable – from concrete to landscaping and storage barns, in addition to windows, doors and more . . .