By Malia Durbano
When Holly Zink decided to open her fresh, local and organic meat and seafood business in 2002, she called Joe Keck to learn how to set up a corporation and to “make sure all my bases were covered.”
When she moved to her new location inside of Nature’s Oasis in 2007, she realized there were some issues and difficulties with profitability. In 2008, she and her husband, Jesse Villanueba, attended the NxLevel for Entrepreneurs training.
They got some marketing advice from Simon Walls and worked with advisor, Terry Tanahil, who looked at their pricing structure. “It became very obvious for the first time that we were vastly undercharging,” explained Zink. “She helped me understand mark-up and profit margins better.” Walls helped her understand pricing and value through lectures that she attended and advice gained through emails.
Zink continues to meet with Joe Keck and Joe Bishop periodically to go over her progress and numbers, set goals and to map out the future of the business.
“These classes are an amazing and valuable resource in the community. There are lots of talented people who are willing to be supportive. Jay Marqua helped us a lot with individual and collaborative branding when we moved to the new location inside Nature’s Oasis.”
“We have utilized lots of channels of help from the SBDC and we have grown personally as well as have had our business grow and prosper under their guidance. I highly recommend contacting the SBDC for assistance with any aspect of a new or existing business.”
