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When Barb Higgins, her son Shiloh and his business partner Doug Jorgensen wanted to buy Smitty’s Liquors in Cortez, the first thing she did was call Joe Keck, who she had known for years. She knew the owners of Smitty’s and they were ready to retire. Her son and his partner had run a successful skateboard and clothing store in Las Vegas, but wanted to come back to Colorado.

Higgins and her husband decided to help their son buy the business.

She explains, “Joe walked us through every step of completing the business plan and applying for the loan to buy the business. We couldn’t have done it without him. Every time we called with questions, he was so helpful.”

Whenever they came across stumbling blocks, Keck was there to provide support and guidance. He emailed her a template to use to do their financial projections and reviewed them to see how they could grow the business and make it better. “His help was invaluable.”

Higgins continues, “Joe saved us a lot of time by recommending financial people to go to for help and to banks that would work with an SBA loan. The business plan detailed their analysis and showed that the business was, “a diamond in the rough.” Through diligent scrutiny, they knew it had potential and that they could turn it around.

The process took about eight months, but they have owned the business now for almost two years.

“Without Joe’s support, we probably would have given up. The paperwork to apply for the loan was overwhelming. With Joe’s support, we could plug along a little further,” she explains. “Joe always said, ‘Don’t hesitate to call’. “His knowledge and experience are amazing.”

“Even after the process was finished, Joe would call to see how things were going and ask if we needed anything,”

Higgins recommends using the SBDC staff to anyone who is considering starting or buying a business. “The staff bends over backwards for you,” she concludes.

By Malia Durbano

John Wickman, owner of the independent garden center, Native Roots, has a degree in Horticulture, but not one in Business. That is why he approached Joe Keck of the SW Colorado SBDC for some advice on expanding his business.

The Garden Center does Landscape Design and Installation with a large retail section for do-it-yourselfers. They grow all their own trees, shrubs, annuals and perennials through their subsidiary, Pine River Plants. Wickman, “Learned a lot as I went along and take any advice I can get to help my business” he explains.

Keck helped with a diagnostic analysis of the horticultural industry and a cash flow analysis which enabled Wickman to attain a bank loan to move to their new location on Highway 160 between Wal-Mart and Home Depot.

Keck’s advice provided valuable direction by helping him build a spread sheet and “Put a sense of reality on everything.” Wickman explains how this helped him change the way he did business. “In the early 2000’s the economic climate wasn’t real. Banks were just throwing money at things.”

He now uses Quick Books and Intuit POS and learned the ins and outs of how different aspects of the business relate to one another. Keck, “Spent time with me and showed me how to focus on things day to day.”

The horticultural market is changing. To adjust his business accordingly, Wickman worked with marketing specialist, Louise Garnet. They defined his target market and determined how to reach them. Discovering that the 20, 30 and 40-year-olds do not want to do things themselves, the store now offers pre-made planters and other items that are ready made. Since the boomers really enjoy gardening, they have products to entice them as well.

While discussing the Native Roots niche with Garnet, they decided that they had to attract people who would shop at Wal-Mart or Home Depot, also capitalizing on their location between the two big box stores. She explained that, “In addition to reaching a lot of people, they also had to reach the right people.”

To do this, they began advertising on the radio and in the newspaper. Their message was the personalized attention and expertise Wickman and his staff can offer gardeners. With over 30 years of experience in the industry, Wickman can offer practical ideas and help people incurring problems.

Native Roots is open year-round, also carrying house plants, grow domes and hobby green houses. He now knows who his clients are and what they want.

Amy Long purchased Por Dia Preschool & Learning Center sixteen years ago. Por Dia is licensed to serve up to 60 children. They offer daily preschool, toddler care, and before/after school care. Long approached Joe Keck for help in expanding her Toddler program. Beginning in August of 2011, they worked together for six to eight months. “Joe personally came by my business to consult with me, and we met at the SBDC office at the Cortez Chamber of Commerce building, plus communicated through emails.

Since Por Dia is a for-profit business, there are not many grant opportunities available. Joe Keck put Long in touch with grant writer, Nicole Fabrey who researched grant options, but was unable to get funding. Keck also suggested she contact Carolina Perky through the Department of Human Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. This agency helped fund expanding the preschool to include toddlers, and provided funding to install ramps and new carpet in the expanded Toddler area.
“Having ramps is a State licensing requirement; therefore, I had to remodel the building,” Long explains. “My long term goal was always to utilize the whole building and make it all a school. I had to do it in steps that were the best financially.” SBDC Business Advisor, Nancy Schaufele helped to formulate the business plan and worked with Long to finalize the numbers to make sure the expansion was a sound business decision. “This expansion really increased the revenue and supported many more families in the community by providing toddler care for those in need. I am now able to take more children and serve families that have children of varying ages.”

Por Dia accepts many programs to help families afford quality child care, such as, Colorado Head Start, Navajo Nation, Colorado Pre-School, and CCAP – Colorado Child Assistance Program.

“I want to thank Joe Keck for telling me about so many resources and people who were helpful in expanding my business. I appreciate all the help he gave me to make my business a success and allow me to serve more families.

“I also want to thank Tom Comisky who constructed the cement ramps and Angel from Angel’s Flooring out of Farmington who redid the flooring for the expansion. These are just some of the people that helped me complete a much needed addition to offer affordable child care in Montezuma County. There is a great need for infant and toddler care in this community.”

By Malia Durbano

Kristi Smith took a windy road to owning her own business and creating beautiful jewelry. As a young girl, she enjoyed drawing, painting and all expressive, creative endeavors. Upon discovering beading, she began to make jewelry for everyone she knew. In a high school she took a silver-smithing class at the local community college and knew she had found her true love.

Learning that the equipment to get started was very costly, she took the conventional route and got a practical teaching degree. After four years of teaching, she had a baby and wanted to stay home with her. Miraculously, neighbors and friends and former silver-smiths gifted her with tools and a torch and so her business began. “I decided to call my business Silver Sparrow Designs because of my love of birds, sparrows in particular because they are simple and hardy, not flashy, like my jewelry.

But, shares Kristi, “I’m an artist, not a business person. Joe Keck helped me with all the details of running a business, acquiring the licenses, permits, learning about taxes and the difference between being a sole proprietor and an LLC,etc. He pointed me in the direction of lots of resources and helped me write the business plan.”

The business plan was nothing really formal, but it set me in the right direction and got me started. I took baby steps, and very slowly as I began to sell jewelry, I could buy more of what I needed.”

The most valuable information Smith received from the advice and the classes was, “Just that this was possible! I could start my own business. It wasn’t just some unobtainable dream.” Her etsy business took off right away so she didn’t have to get too involved in learning about the marketing aspect of running a business.

“Owning my own business is the hardest and most rewarding job I’ve ever had. The fact that everything falls on me is both a blessing and a curse. If something goes wrong, I’m the one to answer for it and when things go right, as they usually do, I know it’s because of my hard work.”

By Christine Rasmussen

When Durango-based Fast Signs owner Laurie Sigillito asked SBDC Director Joe Keck if he could spare an hour to offer feedback on an upcoming sales presentation, Keck had a better idea: Why not have a panel of advisors from the Business Advisors Network listen to her pitch?

The Business Advisors Network (BAN) is comprised of 25 business counselors with wide and varied areas of expertise. Clients can meet individually with an advisor or request a panel of advisors to listen to pitches or presentations. Services are available in Pagosa Springs and Cortez in addition to Durango.

In June 2010 Sigillito presented to a panel of six business advisors her pitch for selling a digital signage/advertising package to the Durango-La Plata Airport.

“I cannot tell you how useful this was,” says Sigillito. “Number one, it was great exposure, and number two, it gave me a chance to really practice in front of a group of people. They were truly helpful: they went through all of my numbers and offered ideas for how I should restructure it. I would ask, ‘Do you think I should say this?’ and they would say, ‘Yes, definitely bring that up.’”

After the initial meeting with the BAN panel, Sigillito sent revisions and received a quick response from the group on how the presentation looked. She then went into the meeting with the Durango-La Plata Airport Commission with confidence in her polished presentation. A month later, the Commission awarded the contract to Fast Signs, and recently, Telluride Airport approached Fast Signs about installing a digital signage network. Next in the pipeline is a possible contract with the St. George, Utah airport.

The digital signage realm is opening new doors for Sigillito’s business and has other Fast Signs in the country calling her, asking how they can get into their local airports. The Durango-La Plata project won “Project of the Year” at the Fast Signs Franchise Conference. There are over 500 Fast Signs Centers in North America, with some Europe and Australia, all independently owned.

“It’s great because now we have a way to get revenue into Durango from outside of Durango,” says Sigillito. “And I think I’ve figured out a way to compete against [their biggest competitor].”

The Durango Airport Project was the catalyst to a Fast Signs’ niche, and the BAN panel’s feedback on Sigillito’s presentation helped get the ball rolling.

“The advisors knew Durango: when I talked about our pitch they’d say, ‘This is good – we need to show you are keeping the dollars here,’ and ‘We need to advertise Durango differently.’ They were excited about the opportunity. So they helped me simplify it quite a bit, and when I did my presentation to the Commission they did not have one question.

“I don’t think I could have gotten that kind of feedback from anybody else,” she adds. “It’s really awesome that we have that resource here, and it’s free.”

The BAN presentation was not the first time Sigillito used the resources at the SBDC. It started with a “Marketing for Smarties” class before she had any intention of opening her own business; Sigillito saw it as a good way to network among marketing circles as well. Then she found out about the Next Level Entrepreneurial Training classes through the SBDC monthly newsletter.

Through the Next Level Training Sigillito learned about the financing resources available through Region 9 Economic Development District of Southwest Colorado, which helped secure the initial funding for Fast Signs in late 2008/early 2009 when she could not obtain financing through local banks.

Sigillito used the Next Level class to stay focused while drafting her business plan for Fast Signs. “You systematically go through each chapter, for example, you learn all the different ways to know your competition,” she recalls. “Everything I was learning in class I could immediately apply to my business plan. The class helped me be more thorough than I would’ve been, and just having the teachers there to bounce ideas off of was really beneficial.”

The business plan was thorough and then some, because Sigillito went on to win “Best Business Plan” among the state’s 14 SBDC’s and was honored at a ceremony in Denver.