The Economic Impact of NC Small Business Center Networks with Anne Shaw, State Director of the NCSBN

[00:00:00] What you want, when you want it, where you want it. This is The MESH.

[00:00:12] Welcome to the Entrepreneur Exchange on the MESH Podcast Network, a monthly conversation

[00:00:18] about startups and small business with ideas, tools and advice to operate your business

[00:00:23] more effectively. On today's show, what if there was a group of experienced

[00:00:29] business counselors ready, willing and able to provide you, an entrepreneur, a small

[00:00:33] business owner with business counseling and support, as well as host a variety of workshops

[00:00:39] on the topics that will assist small businesses. And guess what, they're not going to charge

[00:00:44] you. Fortunately here in North Carolina, we have the Small Business Center Network, which

[00:00:51] is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. And our guest today is going to be Anne Shaw,

[00:00:56] who is State Director of the Small Business Center Network. And in addition to that, we'll

[00:01:01] highlight some small businesses that you should be checking out. My name is Jeff Nouveau.

[00:01:06] I'm your co-host, director of the Manufacturing Solutions Center in Conover, North Carolina.

[00:01:11] I'm joined by my co-host Gary Muller, who is executive dean of Economic Development

[00:01:16] and Corporate Education at Cedar Valley Community College in Hickory, North Carolina. Gary,

[00:01:22] how's it going today?

[00:01:23] It's going great. It's been my small business day of the year. We've got Anne, you and we

[00:01:31] met with Chris Reese. You met with Chris today. Our new Small Business Director. So this

[00:01:37] is a big day for me.

[00:01:38] It's a big day for you. And we're sitting here in late March toward the tail end of March

[00:01:44] madness, which we always enjoy. My college, the University of North Carolina, still alive

[00:01:49] as a game tonight. So fingers crossed.

[00:01:52] You're wearing your colors. I appreciate that.

[00:01:55] I'm representing today.

[00:01:56] And I'm all ACC. I'm pulling for all four of the ACC schools.

[00:01:59] All right, well, we're homers when it comes down to it.

[00:02:03] Absolutely.

[00:02:04] So anyway, well, we want to welcome everyone, all our listeners. They were very pleased

[00:02:09] to welcome our guest and Shaw. And how is it going today?

[00:02:15] It is a gorgeous day on the coast of North Carolina where the rain is coming down gently

[00:02:22] on the waves out in the water and they're geese flying overhead. And so what, what, it

[00:02:30] can't be any better than that, right?

[00:02:31] It's going to say you were talking about how great it was and you would end up talking

[00:02:35] about it was pouring all day.

[00:02:36] Well, yeah, she's, she's working.

[00:02:39] That's okay. She works with the Chamber of Commerce. She knows how to promote her.

[00:02:42] Rainy Day is still a good day in North Carolina.

[00:02:45] Well, Anne is the State Director of the North Carolina Small Business Center Network.

[00:02:51] She has managed a small business there at Coastal Carolina Community College.

[00:02:56] She's worked in banking.

[00:02:58] She can run a four minute mile, she can press 250 pounds.

[00:03:01] She is versatile if nothing else.

[00:03:04] She's a superstar and we're very happy that she is with us today.

[00:03:09] So Anne, tell her listeners a little bit about the Small Business Center Network.

[00:03:15] What services does it provide?

[00:03:20] What sort of impact does it have on our state?

[00:03:22] Tell them, tell folks that might not be familiar with the network, what it is and what it does.

[00:03:26] Well, I can't wait to tell you about the Small Business Center Network but about that four

[00:03:31] minute mile.

[00:03:32] I just want to say, it's been a few years, but just since you're talking a little bit

[00:03:38] about me and my background, I did play basketball in junior high and high school.

[00:03:44] And so I love what's happening with all this March madness and sweet 16 and final four

[00:03:52] and all of that that's coming up.

[00:03:53] So let's have fun with that, right?

[00:03:56] Absolutely.

[00:03:57] But back to what we're here to talk about the day, the Small Business Center Network.

[00:04:01] What an amazing resource for North Carolinians that we have as part of our community college

[00:04:09] system in North Carolina.

[00:04:11] So we have 58 Small Business Centers.

[00:04:14] There's one in every community college across the state and each of the centers is a community

[00:04:20] based provider of three essential services for people who are thinking about starting

[00:04:27] a business or for existing business owners.

[00:04:29] So the Small Business Center can provide you with training.

[00:04:34] I like to call it high impact short duration.

[00:04:37] So we're talking about seminars and webinars, training that gets to the heart of the matter

[00:04:42] when it comes to understanding the steps to starting a business and all of the operational

[00:04:48] pieces of that business.

[00:04:51] So training free confidential business counseling is our second service.

[00:04:56] And once again I'm using that word free so pay attention to that.

[00:05:02] And confidential.

[00:05:04] So you come to us, we meet with you privately.

[00:05:07] We discuss your idea and give you the guidance that you need to move that idea forward.

[00:05:13] And then that third service is the referral and resource information that we provide you

[00:05:18] with to really connect you to all of the entrepreneurial ecosystem partners, the regulatory

[00:05:26] agencies, anyone and anything that you may need to advance your goals in starting that

[00:05:34] business.

[00:05:35] So that's a little bit about what we do.

[00:05:38] And I think you had some additional questions, but tell me what they are Jeff.

[00:05:42] Well, tell us a little bit about number one, let's just talk about we're sitting in North

[00:05:51] Carolina and we have listeners outside of North Carolina.

[00:05:55] Are there similar services in other states?

[00:05:59] I mean, I've heard of small business development centers and whatnot.

[00:06:03] So our network is a little bit unique in that we're working with the community college system

[00:06:11] and I think the fact that it is so geographically dispersed throughout the state makes it pretty

[00:06:19] unique.

[00:06:20] And how does it compare to other resources that people might see in other parts of the

[00:06:25] country?

[00:06:26] So I think you've used the perfect word.

[00:06:29] It is unique.

[00:06:31] There's nothing quite like the small business center network.

[00:06:34] I mean, certainly the small business development centers that are affiliated with the small

[00:06:39] business administration and in North Carolina, the university system.

[00:06:44] But in terms of community college programs, there's nothing quite like the North Carolina

[00:06:50] Small Business Center network.

[00:06:53] And we're so proud of that because we talk about being the most extensive state-funded

[00:06:58] program of its kind in the country.

[00:07:03] So again, unique.

[00:07:07] And we're just so fortunate that back in 1984, our North Carolina General Assembly was

[00:07:17] looking at how they could better serve entrepreneurs.

[00:07:22] And that's when we were born.

[00:07:24] So we've been doing this amazing work, lifting up and nurturing the ideas of entrepreneurs

[00:07:32] for almost 40 years now.

[00:07:35] So our network within the state is supported by our state government.

[00:07:41] So I know that you have to be able to go back to them and show the sort of impact that

[00:07:48] the network has on our local economies.

[00:07:53] So when you think about the impact that the network has, how is that demonstrated?

[00:08:00] What sort of impact do you go back and share with our state government and the supporters

[00:08:05] of the Small Business Center network?

[00:08:08] Thanks for asking that question, Jeff.

[00:08:10] I love answering it because we have a huge return on investment for the state of North

[00:08:17] Carolina.

[00:08:18] And we measure that in terms of the number of businesses that we help start and the number

[00:08:23] of jobs that we help create.

[00:08:25] And there are a lot of other performance factors that we look at.

[00:08:29] But just in terms of the number of businesses that we help start, we create over 600 businesses

[00:08:36] annually every year for the state of North Carolina.

[00:08:41] And in terms of what it costs for us to do that, we are a bargain for our North Carolina

[00:08:50] tax payers in terms of relatively speaking looking at what other programs in the state

[00:08:57] invest in economic development.

[00:09:00] So we love being able to say that we're very efficient with the money that we're

[00:09:06] given to do this work and in creating those business starts.

[00:09:10] We also really look at job creation and retention, Jeff.

[00:09:13] That's a big part of what we do.

[00:09:16] So annually, we're creating over 5,000 jobs for the state of North Carolina through our

[00:09:21] activities.

[00:09:23] And that I just love being able to share those numbers because they say they really demonstrate

[00:09:30] the hard work of our team across the state.

[00:09:34] We work with over 6,000 clients every year.

[00:09:37] We put on about 4,000 training events every year for 36,000 people who attend those events.

[00:09:44] So we're heading.

[00:09:47] We are touching base with so many people across our state every year and that ends up just

[00:09:55] having a remarkable impact over time.

[00:10:00] Now Ann, you and I, I'm full disclosure, a reformed small business center director.

[00:10:11] And they have had the opportunity to know and work with Anne for 10 plus years.

[00:10:19] When the aging gracefully is in the dictionary, Anne's picture is next to it.

[00:10:25] She's been doing this for a while.

[00:10:29] And tell us a little bit about your background with the Small Business Center network.

[00:10:35] And that today you're a state director and you're kind of a big deal these days.

[00:10:41] But at one point, you were just a lowly small business center director grinding it away.

[00:10:47] So how did she get here?

[00:10:49] Yeah, how did this come to pass, Anne?

[00:10:52] Well, let's just say I'm celebrating my 38th year with the Small Business Center network.

[00:10:58] When it comes to the big deal, are you like the one with the most longevity within the network?

[00:11:05] Well, they call it being the oldest rat in the barn.

[00:11:09] And I think I qualify so.

[00:11:11] I mean, because we've had some old rats in the barn but I think that they've been released.

[00:11:17] It's been so much fun that Jeff, I started in 1986 and at that time I had just finished

[00:11:26] up working in the banking industry for about seven years.

[00:11:30] I had, I grew up in a family owned small business.

[00:11:34] My father owned a drugstore business in the small town that we grew up in in Eastern North Carolina, Mount Olive.

[00:11:43] And so I grew up in that world of understanding what it meant to meet a payroll and make sure

[00:11:51] that your customers were served well and just that day to day operational tempo of keeping

[00:12:00] a small business going.

[00:12:01] So that was a lot of fun.

[00:12:04] Just really I landed in Jacksonville and thought, what am I going to do here?

[00:12:11] And they had just posted the position for the Small Business Center director and brand

[00:12:15] new program at the community college.

[00:12:19] And I thought, I can do that.

[00:12:21] I've got some business, small business background.

[00:12:24] I have the banking background.

[00:12:26] I'm a resourceful person.

[00:12:28] I can do that.

[00:12:28] So they were kind enough to hire me and give me a chance.

[00:12:33] And I fell in love with the job.

[00:12:37] Just loved working with entrepreneurs and working with all of the partners out in the business

[00:12:43] community, the chamber and the economic development organizations and the city and the county.

[00:12:50] So we just built a really great program that helps small businesses take their idea from

[00:12:57] those very, very beginning stages and plan it out and launch it and operate it successfully.

[00:13:06] And so it became a real point of pride for the college and for the community.

[00:13:11] And eventually I got the opportunity to work as a leader in the network, regional director

[00:13:19] and working with lots of the colleges just on a volunteer basis.

[00:13:25] And then that kind of turned into the job that I have now as state director and what a joy

[00:13:30] it is to work with 50A of the most talented people who are out there every day working

[00:13:38] with people who put it on the line every day.

[00:13:43] Entrepreneurs who take everything that they have, all of their savings and all of all

[00:13:49] of the resources that they have and then build those ideas from the ground up.

[00:13:54] So it's been a lot of fun.

[00:13:57] So you had the opportunity as a small business director, as a state director to work with

[00:14:03] and meet many entrepreneurs and small business owners.

[00:14:11] Do you see, are there common roadblocks out there to their success?

[00:14:17] I mean what are the biggest challenges that the start up or the young entrepreneur not

[00:14:25] necessarily young but the entrepreneur has in getting their business off the ground and

[00:14:31] running?

[00:14:32] Wow.

[00:14:33] What a great question.

[00:14:34] It's a big question, it's an important question.

[00:14:37] So if you talk to entrepreneurs and if you look at some of the surveys that are out there,

[00:14:42] one of the things that always pops up is that access to capital is a big barrier for small

[00:14:48] business owners or prospective owners.

[00:14:52] But I really believe a little differently based on experience and certainly some of the

[00:14:58] data that's out there, that what really is a barrier for small business owners is they

[00:15:04] don't know what they don't know.

[00:15:07] And so being able to take advantage of a resource like the one that we have helps them sort

[00:15:14] of put a plan in place and understand all the pieces that have to be put into place

[00:15:22] to get that business off the ground and really steering them in a good direction so that

[00:15:29] they avoid the pitfalls that are out there.

[00:15:32] So I really believe that the biggest challenge for them is not really understanding what it's

[00:15:39] going to truly take to start that business and how to really follow a good path to get

[00:15:47] up and running.

[00:15:49] So that's my take on it.

[00:15:51] Of course, again, certainly access to capital is right in there.

[00:15:57] Management know how is right in there.

[00:16:00] Getting customers to return.

[00:16:02] All of those things that the regulatory environment can be so challenging.

[00:16:08] I mean if you're a small business owner and you have to go down to your local city or

[00:16:13] county and start a process of getting a permit to open the business and just going through

[00:16:21] the zoning requirements and all of that.

[00:16:23] That can be a frustrating process sometimes.

[00:16:26] So we're there to help smooth that out for those entrepreneurs.

[00:16:32] Are there some common mistakes that you've seen from startups?

[00:16:39] I guess you talk about the planning and Gary and I often talk about that whether it's

[00:16:47] working with people, small businesses or whatnot.

[00:16:51] If going through that planning process and really understanding what you're getting into

[00:16:57] is not knowing what you don't know.

[00:17:00] Are there other common mistakes that often do seem people run into as they start this

[00:17:09] endeavor?

[00:17:10] Well, we need Bob Moore here to do his seminar on the 15 common mistakes that every entrepreneur

[00:17:17] should avoid.

[00:17:18] But I think the thing that I see over and over again pretty regularly is that sometimes

[00:17:26] people will come in our office across all the small business centers and they'll tell

[00:17:31] us, oh we've got this great opportunity and I've just signed the lease to rent the space

[00:17:38] that I, the ideal space that I want.

[00:17:43] And now I just need to get the capital to be able to pay that rent and to get this business

[00:17:48] up and going.

[00:17:49] So that's when we've just grown, right?

[00:17:54] Because we, one of the things we want to tell small business owners is don't sign anything

[00:18:00] until you've been in to talk to a trusted advisor.

[00:18:05] And so that's definitely a common pitfall I think.

[00:18:10] The other thing is that they really underestimate the time it's going to take and we like for

[00:18:16] them to, when they come in to see us to ask them sort of step back and assess sort of

[00:18:23] their entrepreneurial aptitude and really understand what it's going to take from a time commitment,

[00:18:31] the involvement of their family members and the patients of their families for them

[00:18:35] to be so involved in starting and operating a business.

[00:18:41] In terms of just the financial aspects, you know, often they will underestimate the

[00:18:47] start-up capital that they need.

[00:18:50] So sometimes we see businesses if you drive down the streets and of hickory, you might

[00:18:58] see a business that opens up today in three weeks later or a month later or 90 days later

[00:19:04] it's closed.

[00:19:07] And that is most often the result of not having enough operating capital to weather those

[00:19:15] cash flow storms in the first early days, weeks and months of that business.

[00:19:20] So just underestimating the amount of capital and then stepping into the regulatory environment.

[00:19:28] You know, oh my gosh, I forgot to file my annual report for the LLC and I've been administratively

[00:19:35] closed.

[00:19:38] So understanding that you have to stay on top of your taxes and your regulatory requirements

[00:19:48] if you're going to stay in business and be successful.

[00:19:52] Not to mention if you want to serve food or alcohol or anything like that, what hoops

[00:19:58] you might have to jump through there as well.

[00:20:01] And you mention one thing about early on trying to help people sort of assess their, I

[00:20:10] don't know if we say personality traits or attributes of an entrepreneur.

[00:20:16] I mean, are there certain things that attributes that quickly come to mind of what a successful

[00:20:26] entrepreneur should attribute they should have?

[00:20:35] Gary and I would start with probably persistence and whatnot, but are there certain attributes

[00:20:43] that come up quickly?

[00:20:46] I love it how you nail things from the outset.

[00:20:48] I'm just trying to steal your phone.

[00:20:51] I've been well trained during my small business center days and it's hard to get rid of

[00:20:56] that.

[00:20:57] Yeah, but no, you're right on target.

[00:21:00] There's this whole thing that we talk about entrepreneurial attitude and I really believe

[00:21:06] that persistence, that dedication, that stick to it is a key primary component of entrepreneurial

[00:21:16] attitude.

[00:21:19] There's the risk taking, you know, the ability to take an absorb risk.

[00:21:23] There's the plan, you know, the ability to do planning.

[00:21:28] There's the creative aspect, the piece about being innovative.

[00:21:31] I mean, look at how fast things change in our world today and if you don't pivot and

[00:21:37] respond to customer expectations, you're not going to be able to stay in business.

[00:21:41] So those two mirror the things that come to mind most quickly when I think about entrepreneurial

[00:21:47] attitude.

[00:21:48] But there's a whole assessment that we can give folks when they come in the door and let

[00:21:54] them just sort of rate themselves and they may say, you know what?

[00:21:58] I need to rethink this.

[00:21:59] Maybe I need to go back and get, they may have some gaps in training for example, some

[00:22:04] background knowledge that they need to hone up on.

[00:22:09] So the assessment really helps them to see where they stand and where they need to fill

[00:22:16] in those gaps.

[00:22:17] I'm listening and I'm just thinking about all the things that are needed and gone through

[00:22:23] of course, Jeff, we, it's so important to hook up with a good group of people that can

[00:22:31] help you.

[00:22:32] The small business center is best because people that are going out in business usually

[00:22:36] have an idea and a concept and they're excited about it.

[00:22:39] They don't realize all the things that go along, we've talked about it and I just think

[00:22:43] about all the people that have run through our office with you and their Chris and how

[00:22:48] important because we don't want people to lose a lot of money or a lot of time invested

[00:22:54] in something that may not be the right thing to do.

[00:22:58] I know you always refer to being the dream crusher in a funny way, but it, that's not

[00:23:04] a bad thing if somebody comes to our small business center and we walk through all the

[00:23:08] steps with them and they say, well, I'm not up to this one or I can't do this or that.

[00:23:13] That's the time to find out that it can either more help or that maybe this isn't the

[00:23:18] right thing before they spend a lot of time and energy of their family's money as well

[00:23:23] as their money.

[00:23:24] Gary, that's a great point and I think one of the things that we've really focused on

[00:23:30] in the early days of this network was that the importance of keeping people from sinking

[00:23:39] their life savings and to something that might not be the best thing for them.

[00:23:46] And so helping people to make smart decisions is what we're all about and we don't tell

[00:23:54] people, now you've laughed about Jeff saying that he was the dream crusher sometimes when

[00:24:00] someone would come in his office.

[00:24:01] I mean affectionately.

[00:24:03] But the truth is that, you know, we're that life saver.

[00:24:11] Just making sure that they don't step into something that's beyond what their capacity

[00:24:17] is and so I like to think of that as really redirecting them and so we don't really tell

[00:24:27] people that oh, that's this terrible idea.

[00:24:30] You should never even consider that.

[00:24:33] We don't do that.

[00:24:34] What we do is we sit down with them and we go through a discovery process and we help

[00:24:40] them to look at break even analysis and really look at all of the pieces in the planning phases

[00:24:49] and making sure that there truly is capacity that the idea makes sense, that it's the

[00:24:56] idea that they have is solving a true need in the community, that there's a market out

[00:25:01] there to buy the product or the service, that sort of thing.

[00:25:04] So the whole feasibility piece and break even analysis, financial projections all of that

[00:25:10] sort of comes together and that's one of the last things that the entrepreneur really

[00:25:16] wants to look at.

[00:25:17] Yeah.

[00:25:18] They just be one of the first things they look at to see whether it's viable.

[00:25:21] It was because you encourage them to watch Shark Tank all the time.

[00:25:24] I do.

[00:25:25] They see dollar signs like in the flashing and what not.

[00:25:32] But I do remember that Anne's predecessor as director, one of the things that I have

[00:25:39] a very clear memory of is him, George Millsap's telling small business center directors that

[00:25:46] the most valuable service we can provide is to keep people from writing $10,000 checks

[00:25:51] that are not going to come back to them, that are have a little chance of coming back

[00:25:56] to them.

[00:25:57] Really doing that viability assessment early on and helping them reach that conclusion

[00:26:03] of well, if they're only if you have 36 hours in a day, you actually can make these

[00:26:08] numbers but you probably aren't going to be able to work three six hours every day so

[00:26:11] you might want to rethink this a little bit.

[00:26:13] Yeah.

[00:26:14] And I always worry about when somebody comes in the office and they've lost their job

[00:26:18] this is so now I'm going to go start a business thinking, well, that's the easy fixed losing

[00:26:23] not realizing it's going to be a lot harder probably than having a regular 40 hour

[00:26:29] a week job.

[00:26:31] Very much so.

[00:26:32] So Anne are there as you look back on your work with the small business center network?

[00:26:38] Are there certain strange or interesting situations or businesses that you've seen

[00:26:47] and had to sort of figure out what to do with?

[00:26:52] Oh my gosh.

[00:26:53] So there's always an interesting story or two out there.

[00:26:57] I remember working with a client at one time who was into agri-potics and so you may be

[00:27:09] familiar with being able to grow vegetables and plants just with a water source as opposed

[00:27:22] to planting those plants in the ground and using soil.

[00:27:27] But we quickly discovered so this was years ago before the current environment that were

[00:27:33] in where many states have legalized marijuana and related products.

[00:27:40] But so this person was secretly wanting to grow marijuana plants and sort of camouflaging

[00:27:47] it as legal produce and that sort of thing.

[00:27:52] So we had to kind of steer that into a different direction.

[00:27:56] One of the things about the small business center network is we are a tax funded program

[00:28:01] and we use those tax payer dollars.

[00:28:03] We take that very seriously and we make sure that we're using those dollars in the appropriate

[00:28:08] way.

[00:28:09] And one of the things that we don't do is advise businesses to do something that they

[00:28:14] can't legally do.

[00:28:16] So that was a lot of fun for me back on the day.

[00:28:18] And of course just being in a unique environment in the community that I was in, there were

[00:28:26] always lots of interesting businesses in that vein of something that wasn't entirely legal

[00:28:35] and helping them to understand that we couldn't really be involved with that kind of activity.

[00:28:42] It's funny when I mentioned that now, I was going to say I learned about aquaponics

[00:28:46] because Bunker Hill High School in their Horticulture and turf grass program had it in a

[00:28:53] greenhouse.

[00:28:54] Now I know why they had it.

[00:28:56] To cut marijuana?

[00:28:57] Yeah, I know.

[00:28:58] They were always smiling.

[00:29:00] Well, you know, we have received questions in the past on the Octaneur Exchange about

[00:29:06] starting dispensaries and whatnot and Gary has turned into quite the expert in this area.

[00:29:13] So we defer questions to those areas to him.

[00:29:17] Not?

[00:29:18] Yeah.

[00:29:20] So Ann, the network is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.

[00:29:25] I mean, you're going to have a parade.

[00:29:27] I mean, what are we?

[00:29:28] How are we going to celebrate this momentous occasion as the governor going to make proclamations

[00:29:36] or how can we celebrate here?

[00:29:39] Look, I assure you, you said parade.

[00:29:42] There will probably be at least one small business center who will have a parade sometime

[00:29:48] this year.

[00:29:49] So don't count that out.

[00:29:52] Actually on May 14th in Raleigh, all of our small business centers are coming together

[00:29:58] for a big celebration day.

[00:30:00] We're calling it Small Business Day and the governor has been invited as well as other

[00:30:08] really special VIP guests.

[00:30:13] This is a day that we will celebrate jointly with our sister organization, the Small Business

[00:30:19] and Technology Development Center which is the university-based Small Business Assistance

[00:30:25] Program.

[00:30:26] So to get, we do a lot of things collaboratively with the SBTDC.

[00:30:32] So we will join together to celebrate our joint 40 years of being on May 14th.

[00:30:39] So lots of speakers that day and just an opportunity for us to talk about our journey and the

[00:30:48] ways that we've helped North Carolina entrepreneurs and created that really strong economic impact

[00:30:55] as a result of those hardworking small business owners.

[00:31:00] Well, that's good of you to include the SBTDC.

[00:31:05] I mean, a much weaker leadership structure there but we will have our friend.

[00:31:13] We will have our friend Byron Hicks listening and listening to the podcast.

[00:31:19] Yeah, so anyway, do what you can to support them.

[00:31:24] But anyway, we look congratulations to you, congratulations to the network.

[00:31:30] Thank you for the work that you do in North Carolina.

[00:31:33] We encourage our listeners outside of North Carolina to go to the SBA.gov and try to identify

[00:31:42] small business development centers within their states.

[00:31:46] And they can also go and look at the North Carolina Small Business Center network and see

[00:31:50] the good works that they're doing.

[00:31:53] And I suspect that every now and then as you're doing webinars, you probably get some out

[00:31:56] of state people peaking to see some of the good works that we're doing.

[00:32:01] Oh, absolutely we do.

[00:32:02] And you know, it's wonderful to be able to see that kind of interest in our programming

[00:32:11] from neighboring states or people across the world.

[00:32:14] I mean, we have military veterans who may be deployed to the Horn of Africa or someplace

[00:32:20] in Europe and they're able to take advantage of webinars and things like that.

[00:32:25] So it's great to be able to be that resource.

[00:32:28] And if we make some other states jealous, that's okay with me too.

[00:32:32] Well, I'd like to the SBTDC.

[00:32:36] I really have to say it's such a wonderful thing to be able to work collaboratively

[00:32:43] with our friends over at the SBTDC.

[00:32:45] You mentioned Byron Higgs and he used to be there in Hickory at the local SBTDC office

[00:32:51] and now he's the state director.

[00:32:53] And we have a great relationship and I want to thank Byron publicly for the support that he provides

[00:33:00] in the fact that he was planning this big event and asked us if we would like to join

[00:33:06] and so we're piggybacking and thankful for that opportunity to do it together.

[00:33:13] So we'll give Byron a little credit today.

[00:33:16] He's a good guy.

[00:33:17] Byron's press people have not allowed him to be on the entrepreneur exchange yet.

[00:33:24] But we hope to get him at some point in time.

[00:33:26] I mean he's pretty high up there at this point in time.

[00:33:29] So we miss him locally but we appreciate the good works that he is doing on a statewide basis as well.

[00:33:38] He's a force.

[00:33:40] And any parting advice that you have for our listeners who are just starting a business

[00:33:45] before we engage you in our lightning round?

[00:33:48] Oh my gosh, parting advice.

[00:33:50] Well, you know that it's obvious what I'm going to say.

[00:33:55] Go see your small business center director in your local community college

[00:33:59] as you're dreaming of this business that you want to start and let them help you.

[00:34:04] Nurture that dream, plan that dream, put it on the right path and get it out there.

[00:34:11] And how much will that cost these people?

[00:34:15] Big best we run nothing.

[00:34:17] All right.

[00:34:18] So there you go.

[00:34:19] So free paid service.

[00:34:21] Best deal in town.

[00:34:22] Yeah, utilize your free resources is probably the best advice that we can give you.

[00:34:29] So and so we're going to do our lightning round.

[00:34:33] You up for our quick lightning round with us?

[00:34:36] Let's see if I can keep up with you.

[00:34:38] OK, this month's lightning round is sponsored by Globo Gym.

[00:34:43] Do you need to lose some weight and get in shape?

[00:34:45] Well then go to somebody else's gym.

[00:34:47] If you already look good come to Globo Gym.

[00:34:50] You should check them out on the internet.

[00:34:52] So Anne we have some very quick questions, quick answers.

[00:34:56] Don't think too hard.

[00:34:58] Just let them let you let it flow here.

[00:35:00] So all right, question number one.

[00:35:03] What is your favorite TV show or movie?

[00:35:07] Oh wow.

[00:35:11] I really like the good doctor.

[00:35:14] I think that I think they're coming to the end of their season.

[00:35:18] And I have really enjoyed picking up on the bull.

[00:35:25] OK.

[00:35:26] That's one of my favorites.

[00:35:27] That was going to when you said anything.

[00:35:29] We've been watching it nonstop, it seems like.

[00:35:33] All right, next question.

[00:35:35] What is your adult beverage of choice?

[00:35:38] Oh great question Jeff.

[00:35:41] So well I do like an adult beverage occasionally.

[00:35:47] A nice crisp, pinogrisio, a nice red wine.

[00:35:52] But I have to say that my go to beverage is southern iced tea.

[00:36:00] I like a little half sweet, sweet, a little twist of fresh lemon.

[00:36:05] And that will make my day.

[00:36:08] OK, it sounds a little weak, a little captain.

[00:36:12] I like that.

[00:36:14] Would people characterize you as sweet, salty, or sour?

[00:36:21] Well, I hate to say it.

[00:36:23] But I think sweet.

[00:36:26] They're going to probably say sweet.

[00:36:28] Yeah.

[00:36:28] I've been in the audience with you where you've been incredibly

[00:36:30] sweet where you should have been much more salty.

[00:36:32] But yeah, so I would say sweet is the right answer that people would say.

[00:36:38] Better than sour, Jeff.

[00:36:40] I agree.

[00:36:41] If you were an Olympic athlete, what sport would you compete in?

[00:36:47] No doubt about it.

[00:36:47] It would be basketball.

[00:36:50] And I was unaware of Anne's basketball prowess.

[00:36:52] So next time, we might have to get a pick up game going here.

[00:37:00] Last question for you, Anne.

[00:37:02] What is your spirit animal?

[00:37:06] Oh gosh, I would have to say that my spirit animal is a bunny.

[00:37:13] A bunny, a sweet, cuddly bunny.

[00:37:16] I think right here at Easter, when people are thinking about chocolate and bunnies and

[00:37:23] little chickies and things like that.

[00:37:25] Yeah, I'll go with bunny.

[00:37:27] That sounds good.

[00:37:29] All right.

[00:37:30] And if people are looking for you or the network, where should they be looking?

[00:37:34] Where can they find you?

[00:37:37] Well, I can easily be found at Shaw A at NC Community Colleges.edu if you're talking about

[00:37:45] communication.

[00:37:50] But you can find me talking to a small business center director almost any day of the week,

[00:37:56] so.

[00:37:57] And if people want to find the network, is there a website they should go to?

[00:38:01] Yes, you should go to ncsbc.net.

[00:38:04] All right.

[00:38:06] So you can check it out and learn more about the Small Business Center there at ncsbc.net.

[00:38:14] And you have been a wonderful guest.

[00:38:16] We always like to end our episodes by giving shout outs to small businesses that we've

[00:38:23] come across.

[00:38:24] And do you have one that you'd like to share today?

[00:38:26] Oh, yes I do, Jeff.

[00:38:28] So I want to do a shout out to a really neat coffee company that has opened in Jacksonville.

[00:38:37] It's called gyra peruvian coffee.

[00:38:40] Marley Seprannick is the owner of that coffee business and just a little bit about her.

[00:38:48] It's that it's okay.

[00:38:49] Can I share a little bit about gyra peruvian coffee?

[00:38:53] So Marley is a military spouse, and she's a self-proclaimed coffee kind of a coffee

[00:39:03] or a snobber.

[00:39:05] Yes.

[00:39:06] Yes.

[00:39:07] And she actually fell in love with her husband over a cup of coffee while he was working at

[00:39:13] a coffee roasting company.

[00:39:14] The story of her business sort of goes back to her roots growing up in Peru.

[00:39:19] Her grandfather owned a, he had a farm, a coffee farm.

[00:39:25] And so she grew up drinking coffee and when she came to the US, she really just thought,

[00:39:31] oh my gosh we've got to have good coffee here.

[00:39:34] And so one of the things that she does is she imports coffee from Peru giving the opportunity

[00:39:41] for farmers back in her native country to get a fair price for their product.

[00:39:47] And then just making that perfect cup of coffee here in Jacksonville for her clients.

[00:39:54] And she did take advantage of the services of the small business center, counseling time,

[00:39:59] lots of training events over the last 157 hours.

[00:40:04] And so she really did take advantage of the services at the small business center.

[00:40:10] And they helped her get funding to purchase her coffee band and they also helped her find

[00:40:18] a great location to park her coffee band to sell her product.

[00:40:23] And so we just really like Marley and gyro-peruvian coffee because it says so much about the passion

[00:40:32] that that particular business owner puts into her business and just making sure

[00:40:38] that she's serving her customers this really perfect product that she's so proud of.

[00:40:44] So shout out to gyro-peruvian coffee here in Jacksonville.

[00:40:49] And how do you spell gyro just so we get it right?

[00:40:51] Yeah, it's J-I-R-E-H.

[00:40:56] That's not how I would have spelled it.

[00:40:58] I'm glad that you spelled it first.

[00:40:59] And we'll make sure that we get that in our show notes and link to them and urge our listeners

[00:41:06] if they are in Jacksonville, North Carolina to search out gyro-peruvian coffee.

[00:41:13] Gary, what's the small business you got for us today?

[00:41:16] I'm excited to talk about this although it is out of my comfort zone of pets, dogs,

[00:41:23] and food, and sweets of all the any combination of those or maybe some time together.

[00:41:30] But because we have Anne on the show, we were talking with Chris Reese, our small business

[00:41:35] director this morning.

[00:41:37] And he had given me a name of a company that's brand new into Hickory, the Golden Rule

[00:41:43] Music School in Hickory, started by Jamie Stevens as a professional musician, songwriter

[00:41:50] and music teacher.

[00:41:51] He's currently based in Hickory, which is his hometown but he had gone out all over the

[00:41:55] country playing with bands and different things like that.

[00:41:59] So we're excited that he is back in Hickory.

[00:42:02] You can practice there.

[00:42:03] He has jam sessions.

[00:42:06] Rehearsals allows for people to rehearse when they're going to go to a presentation somewhere.

[00:42:11] So really cool, great guy.

[00:42:14] I did a lot of reading up on him.

[00:42:17] But what really got me when we were talking about it this week was that our small business

[00:42:22] center in Chris helped him form his business, the right structure, connected them with

[00:42:28] realtors to help them find a perfect spot met with the city of Hickory for the next steps

[00:42:33] and permitting and getting everything set up.

[00:42:36] Help him collaborate with the building owner who we might lease from discuss the lease

[00:42:43] in the specifics we were talking about.

[00:42:44] We always grown when somebody might have already signed a lease before they came to it.

[00:42:48] They came to us first and helping them with marketing, the soft lunch and connecting

[00:42:55] with the chamber.

[00:42:56] That's about as much as we know how to do in a short period of time.

[00:43:00] So pretty much great.

[00:43:02] Wishing Jamie and the Golden Role music school good luck and a shout out to our small business

[00:43:07] center.

[00:43:08] I love the name of that business.

[00:43:11] The Golden Role makes you think that everybody is going to get good music.

[00:43:16] Do other as you would have them do under use.

[00:43:18] So we're going to get good music, right?

[00:43:22] Well, if they're waiting for me to do music and ain't going to be that good so I hope it's

[00:43:26] better than that.

[00:43:27] So I do enjoy the good music.

[00:43:29] So anyway, thank you Gary.

[00:43:32] So I'm going to give a shout out to a company that I ran across at our manufacturing solutions

[00:43:39] in the last couple of weeks.

[00:43:41] We know Gary that the best business ideas are ones which solve problems.

[00:43:46] Exactly.

[00:43:47] And that's always a good starting point.

[00:43:50] And you've always mentioned to me that one of your issues is trying to find the right snazzy

[00:43:55] clothes that fit you correctly.

[00:43:57] Exactly, exactly.

[00:43:58] You're talking about my outfit today.

[00:44:00] I was, wasn't it?

[00:44:01] So I recently—

[00:44:02] Not in a good way.

[00:44:03] Recently, I had the opportunity to meet the founders of a new business, which is called

[00:44:06] Project B as in B for Bra.

[00:44:11] But two young ladies, Bella and Zane—and I'm not going to try to pronounce her last names

[00:44:17] because I would butcher them—they founded Project B out of a frustration with today's

[00:44:21] fashion industry and current sizing models and also unsustainable practices and that people

[00:44:30] make lots of stuff that don't always fit and don't get used, end up in landfills.

[00:44:34] So while they were in graduate school, they invented an algorithm to create custom fit

[00:44:38] garments in minutes using body scanning and 3D knitting technology starting with bras

[00:44:45] as their initial product.

[00:44:48] They're trying to eliminate fit issues.

[00:44:51] They're trying to customize things so that they're not mass-produced and being wasteful.

[00:44:57] So they're trying to work on that product.

[00:45:00] They actually toured and visited with us at our manufacturing solution center in Conover

[00:45:04] a couple of weeks ago.

[00:45:07] And they're working on a 3D knitting production at this point in time.

[00:45:11] They've got an app which people can use to scan their bodies, to come up with the correct

[00:45:18] fit for a bra might not be right for you or I at this point in time but there should

[00:45:22] be other things down the road.

[00:45:24] That you can learn more about them at www.project-b.co.

[00:45:32] So if you go to their website, you'll learn about them.

[00:45:34] They're actually in Brooklyn at this point in time but they're looking to do things on

[00:45:40] a national basis so we look forward to working with them and maybe at some point we'll leave

[00:45:44] them as guests here in the entrepreneur exchange.

[00:45:48] Sounds good.

[00:45:50] If you have an idea for a small business of the month, please email them to us at e-exchange

[00:46:00] at themesh.tv and we want to thank you for joining us.

[00:46:05] We want to thank you for the good work that you do and wish you a very safe and peaceful

[00:46:09] Easter break, Easter holiday and we hope that you're able to find your chocolate money

[00:46:15] out there somewhere.

[00:46:17] I'll be taking a chocolate money or maybe a basket full of chocolate monies to my grandson

[00:46:24] so there you go.

[00:46:26] Thank you Jeff, it's such a pleasure to join you guys today and to talk about everything

[00:46:30] small business so enjoy the weekend.

[00:46:34] We also want to thank our friends at themesh podcast network.

[00:46:38] You should go to themesh.tv to see all of the cool podcasts that they're doing on

[00:46:44] a variety of things from business, health, sports, humor, fun stuff, check them out at

[00:46:51] themesh.tv and we will look forward to talking with you guys again next month.

[00:46:58] Take care and we'll hope that we'll have an ACC national champion.

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