Haven’t heard of the SBDC? If you’re an entrepreneur, you should get to know them
“Why haven’t I heard of you before?” We hear that quite often, and it usually comes after our first meeting with new clients. The “you” in question is the Small Business Development Center. We’re all over the Upstate, but sometimes we may not be the easiest to find. There’s a reason for that, and I’ll tell you why a little later.
The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is a federally and state-supported organization. We like to think of ourselves as the “boots on the ground” team for the U.S. Small Business Administration. They are our federal partner. The government provides us with funding to help achieve our mission, which is to help entrepreneurs develop and grow successful businesses. For over 35 years, the SBDC has worked with single person entities as well as companies that have over 100 employees.
We work with small-business owners in a number of different ways. Financing, marketing and human resources are always hot topics, but we also assist businesses with strategic planning and exit strategies. We have in-house resources available, but if a need requires more technical expertise than we can provide, we will reach out into the community for support and guidance. We also track outcomes and results. We capture metrics such as jobs created, businesses started and local investment from our clients to help demonstrate the impact that our clients have on the community.
The SBDC has offices all over South Carolina, but in the Upstate we are located in Spartanburg, Greenville, Clemson and Greenwood. All of our offices meet with business owners individually, and we also host eight to 12 different workshops and special events throughout the year. The topics we’ve covered in our workshops range from developing a marketing plan to how to do business with the government. We hope that you’ve seen some of our “Takeaway” articles that have been in the Upstate Business Journal over the last several months.
The Upstate offices of the SBDC consult with more than 500 clients per year. We meet with some of these businesses regularly, and others require only a single visit. There is a great deal of entrepreneurial activity taking place in the Upstate, and we try to provide as much support as possible.
Here’s one example: A local business owner has operated an Upstate restaurant for more than 15 years. The restaurant owner was informed that the rent on the building was going to increase significantly, and that would have a dramatic effect on their operations. When we reviewed their existing financials, we couldn’t find a way to offset this increase, and thereby the cost/benefit analysis of remaining in that location did not make sense. They were going to have to move — which is terrifying for any business owner, but even more so for a restaurateur.
Instead of obsessing over the negative implications of this predicament, this proprietor only focused on the opportunities that this situation presented. This business owner had three locations in mind, and we began analyzing each one. With the help of a commercial realtor, we looked at the potential cost of each site, demographic information of the surrounding area and current traffic counts to help prioritize the locations.
Once a location was determined, we helped this business owner create projections for the restaurant’s new venue and develop a budget that would expand business opportunities but also provide the necessary cash flow for daily operations. In essence, we helped provide peace of mind so that the business owner was free to do what he or she does best: run the business.
So back to our original question of “Why haven’t I heard of you before?” Well, we’ve never had a space to tell our story. Now we do. Thanks to an exciting new partnership with UBJ, the leading business publication in the Upstate, we hope to bring you stories and information that are timely, relevant and interesting to small business owners. We work with these businesses every day, so we thought it would be a good idea to start sharing some of the best practices we’ve discovered.
In the meantime, if you’d like to find out more about the SBDC, there are two places to look. Our statewide website is scbdc.com, and our Upstate website is clemson.edu/centers-institutes/sbdc. We’re excited about this opportunity and hope that we can share ideas and insights that will be helpful to your business.
