YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Small Business Development Centers help entrepreneurs develop business plans and guide company owners with their sights set on expansion to the right resources.
“We consult with small businesses and help them in multiple aspects,” says Mike Blaurock, the Gannon University SBDC’s Mercer County, Pa., business consultant. “Half of our clients are startups, and the other half have existing businesses and either are looking to grow their business or possibly sell their business.”
SBDCs are located across the country and in U.S. territories at colleges and universities, economic development organizations and private entities. There are 62 and they are partially funded by the U.S. Congress through partnership with the Small Business Administration.
Services are provided to businesses at no charge.
Patricia Veisz, director of the SBDC at Youngstown State University, says Ohio has 21 SBDCs.
In most states they’re at colleges and universities, but Ohio is different because it was grandfathered into the program.
“So we’re at YSU, and YSU has been the host of this program since it started,” she says.
In other Ohio cities, SBDCs are located at universities and other organizations such as Cleveland, where they’re at the chamber of commerce and the Urban League.
Numbers and History
According to America’s SBDC Economic Impact report, 15,794 businesses were started by SBDC clients who used in-depth SBDC counseling in 2020-2021. That led to the creation of nearly 81,000 jobs. The economic impact document also reports SBDC clients generated $6.6 billion in sales and averaged $6.5 billion in financing.
“The intent of the program was really to help foster entrepreneurship in the country,” Veisz explains.
That was in the 1980s when the Mahoning Valley was wrestling with an economic downturn after the steel mills closed.
“In my opinion, entrepreneurship was kind of latent because you had so many businesses here, and if you didn’t get a job [at one location], you’d go across the street and you’d get another job,” she says.
People at that time didn’t think much about starting a business because entrepreneurs before them started the strong businesses that sustained the area for decades.
“When a lot of that went down, obviously things changed,” Veisz says. “People had to either go back to school or had to get retrained, or some people thought: maybe I’ll start a business.”
When the SBDC at YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration started, most of those seeking help were startups. That’s changed.
“But over the years, we kind of discovered as we were working with this, that there’s so many small-to-midsize – what I call emerging businesses here – that really are kind of poised to grow,” Veisz explains.
With the SBDC’s resources, the center staff believed they could help those businesses.
“This year, we’re going to be about 30 to 35% startup, and about 65 to 70% existing businesses,” she says of those seeking SBDC assistance. “We kind of went to the other end of it, because there were so many businesses in the area already that could use our services.”
Whether an individual wants to start a business or a business looks to expand, the first step is a viability analysis, Veisz says. “We want to see, is this worth you doing. I always think there’s things that are feasible and things that are viable. Feasible, it can be done. Viable, it’s worth doing. So we want to help make sure that what they want to do is worth doing.”
Client Variety
Blaurock from the Gannon SBDC says most businesses seeking help from that center are startups and staff helps them establish a business entity such as a sole proprietorship, a partnership or an LLC.
“And we also help you develop your business plan and the financial performance, because if you are looking for any financial help, you’re going to want a business plan and you’re going to want three years of financial performance,” Blaurock adds.
A technology team of Gannon students can also help new and aspiring business owners to develop websites, a social media presence and marketing strategy.
Budding entrepreneurs who come to the Gannon SBDC run the gamut in their knowledge. Some come in with a business plan while others have no idea where to start.
“We have relationships with financial institutions that we know what they want, and this is our outline for a business plan, and we pretty much give them that with guidance,” Blaurock says. “We provide them with the market research for whatever industry they’re in.”
The SBDC can also provide the would-be founders with information about potential customers. If someone wants to build a brick-and-mortar establishment in a particular neighborhood, SBDC staff can tell them the population within a certain radius of that location as well as the corresponding demographics and income levels.
“It gives you a better feel for – is this going to be successful or not,” Blaurock says.
But a business plan isn’t the first step. That’s knowing the value proposition and to whom to sell, he adds. It involves what problem the product or service addresses and how it solves that problem, and identifies the business’s target market. All of that gets incorporated into a business plan. A business plan is among what’s presented to a bank or financial institution when a businessperson seeks a loan. But Blaurock says even someone who plans to fund a project themselves, without a loan, should create a business plan. He called it the roadmap to success.
The SBDC helps with determining costs as well. It’s more than sales and expenses.
“One of the most important things that people don’t think they need, but they really need, is working capital,” Blaurock says. “And we try to explain to our clients: working capital is you’re able to pay your bills for three to six months without one customer walking through the door.”
That will help ensure they request the appropriate loan amount. You don’t want to go back to the well twice, he adds.
Blaurock worked about 35 years in the business world in engineering, operations, sales and marketing, and also ran a restaurant for several years. His first contact with the SBDC was as a client for his side hustle, selling homemade bratwurst sandwiches. In August 2023, he saw an ad for a Mercer County consultant at the center, applied and got the job.
Gannon’s SBDC Outreach Office in Mercer County is at the Greenville Area Chamber of Commerce. Blaurock also works out of Kennedy Catholic High School in Hermitage, Pa., where the center has a fab lab.
“It’s a maker space where individuals can get trained on the machinery and actually utilize machinery for their own business or their own personal use,” he says. “We also partner with Whole Life Services. They manage the space, and they utilize it with their individuals in creative ways and they utilize the printers.”
Whole Life Services is a nonprofit organization that provides services to people with disabilities and their families.
Blaurock also teaches an entrepreneurship class at the school.
More Services
YSU’s SBDC added its Export Assistance Network about 13 years ago when more companies were contacting the center looking for help with exporting. It’s one of seven EAs in Ohio. The APEX Accelerator, which helps businesses compete for government contracts, was added later.
If someone comes into the SBDC at YSU and doesn’t know where to start, staff often refer them to the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.
The process starts with a call or virtual meeting at which SBDC staff assesses the prospective business owner’s plans, progress and needs. From there, they can direct them to the right resources if that’s not the center. The SBDC at Kent State University Tuscarawas, for example, offers an online workshop for startup businesses, outlining what’s involved in starting a company. Veisz says that can be a reality check for some.
For those prepared to move forward, the SBDC works with them to determine costs and develop market research. It’s a partnership, Veisz says. The SBDC, which includes staff, consultants and interns, doesn’t do all the work for the business. “We might give the interns a project – let’s do market research on the competition in this particular area or field,” Veisz explains.
The interns, through YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration, are funded by the John D. Beeghly Family and the Schwebel Family Foundation. The program gives real-world experience to the students and helps businesses that seek assistance through YSU’s SBDC, Veisz says. The relationship between the YSU SBDC and many businesses continues beyond start up or expansion. For many, it lasts years.
“It’s always open,” Veisz says. “And I think partly it’s because we build a good relationship with them. They know they can come back.”
Pictured at top: Mike Blaurock from the Gannon University SBDC says most businesses seeking help from that center are startups.