Bonnie Barnes with the Small Business Development Center joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about helping businesses thrive.
The Small Business Development Center is part of a national initiative that has been around since the 80s.
Barnes said, “Our job throughout the country, every small business center is connected to a university, and we provide communities where we live support in starting a business, growing a business. You come in here, you want to do a business in Monroe County, you don’t know how to get a business license. What do you need? What’s my corporate structure? Am I a sole proprietorship, risking my house and my home and my property? Or do I want to be a corporation? And what kind of corporation? We help navigate all of that for anybody who wants to start a business. If somebody is needing a loan. We had an actual fisherman who lost two of his engines on a nice, big boat, and he says, I’m looking at retiring in five years, help. So we were able to get him a small loan that covered the cost of the engines. But I said, wait a minute, if you’re selling out in five years, then let’s look at what else you need. What are your electronics like? What is your depth finders? Anything else that you want to fix, fix it now with this loan to where when, in five years you want to sell it and retire, you’ve got something to sell. So those are the kind of advice that we give people. Your new MRI machine that’s opening right now in Key West, we helped get them an SBA loan, two gentlemen who have never owned a business before, but putting all the financial projections together, doing everything that they need to help them, because you know how to do your job. They know how to run an MRI machine, but do they know how to go and get a loan and what it takes at the bank? So we do all of those things.”
There is no cost consulting.
Barnes said, “We have three consultants located and live here locally in our communities. All three of us cover the entire Keys. We just have different areas of expertise. Nancy, who actually lives in Islamorada has an incredible financial background, how to do valuations, how to do financial analysis, all of this with your business, taking a look at it. We’ve just helped a business that wants to sell, that’s a kind of a franchise. We helped them determine what do they want to ask? Then you have Christine, who actually lives in Key West. She is got an incredible retail social media background, but we all help in all of these areas, and we all cover the entire Keys. So I’m down in Key West about once a week, and I do office hours, and I work with people one on one, or we can do it via Zoom if somebody needs something and can’t wait.”
The Small Business Development Center can help with just about every aspect of business.
Barnes said, “We are first responders when there is a hurricane and a business that’s out of business, we actually are the ones that help give that business money and help them file to get it to get right back up and operational. So we’re somebody you want to know about, especially living here in the Keys. You can call my number if you really want to just get some information right away. Bonnie Barnes, 904-463-0513, and then we have our website, and so people register for those services, and that’s how we get our impacts. We report to the state and the federal government how much we’ve helped people. So our incomes are paid by the university, but our value to the community is immeasurable.”
New businesses or existing businesses can be helped by SBDC.
Barnes said, “We have a lot of smaller businesses, and Nancy Hull and I were on a call yesterday, and she was indicating one of the problems our local businesses have that we can assist with is they just got their bank statements. They need to go to the accountant, and they don’t have them sorted into your expenses and your income and what is deductible and what is not. If you take a bank statement as a business to your accountant, they’re going to charge you a lot of money. So we not only help you through it, but we’re teaching you how to do it so that you remain self sufficient from then on and she said she’s had a lot of people request that recently. So those are the kind of things we do. We’re here. It’s custom. We don’t know what each client’s needs are until we talk to them. Everybody is different, and some need marketing. Some need accounting help. If you’re not using an accounting system, we can help you get it started. By the way, when you talk international trade, I’ve had two in the Keys that got involved in international trade, and the one gentleman is bringing in coffee from Columbia, and he’s selling it at farmers markets in Islamorada. It is as fresh as it can get.”
If you have a business and need some advice, reach out to SBDC.
Barnes said, “We do regular workshops throughout the year. This year, we’re going to ask people to sign up, qualify, interview them, and give them a four or five week course on getting their business on the right track. So we’re got a couple of those planned. We’re also going to do something called Launch Labs, where we come in, sit there, and you can walk right in, get it signed up for services and get a signed consultant on the spot. So we’re going to do several of those throughout the county this year, and try and really get to the people and help them.”
For more information, click here: www.sbdc.fiu.edu