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By EILEEN M. GARVIN
Special to the Hood River News
February 15, 2006
The summer of 2000 marked a milestone for Hood River orchardist
David Ryan. His family’s 30-acre orchard business had celebrated
a big anniversary the year before — 20 years of growing apples
and making fresh squeezed cider.
Over the years, the cider product had become so successful that
now its production had become the main focus of the company.
“It was obvious that we were at the point that we were mainly a
manufacturing production rather than just raising fruit,” said
Ryan.
So Ryan decided to make a change. He founded Hood River Juice
Company, Inc., which took over the processing part of the
business for Ryan Orchards and now has 40 employees. “We wanted
to set up something that would differentiate between the
agriculture portion of it and the manufacturing,” he said.
And he did something else to help grow his business. Ryan
contacted the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), located
at Columbia Gorge Community College in The Dalles, for help with
the transition. Over the last five years, the organization has
helped him work through financial and funding issues, and is
currently supporting his efforts to expand Hood River Juice
Company’s square footage, manufacturing capability and product
line.
Through it all, he said, the center’s expertise has been
invaluable. “It is like being able to have a partner,” he said.
A division of the U. S. Small Business Administration, the SBDC
has a mission to provide one-on-one counseling, training,
information and technical assistance to small business owners of
all kinds.
The Dalles location is just one of 19 centers in the state. Now
in its 19th year of operation, the center serves Hood River,
Wasco, Klickitat, Skamania, Sherman, Wheeler and Gilliam
counties. And its goal is simple. “We want to help existing
businesses grow and prosper and help new entrepreneurs through
the maze of starting a business,” said SBDC Director Mary
Merrill, who worked for the organization for two years before
being named director this summer.
“We want to make an economic difference in our communities.” She
said that assisting small business owners helps create jobs for
local residents, who then feed money back into the local
economy. “So hopefully this money that is invested in small
business development does come back,” said Merrill.
By its own measurements, the local SBDC’s efforts seem to be
paying off. In the first half of this year alone, the SBCD’s
business consulting helped create 41 jobs, retain 91 jobs and
obtain nearly $300,000 in loans for small businesses in the
region.
The center helped nail down $130,000 in non-debt financing
during that same period. “It will save the client a lot of time
and energy if they just come to us,” said Merrill.
The SBDC helps businesses of all shapes and sizes from a wide
range of industries. In 2005, Merrill’s office worked with 93
different businesses in Hood River County — 10 manufacturers, 16
retail operations, 27 service-oriented businesses and 40 in the
exploration phase.
In Wasco County, the SBDC helped 116 businesses this year —
seven manufacturers, 13 retailers, seven wholesalers, 43
service-oriented businesses and 46 miscellaneous companies.
The needs of those companies were as diverse as the industries
they represented. An SBCD counselor might offer help with human
resource issues, funding, marketing or productivity. “Quite
often the company has had some difficulty. They are not as
profitable as they want to be or not as productive as they want
to be,” said Guy Moser, the SBDC counselor working with Ryan.
While some companies, like Ryan’s, are well established and
going through growing pains of one sort or another when they
seek out the organization, the SBDC also offers help to
startups. Sometimes that is something as simple as registering a
business name. “Often times they don’t know the step-by-step
process,” said Merrill. “We are very good at helping them
through the hoops.”
Sarah Keller, owner of Knot Another Hat, can attest to that.
Keller contacted the SBDC this past spring as she prepared to
open her yarn boutique in the new Yasui Building on Oak Street.
“It was invaluable. That is what it really boils down to,” she
said.
She had already launched her Web site and put together a
business plan. “I kind of went just to see what they would tell
me across the board,” she said. Keller said then-SBDC Director
Bob Cole helped fine-tune her business plan.
“Bob looked at many drafts of it to make sure I had all bases
covered,” she said. The center also helped Keller access a loan
that beat the bank’s rates and was easier to qualify for.
Although she has only been open since the summer, Keller said
business has been good, and she said she has the SBDC to thank
for being where she is today. “I don’t think that this would
have happened if I had not gone to see Bob,” she said.
Merrill said a frequent blunder for sole proprietors is using
credit cards as a way to finance their startup because they
don’t realize there are better funding options available.
“A common pitfall is not knowing where all the resources are. I
think the best thing that someone can do is come to us so they
have more choices,” Merrill said.
The local SBDC has an annual budget of about $200,000. Fifteen
percent of that funding comes from the federal government, 20
percent from the state of Oregon and the 65 percent from the
Columbia Gorge Community College, which also houses the SBDC
offices.
Merrill said the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce, the
Oregon State University Extension Office and the Employment
Departments of Washington and Oregon have been valuable
partners. Funding comes from the Mid Columbia Economic and
Community Development Department, the Mount Hood Economic
Alliance, the Oregon Economic and Community Development
Department and the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Financial support from the state and federal government, as well
as the private sector, make it possible for the SBDC to offer
individual consulting, like the kind that benefited Ryan and
Keller, for free. SBDC also offers classes for a fee, including
the Small Business Management class, which meets once a month
for 10 months.
The seminar course covers business planning, marketing and
finances. “In between class periods, the instructor comes to the
business and does one-on-one counseling, on-site,” said Merrill.
Participants receive up to 30 hours of counseling under this
format, in addition to class time. The whole program costs only
$507.
Merrill said her biggest challenge is getting the word out about
the SBDC. “We are trying to show the pubic all the ways you
could be involved in business education,” she said.
Ryan expects to find out early in 2006 whether or not Hood River
County will approve his plans to expand in his current location.
No matter what the outcome, he said the help and education he’s
received from the SBCD have been essential in getting his
company to where it is today.
“Guy Moser has a wealth of knowledge behind him to make sure I
am spending the least amount of time possible on the process. He
has the connections,” Ryan said.
Keller, too, is an advocate. “I think everyone should at least
have the SBDC look over their game plan whether they are
starting up or are in mid-swing,” she said. “You get the benefit
of learning from all the people they have met with just by
meeting with them.”
And at the very least, she said, “It can’t hurt.”
*****
The SBDC offers one-on-one counseling, training, information,
technical assistance and education to small business owners.
Contact the center for more information about the Small Business
Management Program and other business classes. |
