Center Nurtures Small Firms

When Bill Oakley wanted to start his own business in Bentonville, one of his first stops was the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center.

Based at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the center is a network of seven offices around the state. Its Fayetteville office is an outreach program of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, and serves Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Boone, Newton and Searcy counties.

Funded in part by a Small Business Administration grant administered through the UALR office, the center offers help to both startup and existing businesses through one-on-one consulting, classes and seminars, and market research.

Oakley previously had taken one of the center’s classes for prospective business owners, so when he was looking into applying for an SBA-backed loan, he made an appointment to meet with the folks there before he even approached his bank. He’d already written about 80 percent of his business plan, but center consultant Bill Fox “tweaked” it for him and set up spreadsheets and financial statements using numbers Oakley provided.

Ultimately, Oakley used personal funds to open The Spice and Tea Exchange of Bentonville, part of a Florida-based franchise, on Aug. 3. But he said there are lots of other uses for a business plan and financial statements, such as helping him stay on track with his goals.

“So even though I didn’t do the SBA part of the loan, I still use the documents they helped me with,” Oakley said.

He stays in touch with Fox, who recently visited the store that Oakley hopes to expand from its present 1,300-SF site at 109 S.E. A St. to a larger space sometime this year.

When he does, he said, “I’ll definitely be using their services again.”

“It’s just an excellent resource to have,” Oakley said, “and their willingness to assist you in any way they can has been phenomenal.”

Martha Londagin, the training and marketing coordinator at the Walton College office in the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Enterprise Development, said the staff is there to serve the small-business community.

“I just hate it when people tell me how much they paid for market research when they were getting started when we could have gotten it [for them] for free if they had come to see us,” Londagin said. “We also have horror stories of people who come to see us after they have signed a binding lease and yet don’t have financing in place, or later we help them figure out this was not the best site for their store.

“Furthermore, a lot of businesses forget we are here to help existing businesses grow even if they didn’t come to us when they first got started. We are here regardless of what point of development they are in.”

Small-biz Boost

According to the center’s main website at www.asbtdc.org, Arkansas businesses helped by the center over the last decade performed significantly better than those that didn’t receive its assistance. The center’s clients saw average sales growth that was 15.9 percent higher than that of non-client businesses, and 16.5 percent higher average employment growth.

The website also states clients over the last decade created 2.7 new jobs per day for a total of 9,807; made $249,612 in new sales per day for a total of more than $911 million; and obtained more than $124,000 in financing per day for a total of more than $478.8 million.

Using proprietary market research databases, licensed mapping software and other tools, the center can help clients with such essentials as determining the best location for a store, improving the effectiveness of direct mailings and finding underserved niche markets.

Londagin said Arkansas puts a large chunk of its funding into market research, which comes largely from data-gathering giant Axciom. Not all states do this, she said.

Arkansas also has a full-time technology adviser on staff in Little Rock, Londagin said.

“Out of 900 centers in the U.S., only a handful use their grant money to have the technology adviser,” she said.

 Londagin, who just started work at the center in October, said several new classes will be offered this spring, and the center is asking local business owners to pass on their knowledge and experience by teaching some of these.

 One of these new classes, on trade show and expo marketing, will be taught Jan. 29 by local consultant Ken Abernathy.

And local attorneys will teach seminars Feb. 7 and March 14 on how to choose a legal entity for a business.

 “That’s $800 worth of legal advice for $40,” Londagin said.

Information on upcoming classes is available at sbtdc.uark.edu, and on Facebook.

 Anitha Yerneni took classes there in 2009 when she decided to open Kumon (pronounced KOO mon) of Bentonville, part of a national franchise that offers afterschool reading and math programs.

“Being in business for my first time ever, I was kind of nervous,” she said. “I was looking for help from people who could really give me some thoughts and ideas.”

She contacted center director Larry Brian, who went with her to look at potential locations for her business. She chose 231 N. Walton Blvd., Suite 7.

“They have more tools than what I even thought about,” Yerneni said, “so they have really helped me with all the demographics and local schools and surrounding places that help my business interests.”

She took classes in marketing techniques and Quickbooks, which proved valuable to her burgeoning business.

Starting with only one employee, she now has 12. About 250 students currently are enrolled.

Yerneni stays in touch with Brian, who just recently paid her a visit to talk about what she can do to keep growing her business.

“Whenever I need help, I contact them,” she said.

Help at Hand           

Mo Elliott of Fayetteville was working on his bachelor’s in entrepreneurship and small-business management at the Walton College when he founded Fayettechill Clothing Co. in July 2009. It was initially a one-man operation, with Elliott designing “Ozarks-inspired” T-shirts and hats.

Having the small-business center right there on campus made it convenient for him to avail himself of its services. Elliott said he’d drop in nearly every day after school to visit with Fox and “pick his brain.”

He took the center’s class on writing a business plan, and had some reports run on demographics and spending habits of Arkansas residents. But Elliott said having “just someone to bounce ideas off of in those early stages” proved the most helpful to him.

 Fayettechill’s clothing and technical apparel is now sold at 21 specialty and outdoor retailers throughout Arkansas, Missouri and Texas, and Elliott said growing that number is a top priority.

Last August, he opened his first brick-and-mortar outlet, at 329-B N. West St., off Dickson. The building is part retail showroom and part office space, but by the end of February, it will be reconfigured to be all retail.

Elliott has seven employees, and with the upcoming launch of a new line of activewear, he expects that number to grow to 10.

While he no longer turns to the center for help, Elliott said he recommends it as one of the resources the university provides to startups.

But Wendi Scoggins has continued to rely on the center for support since 2006, when she was preparing to open School Squared on the Bentonville square.

Brian helped her prepare her five-year projections before she went to the bank to apply for an SBA loan, she said, and provided some market research in addition to what she’d already done on her own.

Scoggins now has three employees at the store she opened in 2007. But she recently retooled the business as a toy store called Central Avenue Toys. Factors like Internet competition and increased tourist traffic due to the nearby Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art led to that decision, she said.

And Scoggins said whenever she feels she needs some advice, she calls or emails Brian, and gets a quick response.

Brian happened to stop in while she was already in the process of changing to the new business concept, she said, and he helped reconfirm for her that she was doing the right thing.

“It’s hard to make a decision by yourself when it’s something that big,” she said. “It’s nice to have someone with knowledge that comes in, and whether they say what you want to hear or not, they’re going to tell you what they think, and so that helped solidify the transition.”

Scoggins strongly recommends that anyone thinking of starting a business take advantage of the center’s resources.

“You don’t want to open a business by yourself, and even if you have people that have been in business and might have some good advice for you, it’s good to cover all your bases and talk to the SBDC, just because they’re always taking part in studies for the entire region, and they have access to information that you might not know anything about. It’s always helpful,” she said.

“You’ve just got to get all the help you can get. And they’ve always been helpful and knowledgeable, so I’m thankful they’ve been there.”