Messenger - Vol. 2, No. 2, Page 10 Winter 1993 On Campus The dream weavers Kathleen Corcoran's successful path to entrepreneurship started with an exercise physiology course at the University of Delaware. One thing led to another. She took a full-time position as assistant fitness director and aerobics instructor at a health club. When the health club folded in 1989, Kathleen launched her own business-The Fitness Consulting Co. Today, the company runs corporate fitness programs for many large firms in Delaware and boasts clients around the country. Corcoran's business provides educational workshops and training for fitness professionals and employs more than 20 part-time aerobics instructors. Now, this 1987 University of Delaware grad is planning to enter the Philadelphia corporate fitness market and hopes someday to do consulting and training internationally. Corcoran credits the University with more than just offering the courses that launched her career. She turned to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) on campus for support and practical advice when she was starting her company. Corcoran says it wasn't just the technical advice she received at the center from counselor Clinton Tymes that made the difference. It was also the creative problem-solving in a "low-pressure" atmosphere that helps you "open your mind up to some other ideas." Corcoran says she believes that no one should consider starting a business without first visiting the SBDC, and she is one of hundreds of small business owners who believe the center has played a critical role in their successes. G. Flores Jr., owner of Stripes Unlimited, recently wrote a letter of thanks for the role the SBDC played in his company's growth. Stripes Unlimited is a Dover, Del., company that maintains parking lots and driveways. What the owner found impressive was that Barbara Necarsulmer, one of the counselors, contacted the company with an offer to help. Each year, the Small Business Development Center counsels about 400 businesses. Another 2,000 people already in business or considering startups participate in center training programs. The typical business owner who seeks help already knows how to do what they do well, but is stymied by business aspects, says Linda Fayerweather, center director since 1989. Their problems range from accounting, to marketing, to employees. Sometimes, the business owner has a problem "making sense out of the paperwork nightmare," she says. The SBDC staff also gets involved in reading and evaluating business plans. It may be a matter of pointing out areas that don't read well, Fayerweather says, or calling the owner's attention to inconsistencies. Maybe the numbers don't add up or the facts conflict. "We also do sales projections and cash-flow planning-two areas that are critical to a business's success," she says. "A company can be profitable and fail. Businesses survive on cash." The SBDC staff, which also includes business analyst Tim Bristow, doesn't try to do everything. Often, the counselors tell a company when it's time to seek professional help from an accountant or lawyer, and they provide the business with referrals. The agency also acts as a facilitator for events that benefit large groups. For example, in November, the SBDC sponsored for the second time the Entrepreneurial Women's Expo, a highly successful event that drew about 400 women business owners. The expo featured workshops on hot business topics and talks by motivational speakers. Women entrepreneurs exhibited products and services and mainstream companies presented information and products designed to help the women run their businesses. Recently, the SBDC acted as sponsoring agent for a new group, "Inventors Mean Business." About 100 inventors get together through this group to find ways to get their products manufactured and to network with each other. On the campus, students at the University help small businesses solve problems through the Small Business Institute. The SBDC acts as matchmaker for this program, pairing accounting, finance and marketing students with small businesses that can use their help. Businesses must request participation in this program. Actual company names are not used when the case studies are presented. Students review descriptions of the various problems that need to be solved and select the one they wish to work on. Bit O'Scotland Bakery in Newark has nothing but praise for the center, after working with Bristow and two University students on a case study designed to help the business develop advertising strategies to target new customers. Bankers also appreciate the center. Recently, Robert A. Silber, vice president and Business Banking Division manager at Delaware Trust, wrote the center to praise the staff's work. "Prior to the inception of your group, we in the banking profession were limited in the resources available for clients and prospects in need of counseling and training. Today, your group's demonstrated capabilities provide that needed service. Continue the great work!" In addition to its counseling and workshop activities, the center supports research that will benefit its small business clientele. In 1990, the SBDC financed a study, "Opportunities for Small Business in Delaware," that showed, by zip code, which areas in the state have grown. Currently, the center is conducting for a study examining Wilmington's business market that, when completed, should outline problems and high points for companies operating in the city. The study will assess where city businesses find employees and will look at where residents spend their money. In addition, the Small Business Development Center publishes several newsletters and mails out thousands of flyers filled with information useful to fledgling companies. Fayerweather, who previously ran a day-care center, has a wide variety of information to help anyone starting a child-care center. There also are a number of books for college students looking for businesses they can run while they're in school. Companies will find just about any general business information they might need, ranging from a planning guide for a retail shop or construction firm to pamphlets that tell you how to apply for a patent or copyright. In a survey by the University's Bureau of Economic Research, covering center activities from June 1991 to May 1992, almost 50 percent of the 105 respondents rated the overall performance of the SBDC as "excellent" and 31 percent described the center's performance as "above average." Almost 75 percent of the clients said they might need SBDC's assistance in the future and 97 percent said they would recommend SBDC services to other current and potential business owners. Finally, the bureau's survey revealed that more than 95 percent of the clients received a fast response, in a week or less, and almost three-fourths were contacted within a few days. Perhaps the most telling response came from Susan Fetzoff of Elkton, Md., an illustrator who operates the "Inkredibles" cart at Christiana Mall near the Newark campus. Her "thank you" to Linda Fayerweather was a postcard illustrating a woman bobbing along with a school of fish and the caption, "Many thanks for helping me surface-or at least begin to!" -Marsha Ming