Startup Checklist
April 2010 
Welcome to Galveston County - SBDC
 
 

LuLu's Chocolate Spa

LuLus spa

Our first featured success this month is Lulu's Chocolate Spa,  managed  by Louise Benavidez (known as Lulu) , the owner of LuLu's The Salon & Spa in Galveston for 31 years .   LuLu is well-known as a leader, educator, entrepreneur and innovator in today's beauty industry.  With an intense dedication and a remarkable combination of creative and technical skills, LuLu has inspired thousands of her fellow professionals.   The brand new Chocolate Spa located at the Diamond Condominiums utilizes the natural elements of nature combined with cutting edge treatment techniques to provide a heightened level of relaxation, serenity and wellness.

 

The spa will celebrate its official Grand Opening soon at its luxurious new space overlooking the Gulf of Mexico and the beautiful landscaping of the Diamond Condonminiums.   

 

It features two hair stations, and provides all the services of a full service spa, including massage.  The spa will also retail its delicious spa products, many of which are scented with the delightful fragrance of warm chocolate.  The spa will be a perfect venue for bridal parties and groups, and would make a great gift for someone who would enjoy pampering.

 

A successful spa requires more than just a beautiful setting.  Its managers worked diligently with their SBDC consultant Carolann Peters to prepare for a smooth opening.  The business plan, personnel plan and growth plan were reviewed.  Systems and procedures were set in place so that every customer would be assured of a quality experience.  It requires all the same attention to accounting and cost control, marketing, HR, risk management, and communication as every other business requires.   Congratulations to Lulu's Chocolate Spa!  You can contact the spa at 409-740-2462 for an appointment.  

   

 

A Real Recovery Story

  
Susan and Maryanne

This month we're also celebrating the success of Pat's Tires and Demolition on the Bolivar Peninsula!  The photo shows Maryanne Rogers and SBDC counselor Susan Moore comparing notes just a few minutes after they received the news that Pat's won a major demolition bid for the County.

 

Hurricane Ike demolished $1.5 million worth of Pat's inventory, tools, and buildings in September of 2008.  Since that moment 18 months ago, owners Maryanne and Pat Rogers have repeatedly demonstrated their determination to recover and succeed.   

 

Utilizing their own hard work and savings, they began by purchasing equipment to help neighbors clear debris in late 2008.  In 2009, they built two buildings and purchased new equipment to restart their tire sales and auto services business.  They have re-hired three employees, and though business was very slow at first, they are gradually rebuilding the once-thriving enterprise.

 

Maryanne also took on a leadership role with the Bolivar Blueprint, and founded the Bolivar Small Business Coalition to foster small business growth on the peninsula.  To help sustain her own business, Maryanne learned to do government bid packages, with a little help on the financial statements from her SBDC counselor, Susan Moore.  On March 31 Maryanne was notified at the County Commissioners' Meeting that Pat's has won the bid for demolition of 507 homes that were too severely damaged to repair.  This contract will not only sustain Pat's through the recovery period, but her dedication to helping others on Bolivar will ensure that any available jobs or sub-contracts resulting from this  contract will go to local firms and individuals.  Congratulations Maryanne and Pat!  

GREAT NEW CLASSES

Our focus is your success.  That's why we've created a great new "Passport to Success"  program to help you take part in workshops, focus groups and special events that will keep you on target to grow and profit, even during trying times.  The Passport offers discounted pricing and is completely customizable, allowing you to select just the right classes for you.  Check in with one of our staff to find out exactly which package may be right for you.

 

We are also is pleased to announce a revised and expanded format for Quick Books classes.  The new format divides the material into three separate sessions, to allow for additional time and detail: Quick Books 1; Quick Books 2; and Quick Books Payroll.  All classes will include hands-on learning in our computer center and plenty of time for questions.   The instructor will be Cheryl Moon, a certified Quick Books instructor and owner of QuickBooks by Design.

 

Three new classes on internet marketing will be offered during the next quarter:  Logo Design, which will be taught by Chad Neth, who will share his expertise and answer your questions regarding logo design and the look of your web pages.  Internet Marketing will be taught by Carl Loop, owner of Global Business Builders.  Carl will share his knowledge of applied internet marketing and search engine placement.   Amy Tinsley from Constant Contact will offer a class on how to use email marketing effectively, to promote your business.

 

OPENING OF NORTH COUNTY OFFICE

 COM logo

The Galveston county Small business Development center has opened a satellite office in League City for the convenience of its North County clients. The facility is inside the College of the Mainland North County Learning Center.

 

Carolann Peters, a GCSBDC consultant, will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Wednesday to assist anyone who wants to start a new business or expand an existing one.  COM is providing the space so the business center can better serve businesses located in Kemah, the NASA area, Dickinson, Friendswood, Webster, Santa Fe and northern League City.  For appointments in North County, please call our regular number, 409-933-1414.

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Director's CornerSusan at LM Rotary

This month I had the opportunity to make a brief presentation to the Santa Fe Chamber and the La Marque Rotary, on "Growing and Thriving in an Uncertain Economy."  I thought I would share some of these thoughts with you, the readers of our e-news.

If I were to ask most businesses if they want to grow their business, what thoughts do you think go through their minds?  What if I were to ask in a different way, "How would you like to grow your profit and at the same time work less."

You might be thinking, "How am I going to do that!"

In working with small businesses around the country, small business consultants know, universally, that the reason business owners feel that way is not due to the volume of work that the business produces.  It is due to the type of work that they are doing.

To change that, an owner or manager may have to nudge himself out of their present comfort zone and make changes to the types of activities that make up each workday.  Not all of them, but gradually, some of them.

To grow your profit and at the same time work less, you need a plan.  Not just any plan, but a brilliant, well researched and thought-out systematic, strategic plan.  A strategic plan consists of several components.  Your business needs to work as a whole system that touches on

your target market's  definition and needs,

how your products and services are defined to meet those needs,

how your internal production system assigns accountabilities and details job descriptions.

how your daily bookkeeping keeps you informed with pertinent data to make timely decisions

how you communicate your strategy to employees and motivate them to do the work

how your ensure quality control at every point of relationship interaction, ensures satisfied customers.

You need an air-tight system; a strategic plan that gets you what you want. 

But that's just part of the story.  Once you have a strategic plan, you need to put into place all of the measures to execute the plan.  How do you accomplish that?  You accomplish that by doing the same thing I mentioned before:  gradually change the types of activities that make up your workday.  So what does that mean?

Brilliant business consultant, trainer, and author Michael Gerber who wrote the book, The E-Myth Revisited, (which I highly recommend to any business) has defined three different types of business personalities:  The Technician, The Manager, and The Entrepreneur. 

The Technician is a highly skilled worker.  He or she has expertise in something, whether it is closing a sale, soldering fine wires, building houses or cooking.  They work very much in the present.  Doing what's right at hand.

The Manager is skilled at analysis.  He or she looks at data and sees the patterns.  They write job descriptions, procedures, budgets and profit analysis.  They work with the data from the past and use it to develop meaning that can improve the business.

The Entrepreneur is a visionary, preferring to think about the future, designing systems, products, services and procedures purely from his or her ideals.  Most people who think about who it is that starts new small businesses think that it is this personality.

If you have a business that is older than a year, and you do not have any employees or contractors that you hire on a regular basis, you are working as a technician.   In order to work less and make more profit, you have to make a gradual change from working as a Technician to working as an Entrepreneur.  And you need to strengthen the Manager personality in you as well.

It is the Entrepreneur who has the ability to write a strategic plan.  The Technician will provide a lot of information to ensure your internal production system works well enough to satisfy your customers.  The entrepreneur can take this information, research the marketplace, and find ways to make current or new products and services fill real needs.

Once the Entrepreneur has designed the strategic plan, the Manager and the Technician will help him or her to create an execution strategy to ensure the needs of all the stakeholders are fulfilled. 

You cannot expect to grow, thrive, or even survive in a down economy unless you have these two things:  An airtight Strategic Plan and Laser-Sharp Plan Execution.  And to accomplish this, you need to be more Entrepreneur and Manager than Technician.   In reality, all business owners are some blend of the three of these personality types. 

What kind of strategic plan do you need?  Brilliant, well-researched and well-thought-out. 

What kind of plan execution do you need?  Brilliant.  Laser-sharp. 

BUT

You don't have to do all of this by yourself!  You have a support team, and that is the Small Business Development Center.  We have a staff of excellent, experienced consultants and trainers who understand your issues with customers, time, worry and cash flow.  We understand what burn-out means.  And it's our job to help you succeed.  Not to just survive, but to thrive.

Our consulting is totally free of charge.  Our classes are very low cost.  We want you to let others know, if they are trying to start or grow a business, we want to help them.

AND, this year we have created more tools, more classes, and more programs that you can customize to suit your needs.  So, we hope you will put us to work to help you grow and profit.  Next time you are stopped or confronted by a challenge, please remember us, and pick up the phone.

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Issue: 7
In This Issue
LuLu's Chocolate Spa
A Real Recovery Story
Great New Classes
North County Office
Director's Corner
Join Our Mailing List
Jodi Young
Galveston County - SBDC
409-933-1414