What's Going On: Cutting through the myriad programs to help businesses

It’s got to be a daunting task to start a business in Connecticut today considering the large number of organizations ready to help and the often-confusing overlaps among them.

So it was good to sit down at Tuesday’s free Entrepreneur & Small Business Symposium at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center, where a who’s who of leaders in these organizations spent a couple hours walking about 200 people through the many places they can go for advice, money and planning help. The talks were pretty general, though topics also focused in on the unique needs and interests of tribal entrepreneurs.

Some of the groups represented included the state Small Business Development Centers, the nonprofit business advisory service SCORE and the Connecticut section of the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE was represented by Margo Weitekamp, a former president of the eastern Connecticut chapter who still helps mentor local people starting and expanding businesses in the region.

“By five years, about 45 to 50 percent of small businesses will fail,” Weitekamp, a former marketing executive, told the crowd in a museum auditorium. “And the reason they fail is typically related to cash flow. A lot of people start a business and they do not realize that they're going to need to live for months before their business is actually going to take off.”

Weitekamp said the other big issue for small businesses, defined as those with fewer than 500 employees, is a lack of market research.

“They haven't looked to see what are the needs in the market,” she said. “They just decided, you know, they want to make chocolate chip cookies, but they haven't really figured out who's going to buy those and how are they going to be better or different than some other brand? So, there's a whole idea of understanding your market and ... having sufficient marketing.”

The good news: SCORE (at https://www.score.org/easternct) can help out with a business plan to address some of these startup woes, and they can connect new businesses with sources of funding. SCORE is a group of retired executives who volunteer time to help out new business people just starting out (or even ongoing organizations looking to expand), and the organization’s mentors are matched with entrepreneurs in a related field, to help avoid early mistakes.

And there are a lot of potential minefields that entrepreneurs today must traverse, including inflation, the tight labor market, the move to digital marketing, supply chain tie-ups and the desire among some people to work from home.

According to Weitekamp, there are only three ways to grow your business: by gaining more customers (through advertising, perhaps), getting current customers to spend more money (by upselling) and encouraging current customers to buy more frequently (by developing new products and services).

SCORE’s eastern Connecticut chapter spans all the way up to Thompson and over to Middletown, and along the coast to Stonington. It features 45 volunteers, and has won many awards for its work.

“The chapter is one of the highest ranked chapters in the country because we are able to attract a lot of really inspired, dedicated volunteers in this area,” Weitekamp said. “We have a lot of different types of talents within our group ... there's a lot of expertise on all different things.”

SCORE offers free one-on-one counseling sessions as well as low-cost or no-cost webinars. In addition, the SCORE website at www.score.org offers forms for financial and business planning as well as articles about a wide variety of business topics and pre--recorded training workshops.

“There's not one size fits of all,” Weitekamp said. “People are at very different points in their business journey.”

Some are just kicking around ideas, some have just started and are looking to gain traction, many are five years in and trying to look for new growth areas or trying to rebrand, while the last group are those transitioning toward a sale or retirement.

“Our vision is that every person has the right and should have the support they need to build their business and to grow their business,” Weitekamp concluded. “If our clients succeed, we succeed.”

For many aspiring entrepreneurs, SCORE will be a great place to start, but there are many other groups ready to help out, as explained during the symposium. The Women’s Business Development Council in New London, for instance, offers training courses and grants, while the U.S. Small Business Administration can help hook up entrepreneurs with loans.

There are also loan programs through the economic development agency sECTer and help with government contracts through the Small Business Development Center. And the Veterans Business Outreach Center provides special resources for military retirees.

“Whether you need to create a successful business plan, get expert advice on expanding your business or train your team, we make sure you're never far from the help you need,” said Sheri Cote, who represents the state district of the U.S. Small Business Administration as outreach and marketing specialist.

Steven Semaya, executive director of the Small Business Development Center headquartered at the University of Connecticut, said he has 16 specialists in such areas as startups, operations, capital and marketing ready to provide one-on-one counseling services with small business entrepreneurs.

He said the SBDC also has a variety of tools to help, for instance, with financial projections and matching up businesses with appropriate lending partners. The agency also can provide market analyses by geography to help determine local spending patterns, and can even aid entrepreneurs with improving their credit scores.

“We don’t do the work for you,” Semaya said, “but we will work with you.”

The SBDC generally works with entrepreneurs already in business or ready to launch. People still scratching the surface of a business idea will be referred to other resources, such as SCORE, he said. He added that SBDC also sponsors two to three workshops online each month, guiding businesses through “the entire business life cycle.”

According to SCORE’s Weitekamp, the 33 million businesses across America are the lifeblood of this country, and 99% of them are small enterprises.

“I say they rock, and they rock because they're so vital to our country and to our communities,” Weitekamp said. “They are a strong driver of growth across communities and country.”

Lee Howard is The Day’s business editor. To reach him, email l.howard@theday.com.