2015 small business resource guide

PRESENTED BY

2015 Small Business Resource Guide | 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS03 | These resources will keep your doors open Tom Pierson, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

05 | Your blueprint to success: Drafting a business plan SCORE Tacoma volunteers

06 | Finding funding for your business Linda Jadwin

09 | SBA guaranteed loans in a nutshell The U.S Small Business Administration

10 | Position your business for government contracts Stephanie Scott, PTAC, Thurston EDC

12 | Resources for veteran entrepreneurship Greg Mowat & Terrance Hodge, Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber

13 | Things you need to know while you grow Annette Roth, Thurston Economic Development Council

14 | The ACA: What your business needs to know Chris Free, Rapport Benefits Group

15 | Do’s and don’ts: Marketing your small business Rusty George, Rusty George Creative

16 | Planning early for business succession Sam Armour, Armour Vickerman PLLC

As we depart the dark days of the Great Recession, we are

entering a new economy. This econo-my does not look like economies in the past after other recessions or bubble bursts.

This economy is going to make us think and act differently, and small business is the heart of innovation, entrepreneurial spirit, startups and job growth. When you think about it, every company was once a small business: Amazon, Costco, Microsoft, State Farm, Starbucks — the list goes on.

Whether in retail, cybersecurity or coffee, new businesses are created dai-ly. Sixty-three percent of all job growth comes from these small businesses!

We need to be looking at reinvent-ing ourselves as business owners, and always looking at consistently improv-ing the experience. A business owner or leader in an organization needs to ask themselves — and everyone else who works in the organization — a

very important ques-

tion every day: “What is the real value that we are providing to our clients that allows us to charge the price we are asking when people call upon us to serve them?”

Starting a business can be done quicker and cheaper in the United States than anywhere else but keeping the doors open is the hard part. While 70 percent of new businesses are still in business two years later, only 50 per-cent of businesses are in business after five years. So keeping the doors open is critical, and it is why we need great resources for all our small businesses. Let me share a few to get you started:

Chambers of Commerce

Chambers of Commerce are a great place to start. Most chambers have a

common core competency of provid-ing networking and referrals, which is a great way to get into a new network. Recently, our Chamber found through a survey that the top five topics for small businesses are leadership de-velopment, social media, marketing, networking strategies and business growth strategies. All of these point to topics that would be made available through our professional education series.

Small Business Saturday

Small Business Saturday is an Amer-ican shopping holiday held on the Saturday after Thanksgiving during one of the busiest shopping periods of the year. First observed on November 27, 2010, it is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which fea-ture big box retail and e-commerce stores, respectively. By contrast, Small Business Saturday encourages holiday shoppers to patronize brick and mor-tar businesses that are small and local. This year, “Small Business Saturday” is on November 29, 2014.

Spaceworks Tacoma

For aspiring creative entrepreneurs, this program connects artistic startups to no- or low-cost temporary space available and includes training. This program has an amazing 80 percent success rate! More program informa-tion can be found on spaceworksta-coma.com.

There are many organizations in our community who are committed in helping our small business grow jobs locally, I highly encourage you to take advantage of these resources, who are ready and willing to help you be a suc-cess in our local economy!


These resources will help keep your doors openBUSINESS RESOURCES

By Tom Pierson

Executive DirectorTacoma-Pierce CountyChamber of Commerce

“We need to be looking at re-inventing ourselves as business owners, and always looking at consistently improving the experience.

- Tom Pierson ”

Your business plan is a cru-cial outline for your com-

pany’s success. A good business plan will project ahead some three to five years, with careful consider-ation as to how the company aims to increase revenues.

Why a business plan is

important

The real value of creating a business plan is in the process of researching and thinking about your business in an organized way. Planning helps you to think things through, research the market, and examine your ideas critically.

To start, a business plan tem-plate suitable for all types of busi-nesses is available as a Word tem-plate at www.SCORE.org. It consists of a narrative and several financial worksheets.

The body of the business plan contains questions divided into several sections. It also has tips for fine-tuning your plan to make an effective presentation to investors or bankers.

If this is why you’re creating your plan (and if it is, see ‘Finding fund-ing for your business’ on page 6 of this guide), pay particular attention to your writing style. You will be judged by the quality and appear-ance of your work, as well as by your ideas. When you are finished writing your first draft, you’ll have a collection of small essays on the various topics of your business plan.

It typically takes several weeks to complete a good plan. Most of that time is spent in research and

re-thinking your ideas and as-sumptions. That’s the value of the process, so make time to do the job properly. Those who do never re-gret the effort. Be sure to keep de-tailed notes on your sources of in-formation and on the assumptions underlying your financial data.

From business planning to growth planning

Regular business plan reviews are essential once your small busi-ness is up and running. It’s always helpful to revisit and revise your projections, and make sure the fac-tors behind them remain accurate.

As your business evolves, there will be more influences on what you do and the customers you serve, as well as new set of unknowns sur-rounding the directions in which you want to expand. Assuming things will work out is riskier now because you have much more in-vested in the business.

It is helpful to regularly engage in some strategic planning and define near- and long-term objectives, the strategy and tactics by which you’ll pursue them, and metrics for gaug-ing your progress. The result is a growth plan, which will provide a road map for the future and posi-tion you for new opportunities.

Start by comparing the current status of your business with your original intent. Are you where you

intended to be, or have you modi-fied your mission? What are current strengths, and what areas could be improved upon? Any glaring prob-lems or shortcomings should be addressed as quickly as possible.

Also, take a comprehensive look at the state of your market, and what is shaping it. Your original expectations may be on target, or there may be emerging trends that will radically alter your industry. Needs and issues facing your exist-ing and target customers should also be examined.

With that knowledge, project three years out, and set objec-tives to keep your business in step with these trends. What resources will be needed? Where can they be found (for example, new staff, training, upgraded equipment and facilities)? What costs are involved? What kind of learning curve may be required? Develop an action plan for each one with milestones to assess your progress.

Your growth plan, like your busi-ness plan, is a guide to be adapted as conditions change. You may find yourself ahead of schedule, or dealing with unforeseen factors that require a schedule revision or complete overhaul. But your busi-ness can only benefit, as there’s no such thing as too much planning.

Two helpful books on small busi-ness growth planning include The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field by Mike Michalowicz, and Strategic Planning: Fundamentals for Small Business by Gary May. Both are widely available in book-stores and via online retailers.

4 | 2015 Small Business Resource Guide

BUSINESS PLANNING

By SCORE Volunteers

Your blueprint to success: Drafting a business plan


SCORE is a nonprofit organization of more than 12,000 volunteers who provide free, confidential business mentoring and training workshops to small business owners. Some 20 Tacoma SCORE chapter members of-fer free one on one counseling for starting and growing successful small businesses and nonprofits.

SCORE mentors are there for the life of a small business; from creating and evaluating business plans to purchasing equipment, leasing real estate, franchis-ing, even selling and exiting. Last year, 33% of SCORE clients were in the Growth phase of business, 38% were in the For-mation phase of business, and 29% were in the Start-Up phase of business.

By logging on to www.SCORE.org, entrepreneurs can easily:

• Request a face-to-face local men-toring session;

• Request an email mentor any-where in the country;

• Find a local chapter or workshop;

• Download thousands of free tem-plates and tools;

• And register for free live webinars and listen to recorded webinars.

Download the business plan tem-plate to draft your plan. Then go to www.Tacoma.SCORE.org to find a lo-cal mentor to review and refine your plan.

Schedule a personal appointment at one of four area business centers by calling:

• Tacoma: 855-685-0166 – located at Bates Technical College – Room M-123B, 1101 S. Yakima Ave. Taco-ma, WA 98405.

• Lacey: 360-754-6320 -- Thurston Economic Development Coun-cil, 665 Woodland Square Loop #201 Lacey, WA 98503.

• Gig Harbor: 253-851-6865 -- Gig Harbor Chamber of Commerce 3125 Judson St. Gig Harbor, WA 98335.

• Lakewood: 253-582-9400 -- Lake-wood Chamber of Commerce 6310 Mt. Tacoma Dr. SW – Suite B Lake-wood, WA 98499.

Are you getting the ?

CURRENTBUSINESS

EVERYDAYNEWS

Stay up to date with

South Sound business news!

Sign up today at,www.BusinessExaminer.com/blog

As a reader of this FREE email you get breaking business news each business day afternoon delivered

right to your email inbox.

WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED.

More resources: The Small Busi-ness Administration (which SCORE is not affiliated with) has a section on its website (http://www.sba.gov/writing-business-plan) that offers comprehensive tips on how to write and research for your busi-ness plan.

Finding funding for your business

One of the hardest ques-tions for a business to

answer is the source of funding to launch or grow the business.

Gone are the days of grants, no matter what others may say. Now, the question is to pursue equity, debt or social financing — and how to best prepare? The best prepara-tion for any business is to complete a business plan, know the industry and the market potential of your en-deavor.

Equity financing can be in dif-ferent forms: venture capital, angel investing or your own equity invest-ment. Venture capital requires the owner to give up a portion of that ownership in order to secure mon-ies. Angel investors — individuals who provides capital for business startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership eq-uity — may not want to own part of the business but still expect a better than average return on their invest-ment.

Will you, as the owner, be ready to give up influence over your business, at lease, or partial control to obtain the next level for your business? Do you think the business will grow to point that you can promise a return on the money invested in you? Do you see the company going public and offering stock? Your business entity will also determine if this is a viable option for your business. You need to be prepared to answer ques-tions about the industry, market share, product placement and barri-ers that will slow growth.

Investors want a business that is scalable; you can begin small, but need accelerated growth potential. The return on their investment may

be paid as the business grows and achieves profitability.

This is crucial when planning your business. The plan will need to fully explain how the business will grow with the cash infusion. Most inves-tors will want to know what is the seed or beginning cash need, and then what monies will be needed to take the business to the next level.

Will you need rounds of investing or just one infusion? Be prepared to explain exactly how the money will be used. You will have to know when you will add employees, how much of the money you have put into the business that needs to be repaid (this will never be 100 percent), equipment, facilities and so forth.

Most investors will also want to read your executive agreement to ensure there is an exit strategy if one principal decides to remove them-selves from the business, plus an em-ployment agreement to ensure the company has the proper guidelines to lessen the chance of being sued by a disgruntled employee.

Investors will also want a cash flow projection and an assumptions page to state how you have obtained the projected numbers. The cash flow needs to make sense to an investor. If the expenses and income is the same for each month, the business has not done enough research. It is hard to think of any business that does not have fluctuations. If you are planning on a micro-business (five

employees or less involved) and do not want to add locations, then you will be looking towards debt financ-ing.

Debt financing means lenders (banks and some credit unions) of-fering a sum of money now, to be re-paid with regular principal and inter-est or monthly payments. Credit card financing falls into this category as well, and may be a logical tool to use if needed to just jump start a busi-ness for a lower sum than banks are willing to lend. If you have a signed contract in hand and need a very short term lending, this is not a bad option. Consider credit card rates for longer term monies and usually it will make more sense to obtain a lower interest rate bank loan.

Banks and credit unions have dif-ferent loan programs available. The business owner needs to establish a rapport with their bank as they plan for debt. It is always best to start with the bank that you do your personal banking with and inquire about their business lending program. Consider the lender to be part of your team. You will need to find a banker who you feel comfortable sharing both personal and business financial in-formation.

There are also nonprofit commu-nity-based lending institutions as well that offer debt financing. These usually offer loans to start-ups, lower amounts and higher interest rates because of the risk. Often times they can work with your bank to co-loan monies.

Debt financing will require a busi-ness plan and cash flow as well. Also, be prepared to submit three years of both personal and business tax returns (if available), balance sheets

2015 Small Business Resource Guide | 76 | 2015 Small Business Resource Guide

FUNDING

By Linda Jadwin

Former PresidentNorthwest Business &Community Development


What a lender looks for when reviewing a loan request: how to prepareNew Business

1 Describe in detail the type of business to be estab-lished.

2 Describe your experience and management creden-tials.

3 Prepare a detailed estimate of how much capital will be needed to start. State how much you have and how much you will need to borrow.

4 Prepare a current personal financial statement, listing all personal assets and liabilities.

5 Prepare a month-by-month projection of revenues, expenses and profit for the first twelve months. Also do a companion cash flow projection for the same period. Explain your major assumptions in an accompa-nying narrative.

6 List the collateral to be offered as security for the loan, with estimates of the market value of each item.

7 Take this material to your banker. If the bank wants an SBA guaranty for your loan, they will make application to us. You deal with the bank; the bank deals with SBA.

Established Business

1 Current business financial information: Prepare a current balance sheet and an income (profit and loss) statement for current year up to the date of the balance sheet.

2 Historical business financial information: Prepare in-come statements and balance sheets for the past three full years. Do not include personal items on the state-ments. Reconcile the equity balances between each year.

3 Prepare a month-by-month projection of revenues, expenses and profits for the next twelve months. Also do a companion cash flow projection for the same pe-riod. Explain your major assumptions in an accompany-ing narrative.

4 Prepare a current personal financial statement for each owner, partner, or stockholder owning at least 20% of the business.

5 List the collateral to be offered as security for the loan, with estimates of the market value of each item.

6 State the amount and intended uses of the loan.

7 Take this material to your banker. If the bank wants an SBA guaranty for your loan, they will make application to us. You deal with the bank; the bank deals with SBA.

and income statements. Be ready to discuss your plans with the banker and be able to answer any questions posed. The business plan should re-flect the cash flow. Be prepared to have your own money to invest, most financial institutions want to see be-tween 20-30% of the loan amount as your own equity, or down payment. You will need to know exactly what you will be spending the loan money on so include quotes. Remember to obtain enough financing so you can work on your business and not worry about how you will pay the rent.

Business owners need to show a good credit score (over 675), expe-rience in running a business in the industry, cash flow that generates

enough income to pay back the loan, and have assets available to use as collateral to secure the loan.

The above can also be a bar-rier to business owners obtaining capital. A newer movement has be-gun, and it is social capital. It has taken on a few forms: Kickstarter, Etsy, Kivazip to name a few. Locally, Community Sourced Capital and In-vest Next Door have had successful campaigns. Social funding requires that you provide some of the lend-ers yourself. Some platforms require you to offer product for different lev-els of contribution. Other platforms want you to bring investors who are willing to buy into your business for a lower amount. You would combine

many contributors into a lump sum. This method will still require the owner to have a business plan as well as the means to pay back the invest-ment either with product or monies. It usually requires less financials and to be in business at least a year.

No matter the form of financing, every business should have a plan-ning document and financial pro-jections remember all of the above want to see that you as the business owner has provided capital to the business. A way to show what has been done and what monies are needed is a source and use of funds that show what an infusion of mon-ey will do for the business.

Source: Small Business Administration Fact Sheet


Now located in Downtown Olympia.

we’re a serious bunch.

Member SBA Preferred Lender Equal Housing Lender

i

Matilda

EdwardHerb

Your customersLOOK FORTHE SEAL.

bbb.org

Become BBB Accredited today!go.bbb.org/akorww-applytoday scan me

BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU®

SBA guaranteed loans in a nutshell

If you’re planning to start a business or expand an existing business, you

might need financing help. The U.S. Small Business Administration participates in a number of loan programs designed for business owners who may have trouble qualifying for a traditional bank loan.

To start the process, you should visit a local bank or lending institution that participates in SBA programs. SBA loan applications are structured to meet SBA requirements, so that the loan is eligible for an SBA guarantee. This guarantee rep-resents the portion of the loan that SBA will repay to the lender if you default on your loan payments.

The SBA Loan Application Checklist provides a listing of forms and docu-ments you and your lender will need to create a loan package to submit to SBA. That checklist is available online at www.sba.gov.

Loans for starting and expanding businesses

Basic 7(a) Loan Program – Gives 7(a) loans to eligible borrowers for starting, ac-quiring and expanding a small business. This type of loan is the most basic and the most used within SBA’s business loan pro-grams. Borrowers must apply through a participating lender institution.

Certified Development Company (CDC) 504 Loan Program – Provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings.

Microloan Program – Offers very small loans to startup, newly established or growing small businesses. SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community-based lenders which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts up to a maximum of $50,000. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and

all credit decisions are made on the local level.

Export assistance loans

Export Express – Provides exporters and lenders with a streamlined method of obtaining financing for loans and lines of credit up to $500,000. Lenders use their own credit decision process and loan doc-umentation; exporters get access to their funds faster. SBA provides an expedited eligibility review with a response in less than 24 hours.

Export Working Capital – Offers loans targeted at businesses that are able to generate export sales but need addi-tional working capital to support these opportunities.

International Trade Loans – Gives term loans that are designed for business-es that plan to start/continue exporting or those that that have been adversely af-fected by competition from imports. The proceeds of the loan must enable the bor-rower to be in a better position to com-pete.

CAPLines – Help small businesses meet their short-term and cyclical work-ing-capital needs through the SBA um-brella program called CAPLines.

Connect locally at www.sba.gov/wa

Learn more – View calendar listings for upcoming SBA Loan Briefings, includ-ing recurring briefings 12 to 1 p.m. on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month.

Find a SBA Lender – Find a list of SBA lenders in Washington state or search for a SBA lender by ZIP code

Find a Microlender or Alternative Lender – Review a list of microlenders and alternative lenders listed on pages 17 and 18 in the SBA Seattle District Office Resource Guide.2015 Small Business Resource Guide | 98 | 2015 Small Business Resource Guide

FUNDING

By Melanie NortonEconomic Development Specialist, SBA

SBA Lending Success Story: Exeltech in Lacey

After moving to Washington from India, Santosh Kuruvilla wanted to be “more than a dot in a large corpora-

tion” when he bought and began to run Exeltech in 1998.

His business grew from its initial forte of bridge design and expanded into bigger transportation projects. By 2009, Exeltech’s Lacey office maxed out their space, and Kuruvilla sought a way to increase his company’s assets. That’s when his banker encouraged him to look at purchasing office space.

Kuruvilla used the SBA 504 Loan Program to purchase a building and renovate the space. “Going into the re-cession, having ownership of the build-ing really helped us,” he said.

As Exeltech obtained more work in the Seattle area, office space reached capacity in the new office too. So Ku-ruvilla worked to obtain another SBA 504 guaranteed loan to purchase and renovate more space.

“My focus remains fixed on the cli-ents who have projects that allow us to do innovative, cool stuff, and on the people I hire,” he said. “I don’t want to grow so big I don’t know the names of people and their families. If I continue to focus on the people and relationships, the growth and profits will follow.”


Position your business for government contracts

A significant amount of fed-eral contract spending

occurs in Washington state, with total awards for performance in the state during fiscal year 2012 total-ing over $13 billion. This represents great opportunities for Washington firms that understand the govern-ment marketplace and how to po-sition themselves to compete for these contracts. The Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center recommends the following steps to begin exploring the fed-eral marketplace.

Conduct market research

A goal to “sell to government” is typically too broad. Determine which agencies purchase your product or services, who they are currently buying from, and when and how they buy using resources like www.usaspending.gov and the Federal Procurement Data System. Also consider sub-contracting, which can be a great option for small businesses to get involved in the federal marketplace. Develop a leads list of agencies or prime con-tractors to pursue business oppor-tunities with.

Evaluate your competitive ad-vantages

There are provisions in the feder-al marketplace designed to increase contracting and sub-contracting opportunities for small businesses as well as women owned, veteran and service-disabled veteran, mi-nority owned, and firms located in some economically distressed ar-eas. Visit www.sba.gov and www.vetbiz.gov for more information about certification processes.

Register to sell

Businesses must be registered in the System for Award Manage-ment (www.sam.gov) in order to be awarded a contract with a federal agency and to be paid for work per-formed. Once registered, your firm will also have a profile in a search-able database used by government buyers and prime contractors to find small businesses. Registration is free; beware of firms charging to complete your registration for you.

Market your firm

Utilize marketing materials tar-geted toward your federal govern-ment buyers. Generally accepted format is a one page capability statement or line card that includes your DUNS number, CAGE code (Assigned after registering in SAM), North American Industry Classifica-tion Codes (NAICS), small business or other socioeconomic status, and information about your firm’s capa-bilities, technical expertise, and ex-perience. Seek out opportunities to meet and build relationships with government end users, buyers, small business representatives and large prime contractors.

Watch for opportunities

All federal opportunities over $25,000 are posted on the Fed-eral Business Opportunities site at www.fbo.gov. The site includes fed-eral procurement forecasts and the

option to create a free account and have bid opportunities emailed di-rectly to you. You’ll also find a wide array of opportunities for firms selling simple goods and services on www.fedbid.com, a reverse auction site used by many federal buyers, including Joint Base Lewis McChord. Additional sites and pro-curement vehicles are utilized by federal government buyers, but these are good starting points.

Contact your PTAC

The Washington Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC), a program of the Thurston Eco-nomic Development Council, pro-vides no-cost government con-tracting technical assistance. PTAC counselors across the state work one-on one with business owners and assist them with navigating government registrations, certifica-tions, contract bidding, invoicing processes and much more. Find the PTAC office nearest you at www.washingtonptac.org.

By Stephanie ScottWashington Procurement Technical Assistance Center, Thurston EDC

GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING

Using online resources to do business with JBLM

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is one of the South Sound’s largest sources of government contracts for local businesses. Shrewd entrepreneurs will be able to use their online re-sources wisely to position their businesses for contract pro-curement with the base.

1. Sources Sought Notices

Although Sources Sought aren’t actual bid or proposal


Mobile & DigitalEditions

Bi-WeeklyPrint Edition

Daily Biz BriefsDELIVERED VIA EMAIL

800.540.8322 | 253.404.0891 www.BusinessExaminer.com

WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED

solicitations, they can still be a powerful tool for your business. Agencies post these notices on www.FBO.gov to conduct market research and identify possible sources for a project, including vendors who will help them meet their small business and socioeco-nomic goals. We frequently hear from federal contracting officers frustrated with the lack of small business response to these notic-es—they need to hear from you to confirm that there are highly ca-pable small businesses available to meet their needs.

We recommend monitoring for Sources Sought notices and responding if they fit your firm. Responding requires an invest-ment of your time, but can po-tentially influence how a federal agency “packages” any eventual solicitation and can even lead to a set-aside (limiting competition to

only a few firms in your small busi-ness category) or a sole-source award (if your capabilities and ex-pertise are unmatched by others).

Follow the instructions in the Sources Sought notice exactly, proof-read, ensure that you are putting your best foot forward and respond by the deadline. And be sure to watch www.fbo.gov for the eventual bid or proposal so-licitation when they are ready to buy!

2. Fedbid.com

Nearly 90 percent of Joint Base Lewis McChord buys for goods and simple services under $150,000 occur through Fedbid.com, a reverse auction site uti-lized by JBLM and many other fed-eral agencies.

When bidding through Fedbid,

the lowest qualified bidder wins. It is free to vendors, with the “Fed-Bid fee” incurred by the govern-ment customer.

To access the site, firms must first register in the System for Award Management (SAM, www.sam.gov) to be eligible to win a federal contract. Next, register your company on www.fedbid.com. Register well in advance of a buy, as it can take five days for your SAM registration to process and 24-48 hours for your FedBid registration to become active.

Through Fedbid, you can view and bid on opportunities as well as set up a search filter to email buys that fit your business. It is im-portant to monitor these emails or the site frequently, as buy hap-pen quickly and you may miss an opportunity to bid. Contact Wash-ington PTAC for help!

Resources for veteran entrepreneurship

Today’s veterans have large-ly mastered the basics of

the complex technological world. They are mature, understand mis-sion, most have been introduced to advanced business techniques such as lean management, statis-tical process control, continuous improvement, and after action re-view process. In short, it is no won-der that beterans have a higher success rate in building successful businesses.

As a veteran, you understand via your experience that success has numerous ingredients and that it grows from having a clear mission, a plan to achieve that mission, and resources to execute the plan.

The story of Stewart and Son and other veteran-owned busi-ness owners and their successes are emblematic of the “veteran advantage“ in the business arena. Their military training and experi-ence are a “leg up” when it comes to the challenges of starting and running a business venture. Mis-sion, planning and execution with experience in strategy, teamwork, focus, meeting deadlines, custom-er/stakeholder relationships and “learned learning” are the ingredi-ents for a productive and profitable business.

Resources for veterans

Chambers of Commerce – Use these groups for networking, busi-ness events, general business in-formation, business advocacy, business education, professional services. The Tacoma-Pierce Coun-ty Chamber, specifically, has a Vet-eran & Business Service in part-nership with nonprofit Workforce Central that helps entrepreneurs develop veterans hiring programs and works with veteran assistance Programs that support veterans in transition.

Goodwill of the Rainier and Olympic Regions Veteran Services – Employment and entrepreneurial support/counselling, benefit con-nections, general assistance.

Pacific Mountain WDC/Work-

force Central – These offer infor-mation on the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s program, the Camo2Commerce program for seamless transition from military to civilian employ-ment, and resources on self-em-ployment preparation.

Rally Point/6 – A one-stop ser-vices for Veterans, separating ser-vice members, active-duty service members, military spouses, and Guard & Reserve members for em-ployment, entrepreneurship, VBA benefits, community connections.

Small Business Administration/Vetbiz – Comprehensive business resource information, financing info and support, networking & education.

University of Washington Taco-ma/Veterans Incubator for Better Entrepreneurship (VIBE)– Start-up support/networking for veterans attending the university.

The various veteran service or-ganizations available within the South Sound business community also play a great role in helping ac-complish the mission of successful veteran transitions.

Camo2Commerce

Camo2Commerce is about pro-viding opportunities for career development and jobs to service members transitioning out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord into civilian life in western Washington. Camo-2Commerce (C2C) offers a number of customized services to transi-tioning service members, includ-ing one-on-one career coaching, job placement services, short-term


With a 31 percent average growth in sales every quarter since opening in 2012, Army veteran Wade Stewart began with one important goal in mind: creating a customer-centric niche for computer, network and server support services for small businesses.

Stewart has used the Tacoma Chamber’s Veteran & Business Service well, connecting with veteran transition programs as he grows his staff.

Stewart’s use of several at-tributes of military experience (careful planning, commitment to professionalism, focus on mission) in business illustrate the veteran advantage for en-trepreneurial success.

VETERAN RESOURCES

By Greg Mowat &Terrence Hodge

Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber of Commerce

See VETERANS, page 18

Veteran Entrepreneurship Success Story: Stewart & Son Computer Services

Things to know while you growScaling up your business: Transitioning from startup mode to capturing the market

The challenges facing the entrepreneur in scale

up mode – taking their business to the next level of growth - are vastly different than the chal-lenges they face during start up. Often, startups are run by people who wear multiple hats and who make all or most of the decisions, from productions schedules to advertising placement. As they grow, however, many businesses experience growing pains as the role of the principal(s) changes from jack-of-all-trades to learning how to manage others and en-sure market growth.

In order to ensure success dur-ing this critical phase of business development, entrepreneurs must approach the management of their company from a different perspective than when in start-up phase. Growing a business will change the way it functions, and it is important to ensure the com-pany has the tools and resources it needs to grow successfully. The following are questions you should ask yourself when consid-ering growing your company:

Do I have good managerial and procedural systems in place?

Many startups don’t have any formal procedural systems in place because the small number of employees generally share in-formation and can discuss and solve issues as they arise. As a business expands, however, it is critical to have procedural sys-

tems in place – such as chain-of-command, customer intake, and production – so that busi-ness runs smoothly and everyone working for the company under-stands expectations and the di-rection of the company.

Are my financial systems in good order?

Ensuring that your accounting system is in good order will go a long way toward helping your company ease through the scale up phase. Learning how to read and understand a profit and loss sheet, as well as cash flow and other financial statements, will help you determine if you need to change your pricing structure, if you should access outside capi-tal, know which business lines are profitable or not, and more.

Do I really understand my target market?

While it is essential to con-tinually innovate and refine your product or service, it is equally critical to identify and under-stand the market you are trying to reach. What do they need, and can my product or service provide it? How can I keep connected to

and respond to customers as the business grows? Taking the time to invest in adequately marketing your company and understand how your customers respond to your communication efforts will pay off in increased revenue and market share in the future.

Do I have the right people in place to help the company grow?

Often, bottlenecks of delega-tion and time management is-sues arise as startups experience expansion. Successful entrepre-neurs recognize that in order to grow, they must delegate tasks to other employees, freeing them-selves up to create the vision for the company. It is necessary to address human resource issues and procedures so that you can build the right team to succeed. Putting into place systems that address interviewing, hiring and supervising new staff will ensure that you avoid costly hiring mis-takes.

Developing a company’s capa-bilities during its scale-up phase is key to its long-term growth, success and profitability. The Thurston Eco-nomic Development Council’s Busi-ness Resource Center (BRC) provides counseling, training, mentoring and workshops to businesses in all stag-es of development. For more info, visit http://www.thurstonedc.com.


BUSINESS UPSCALING

By Annette RothThurston Economic Development CouncilMarketing Manager

ACA having a big impact, so stay informed

The Affordable Care Act is in full swing in Washington state, and

employers need to be aware of the oppor-tunities and pitfalls that have come along with it. We want to highlight some of the places to look and things to look out for as you strive to take good care of our local, hard-working employees.

Health benefits have always been a complex purchasing decision for employ-ers. Historically, they have had to weigh benefit options and employees’ needs against program costs while staying in compliance with a few laws and tax codes along the way. Now, there are new mar-kets and funding options to explore and new regulations to comply with, on top of the complexities that we’ve worked through for years.

The first step in implementing health benefits for employees is to look under every stone to ensure you’re offering your employees the best coverage for them and their families that your budget allows. To do this, you will want to work with a competent insurance broker. There are many insurance markets that cannot be accessed directly by employers and must be accessed through a broker. This may seem frustrating, but actually helps reduce the administrative cost of the insurance providers which is required by the Medical Loss Ratio requirements in Section 1001 of the Affordable Care Act.

The SHOP (short for Small Business Health Options Program) Exchange, avail-able to employers with 50 or less employ-ees, is new to most of Washington State for 2015. In 2014, it was only available in Clark County, but starting in January, many of us have a new market to explore. For employ-ers with 25 or less employees, this can be a very important option to look at, because it is the only way to access premium tax credits from the federal government that could pay as much as 50 percent of your premium, depending on qualifications.

Unfortunately, the SHOP Exchange — of-ficially known as Washington Healthplan-finder Business — will only have one insur-ance carrier available on it in Pierce, King, Thurston, Lewis and Mason Counties.

Fully-insured plans will still exist outside of the exchange from many carriers. The big change outside of the exchange is the shift in the association and trust markets. In 2014, many associations and trusts that had been providing health benefits to their members for years were forced to close or make drastic changes in their business models in order to stay compliant with the ACA’s regulations. This shift has left some employers without an association or trust plan to evaluate. For others, there may be up to a dozen new associations and trust plans available to your industry.

As insurance continues to increase in price, the opportunity to create self-funded or partially self-funded plans for employers becomes increasingly viable. It’s worth running through some under-writing exercises just to see if these mod-els might work for you. Self-funded plans are not available as “off-the-shelf” products and do require a broker to build them for you, but if you don’t look, you won’t know what you’re missing. Don’t be scared of the term, “self-funded.” There is liability protec-tion to keep your company from sinking in the event something truly unfortunate happens to one or more of your employ-ees.

There are also a number of non-insur-ance, tax-qualified methods for funding employee health expenses. When de-signed appropriately and in conjunction

with health insurance products, employ-ers have even more flexibility to find effi-ciencies in their employee benefits plans. Whether it’s a simple Section 223 HSA or a sophisticated Section 105 HRA managed by a third-party, the savings for employers can be astounding. As well, the flexibil-ity inherent in many of these designs may also serve employees better than a stand-alone insurance plan.

Some employers have been looking at providing reimbursements for employees who purchase individual insurance plans from the Exchanges. This should not be done until your tax accountant, and per-haps your lawyer, review IRS Notice 2013-54. This notice appears to make it clear (as clear as anything from the IRS, anyway) that employers should not reimburse em-ployees for individual insurance premi-ums. However, there are some administra-tors who believe they have a way around the technicalities in 2013-54. It is my advice that you look to an advisor other than the one selling you the product as to the legal-ity of this approach – or just avoid it. Either way, individual plans will not protect em-ployers from the penalties assessed for not offering coverage to employees.

Speaking of penalties, employers with 100 or more employees will be required to offer qualified and affordable coverage to the employees or face penalties. In 2016, these requirements and penalties will apply to employers with 50 or more em-ployees. As you are working through the calculations for these penalties and deter-mining whether or not to pay them or pur-chase coverage, please be sure to include the taxes on the penalties. They are not tax-deductible expenses. S-corps, LLCs, and other pass-through entities will see the penalties pass through as phantom in-come to the shareholders. C-corps will pay their applicable corporate tax rate on top of the penalty, as it’s paid out of profits.


See INSURANCE, Page 18

INSURANCE

By Chris FreeCo-principalRapport Benefits Group


Do’s and don’ts: Marketing your small business

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve seen when form-

ing a feasible small business marketing plan?

The biggest thing I get from clients that just makes me cringe is their over-reli-ance on social media — on Facebook, on Yelp, on Twitter, but mainly on Facebook.

I literally had one client that came in and said, “Well, my marketing plan is I have a Facebook page and I have 120 people now.” Well, if you really break it down, and you’re serious about marketing and get-ting your name out there, it’s difficult to do it with just Facebook.

For example: You spend a year build-ing it up to a thousand likes or a thousand fans — that’s a year that you put into it, and if you get a thousand, that’s pretty darn good. But how many of those are just friends, or people that you’ve kind of contrived to get? When it’s time for you to actually give a promotion or do some real prospecting, how many are actually go-ing to see the post and actually act on the post? Is it really going to be viral? Some people have this idea of a silver bullet, where they think they can create this viral video. And it, all of a sudden, is going to be seen by 125 million people and all of those people are going to be your brand advo-cates because of that. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning than having that happen.

And also, that 1,000 people that you built up over a year, or maybe hired some-body or a company to build up to 1,000 people? That’s still only 1,000 people be-ing exposed to your brand, as opposed to just biting the bullet and paying for ra-dio ads, where you would be exposed to hundreds of thousands of people. Out of those hundreds of thousands of people, if there’s one percent of that who actually correspond with you, that’s already better than just doing Facebook.

Or, if you can afford it, there’s televi-sion, which still reaches millions of people in this area. That is so much more effec-tive. Not being afraid to rely on traditional media — and not thinking that you have to spend money for that while you don’t have to spend money on social media — is a big part of a lot of successful market-ing. In marketing your business, often, you get what you pay for.

Understand that I’m not necessarily saying, “You should just do traditional me-dia.” What I’m saying is that social media is just one component of a larger cam-paign. One other obvious component should be having a good, structured web-site, which is very important. If you’re se-rious about getting out there and being heard, you have to have a multifaceted approach.

How much should a business be invest-ing in its marketing?

It’s a rule of thumb that you should spend 10 percent of your revenues on marketing. It should be consistent. One of the biggest things is that people think, “Oh, I’ll just buy two months worth of billboards,” or, “I’ll have advertising for six months and that will be it.” You have to have something that’s continuous, consis-tent and always reinforcing who you are.

What about branding? Any big red flags that small businesses should avoid?

A big red flag as far as branding goes is having a weak logo. Having a logo that is a “me too” logo — or a logo that’s basi-cally copying what everybody else already knows or is already out there too much,

like with a swoosh or with Papyrus font — is just as damaging as not having a logo. A logo is your brand. It is the icon that rep-resents you: your personality, your brand promise, who you are, what your value is. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and it has to communicate that you’re professional, that you’re knowl-edgeable, that you’re a specialist and that you take yourself seriously. You are up against 10 other people and if you don’t have something that shows credibility, potential customers or clients are going to immediately not attach to you. They’ll go on to something else.

Another red flag is talking about what you do, versus why somebody would want to interact with you, on everything from websites to Facebook to your bro-chures.

Ninety percent of the people that we start with, they’re all about talking about “what we do.” They know what they do, and they’re very proud of what they do: They’ve built up this specialty, they’ve built up this knowledge base and they want to just kind of regurgitate it on all of their materials. And it’s all text, everything they could possibly add in about what their benefits are and what their specialty is and what their product is going to do to make your life better.

In that case, you’ve completely overes-timated anybody’s willingness to sit down and actually read. It’s not that it’s not im-portant, but we live in an age of changing channels. In this ADD, completely frag-mented marketplace, nobody has time to read anything. We’re talking about market-ing; we ‘re not necessarily talking about all the details and specifics of your business. That can be done in the actual sales part, when you’re meeting with a client, and you can have separate, specific material for that. But when we’re talking about how you brand yourself and represent yourself

By Rusty GeorgePrincipalRusty George Creative

MARKETING

See MARKETING, page 18

Prepare early for business succession

One of the greatest issues fac-ing business owners, their

families, and our communities is succes-sion or exit planning. You may be well aware of some commonly referred-to statistics, such as the large percentage of businesses that are closely held or the trillions of dollars in business value that will (or may not!) transition over the next couple decades due to the sheer size of the Baby Boomer generation that will be retiring. When it comes right down to it, however, succession planning is a deeply personal and intimate endeavor.

Business owners, like most individu-als, tend to have extremely busy life-styles, making it challenging to set aside time to step outside of their business and engage in effective, long-range planning. However, for the health of the business and his or her financial future, it is impor-tant for business owners to make time for succession planning. Like it or not, all owners will eventually transition out of their businesses.

The term succession/exit planning conjures up different visions for all of us. I use it to refer to the strategic process of assessing the owner’s and the business’s financial health, discussing the owner’s desires for his or her lifestyle after leaving the company, determining the current value of the company and steps to be taken to potentially increase that value, and exploring various options for selling or transferring ownership of the com-pany.

To be a truly effective process, a busi-ness owner should include all of her key advisors in discussions, including her attorney, CPA, valuation specialist, and financial advisor. The expertise of each of these advisors will be important to ensure the owner is receiving the most complete picture of her options avail-able. As the process ensues, it is possible that other experts (i.e. HR, operations

management, insurance, etc.) will be-come involved. The efforts of the finan-cial advisor and valuation specialist are vital in determining the outlook of the owner’s financial future and the role the monetization of the value of the business will play.

The “look” of a transition can vary dras-tically, from simply turning the business over to children through gifting or sale, to selling the business to any of a variety of purchasers, including key employees, a competitor, supplier, or other outside investor. The guidance of the attorney and CPA will help the owner pursue the option that makes most sense for that owner. It is also possible that the plan-ning process will reinvigorate the owner, causing her to question whether or not she actually wants to exit the business anytime soon.

Let me give you an idea of some of the issues the business owner is going to face or have to consider. Ongoing management of the company after the owner exits must be addressed. Are there employees in place who have the necessary skills, or the potential to ob-tain the skills, to lead the organization? If not, what is the owner’s plan for putting management in place, particularly if the owner intends to exit the business but re-tain ownership? Will a potential outside buyer rely on the owner to have strong management in place or will the buyer implement his own management team?

As part of the valuation process, the owner and her advisors must take a good look at the company’s financials. How

does the organization stack up against industry benchmarks? Ratio analysis can be a good tool to compare things like op-erating margin, profit margin, inventory turns, sales per employee, etc., against the industry. This analysis can serve as a strong management tool, but will also be used by the valuation expert to provide a current value for the company and to give guidance to management on ac-tions that can be taken to increase that value.

In addition, an evaluation of the fi-nancials must include addressing any personal expenses the owner may be running through the company. The fi-nancials should be rid of any such ex-penses well before taking the company to market. If they are included in the fi-nancials at the time a prospective buyer is looking at the company, then adjust-ments must be made to show the true financial picture to that buyer. It is likely that the buyer may become skeptical as more adjustments need to be made.

There is a wide variety of other issues that must be addressed over time, in-cluding compensation plans and agree-ments, estate planning, personal financial planning, buy-sell agreements and fund-ing, insurance options, key-employee re-tention, ownership structure, and many others. If family members are involved with the company as employees or own-ers, then there are a host of other issues to be considered. The number of topics to address can seem daunting. However, by having the proper team of advisors in place, the owner will make substantial progress on each of them over time and will be more successful in her transition.

As with most things, exploring op-tions and having a plan in place is more likely to make the succession from his or her business a success for the business owner than continuing without one.


EXIT PLANNING

By Sam ArmourCertified Public AccountantArmour Vickerman PLLC


Our POWERHOUSE™ Small Business Loan is designed to help you maintain and develop your business. Get the �nancing you need for expansion, inventory or new equipment at a low competitive rate. Take advantage of our 15-minute application for loans up to $250,000 and you’ll have your credit decision within three days!


Choose Opti Staffing

253-284-2400www.optistaffing.com

Locally owned & operated, serving the South Sound for 12 years.

“Opti Staffing Group is quick to respond. Their energetic staff provides a high level of service and takes every precaution

to provide a good candidate-to-customer match.” –Fran, President

• Direct Hire, Temp-to-Hire & Temporary

• Accounting, Administrative, Manufacturing & Skilled Trades

• Qualified, Tested, Prescreened Candidates

For more information contact our Branch Manager, Megan Mahler at [email protected]

OUR SUCCESS IS DETERMINED BY YOUR SUCCESS.

• SCORE – SCORE counselors provide free counseling and men-toring services to business owners in the early stages of planning and development.

• SBDC – The Small Business Development Center is a program created by the U.S. Small Business Administration that offers free and confidential advising on all aspects of business. The SBDC business adviser can provide assistance with business manage-ment, growth planning and overcoming specific business chal-lenges.

• PTAC – The Procurement Technical Assistance Center assists small businesses who would like to sell their products or services to federal, state and/or local governments. PTAC provides one-on-one technical assistance for preparing bids, creating a market-ing plan and contract performance.

• Thurston Energy – Thurston Energy helps businesses in Thur-ston County to improve their energy efficiency and reduce oper-ating costs while doing good for the environment.

For more information about the Business Resource Center, or to find out information about the Business Resource Center Li-brary hours, upcoming workshops and training sessions, or any additional services, call (360) 754-6320 or visit http://thurstonedc.com.

Daryl Murrow is Business Resource Center manager for Thurston Economic Development Council. He can be reached at [email protected].

BRC: Training, workshopscontinued from page 9

Bust it up!5 marketing tips

for entrepreneursA member of my book launch team advised me to slow down

and move something back a week, for better scheduling. I had a client who didn’t like the brochure I created for them because it was three times longer than “normal.” And a nonprofit organiza-tion I help out was hesitant to do a fundraising campaign I cre-ated because it was too “salesy.”

My responses in order were: 1) Do it now. 2) The last thing I want is normal. 3) “Salesy” is better than “brokey.”

For entrepreneurs and success seekers, sometimes the best way to build something is to break it. Yes, you must think things through and have a plan, but at some point the planning, analysis and feasibility studies are no longer useful and it’s time to get off your chair, jump into action and go for it. Here are five marketing lessons for entrepreneurs:

1. Action beats perfection: A well-thought-out plan execut-ed today is better than the perfect plan executed whenever it’s going to be perfected. (Which is usually never.)

2. Boring kills: A book, video, sales letter, brochure, opera, story, song, dance or any creative work can never be too long – it can only be too boring.

3. Say what you want: When you want someone to do some-thing, don’t speak in codes. Whether you’re talking with your kids, raising money for a charity, crafting a marketing message or mak-ing a keynote to inspire an audience – tell them what you want them to do. They’re big kids and they can decide if they agree with you and if they want to take that action – but only if they know what the message is.

4. Be bold: The best promoter of you, your product, service or cause is you. You know it best and no one is going to make a more passionate case than you. If you believe in something, stand up for it.

5. Take risks: That mailing that the nonprofit was hesitant to use ended up being the most successful fundraiser in its 80-year history. That marketing piece I’m creating for my client is going to be bold, different and unconventional – and that’s why it will crush.

Sometimes you have to break things. Shake it up. Bust it up – because that’s where the breakthroughs live.

Randy Gage is the author of eight books about success. He can be reached at www.RandyGage.com.

By Randy Gage

Authorwww.RandyGage.com

toGEtHEr WE’rE1 IN 6 AMErIcANs struGGlEs WItH HuNGEr.

Hunger is closer than you think. reach out to your local food bank for ways to do your part. Visit FeedingAmerica.org today.

HuNGEr kEEps up oN currENt EVENts, too.

ToGETHER WE’RE

Hunger is closer than you think. Reach out to your local food bank for ways to do your part. Visit FeedingAmerica.org today.

HuNGER kEEPs uP oN cuRRENT EVENTs, Too.1 IN 6 AmERIcANs sTRuGGlEs WITH HuNGER.

ToGETHER WE’RE

Hunger is closer than you think. Reach out to your local food bank for ways to do your part. Visit FeedingAmerica.org today.

HuNGER kEEPs uP oN cuRRENT EVENTs, Too.1 IN 6 AmERIcANs sTRuGGlEs WITH HuNGER.


Along with new mandates and pen-alties comes some new regulations and reporting requirements. Just like the pen-alties, many of these requirements apply whether you purchase coverage for your employees or not. All businesses must inform their employees of the existence of the health exchanges, preferably using the model notices available from the Dept. of Labor. Employers who are subject to penalties and have part-time or seasonal workers should be using the ACA’s time-tracking method and must report enroll-ment information and other details to the federal government using new tax forms 1094-c and 1095-c.

Of course, all of the old regulations still apply. You still have to follow ERISA, §125, COBRA, HIPAA, USERRA, FMLA, and the

rest of the alphabet soup the federal gov-ernment has given us. Even if you had pro-cedures in place to make sure your com-pany is in compliance with these laws, all of them have had to be altered to fit with new ACA regulations. So it’s worth review-ing what’s new and what you might need to change to stay in compliance.

It’s a brave new world out there. The ACA has proven to be a life-saver for some and the most expensive regulation imag-inable for others. The key component that your company needs in order to get the most out of this new reality – or to avoid catastrophe – is a good advisor. To that end, you’re in luck. The Washington Associ-ation of Health Underwriters is available in your backyard and there are hundreds of members across Washington State who are qualified to help you, your business and your employees find the optimum position in the market.

INSURANCEcontinued from page 14

training, hiring fairs and more.

C2C works to fully integrate the public workforce system into the transition services provided on military installations. C2C’s goal is to enable transitioning service members to seamlessly shift into the civilian workforce, and specifi-cally into high-demand career op-portunities.

Find C2C online at http://www.pacmtn.org/camo-2-commerce.

Boots to Shoes

The Boots to Shoes program aug-ments veterans support services for 21st century veterans’ successful transition into civilian jobs. Boots to Shoes serves as an example of go-ing forward by giving back. Boots to Shoes is online at http://www.boots-toshoes.org.

Rally Point/6

Rally Point/6 (RP/6) engages men-tors and encourages service mem-bers, veterans and their families in their next steps to complete their personal mission. The greatest losses a veteran feels upon exiting the mili-tary are lack of “mission” and “team”..

The support, services and mentor-ship at RP/6 is all provided at no cost for the service member, veteran or family member.

Thorough the various veteran sup-port organizations the veteran ad-vantage is able to partner with a well rounded team to tackle the mission of helping our veterans make a fruit-ful transition home.

Rally Point/6 is online at http://theunfinishedmission.org.

VETERANScontinued from page 12

to your audience at large, all those extra details are going to completely lose them.

And yes, the proper setup for text is important for search engine optimization, but if somebody goes to a website and it’s nothing but text, they’re going to im-mediately close it and look for something else. You have to believe in the power of editing down to the most distilled down, important parts of what you do.

And while we’re on that, equally impor-tant is getting away from what you do and focusing on why you do it. What makes you get up in the morning? What drives you to do that? Because what you want people to do is connect and relate with what you’re doing, as opposed to just kind of scanning through and just going, “Okay, this person will do.”

Most of the time, it’s not about some-body that’s going to do comparative research and start a spreadsheet and compare your service to somebody else’s

service to make a decision, although there are those people out there. Most of the time, it’s all gut instinct. When you go into the supermarket and you have the choice between three sodas, you’re not going to choose RC Cola. Why is that? It’s the same ingredients as Coke, but Coca Cola has cre-ated this brand that you connect with on a subliminal level, a gut level. They do such a great job of connecting with you on a gut-and-heart level that that’s what makes you go with their product.

That’s what we try to educate our cli-ents on. Get away from spending so much time and space talking about what you do. That’s important, but it should be very subordinate to why you are the person to go with. Think about this: What is the most important value of your service or prod-uct? Lead with that.

One more thing: Don’t lead with pro-motions. The more promotions you put in there, the more desperate you’re going to look. If you lead with promotions, you’re leading with prospecting, and you’re not leading with the actual foundation of why anyone would actually want to work with or buy from you.

MARKETINGcontinued from page 15

253.284.18001102 Commerce St

Tacoma

360.625.06601186 Myrtle Ave

Enumclaw

YOUR BUSINESS HAS GROWN UP.

SO HAVE YOUR BANKING NEEDS.

Locally owned with a full range of services including SBA and term loans, as well as lines of credit. We’re here to serve you.

commencementbank.com

2015 small business resource guide

Documents

business needs

business owners

small business rusty

business growth strategies

small businesses

business succession

business linda jadwin09

percent of new businesses