Business Essentials Steer Cumming Auto Parts Company into the Fast Lane

Brothers Kevin and Randy Redd make Ford and Chevy street cars both fast and “fly.” Their uniquely designed Concept One high performance pulley systems mount on an engine and drive all of its belts, improving power and maximizing performance. In 2001 they began selling their systems and other product lines to hot rod muscle car […]
Careful Pre-Planning Helps Complex Industrial Business Secure an SBA Loan

Rod Meyer had worked in Minneapolis 25 years with the market-leading industrial x-ray imaging equipment company, rising to vice president of sales and leading a tenfold increase in capital sales, before the company was sold and narrowed its product line. “The new company decided to focus on standard x-ray imaging systems. This decision opened an […]
Lessons Learned In Practice Rotation Help Pooler Veterinarian Open Own Practice

Veterinarian Mike Ammermon was a senior in the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine when UGA Small Business Development Center consultant Jeff Sanford started teaching fourth-year vet students a new curriculum on core business principles in 2008. The program, still going strong, includes a practice management rotation that brings these students together with veterinarians […]
Sound Business Practices Help Athens Medical Practice Expand Into Underserved Areas

Dr. Ram K. and Aru Reddy are in the business of “helping people feel better when they need it the most.” Partners in an enterprise that adds urgently needed medical care to underserved communities in northeast Georgia, this husband and wife team is also steadily adding to the employment rolls of the small cities and towns they serve.
SBDC Clients Earns 2016 Small Business Person of the Year

Catherine Downey didn’t find an easy way to success. She did find what works: hard work and dedication to a vision. Catherine Downey started her first business with “a pen and a legal pad” so she could work at home after her first child was born. Today, she has four grown children and one of the fastest growing companies in Atlanta. She’s also garnered a hard-earned honor: she […]
Dead-On Financial Projections Lead to Success for Atlanta Movie Tours Start-Up

Moving a small business from start-up to growth mode requires a leap of faith, hard work and difficult, strategic decision-making. Carrie Sagel Burns has the” leap of faith” part down, regularly suspending disbelief in thousands of visitors who ride around Atlanta in buses guided by former zombie extras, an actress portraying author Margaret Mitchell or character actors from The Hunger Games.
Comprehensive Business Coach Leads Online Machinery Sales Start-Up to Growth

“You’d be crazy not to take advantage of something like the SBDC. What an awesome thing,” he says. “Paying for a business consultant is very expensive. John is extremely knowledgeable. I think of him as a partner. I don’t think I’d be where I’m at now if it wasn’t for him.”
Passion for Pets Pays Off

Crook acquired the loan and opened her business. About five years later, she approached McDonell for help obtaining a $1 million SBA 504 loan, which she used to purchase land and build the first Pawtropolis. Five years after that, with 25 employees and trainers, an award-winning business and a facility filled to capacity, Crook again turned to the SBDC. After attending the GrowSmart™ program, she asked McDonell to help her create projections for a $2.2 million loan she received and will use to build a second, larger facility on land she had purchased.