Growing a Business

Mentor Program Client Reviews Year - Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt

Date
Thu, 2013-04-04 08:59

During the past year, this column has followed Gail Okray, a Green Bay Packer Mentor/Protégé program client who was mentored by Green Bay SCORE volunteers. As she reflects on the year, Okray, owner of Key Elements for Health, says her business is going in the right direction.“

Related Topics

2013 B2B COMMERCE & BUSINESS SHOWCASE

Date
Fri, 2013-04-26 08:30

 

CHESTER COUNTY CHAMBER AND SCORE ANNOUNCE

2013 B2B COMMERCE & BUSINESS SHOWCASE,

TO BE HELD FRIDAY, APRIL 26

 

WEST CHESTER, Pa., April 3, 2013 -- The Chester County Chamber of Business and

Industry and the Chester County chapter of SCORE are pleased to announce that the

2013 B2B Commerce & Business Showcase, sponsored by First Niagara, is shaping

up to be the star-studded B2B event of the year. This business-building expo will be

Related Topics

A New Dawn Natural Solutions, Inc.

Dawn Burnett Webb is a recognized leader, and founder of A New Dawn Natural Solutions, Inc. She provides natural health consulting to those who are frustrated with their current health situations and are ready to look to natural healing solutions. She first approached SCORE looking for pointers on differentiating her services from her competitors’ and finding new customers.

www.anewdawnnaturalsolutions.com

Owner/Founder
Dawn Burnett Webb
My Location
Orlando FL
United States
Year Company Formed
2007
My Successes

Dawn, shortly after meeting with Linda, was asked to appear on TBN Joy In Our Town and Praise The Lord. But her media appearances didn’t begin or end there. Dawn first started with a brief audience participation segment on the Dr. Oz show followed by an appearance on Orlando’s FOX 35. Dawn continued with local appearances when she produced and hosted the Night Of Life commercial which aired on channels 45 Good Life and 55 WACX TV. Her passion to pay it forward continued as she teamed up with The Whole Planet Foundation in providing them with recording artists to raise funds for micro loans assisting women in poverty with the opportunity to start up their own companies.

Passionate about positively impacting the world, Dawn teamed up with Jocelyn Buchanan who worked with Oprah for 10 years and was contracted with Motown and Death Row Records. With over 30 percent of America’s children being overweight or obese, Jocelyn and Dawn wanted to write a message that would appeal to both children and parents, encouraging them to take control of their lives in hopes of preventing them from becoming another statistic. Right Now nutrition song is currently under review by the White House, Childhood Obesity Awareness (Healthierkidshealthierfutures.org), Medifast and many others. Dawn received an invitation to Dr. Oz’s Healthcorps Gala and continues to pursue other prominent health organizations. Linda’s continued advice for Dawn is, to stay focused on her main purpose while pursuing quality leads and the rest will fall into place. Dawn’s focus is to positively impact the world through all of her current achievements and projects under the direction of A New Dawn Natural Solutions, Inc.

Her many achievements include honors graduate of Alternative Medicine from Everglades University, TV appearances including FOX 35 and TBN, TV commercial production and hosting for Night Of Life, Published Author of True Confessions of The Heart, Whole Planet Foundation affiliate in the support with providing recording artists for Micro credit to women in poverty, anchor writer for SIBYL magazine, Executive Co-Producer of Wake Up And Listen TV show, Co-Writer of Right Now nutrition song, and Regional Supplement manager for Richard Clement nutrition; providing supplement contracts with nutritional retailers.

Dawn has open product reviews with GNC, The Vitamin Shoppe, Whole Foods, and QVC. She is in the process of her book True Confessions Of The Heart proceeds partnership. Her TV show Wake Up And Listen is in the hands of two different networks for review and her “Right Now” Nutrition song is waiting contracts. I have no doubt that with all of her continuous work efforts, integrity and ethics that Dawn’s company will soar to new Heights in 2013. 

What's Great About My Mentor?

Dawn first approached SCORE on February 8, 2012, where she met with Linda Shaheen. Dawn was full of aspirations but the first thing Linda mentioned is that she needed to focus on one main thing for her business and let everything else be a branch from the main selection. Dawn started with website restructuring which helped to clearly define her company’s purpose. The next step she took was securing retail contracts for Dr. Clement’s Pro-Colos wellness formula. Dawn successfully secured a contract with Chamberlin’s/Akins natural market and the pro-colos is successfully stocked, sold and replenished today. Linda also suggested that Dawn pursue other mass retail markets such as QVC.

Dawn said, “Linda Shaheen is an amazing person to work with. She was direct, to the point and practices great listening skills. Linda knew exactly what I was trying to achieve and offered up some great suggestions on how to get there. Her out-of-the-box thinking with QVC was a brilliant suggestion and the lead I obtained through her recommendation will no doubt prosper over time. Linda understood that to build relationships that will grow strong takes time and that anything that is achieved overnight is a gift. She offers great follow up skills and I not only feel like I gained a great mentor but a lasting friend. Her expertise having served decades in Corporate America really shines through. I appreciate her knowledge, feedback and advice. When the accounts are finalized my area of gratitude will be deeply expressed to Linda. She is a major asset to SCORE!”

How SCORE Helped

When Dawn first came to SCORE she was struggling with standing out above the competition. She had many aspirations and although she was personally focused, her business steps in achieving her end goal were not. After several mentoring sessions, Dawn clearly defined her company’s purpose and did not waiver. Giving back to the community in the process, Dawn became passionate about building business relationships that would take A New Dawn Natural Solutions to a whole new level. Door after door began to open as she became clearer about her company’s end goal.

Family Business Based in Miami-Dade Gets Modernizing Help - Jenny Staletovich

Date
Tue, 2013-04-02 11:14

The Business: Central East Warehouse, a Miami-Dade-based hardware wholesaler chiefly serving hotels in South Florida and throughout the Caribbean.

Related Topics

Earthfruits Yogurt, Hillsborough, NJ

Jim Ciampa, Co-owner with Maryann CiampaBefore I was in business I was in corporate America as the director of finance for Alcoa Fastener Systems - a division of Alcoa. After the manufacturing operation was transitioned to Mexico my wife and I decided to move to New Jersey since Maryann grew up in the state. We knew it was time to realize our dream of opening our own business. The business is a franchise. I had looked at multiple businesses prior to getting into the franchise and I was actually recruited for this model. I am a big proponent of working with the right people.  When I met the franchise owners I was very impressed with their knowledge, sincerity and honesty and most of all they listened to us as the franchisee in terms of what we wanted to do. They didn't try to force us to do things their way but were willing to get a lot of input from us.

 

See video
Owner/Founder
Jim and Maryann Ciampa
My Location
438 Rt. 206
Hillsborough NJ 08844
United States
Employees
10
Year Company Formed
2012
My Successes

Pictures of Earthfruits YogurtAt the end of the day success is based on profitability but the way you build it is not just through your P&L but also on building a sustainable customer base.  You have to create relationships with the customer.  We want to stand above the competition by giving our customers a delicious yogurt, quality customer service and an exceptionally clean buying environment.  We are also interested in promoting any fundraising activities we can do for our customers to “give back” to the community.  We want to let people know who we are and what we believe in.  The “making money” part of being in business is great but the “feel good” part is even better.  When I was young I was aware some of the companies that prospered in my neighborhood didn’t necessarily do a lot to help the people and my town.  I always said if I owned a successful company I would do that – and now I really like being able to help our neighbors with causes dear to their hearts and ours.

What's Great About My Mentor?

Matt and I have a pretty good relationship and share some of the same qualities. We’re both passionate about what we like to do. We both believe in sincerity, honesty and integrity in running a business and expect the same from our vendors. We believe educating employees with these same characteristics will help support and grow a business. Because Matt was a retail owner we connect on the operational side of the business. He gives me input on selecting a second location, how to go about doing some of the fundraisers, how to attract new customers and dealing with social media.

How SCORE Helped

When I first met Matt and Sandy what they provided me with was a better perspective in terms of how to open a business and how to run the business, some of the challenges that I would eventually encounter in opening the business, some of the potential road blocks and how to navigate around all that.

Education

B.S. Business (Accounting) from Northeastern University

Learn about how to employ the 80-20 rule for the success of your business.

Many operations experts have long promoted that 80% of sales are made up of 20% of your products. However suppliers continue to proliferate styles, colors, sizes, models and features to presumably serve more customers and provide more features. There is even a book, “The Long Tail,” which promotes a theory that the internet provides a great opportunity to offer consumers almost unlimited variety and flexibility.

LIVE Webinar 4/25: Is It Time to Refinance Your Business Debt?

Summary

Hear from Ami Kassar of MultiFunding LLC as he discusses how to decide if it's time to refinance your business debt.

Presenter:  Ami Kassar, MultiFunding LLC
Duration: 1 Hour
When: Thursday April 25, 2013 at 1:00PM Eastern / 10:00am Pacific
Host: SCORE Association

Learn about maximizing the operations and logistics of your business.

Operations and logistics are frequently viewed as secondary functions that can be handled by someone else. However, in reality, they present a huge opportunity for a business to become more efficient and differentiate itself.  A simple definition of this function is: 

The process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, effective flow and storage of goods, services, and related information from point of origin to point of consumption for the purpose of meeting customer requirements and expectations.

Fairfield County SCORE provides suggestions for maximizing the reach of your internet marketing efforts.

  • NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK. Most service referrals come from old clients or references who are aware of your work. It takes more time, money and effort than you imagine.
  • You need to establish realistic resources and goals to determine your potential.
  • What will be different about your business to allow you to provide better services? What is your expertise and niche? How are you different from resources like Intuit, Network Solutions, Open source systems, Marengo, Cake press etc.?

Fairfield County SCORE provides tips for increasing the number of customers for your business.

Syndicate content