NEBRASKA SBDC CONSULTANTS BUILD BRIDGES, FUTURES

BETWEEN LENDERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES SEEKING FUNDING.

The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program of the Nebraska Business Development Center acts as a bridge between lenders and federal funding sources for a growing number of entrepreneurs and potential small business owners who otherwise may not be able to bring their ideas to reality.

Mark Schultz says those services were instrumental in 2006 when he co-founded the first Western Sleep Medicine, LLC laboratory in Scottsbluff. Most recently, he turned to NBDC’s SBDC Consultant Spencer Rien as he sought a bank loan, tax increment financing (TIF), and LB840 funding through the City of Gering to build a $1.7 million clinic, four-bed sleep lab, and CPAP supply facility.

Schultz is a registered polysomnographer credentialed by the Board of Polysomnographic Technologists and a member of the American Association of Sleep Technologists and American Academy of Sleep Medicine. And though he has fine-tuned and grown his business over the past 17 years, including a clinic in Cheyenne, Wyo., a new clinic in Rapid City, S.D., and services at a dozen hospital partners, he says he is no expert when it comes to putting together the information he needed for the new Gering facility.

“I’m a sleep technician,” he says. “I can’t communicate financial strength or turn my story into a narrative to where city officials and financial institutions are willing to take a risk on me. I couldn’t have done this on my own.”

Rien says that unlike Schultz, many of his clients are first-timers when it comes to owning a business. “Though we may not have seen every challenge, it is not our first time dealing with these programs and funding opportunities,” he says. “We have the advantage of knowing what to expect and can give our clients the technical support and the confidence to approach an opportunity.

“Having a focal point of contact who has experience working with these various programs is invaluable,” Rien says. “It can be overwhelming looking at things from three or four different directions. An SBDC consultant can add clarity and organize the project into one clear path forward.”

The national SBDC program is the largest matching grant-funded program of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The Nebraska SBDC program provides confidential consulting services to entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to start and grow their enterprises or to transition companies to the next generation of ownership. SBDC consultants are credentialed business advisers with academic degrees and professional certifications. The services are offered at no or low cost to those interested in operating a for-profit business in the state.

Lance Morrow has served as Chief Loan Officer at BankFirst in Norfolk for 12 years and recently was promoted to President. Prior to joining BankFirst, Morrow was a bank examiner for the FDIC in Hays, Kan.

Tony Schultz, State Director of America’s SBDC-Nebraska, says the program helps entrepreneurs, potential small business owners, and bank clients in a number of ways, from the development of business plans, to creating a three-year financial projection model, to market research that includes benchmarking financials as compared to peers.

Loren Kucera, director of the NBDC office in Wayne and a consultant for 28 years, serves as a liaison between small business hopefuls and lenders. “My clients need help preparing a business plan or financial projections,” Kucera says. “I don’t write the business plan for them; I give them the resources and guidance they need, and also critique it for them.”

He works to keep the clients focused. “Lenders don’t want to read a 40-page business plan,” he says. “They will start with the executive summary, and then look at the financial projections and the budget.”

Kucera says he has a good working relationship with many lenders in the region, and they often point business hopefuls to the NBDC to take advantage of his expertise.

“It’s rare when someone will come to me with a solid business plan,” he says. “It’s more common for us to start at square one.”

Morrow says the experience of SBDC consultants is beneficial to both the lenders and those seeking SBA and other small business loans. “The borrowers who work with NBDC consultants are better prepared and better educated in how to build a business plan and in what we are looking for,” he says.

“The consultants know which banks have an appetite for certain types of loans,” he says. “They know how to package these loans, and which borrowers to send our way. They play a huge role in securing funding, especially for small businesses that don’t have a lot of equity.”

The Nebraska SBDC services can impact a community beyond the initial clients’ projects.

In the case of Schultz and the Western Sleep Medicine project in Gering, “After securing TIF approval, we submitted an LB840 application to receive some additional funding and job creation grant money,” SBDC Consultant Rien says. “I was pleased to support a project that would help develop the community.”

Mark Schultz says that additional development is evident just outside his new building’s front window. “I can already see two other new buildings going up on this street,” he says. “I truly believe we are influencing economic development for our neighbors.”