UCF’s Small Business Development Center helps company grow

Though stimulating a small business can be a trying endeavor, UCF is doing its part to help ambitious businesses rise to the occasion.

The Small Business Development Center at UCF, with the help of its new Growth Acceleration Program, have aided Hernon Manufacturing, a company that sells high performance adhesives and sealants, in their pursuits of growth and expansion.

Introduced by the SBDC at UCF in March 2011, the Growth Acceleration Program provides an in-depth consultation of a client's business in areas such as marketing and business development, strategic planning and assessing capital.

Though Hernon Manufacturing has been a client of the SBDC at UCF since April 1998, the company feels that it was its participation in the Growth Acceleration Program that really made the difference.

"The SBDC at UCF's Growth Acceleration services have been an important ingredient in putting Hernon's expansion on the fast track," said Harry Arnon, CEO of Hernon Manufacturing. "We had aggressive growth goals to begin with and, thanks to the help of the SBDC's growth acceleration consultants, have met and surpassed them."

Hernon Manufacturing recently entered a new distribution agreement with Miller Bearings, which will distribute Hernon products to 17 locations throughout Florida. Also, in just the past three months, Hernon Manufacturing has gained more than $1 million in contracts to deliver equipment to some of the world's largest defense contractors.

Arnon, who has been with the company since its start in 1979, went on to say how essential programs like the Growth Acceleration Program are to all small businesses that are looking to grow and develop.

"Small businesses don't have enough financial expertise after a certain period of time," Arnon said. "You can grow to a certain plateau, but to overcome that, you need certain tools like the ones UCF provides."

Jill McLaughlin, an SBDC at UCF Growth Acceleration Services consultant, worked closely with Hernon in 2011. After witnessing the company's growth and success, McLaughlin feels that the consultation paid off.

"They are very focused on their growth," McLaughlin said. "With our assistance, they continue to grow rapidly."

In addition to its Growth Acceleration Program, the SBDC at UCF also offers clients a number of other programs meant to further their business and spark new ideas.

One program, Small Business Resource Networking, pairs clients with business professionals who have extensive knowledge in areas such as insurance, law, banking and accounting. The professionals, who all volunteer to be a part of the program, are selected by the clients themselves without any knowledge of their background, only their specific area of expertise.

"It's a really important resource for certified business analysts because sometimes my clients need professional expertise that I don't have," said Hal Thayer, assistant director at the SBDC at UCF. "This is a mechanism to get them that expertise without me playing favorites. You've got 10 lawyers in there. ‘Here's the list of lawyers. They're all good. Contact them, interview them and decide who you'd like to work with.'"

Along with helping small businesses to thrive, the SBDC at UCF also offers resources for the UCF students themselves. In addition to internship and counseling opportunities, the center also provides a class through the Small Business Institute program. The class, Small Business Consulting, gives Master of Business Administration students the chance to give professional management assistance to small businesses through class projects such as financial analysis, market research and advertising strategy.

"UCF wants to have a course for students where they can work hands-on and see what a business is doing and come up with recommendations," Thayer said. "We've had some great luck. A lot of our small businesses have been very, very happy with what the students did for them."

Thanks to the guidance and input of the SBC at UCF, Hernon Manufacturing is making efforts to expand its business even further, currently renting out additional space while building a 100,000 square-foot plant, which is set to be finished by the end of 2013.

"The program helped to identify a new way of costing and marketing. All of that contributes to the bottom line: expansion," Arnon said.

The SBDC, on the other hand, plans on continuing to help businesses like Hernon Manufacturing reach their ultimate potential.

"The SBDC is looking forward to assisting more clients with programs like the Growth Acceleration services program," Thayer said. "In a very difficult business environment where small businesses are challenged every day, the support of the Small Business Development Center at UCF can be the difference between successful growth and mediocre results."