SVM_Business Journal_Winter 2020

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Small businesses looking for a ‘bonus employee’ can find one at the local Illinois Small Business Development Center

BY CODY CUTTER

For Sauk Valley Business Journal DIXON – What owner of a small business wouldn’t like to have a “bonus employee” that they wouldn’t have to put on the payroll?

They can find one at Sauk Valley Community College, where the Illinois Small Business Development Center staff stands ready to help small businesses however they can, whether they’re hanging up an “Open” sign, a “Closed” sign, or even a “Mask required” sign.

And the price is right: Free From starting a new business to helping one get through tough economic times – including this year’s struggles with the coronavirus pandemic – or even helping a small business owner close up shop, the SBDC has answers and advice.

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Simply Hair Salon owner Ann Manon (left) and co-workers Danielle Wolff and Amber Paladino worked with the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Sauk Valley Community College to get the business up and running. “The business plan helped us get a perspective on what the whole business was going to entail,” Manon said.

HELP cont’d from page 3 “We’re here to provide basic business assistance and confidential services at no

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cost at every stage,” SBDC Executive Director Kim Ewoldsen said. “We’ll help anybody, and that’s one of the things that, quite honestly, isn’t known about us. People are famil-

iar with our business plan services, and think that once they get the doors open we go away. But in reality, we want to be their bonus employee at every stage of the business growth.

“Small businesses … don’t want to have another payment, and you don’t have to with us,” she added.

In addition to Ewoldsen, four other people make up the Center: Assistant Director Justin Bergman, Administrative Assistant Nancy Spie, and a pair of part-time independent contractors – including one who is bilingual – whose positions were made possible by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act signed into law in March.

“Sometimes we take for granted what’s here, and I think it’s really important that the community understands how much the college really is supporting this imitative, making sure we are providing another resource for the community, and being an example of how we’re the community’s college,” Ewoldsen said. “Economic development is in the mission of the college, and we’re supporting the mission of the college.”

Sauk’s SBDC – one of 42 in the state – has seen an uptick in clients, especially as the coronavirus pandemic continues to squeeze the economy.

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HELP cont’d from page 4 The Center can help owners learn about state, federal and local grants available to their business – the Emergency Injury Disaster Loan and the Paycheck Protection Grant, for example, which many owners flocked to SBDC to learn more about when they became available.

So far this year, the Center has seen clients from 11 counties, far more than the five that make up the college’s district – Bureau, Carroll, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside. Most of the time with those businesses, the SBDC acts as a “triage” of sorts and then will set them up with an entity closer to their home.

“If someone comes to us, one of the things we’ll ask is if they have an existing relationship with one of our local lending institutions, and if they don’t, we have a list of local partners that we can share with them.

Beyond that, it’s trying to figure out what type of business they have, and if there are any industry-specific grants that we wold do, or help them apply for.”

Two local small businesses that have benefited from the SBDC’s assistance in recent months are Twin Blend, a boutique fitness bar at 116 E. First St. in Dixon, and Simply Hair Studios in Sterling.

With help from the SBDC, Twin Blend’s owners Sierra Wiseman and Skyler McCoy established their LLC, learned about electronic record keeping, established a social media presence, and set up a business plan.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@saukvalley.com

Twin sisters Skyler McCoy (left) and Sierra Wiseman recently opened Twin Blend, a fitness cafe where you can get a cup of coffee, a smoothie, some healthy snacks and train for an Iron Man competition. They also offer yoga and spin classes. With help from the SBDC, the sisters established their LLC, learned about electronic record keeping, established a social media presence, and set up a business plan.

Now that Twin Blend is financially healthy, it can continue its goal of helping make the community healthy through physical fitness and nutrition. It offers group classes including spin, high-intensity inter-

val training workouts, sculpting, core and yoga; and has a health bar serving smoothies and juices.

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HELP cont’d from page 5 Its owners worked with SBDC’s assistant director, Justin Bergman, on making their goals happen. “He helped us develop the analytic part of our business plan,� Wiseman said. “He helped us understand everything from how to account for our employees, especially with the minimum wage going up to $15 in January, and on average how much he saw for different start-up costs.�

Bergman also helped Simply Hair go through a similar process, as well as helping it obtain a state salon license. Owner Ann Manon and employees Amber Paladino and Danielle Wolff knew they wanted to set up a business, but didn’t quite know how to tackle the legalities. They not only learned how, but also found out how to improve business by using the Internet and electronic record keeping.

Simply Hair opened Sept. 11 at 603 Freeport Road in Sterling, a welcome success story in a Kim year when the businesses community was hit Ewoldsen hard by the pandemic. “As we were building the salon, we took that into consideration,� Manon said. “The business plan helped us get a perspective on what the whole business was going to entail.�

Ewoldsen encourages owners to have five key “speed dial� relationships: Their accountant, lender, insurer, attorney, and SBDC – �think of us as the one you don’t have to pay,� she said. “While we don’t provide those professional opinions, we help direct you to where you need to be, to ask the questions and to be prepared. No question is too silly. No one is in such a bad situation where they can’t be helped. We want you to come to us. We can help.�

Wishing you & your family Happy Holidays!

More information Services offered at the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Sauk Valley Community College: Business ideas and concepts • Market research and feasibility studies • Business model canvas preparation • Entrepreneur readiness assessment Business startup • Form of ownership • Formal business plan preparation • Accounting system and software assistance • Point-of-sale assistance • Web development and design • Professional email system setup • Digital presence planning • Price-point strategy • Bank readiness planning

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Business growth • Growth and expansion planning • Strategic pivots • Business acquisitions • Partnership analysis • Benchmarking analysis • Strategic marketing review • Quickbooks assistance • Revenue stream analysis Exit and succession planning • Exit assessment • Succession owner targeting • Business valuation • Formal business exit planning Contact Email sbdc@svcc.edu or call 815835-6244 to schedule a meeting with one of the SBDC’s staff members. Go to sauksbdc.com for more information.

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The owner of a bakery/ cafe isn’t the only one doing her best to keep her business open during a pandemic; the community is helping, too

BY CODY CUTTER

For Sauk Valley Business Journal

FULTON – Running a restaurant has been a lifelong dream come true for Renee Holmes, owner of Krumpets bakery and cafe in downtown Fulton.

That is until a pandemic gave her a rude awakening.

“There aren’t any profits right now, we’re operating at a loss,” Holmes said. “Before coronavirus, it was busy. Then it was a complete dive.”

Like many small business, the coronavirus took a big bite out of her bakery/cafe at 1016 Fourth Ave., making it tough to turn a profit, much less survive. Holmes, 60, has managed to keep her head above water, but it’s not been easy. She’s had to invest countless hours to find ways to keep her shop afloat. Sometimes that meant revving up the online search engines to look for grants or any other help she could find.

“I scoured the internet, I scoured all of the government’s pages to find out how to get assistance,” Holmes said. “I filled out every single grant application that I came across, whether I was going to qualify or not.”

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KRUMPETS cont’d from page 7 She’s also leaned on carryout business, instead of dine-in, offering her full line of bakery goods, and some hot dishes as well.

When the first shutdown order came back in March, Holmes immediately went to work finding out what she would be able to do under the new rules. She had to plan carefully because, unlike other businesses, restaurants’ inventory has a more limited shelf life. Holmes had to plan how much she could order for her madefrom-scratch dishes and pastries – customers favorites such as Eggs Benedict and New England Benedict, not to mention the bakery’s lip-smacking lineup.

Having such a wide variety makes for a grocery bill that can add up quickly.

“When you’re buying groceries at the tune of $3,000 to $4,000 a week, and all of a sudden you suddenly shut down, you still got 2 weeks of $3,000 to $4,000 of groceries to pay for. So any reserve funds that I had paid the bills for the next month.”

Krumpets owner Renee Holmes holds a Reese’s peanut butter cupcake Nov. 14.

Lip-smacking treats like this are a big reason for the bakery/ cafe’s success, but there are other ingredients in the shop’s recipe for success: hard work, determination, and community support – the last of which has been especially important in recent months. “I’d attribute my success to the locals; they want me here and are willing to do whatever to keep me here.”

Michael Krabbenhoeft/ mkrabbenhoeft@shawmedia.com

KRUMPETS cont’d on page 9

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LEFT: Jessica Holmes, daughter of Krumpets owner Renee Holmes, covers baked goods Nov. 14. Jessica helps her mom manage to bakery/cafe. RIGHT: Justin Lang slices bread in the kitchen at Krumpets on Nov. 14. Lang has been with Krumpets since it opened 15 years ago.

KRUMPETS cont’d from page 8 Holmes applied for, and got, a Paycheck Protection Program loan and used to pay her employees their full wages until the money was gone, and it’s all been forgiven. She also received $20,000 from a Women in Business Grant and another $80,000 from a Business Interruption Grant.

With the payroll aspect taken care of for the most part, it was

time to think about how Holmes could keep the restaurant going.

“We’re working at a loss right now,” Holmes said. “Were it not for the grants, I wouldn’t be able to sustain this at all. Right now we’re spending more than we’re taking in, but with the grants, I’m able to maintain payroll to some degree, and trying to budget it out to try and sustain the place all the way through the end, whenever that is.”

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KRUMPETS cont’d from page 9 While Holmes was looking in every which direction to find ways to keep her childhood dream alive, her customers and community have stepped up in big ways.

Fulton community leaders applied, but did not receive, a Downstate Economic Enhancement Grant, and several residents and customers of each of Fulton’s eateries took their $1,200 Economic Stimulus checks to the Whiteside County United Way with the request to disperse the money to restaurant employees in the community. Gift cards of $100 were given out with that money from the Fulton Meat Market – which supplies Krumpets with fresh meat.

Even gratuities have helped tip the scales. Wads of dollar bills have become a common sight in a glass tip jar on the front counter. Holmes has even seen $100 bills stuffed in it.

“The kindness, generosity and the commitment of the community is what brought me here, and keeps me here,” Holmes said. “It is incredible. It gives me goosebumps every time I talk about it.”

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Making The Right Connection

LEFT: A selection of sweet treats on display at Krumpets.

Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@shawmedia.com

Renee Holmes makes peanut butter frosting Nov. 14 in the bakery/cafe’s kitchen. Holmes’ business has been weathering the pandemic, but it’s not been easy — but as long as loyal customers keep coming in Holmes has high hopes she’ll make it through.

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KRUMPETS cont’d from page 10 It’s not just the restaurant that Holmes is trying to keep alive, it’s a legacy of four generations of family who have kept their customers’ appetites satisfied.

As a child growing up in Upstate New York in the 1960s, Holmes’ toy box looked more like a kitchen cabinet, with silverware, plates, fake food – and she called her own shots in an imaginary place of her own with a name of her own: Krumpets.

Her mother and grandfather ran a restaurant in Upstate New York before moving to Clinton, Iowa, when Renee was young.

When she got older, Renee baked cakes and other goodies at the family truck stop in Clinton before finally making her make believe restaurant a reality nearly 15 years ago on the northwest side of town. It attracted people from Fulton, who wanted Holmes to move across the Mississippi River to be a little closer to them.

So, 8 years ago, she made it happen and set up shop in Fulton.

The new location was a hit and she grew her business, eventually adding nearly 20 staff members, including her daughter, Jessica, who continues to manage the front of the place. Post-pandemic, however, Holmes had to cut her staff in half.

Some of the employees working there now have been with Holmes since she opened 15 years ago. Justin Lange, 42, of Clinton, is one of them. The professionalism is what he enjoys about working at Krumpets.

“I get to come in and make soups, so I get to do that without having gone to culinary school,” he said. “The style of cooking I get to do, the cleanliness of our kitchen – I’ve seen just about every type of kitchen and they’re sort of gross, but our kitchen is the total opposite of that.”

Things have changed for the kitchen staff these days, going from a grand display of whole products to individual products, and so far that’s working for them.

Soups are being sold by the quart, and special dinners for two are made in takeand-bake fashion. All in an effort to adapt to unprecedented times, Holmes said.

As long as she has her loyal customers coming in – sometimes up to four times a week – Holmes has high hopes she’ll make it through.

“This little community is on top of the game,” she said. “They’re not going to lose – they won’t let that happen. I’d attribute my success to the locals; they want me here and are willing to do whatever to keep me here.

“It’s such a gratifying place to be in. My heart is full.”

More info Krumpets 1016 Fourth St., Fulton, IL 61252 Krumpets has been limited to curbside service this fall from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Orders can be placed by calling 815-208-7143. Hours may change due to COVID-19 guidelines.

The facility is handicapped accessible.

Cash, credit or debit card are accepted.

Find Krumpets on w or call 815-208-7143 for a menu or for more information.

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Administrative Assistant Sandy Prescott and Director Gary Camarano are the team behind the Whiteside County Economic Development commission, located in the Whiteside County Courthouse in Morrison. The commission works with federal, state and local partners to retain, expand, create, and attract businesses, jobs and investments; enhance the quality of the region’s workforce; build up the regional infrastructure; and help improve the region’s quality of life.

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com

YOUR

SUCCESS GOAL

is their

BY CODY CUTTER

For Sauk Valley Business Journal

It can be hard enough to run a small business, but when you add a global pandemic into the mix, the bottom line can hit rock bottom.

Controlling spending and cutting costs can only help so much, but amid all the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic, it can be hard to make the best decisions for a business.

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SUCCESS cont’d from page 12 There is a way, though, businesses can save thousands of dollars. They just have to get in the zone.

The Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone is a designation that provides tax incentives to potential businesses looking to locate in the zone or existing businesses expanding there. Businesses in the zone also get an exemption on the state utility tax for electricity and natural gas, as well as an exemption on the Illinois Commerce Commission’s administrative charge and telecommunication excise tax.

Along with running the Whiteside County Economic Development commission, Gary Camarano also is the administrator for the Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone.

His role? He helps both small and large businesses in the area grow, prosper and remain local.

The enterprise zone is a very effective incentive, he said.

“There’s not a lot we can do with cash or providing cash incentives, but what we can do is have the taxes on the improved property abated for 5 years,” he said. “The area will still be receiving taxes based on the unimproved value, but any addition to that property, such as a building or a parking lot will have a 5-year abatement and a waiver of sales tax for building materials that go into the building.”

Despite the economic downturn brought upon by the pandemic, the Enterprise Zone has invested $42.8 million in 15 projects; all but three coming after the pandemic’s start in March. That figure already has surpassed last year’s figure of $38.6 million.

Meetings, seminars, award ceremonies, programs and galas – Gary Camarano has been to them all in his role as Whiteside County Economic Development Director, and he’s goy the lanyards to prove it.

Networking is an important part of his role to help spur economic growth in the community.

Alex T. Paschal/ apaschal@shawmedia.com

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SUCCESS cont’d from page 13 “This is an incentive that, depending on the size of the project, could save someone $50,000, a half-million, or even more,” Camarano said.

“It does effect people’s decisions on whether they want to go ahead with a project or come into the area and locate here.”

The zone’s territory consists of both select properties in downtown business districts and industrial areas in 11 communities: Fulton, Lyndon, Milledgeville, Morrison, Mount Carroll, Prophetstown, Rock Falls, Savanna, Sterling, Tampico and Thomson.

The total territory is just under 15 square miles in its two counties, which is just a small chunk of the total bi-county area, but they are areas designated by the Enterprise Zone where they want to see development.

Enterprise Zones are common throughout the state: There are more than 100 of them, about one per county, and have been awarded designations by the state each year since the Illinois Enterprise Zone program launched in 1982.

Other local zones are the JoCarroll Enterprise Zone, which is entirely within the former Savanna Army Depot along the Jo Daviess and Carroll county lines; and the The Lee-Ogle Enterprise Zone, which is mostly within Dixon and Rochelle, but also includes large businesses and industry around Ashton, Nachusa, the Lee County Industrial Park near Amboy and Nelson.

The Enterprise Zone territory could be expanded under certain conditions, say,if a new business or the expansion of an existing business “truly is a job-creating engine,” Camarano said.

SUCCESS cont’d on page 15

Alex T. Paschal/apaschal@shawmedia.com

Whiteside County Economic Development Director Gary Camarano said the Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone is a great tool to help local businesses grow.

“This is an incentive that, depending on the size of the project, could save someone $50,000, a half-million, or even more,” he said. Camarano is also the zone’s administrator.

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SUCCESS cont’d from page 14 Downtowns are the heart of most small communities, and that’s where many small businesses establish shop. If downtown storefronts and buildings are empty, it often reduces the chance of new business coming in, so the Enterprise Zone includes those buildings in an effort to keep them active.

“With poverty levels and unemployment, we need this type of incentive to help businesses,” Camarano said.

More information

Helping businesses grow

Go to nwillinoisadvantage.com or call 815772-5182 for more information about Whiteside County Economic Development and the Whiteside-Carroll Enterprise Zone. A new website dedicated to the Enterprise Zone will be launched in the coming months.

Go to shawurl.com/3ea9 for a list of Illinois Enterprise Zones and for more information about how they work.

Go to whiteside.org/departments/economic-development.html for more information on the Whiteside County economic Development commission

One of the programs run through Whiteside County Economic Development is Economic Gardening, a process whereby an area can be “regrown” after a large business closes or leaves town, with involvement from more locally based businesses.

Economic Gardening focuses on regeneration and core strategy refinement, and owners are acquainted with a team who identifies issues and provides ways to solve them. That helps lead to more sales and more hiring, Camarano said.

“We’re part of a program that will connect employers with a group of consultants for some free consulting hours,” he said. “They concentrate on the revenue producing aspects of this, rather than telling the business, ‘You could save money by cutting this.’ It’s not about cutting, it’s about growing.”

Grants Being in the Enterprise Zone can also give entrepreneurs an opportunity to learn about grants that are available. The Business Interruption Grant is one of the larger ones offered by the state and has helped several local businesses.

Even if the business falls on the other side of qualifications, the Enterprise Zone wants to remain involved in helping them by either leading, participating or supporting them in some way.

It’s worth a shot to get in touch, Camarano said.

“The Enterprise Zone, as effective as it is, can still be used by a lot more people if they knew about it,” he said. “We’ll help them navigate the whole grant situation.

We have federal, state and local contacts that we work with to cultivate and lead someone in the right direction.”

“The more people take advantage of it the better.”

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