unleashing
national impact
igniting local
transformation
Shelly Lyons was opening a consulting firm to work with ADHD and Neurodivergent adults. She came to the SBDC seeking help with marketing, website improvements, and pricing for her coaching business. She also came seeking someone sensitive to the strengths and challenges of the Neurodivergent mind and to people with disabilities, seen or unseen.
"By being curious about how to partner with me in ways that will be most effective for me, taking the time to understand my business and the support I was requesting, Hollis McGuire, my SBDC business advisor, out of the gate, created a safe space that supported me in those first few months of launching my business. SBDC has been a wonderful resource in terms of providing guidance as well as connecting me to other free resources. It's a partnership that I can trust, while feeling confident and comfortable."
Our business advisor Hollis McGuire had a good connection with Shelly, and grew in her understanding of how to work with business owners with ADHD. It is now a team practice to email an outline of an agenda or other information prior to the advising session to not only keep the session on track, but also to give the client a chance to internalize the information prior to meeting with their advisor. Shelly took advantage of our then FAME program and met with a marketing consultant about her website and an attorney about her service agreements, up to five hours at no cost.
Shelly Lyons Consulting is continuing to thrive, with marketing and website changes developing as the business grows and adapts to Shelly's needs and her clients' needs. SBDC shares resources with small businesses who might want to hire people with disabilities and wish to know how to make accommodations to the work environment so employees thrive and can produce their best work. The advising relationship between Shelly Lyons and Hollis McGuire is a glowing example of how SBDC can meet and help clients where they are to grow their businesses to where they want them to be.
Paulo Monaco is from Brazil and wanted to import goods from Brazil to the US and export goods from the US to Brazil, and started Monaco Company, LLC. Then he wanted to help others to do the same, and started BRAUSA Trading Company with some partners.
"Anyone who comes from abroad to the US and wants to open a business or has a business already and is facing any challenges, seek help from the SBDC. They have all the answers you can possibly imagine. Andrea O'Brien is a great advisor. She helped me to raise money for my business with a line up of banks. She helped me develop a business plan that was the main reason I continued growing."
In the beginning Paolo needed help with his first business plan and raising funds for his business. Later, he needed to learn a lot more about exporting and trade deals and about compliance and transportation. Paolo had plenty of connections in Brazil, and needed to match those with connections here in the US. Paolo's SBDC business advisors helped him develop business plans and exporting plans. He participated in NH Export Accelerator, a program of the NH SBDC, NH's Office of International Commerce, US SBA's NH District Office, and the NH Office of the US Commercial Service.
Monaco Company now specializes in the distribution of products from manufacturers to market, connecting manufacturers to end users across the globe. BRAUSA Trading Company hosted a successful trade mission to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in October 2024, funded partly by a US SBA STEP grant and supporting several NH businesses with successful meetings and connections. NASBITE International recognized Monaco Company as an Outstanding Exporter at the 2024 Eighth Annual National Small Business Exporter Summit.
Small businesses are facing more likelihood of cyber attacks. Businesses that do government contracting are trying to deal with becoming cybersecurity compliant so that they can continue to do business with the government.
"We appreciated the time taken to review key cybersafety issues and best practices."
"My cyber expert was an excellent resource and answered all of my questions."
"ANYTHING the SBDC can do to increase awareness of cybersecurity in business owners is a good idea."
NH SBDC partnered with NH Tech Alliance to host the 2024 Cybersecurity Summit, which provided panels, speakers, and tabletop exercises for about 100 attendees: businesses newer to the cybersecurity world and those who are more cyber-prepared. SBDC offers free cybersecurity reviews to our clients, which consist of 3 hours of a cyber consultant's time and a final report of the next steps. We also worked with Mainstay Technologies, Inc. to create five short eCourses on what CMMC certification for government contractors entails. Watching the videos can be followed by a free 90-minute meeting with an expert who can help a business determine whether this is the route they should go, what planning they need to do, and how to get started towards reaching CMMC compliance.
These free services, in addition to SBDC business advising, offer NH small businesses solutions to becoming more cyber-secure and government contractors solid information and direction for moving forward with CMMC certification. With CARES Act Funds, we offered the cybersecurity reviews and 64 companies and non-profits completed reviews. SBDC was able to ramp up again with federal funding, and halfway through the grant period we have had 60 companies apply to participate.
