The Confident Entrepreneur With Jennifer Ann Johnson

Big Help for Small Businesses with Dorian Zwierewicz

• Jennifer Ann Johnson • Season 3 • Episode 44

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Struggling to grow your business but can’t afford pricey consultants? Discover a powerful, often-overlooked resource: the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at FGCU. Regional Director Dorian Zwierewicz explains how this taxpayer-funded program offers completely free, expert support for entrepreneurs at every stage.

Founded in 1976 to fill a gap for small businesses—who create half of U.S. jobs—the SBDC provides confidential guidance on business planning, funding, marketing, and more. Their specialists connect entrepreneurs with government contracts, lenders, and even global markets through services that would cost thousands elsewhere.

Their impact is real: one entrepreneur grew a produce business from $350K to $4M in three years with SBDC help. Others credit the center with post-disaster recovery after Hurricane Ian.

The SBDC also builds community with events like the Women Excel conference and CEO Exchange for growth-stage businesses.

Visit us at jenniferannjohnson.com and learn how Jennifer can help you build the life you dream of with her online academy, blog, one-on-one coaching, and a variety of other resources!

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Have you ever felt overwhelmed in trying to grow your business? Maybe you've stayed up late Googling marketing strategies and struggling to secure funding. Today's guest has solutions that won't cost you a dime. Join me as we talk with Dorian Zwierewicz. See, I knew I was going to mess up your name Zdavich, very good.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Zdavich I was so close. I was so close Thank you for clarifying that and he is with the Small Business Development Center at FGCU and we're going to be talking about their free resources that could transform your business journey. Thank you so much for coming in.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Of course. Thank you for having us.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

And what is your role there?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So I'm the regional director here in Southwest Florida. Our Florida SBDC network consists of the whole state and I'm one of the nine regional directors that covers Charlotte County South.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Fabulous and say your name again, because I'm sorry that I got it wrong.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, dorian Zverevich.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Zverevich.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Oh.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

I got it right. Oh yes, and he says how he goes to conferences and things he's like. I just introduced myself as Dorian.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

That's right, Dorian.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Dorian it is.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Dorian it is.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So for our listeners that may not know what the, I call it the acronym, as many people do the SBDC, the Small Business Development Center. What does it do and how does it serve entrepreneurs?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, absolutely so. The easiest our tagline is we help businesses start, grow and thrive, and I really love that tagline is we help?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

businesses start, grow and thrive. And I really love that tagline because it really covers the core of our mission. And before I get into what we do, it's important to find out the history of the SBDC network as a whole. So the SBDC was started in 1976. And basically the federal government saw a need where in our country small businesses are so important, where 50% of the jobs are created by small businesses, but small businesses don't necessarily have the financials to hire a consultant if they need help. So the federal government in 1976 decided, hey, let's create this program called the SBDC, the Small Business Development Center, and let's offer consulting services for those small businesses that need help and can't compete with the large corporations.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

That's why why we're here. I guess I never knew the history of it. Yeah, and so apropos, especially in days and times like right now. So many businesses are struggling small businesses and people don't understand how small businesses are the backbone of this economy.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Florida for this assistance for small businesses because we make it easy, and much more easier, for small business owners to grow and succeed and help be that lifeblood for America.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Right. So what services? How does it serve the entrepreneur, how does it serve that small business owner?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, so our key thing okay to start off with our core is going to be our consulting services. That's what we were originally started and we have a lot of ancillary services as well. But when I say consulting services, we really help any small business 500 or less employees from a variety of topics. So someone may come in and go hey, I have a business idea.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Is this a good idea or not? In and go. Hey, I have a business idea, is this a good idea or not? And our consultant will be able to guide them and go. You know, based on my professional opinion, I don't think it's feasible. Or?

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

I think it is feasible.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Conversely, if someone comes in and says you know, I'm 62 years old, I have a key employee that I want to sell my business to. My kids don't want my business, I plan on retiring at 67. Can you help train this employee up and then work on our financials so that in a couple of years, when I'm ready to retire, we can make the selling process and that transition as smooth as possible? On top of that, our consulting services we help with marketing, if someone needs help analyzing their marketing, of course, cash flow, financial analysis if you need a loan from the bank. And then another big service for us is going to be government contracting.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So, yeah, I got to give a shout out to Lee County School District, for example. People don't know this, but it's in the top 30 of the largest school districts in our nation.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Wow.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

If it were a company, it'd be a $2 billion company and there are government contracts available, you know, not just with the school district but any local government state government, federal government, and these are just opportunities that most small business owners you know if they don't know about. Or if they do know about it, they don't know how to do it.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

But most of them probably don't even know about the opportunities. So we help consult with that. You know, when you say government contract, there's two things that people, in my opinion as a small business owner, look at. And number one is fear. Oh, I don't want to do anything with the government. No, no, no, so they shut it down. Or number two I don't even have a clue how to, number one, figure out what government contracts are out there, and then how do I actually apply for it?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yes, absolutely. And the fear even gets amplified once they see all of the paperwork for the process, of course. Right and we make that easy. So we have a government contract specialist and we actually have another program called Apex Accelerators that works well with the SBDC and that's strictly government contracting and it's helping guide through that process on okay, tell us what you do as a business, what do you like to do, what's your core?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And now we'll be able to connect and go. Okay, based on this information, here's a list of different government opportunities that are there for you. And if there aren't any now, we have this way of regularly emailing you any updates. That way, if you're not ready now or if you just missed the deadline, there's always going to be a government contract in the future.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So you also mentioned something about financing. You have people on staff that could help walk a small business owner through getting finance, whether it's through SBA or through other financing options.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yes. So a misconception about the SBDC is that we have money to give like grants or anything, because they think of you like the SBA when they hear that Exactly so.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

We're funded by the SBA, but we don't give out any funds to the businesses.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So what we do is we help with that process of getting the financing and if you have cash flow issues, we help with that too, analyzing your financial statements and going, hey, let's look at your operations, but with getting money if this comes from creating a pitch deck for an investor, or if it's going to the bank a benefit with the SBDC is whether you're starting off or you're already a business owner and you have a restaurant and you're ready to expand it into Naples, for example.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

We do two things. One, you come into us after you make the decision to get the loan or to get financing and we will be able to help analyze where you are, what your goal is, so that whenever you go to that investor or you go to that bank, your projections are as realistic as possible. You're not saying, oh yeah, we're going to have a billion dollars in sales and then the bank will turn you away. And then the second thing is we have such a strong connection with our lending community and the partnership aspect of the SBDC that if your bank says, no, I'm not interested, or if you called a couple banks and they're not interested. That's okay. We have so many banks in our pipeline, in our, I guess, rolodex, where we can connect you with the right lender.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

People out there are going. What is a Rolodex? Yeah, I know, If you're young, don't worry about it.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And I'm a millennial. I don't even know why you brought it up.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

You're talking about, you're going. How would you know what it is? I?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

guess I'm an old soul, I don't know. So yeah, but that really is one of the benefits of us, because what people also don't know is your typical lending institution. They also have their own portfolio of industries that they're interested in. So when I was consulting at the SBDC up in the Panhandle it was always difficult for us to get financing for our hotel clients, for example.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Then I move here and our banks have a little bit more appetite for that. So the benefit of us is we have so many connections with these lenders that it's okay if three banks say no to you. We'll still connect you and try to introduce you to the right bank.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Right Now, you mentioned of the services that are offered. You mentioned marketing finance, government contracts. What about HR?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

finance government contracts. What about HR? Great question. I don't have a specialist on my staff in my region, but we do also consult with HR I would probably say more so with our startup clients. When you're hiring your first employee and you want us to help you craft a job description or something like this, then we can assist with this. And a benefit of our network is, if we don't have that specialty in our region, we have the whole state of Florida where we could still connect you with a consultant you know from Tallahassee virtually, or something like this Was there another bucket that I missed?

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Those are the ones that I.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So I will actually mention one specialized service that I didn't mention yet. We also, going back on the state of Florida being very pro-business, they have this great program where they're trying to expand exporting for our state. So if our state alone was a country, we would probably be, I think, the 19th, but definitely the top 20th largest economy in the world.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Wow.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, it's incredible. I mean, really, florida is the place to be and we get so much investment in people moving from California and New York, but our state's focus on exporting. That creates really good jobs and it helps increase our GDP. So we have this specialized program. So most of our services are at no cost or very, very low cost. So consulting is free if you ever need to meet with us, but this special service so we do charge $500 for this and the product is called an export marketing plan. So if you're a Florida exporter or manufacturer and you want to export overseas, we actually will interview you and go, okay, tell us about your product, about your target market, what types of clients you have, and then we will do take that research and then go, okay, let's look at the 186 plus countries in the world and let's compare them against other factors.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Is their economy growing?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Is there any political risk, anything like this, and we will come up with a list of 10 countries that we recommend that you consider investing in or exporting to, and on top of that we will also introduce you to the US Commercial Service so they have specialists that are actually stationed in those countries and you can go on a trade mission to go meet real business owner, real businesses in that country and help expand on that. So that's a really specialized service that we have. It's $500 and that is a discount that is nothing.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

It really is nothing.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Because how long would that take you to figure that? I mean just the general, I say the regular lay person, the small business owner. I mean, I wouldn't even know where to find that.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, and it's very intensive even on our end. I think a typical consultant will dedicate 100 hours plus just for that report. And, like you mentioned, I mean I remember we had a client in the panhandle that had a product and it was really interesting because you know the business owner you're thinking about. Here's my product, here's my customer base you don't even know or think about. Is there political risk? Is there inflation risk in this other currency risk in these other countries. I mean, it's just not something that pops in your mind.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Not to mention the cultural differences that you're going to have to wade through, because there will be that.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Absolutely, yeah, absolutely, and it's a great specialized service that we have Export Marketing Plan.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So I want you to walk me through. If I were a client, a potential client, and I came to you and said, oh my gosh, I really need help with my business. What does that journey look like?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, okay, very simple process. So, first and foremost, know we're funded by the SBA, so there is a process. You have to go on our website, which is sbdcfgcuedu, and in the top right corner there's a button that says request for consulting. It'll ask you a whole bunch of questions and just demographic information we have to you know what, what business?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

what's your industry? And then it'll ask you hey, what specific assistance do you need? You know, if it's, do you just need to talk to someone? Or you know, are you looking to get a loan? Something like this. And completing that form is probably the most important thing, because we can't talk to people until they create that form. And that form also leads to one of the benefits of working with the SBDC that form binds us and our consultants to a confidentiality agreement so this is where you come to us.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

we cannot share anything and also because we're funded by taxpayer dollars, we legally have to act in the best interest of the business. So any recommendations that we have, we can never sell. If you need a website, for example, we're not going to recommend you to our cousin's company or something like that.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So first step is you go on our website and register, give it something like three to five business days and then a consultant will reach out and what that does is during those three to five business days, it gets into our queue, it gets assigned to our region and then we also review what we call that request for consulting or the RFC, and we review what the business owner puts in there. So okay, they said they needed cash flow assistance. We're going to connect them with our consultant, who's the CPA on our team.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

If they need marketing help, we'll connect them to someone else and after that you'll have this initial meeting. So your consultant will reach out to you within three to five business days and schedule an initial meeting. You guys will cover your problems, challenges, goals, work out on a plan, and the benefit of the SBDC is you can use us as often or as little as you'd like. So we've often had clients that say I just need help creating these financial projections for the bank. We help them with that. They get the loan. Need help creating these financial projections for the bank. We help them with that. They get the loan.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And then we don't hear from them for a year until they say oh, okay, I'm now ready to hire my first employee. Can you help?

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

me create a job description. What do I do?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And then, conversely, we also have clients that come in and they literally have a standing monthly meeting with their consultant, and they've had this monthly meeting with their consultant for over three years. It's just a long-term relationship and we're really flexible on that. Whatever meets the needs of the business owner.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So could it be once a week? Yeah, it could be.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

We have a consultant, heidi Kramer. We actually had to go to lunch and I kind of had to go like, hey, can you wrap up this call, because we're all hungry. But she has a standing conference call with one of her clients each week. So yeah, that's common too.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So you had mentioned at the top that 500 or less employees. I'm assuming that you vet that 500 or less is considered small business according to your terms or the SBA's terms.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, the SBA's terms.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

And then you vet that when somebody goes online and fills it out, is that something that you ask?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, so on that form, it does ask. It's one of the questions of how many employees you have. Other than that, I mean it's really we trust your word on it.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So we've never, and of course you know if someone was.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

McDonald's and they came in and they said oh yeah, we're a small business, we could look that up. Right exactly, but yeah, we do ask. I mean that RFC probably does take I'm not going to lie five to 10 minutes, and that's a long time when you're filling out a form.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

But it is a very all-encompassing questionnaire that the federal government just requires us to ask and it gets you the information you need to properly send them to the correct consultant.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, because we want to make sure that your connection with the consultants right the first time.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

So, outside of the consulting services that you do, you also put on workshops or training programs. I know there's a conference that I actually spoke at. So what things outside of just consulting do you do?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, absolutely, and I will say that that probably makes the Florida SBDC among the top tier SBDC network.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

You guys just won an award. We got to talk about this. Yeah, absolutely, I'll let you wrap that up. And then we got to talk about the award. Absolutely, don't want to forget.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So with our training programs and, I guess, our ancillary services, so we do have normal workshops and webinars I usually say they're low cost, they're $50 or less and realistically I think we charge something like $5 or they're free. But these are going to be based on a variety of business topics how to start a business. We have banker panels. You know how to Is your bankable business?

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Thank you.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, is your business bankable? Sorry, so we have different topics there, and then we also have marketing ones. So we had one that you know how to advertise on Instagram or how to use Canva for your small business. So those topics, those training topics, are generally something like one to two hours and it's just if you have free time during lunch, you'll come in, you'll log on to the webinar and you'll just learn something and if you need to expand on that, you'll fill out the RFC. So those are going to be our typical trainings when we think of webinars and workshops. But our region also has two signature events here locally, and the first one is the one that you spoke at was.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Women Excel. So this is a small business conference for women-owned businesses or future women entrepreneurs, and it's a one-day conference. It's usually done in October and we probably get something like 150-ish small business owners attending. And the real mission of this conference in particular is let's connect women-owned businesses so that they get to expand their network locally, because connecting with local business owners is important, and especially like-minded individuals.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Let's give them professional development so that they could learn how to grow their business and then we also connect them with the lending partners that are there, so it's a great way for them to just get some inspiration and networking for the day. And the second signature event we have is our Distinguished Entrepreneurs Award Ceremony. So this is just our annual awards dinner that we have, and it's really recognizing the small businesses in our community. And we also like to actually highlight our consultants as well during this one, because oftentimes the consultants win great awards and we have nowhere to share it, so we want to share it with the business owners that they're with and we try to celebrate our small business owners because they do so many.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

you know we mentioned it's the lifeblood of the economy. Our small business owners do so much in the local community that even they out of their humility don't necessarily share all the good work that they do. So we created this event just specifically to celebrate the small businesses.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, I've been to that event and it's wonderful.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Oh, and one more thing I forgot. We're going to actually release this, I think in January or February, but we're actually creating a CEO roundtable.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Oh, wonderful.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, and we're calling it CEO Exchange and we're picking something like 12 to 15 small businesses of different industries and I think the minimum required revenue is going to be a million dollars. But it's basically some businesses will start their business and they'll grow and then they get to this point where they kind of plateau out. So this program is specifically helping our businesses who they've already got their processes in line. They have their customers, their revenue, but they're ready to go. Okay, I want to jump from that $1 million company to be a $6 million company in a couple of years.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So we're excited to announce that hopefully in February.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

That will be awesome. That's wonderful.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And then, sorry, one more thing.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, I'd love to hear all the stuff that you have coming down and then the award that we won so interestingly enough, the SBA.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So when I think of an SBDC network, there's 63 different networks. There's an SBDC network in every state and US territory. The SBA splits up the country into eight different regions. In our region, actually, we didn't win the national award, but we were one of the eight finalists for SBDC Center of Excellence. It is a huge honor for an SBDC, I mean to be able to say, yeah, we were top 10 or top eight like definitely have bragging rights Right.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So we won that award and it's really due to the strength of our people, because we have wonderful people on our team, but also, as you see, the different training programs that go beyond your typical SBDC of we just consult with small businesses.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Right, we want to be ingrained in the community. Right, because that is important, because you're in front of the people that I might not be an entrepreneur yet, but I've got something percolating and you want to be top of mind. Exactly, yeah.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And we even have this with our outreach strategy of when we go to networking events. I tell my team, you may not necessarily get the client there, but you'll meet someone that will refer someone to you and we want to be there, you know, from cradle to grave.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

theoretically, you know I always make it. No, I. I always have this conversation with people and, like it's, you need to be open in situations. Whether you are dealing with something that is not perfect, there is a lesson to be learned in it, just like the people that you meet. There's something to learn from every person that you meet, and yeah, connection whatever that may be so for my personal life.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

I have a quote that says something you never know how someone will influence your life. So it's really interesting, especially when I go to networking events. You just never know how they'll affect you and I try to just keep that's like my mantra right before I go into the door.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, it's a great way to prep yourself to walk into a room to network, for sure. So I would love it if you could share a couple of success stories with I mean, obviously, confidentiality, but just a couple of success stories with people that you all have worked with.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, absolutely. So you know the first one that comes to mind. I got an email, maybe a week and a half ago, of someone saying hey, I'm a Mexican American immigrant. My parents immigrated to this country and we were migrant workers farm workers and the parents started a produce business in 2020. And this person ended up. He's running the business now, and he emailed me complimenting the consultant he was working with.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And he said you know, I had this relationship in 2020 and we went from $350,000 and this year we're going to be on track to be a $4 million company.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Oh my gosh, that is like crazy.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

It was. It's absolutely incredible and this is someone that we're going to we're working on right now doing a success story, because we want to publish that.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

This is a great client to deal with. And then, of course, you know, during the hurricane Hurricane Ian and and all the other ones that followed, realistically, any small business that you think of probably we touch them in some way or form. But it's interesting because we would help them get this disaster loan. And then two years later they come back and they say hey, we're past that. We need your help now with this long term recovery. And when a business owner says we did not close because we were able to work with you guys, that really says a lot.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

You know, I mean, it really touches you in a special way.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So I'd say those two are probably really good success stories that I would think of.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, I mean, and that's just two of them, right, there's so many out there that probably don't even say anything. We know how that is right.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Yeah, absolutely. And one more. So we actually now have another client that just started a mobile coffee company. Oh, cool, and interesting enough, they also just hired their first employee. So we helped them from the very, very get-go with just the idea. And they came to us with the idea they had a very specialized type of truck that they wanted to buy from a foreign country, but it looked cool right.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

It's like a classic type of vehicle and it was interesting because the research that our consultant was able to help not just with starting the business. But okay, how on earth do we even bring this over? And things like this. I know some people will go, well, it's just one job or one business created. But when you start adding this stuff, you really see the impact that our team does on the community.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Right, because it's not just. They may start out with just one employee but they could have 50. I mean, look at the produce company. I'm sure they have a lot of employees.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Exactly, and that's exactly why we're here, is we help you when you're small, but then we help you grow into that. You know big business.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Right.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Still under 500 employees but Right.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

But you're affecting the life of that owner and that owner's family, but you're also affecting the lives of all the people that they're able to hire.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Absolutely, and when we think of even, let's say, the local challenges for a region. Right, the cost of living is expensive infrastructure, a lot of people are moving in. This is why.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Our, you know, hurricane season and hurricane season.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So it really puts it into perspective where the small work that you do, like you mentioned, you help the business be successful and that business owner right. They're holding their own, but they're also supporting small businesses. We had a client who is a dry cleaner and they were telling us their story because they've been with us since they purchased the business and they said during COVID we didn't let anyone go, and that's the mentality of a small business owner right and it really does trickle down and touch and affect the lives of our entire community.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

We're just one puzzle piece as the SBDC for small business, but it touches the employees and in an indirect way it touches more people?

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, it does, absolutely. So what would you tell someone who may be hesitant to reach out to the SBDC? They're scared because they I mean people go oh my gosh, their government, like there are some connotations that people I'm sure make up in their head, or if they've heard, or whatever. How would you get them off the fence to just come and have a conversation?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

You know what? That's a great question, because we do get that so, interestingly enough, I guess the boring aspect we actually don't share the consulting sessions with the SBA. We're not allowed to so this is the SBA's own rule, just to be, impartial. So everything when I say confidential, it really is confidential, unless, of course, a judge forces us to do it, then legally we just have to.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

But other than that, if someone is hesitant I mean because we're funded by taxpayer dollars I always say we're here to act in your best interest. I have nothing to sell to you. I just don't, I can't sell anything to you. So you're literally paying taxes for me to give you my professional, honest opinion on your business. And other people are often more hesitant with you know they're worried about oh man, we got a lot of baggage.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

I will also say yes, that's so true.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

We've seen everything. We have seen crazier people than whatever your business. Whatever you think is crazy, we've probably seen crazy and you know this is probably is crazy.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

We've probably seen crazy.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

And you know this is probably something for you know, a discussion over drinks or anything. But I could tell you so many war stories. But yeah, we've literally seen everything and that's okay. We have the experience. Our team comes from various different backgrounds. They have different specialties. So if someone is hesitant, I would really just say don't be. Backgrounds, they have different specialties. So if someone is hesitant I would really just say don't be. I mean, even if it's you just scheduling a meeting with a consultant and saying, can you just tell me about yourself and can we just talk, that's completely fine too. Even if there's no goal in the meeting, you'll probably get to something where you're like, okay, I trust this person, I can actually share more information with them.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Yeah, cause you know there's the. They think that they're going to be judged right and you have a no judgment zone. And we have a no judgment zone and but that's, I am sure, like if it's you know, oh my gosh. You know somebody may think, oh my gosh, my company's a mess financially or or process wise or whatever. They're knocking on your, they're scared to knock on your door because of their fear of being judged. But you have a no judgment zone and you work with professionals and there's a non-disclosure agreement.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

So no judgment zone. We're here to help you. Of course, we always encourage people reach out to us sooner rather than later, because if you have any inkling or any feeling that there's some kind of problem in your business now don't let that grow Come to us and let's put it in its place. Let's mitigate any potential risks in the future, because that's what we're here for.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know what the SBDC does, and having you share that with our listeners is invaluable information to them. If our listeners would like to get ahold of you or the SBDC, how do they do so?

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Well, with my last name it will probably we'll put it in the show notes.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

There we go.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

The easiest will be SBDCFGCUEDU and we have an about us and all of our contact info is there. Perfect, that will be the easiest.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

Wonderful. Thank you so much, Dor. That will be the easiest Wonderful. Thank you so much, Dorian, for being here with us today.

Dorian Zwierewicz:

Of course, thanks for having me.

Jennifer Ann Johnson:

And thanks to my listeners.

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Jennifer Johnson

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