Sandra Marin Ruiz With Florida SBDC

Intro: [00:00:01] Broadcasting live from the business radio studios in South Florida. It’s time for South Florida Business Radio.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:08] Now, here’s your host. Lee Kantor here another episode of South Florida Business Radio. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, DIA’s Trade Law, your customs expert today on South Florida Business Radio, we have Sandra Myron Ruiz, who is the Florida SBDC and Assistant Vice President of Innovation and Business Development at Florida Atlantic University. Welcome.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:00:43] Hi, Lee. Thank you for the invite.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:46] I am doing well. I’m so excited to learn about what you’re up to. Tell us a little bit about the SBC for the folks who don’t know, what’s the mission purpose and your role.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:00:56] Oh, thank you so much. This is a great opportunity to inform our business owners and also those who are seeking to start a business that we are a resource available. So the Small Business Development Center is a program that was founded 60 years ago by the Small Business Administration. And this is a national network. So wherever you are in the US and now in different countries in Latin America, you can find a small business development center to help you in business consulting at no cost and confidential for starting a business to grow your business, even to do exports. So we have a group of 40 consultants serving Broward and Palm Beach counties. And together, we help all of those business owners with different expertise. So we work in capital access. We support technology based commercialization. Also, we support the government contracts path, local contracts, federal contracts. And also we have programs together with Enterprise, Florida, to support exporters. And also we surround this BDC with a lot of resources that the university has in house that I will expand in a minute. And most of the vision is related to help our regional economy, helping businesses start growth and also to provide assistance to help those businesses to stay in business, to access capital, and most importantly, to create more jobs that support our communities at the same time.

Lee Kantor: [00:02:39] Now, this is something for any kind of stage of a business, right? You can come to this BDC with just an idea and you can come to the sbdc with a, you know, a business that’s been in business for 20 years. There’s still resources available to each of those constituents, right?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:02:57] That’s correct. And the beauty of this BDC is that now we are an anchor program of the Florida Atlantic Innovation and Business Development. So we created an ecosystem of multiple resources that facilitate that no matter which state you are your business, if you’re in the idea, if you are just an innovator who would like to explore federal grants to create intellectual property, or if you’re in business and you will start contracting with the government no matter which stage you’re at or which industry. We have a one stop shop at Florida Atlantic in which BDC is the anchor that provides the services based on your needs. So you come to us identify what is the support that you are looking for. And we have multiple resources that can help you identify the right path. And the beauty of this is that they are services sponsored by the federal government, the State government, the Florida Atlantic University and other partners. So those services are provided at no cost. So there’s no skills to start a business now.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:09] Now, can you really make it clear about where the service begins and ends in terms of can are you a consultant or are you just advising or are you actually kind of rolling up your sleeves and doing work for your members or the people taking advantage of this opportunity?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:04:27] So the process is start requiring consulting services. This is something that anybody can do on an online platform that we have is BDC that if a you that you so then we provide business consulting. So our team is our certified business consultants in different areas. We have from finance marketing, the government contracts and what we do is to advise. But sometimes there are clients that require more hands on work. So we provide export marketing plans, government marketing plans and marketing plans. And this is the time in which we put capacity doing the research and also doing some work for the business for them to use. So it happens a lot when we do capital access, in which we do some financial projections. Also we provide some business valuation. So the business are able to have some elements, some assets that they can utilize to move forward. So we work together. It’s a collaborative, collaborative work with the entrepreneur as well, because like a business plan, this is something that we guide in the process, but we also provide some data and resources that we have in hand. So it’s. More like a mix. It depends of what is the exact need of the innovator, the entrepreneur or the business owner at that time.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:50] But you wouldn’t be doing something like making business development calls or cold calls on their behalf. You’re more helping them and guide them rather than, you know, doing the day to day operations or work of that business.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:06:08] Yes, sir. This is the right way to explain it.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:12] So now what’s your back story? How did you get involved in this line of work? It seems very rewarding.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:06:17] Oh, yes. We are mission oriented. So I started in my country many years ago being a technology based business owner. So then I moved to the US and identify that is, BDC has too many resources to support entrepreneurs. I had to start my business and sell my business with no resources, basically. So in the US we have the beauty of having these small business development centers funded by the Small Business Administration, and I started this 12 years ago in the state of Missouri, and then I moved to Florida two years and a half ago to run the Small Business Development center here and be able to support more entrepreneurs that are related to my roots. And I’ve been connected to the BDC and entrepreneurial ecosystems in Latin America and the Midwest. Now I’m working with Europe and the rewards are coming, helping all those businesses to actually reach their goals. And when you see a business that impacts their community as well is what keeps us doing this work every day in our best capacity and I’ve been in both, is because I know what it means to be a business owner and to run a business and to support your employees, to help your economy. And from the CDC, what we find is, and I personally find very rewarding to contribute with our work. And this is what keeps us happy every day.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:51] Now, as part of your mission to attract businesses from other countries to come to America, to either establish, you know, North American operations or to just expand.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:08:07] And yes, so we are part of the Small Business Network of the Americas. This is a program that is started with the US Department of State about five years ago. We established a small business development centers in different countries. Chile, Brazil is about to come also in the Caribbean. And with them we help their clients or businesses abroad to identify how to do business in the US. So with that business attraction process, we guide them on how to establish a business in the US, how to grow that business. And once they are located in Florida, we provide the services that we have for local businesses. So when we talk about economic development, we’re talking about business attraction, retention and growth. So we are helping the business attraction, helping businesses to start in the US from abroad. So we also support those ecosystems in other countries to support our exporters to have those early connections. So this is a win win. And answering your question, yes, we help on business attraction, helping businesses from other countries coming to Florida. And specifically, we have 17 companies from Chile working with the College of Business at Florida Atlantic. We help them with market research, helping them even before coming to the US on a trip. We are helping them to get information and to have market research from the students. And it helps a lot to have the decision. Now, there are 17 companies that will be located in Palm Beach County in the next year.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:46] And having the Sbdc as kind of a partner to help them get going, that really probably accelerates their growth in the US and in Florida, Right?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:09:58] That’s true. And also this is I’m telling all the business owners in Latin America they engage with, this is the safest way to learn how to do business because we’re a neutral party. It’s also at no cost. So this is a resource that really worth to explore before even engaging on having some investment, because we’ve seen a lot of companies that start the. Some bees and start registering an entity before even knowing if the US is a market for them. So we are helping from the early stage, from the communication with doing outreach and definitely having the BDC on their side, being able to provide resources and information or at least connecting with the right resources in the area is the easiest way to start navigating the US as a potential way to put a new business.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:54] Is there a story for you? Is there a story you can share with maybe one of the businesses that you were working with that you helped them get to a new level? Maybe not you personally, but the sbdc through for you. Is there a story that kind of stands out to you over the years? That was, wow, we really made a difference and we really impacted not only this company but the community as well?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:11:18] Yeah, it was a it was a story that happened during COVID. So we have a manufacturer that started with us 20 years ago because in Florida we’ve been 45 years already. So imagine the age of some of the successful businesses in the region. So one of our manufacturers who run company, they successfully exporting and everything happened during the pandemic in which they had to shift because they sold mostly their products to Crucis. So suddenly they didn’t have a client. And we help them to shift the operations in manufacturing from Rome. They had all the infrastructure, so they moved to hand sanitizers and we start doing all of the process to export and also to supply the domestic market. So in a couple of months they were able to shift from producing rum to produce a high demand product for the domestic market. We started doing some export support as well. We put all the resources, the connection that we had in hand and they were able to stay in business. They were able to save about 200 jobs in South Florida. And then once the pandemic finished, they kept that new business line. But also they shift the traditional cruises as a client to shift to do a commercial product. So they start doing now canned recourse. And that is the type of support that we provide in the backyard. And we just take this as part of our heart as well. So we just this is one example of many. So we serve about 4000 businesses a year. So you can pick the story you want. And actually on our website we have a lot of the success stories that you can read at anytime now.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:18] What does it look like if somebody says, You know what, I’ve never heard of this before. It’s one of those best kept secrets in a lot of places where they they wish there was something like this available. And for it to be no cost is hard to believe. But if somebody says, you know what, I want to learn more, how do they what is the process look like to begin a relationship with the Sbdc?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:13:42] Oh, thank you for that question. And basically what you utilize is open source. We utilize partners and a opportunities like this to share what we do for the business community and the process to study super easy. You can type in Google as BDC and regardless where you’re at when you register, it will land in this BDC that is closer to you. So we do as BDC that for you that EDU is another way. So you request consulting. So once you request consulting, you get into our system. If there is a listener here that may be in Miami, they will go to the Miami SBC. If they are in Tampa, they go to the Tampa BDC. If they’re in Broward and Palm Beach County, they land in our team. So the process is the same nationwide. So you register request for consulting and you will assign a business consultant. So that business consultant will contact, you will have a conversation and decide what are the services and the path that we can follow. And we start with multiple expertise. So you start the process. Maybe you are meeting one consultant, three or four consultants according to your need. Some people come for capital access, but the best option for them to start is with a business valuation. Or some people come for government contracts, but they need to align for the marketing. So we put all this network of business consultants in their hands and the process is start with that, just contact us Registered request consulting and we take it from there and. Is not an automatic is an individual talking to you all the time.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:29] So but it can start with a phone call or online conversation. It doesn’t require them physically coming to your office, or it can be both.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:15:38] Can be both by the process starts requesting consulting through our website.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:45] So that’s the that’s the first step that somebody has to take. They have to take that action of coming to you via their website and signing up, and then someone will contact them to just kind of see what the needs are. And then that way you can match them to the appropriate resource.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:16:02] Yes, sir, that’s the right way. And we match with the consultant and most of the consulting processes virtual unless the business owner or the consultant agreed to meet in person because it facilitates the conversation. So nowadays you don’t have to take your car to go for an hour meeting. So we provide both according to what is the business owner. Sometimes we do visits to the companies as well, so it depends more of the the dynamic that the business owner would like to follow.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:33] Now, in addition to this personalized consulting, there’s also do you do educational kind of seminars and webinars and things like that?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:16:42] Yeah, we have like a monthly webinar. We have multiple topics. Our format is to have some theoretical conversation at the beginning and then we have. Like consulting a life while we have the webinars we do a lot of this in. How to charge your business as a bankable asset. How to do government contracts, how to export. So we do the basics and this year we will have a series of export assistance support in Spanish. We also have in Spanish other type of programs that are for early stage businesses. This is an eight week bootcamp that we have in Davie in town of Davie coming up in February. This is also a scholarship that we work with the cities and the training is basically hands on activities to help our business owners, our entrepreneurs to navigate the process faster. So we have webinars that are super informative and also we have onsite training. So the best way is just to stay connected. So we have newsletters that provide information on what training programs are coming up, but also we have a lot of social media presence. So it’s the easiest way to know is to follow us and just participate. Everything again, is at no cost and as much information, a business owner has better decisions they can take. So we invite them to be part of this.

Lee Kantor: [00:18:21] And like you said earlier, it’s industry agnostic. Like you don’t have to be part of a technology firm or a manufacturer exporter. This is open to any business owner or entrepreneur, right?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:18:32] And to every industry. And again, we are moving to have more Spanish based communications. So it’s easy to access. Yes, we have to have English to the businesses in the United States, but sometimes the conversation is easier to have it in our own language. I’m Latino, so I understand that some concepts need to be explained differently. So just follow us and be part of this community and we will. We are super happy to support whoever is coming to our door. We serve a nondiscriminatory basis. So whatever business you have business idea, we would like to help you.

Lee Kantor: [00:19:15] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website one more time?

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:19:23] You can type. Florida is BDC, the Small Business Development Center, and you can put like the county or you can put Florida Atlantic, but if you just put Florida’s BDC and you can have a lot of results in Google and if you go to the Florida Atlantic University website or if you go to the BDC website, it will land in the same place in which your request for consulting and then we’re taken from there. I suggest that you also follow us in LinkedIn or Facebook and follow us and identify which training you would like to start. If you don’t want to start consulting right away, at least start being informed and involved. And we have 11 locations in the region. So if you want to meet your consultant in person, we have 11 locations that you can access those. So the websites are, if it’s BDC that for you that is EU or Florida is BDC that org.

Lee Kantor: [00:20:32] Well, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you and I am a big fan of the Sbdc. I think it’s one of those best kept secrets. I it boggles the mind that more people aren’t taking advantage of this. The people involved are smart. They, you know, are, are talented. They have a history of working at a high level and they can help a business grow and it doesn’t cost anything. So it’s one of those things where I wish every business owner at least had a conversation and got to know a little bit their Sbdc.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:21:07] This is one of the great opportunities we have as a program that you allow us to share this with the community and I do really appreciate it. This is an area because as much businesses know that we exist and that we have resources for them, the better we are as a community, as as economies.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:28] Right? It’s a win win across the board. It helps with more jobs, it helps more entrepreneurs succeed. And everybody knows that there’s a high failure rate with entrepreneurs. And why not do everything in your power to help yourself succeed? And that sbdc is a great resource for everybody.

Sandra Marin Ruiz: [00:21:47] Thank you so much.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:49] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on South Florida Business Radio.