The California Small Business Development Center helped 'Sugar Babies' get into business.

 

The California Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Program wants to help small business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools and guidance needed to become successful in today’s challenging economic climate...just like they did for sisters Kassandra Workman and Krystal Michelle, owners of Sugar Babies Cupcakery.
SBDC reckons hundreds of women are like Kassandra and Krystal, who had no prior business experience, and would like to start businesses. The sisters credit the SBDC for helping them taste the sweet success they now enjoy.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE LESSONS LEARNED:

• Find your focus. “We went in with a rough idea and just pieces of a business plan,” Crystal recalls. “Ron coached us, gave us feedback and helped us focus in on what we wanted the company to look like.”

• Go step by step. “ I didn’t know the steps [to startup],” says Crystal. “Now that we have a business plan, do we get our permits? Do we try to get loans? What’s next? The SBDC pointed us in the right direction.”

• Have a backup plan. When their loan applications were rejected, the sisters didn’t give up. Having gained new confidence in their business abilities by working with the SBDC, they modified their concept to a mobile cupcake truck, and bootstrapped startup with $30,000 of their own funds.

• Manage your money. “I still refer to my notes from the QuickBooks class I took,” says Crystal, who handles Sugar Babies’ bookkeeping. “I learned that keeping accurate records is vital because it allows you to determine your cost factors and profitability at any given time, [so] you can direct the expansion or contraction of your business.”

Direct and personalized technical assistance is provided to entrepreneurs through professional consulting, supplemented by low-cost or free seminars and conferences. These services are delivered throughout California via an extensive network of thirty-five Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs).

Your local SBDC provides comprehensive business guidance on most business issues including;

• best practices for small businesses,


• business plan development,


• start-up basics,


• financing,


• procurement & contracting opportunities,


• regulatory compliance, money management,


• international trade, and


• manufacturing assistance.

Our one on one advising is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, state, and local partners and is offered at no cost to the client.