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Is Your Skillset Current?

by | Jan 22, 2014 | Business Tips

Is Your Skillset Current?

Al Lopez, January 16, 2014

It’s interesting to me how often I get a call where someone says, “I’m starting a business, and I have just one question.” In our sense of urgency to hurry and get started or stay on task with the job we have, we often neglect the value of taking the time to equip ourselves so that over the long run we can enjoy more success. I am a firm believer in the importance of education for our youth, but it can’t end there. Education needs to be a priority and not just one more thing you add to your to-do list. Everything we know, including our professional skills, is rapidly becoming obsolete. This means that it’s not enough to work hard. We must be constantly updating our knowledge and acquiring new skills. I hope that when the day comes I stop learning someone is calling the mortician.

As entrepreneurs, we sometimes think that keeping our skills current doesn’t matter for us. You can benefit from staying up-to-date no matter what kind of work you do. With better knowledge you’ll make better decisions, and you’ll see threats and opportunities sooner, which can give you a cutting edge and help you adjust your plans. Also, learning how to effectively and efficiently run your business and staying abreast of the latest industry enhancements will earn you the respect of your customers, suppliers, and supporters/investors.

We have never been faced with so much change, and that is also true for businesses. I heard recently that more information has been produced in the last 30 years than was produced in the previous 5000 years, and that the “total body of knowledge” will continue to double every five years. We must keep our skills and knowledge current in order to keep up with required changes to how we run our businesses and how we must update our products or services to keep solving our customers’ new problems.

Small business owners cannot neglect the need to learn. Continuous learning is connected to better business performance and higher likelihood of surviving the wall that all small businesses hit at some point in their life cycle – 50% of the time in the first five years.

With today’s technology, there are many ways to stay current or to learn more about your industry. Stay up to date by reading articles, listening to podcasts of experts in areas you want to develop, and networking. You don’t have to know everything, from every source about your industry, but you need to stay current to learn how to skim for relevant and important information.

The benefits are pretty obvious. New knowledge and skills help prevent repeating mistakes, identify and implement best practices, and contribute to business success.

That’s what EGBI is about… creating an opportunity for small business owners to get equipped to start and manage their business, on-going mentoring/counseling, continuing education through workshops, and incubation if their business requires it.

If you are looking to challenge yourself in learning how to better run a business, there is still time to join our current cohorts of Building Success Program (English evening class) and Curso Empresarial (bi-lingual morning class). Sign up now!

What We are Thankful for

by | Dec 13, 2013 | News & Events

What We Are Thankful for

Al Lopez, December 16, 2013

Thanksgiving may have just passed, but I have not stopped being thankful for another great year here at EGBI!

Just before the holiday, we celebrated our last graduation for clients who completed our entrepreneurship training.  In all, this year we had 80 individuals complete at least 30 hours of business training and present their business plan to their class and the EGBI staff.  The graduation celebrated a wonderful blend of new and developing partnerships, including Las Comadres para las Americas, University of Texas Pan Am Veteran’s Center, El Buen Samaritano, and FuturoFund.

Even with our amazing staff, we couldn’t do all this alone.  In 2013, EGBI delivered over 550 class hours of training – a 44% increase over 2012!  Our dedicated volunteers facilitated over half of those class hours.  And while it is difficult to single one out, we are especially thankful for Manuel Alverdi of Taxes Impuestos y Mas who was named Volunteer of the Year at our third annual Celebrating Success event.

At our Celebrating Success event, we highlighted the fellowship and generosity of our supporters.  Most non-profit events yield about 50% of the gross proceeds. Keeping our costs very low enabled us to direct nearly 90% of the proceeds directly to our program needs.

Another key measure of our success is the way prior students have stayed in touch with the EGBI family. At our year-end event we heard from Jason and Michelle Villarreal, owners of Villarreal Insect and Pest Solutions, and Donie Torrance, owner of Nails Naturally. They shared moving personal testimonies of how their heart for entrepreneurship led them to realize a dream with great benefits to their families – and how EGBI played a key role in making those dreams come alive.

To date, EGBI has graduated 250 clients from our Building Success Program.  About one-third of our graduates have started their businesses and are generating revenue, paying taxes, and employing, on average, two and a half employees – with relatively young and growing businesses.  Last year, our clients reported over $6M of revenue and almost 150 jobs created or sustained. We’re looking forward to our annual client survey for 2013, and anticipate even more impressive results.

It’s great to be a part of an organization that is successfully equipping entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams.  We are grateful for the tremendous support we received this year from our partners at the Housing Authority of the City of Austin, the Chambers of Commerce, Las Comadres para las Americas, Walmart, Wells Fargo, AT&T, IBM, and BB&T just to name a few.  We couldn’t do the work we do without their support.

We’re looking forward to 2014, a year that will have plenty of opportunities. We recognize there will also be challenges, but we are confident that with hard work and the consistent collaboration and support from our partners, we will overcome whatever difficulties come our way. You can be a part of this opportunity – it’s never too late to invest in our efforts.  Won’t you consider a year-end, tax-deductible gift to EGBI to assist us in expanding our programs and services?

Happy holidays, all! We look forward to working with you in the New Year!

Mother&Daughter

by | Dec 13, 2013 | Success Stories

Mother & Daughter Business Kicks-Off at EGBI

By Nayeli Gallegos, December 13, 2013

Bea Baylor worked as a full time nurse for 20 years. At the same time, for the last seven years, she had been informally running her business from home… providing her services for free most of the time. As a 13 year cancer survivor, Bea has been an advocate for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, helping them create a journey to healing. She wrote the book “My Tribulations Made Me Fabulous” which will be published in 2014, and she was featured in the latest issue of Renewed Magazine.

Her daughter, Chamita Griffin had been helping other women doing research on how to start a business, and where to find funding sources. While researching Chamita found a product  that does exactly what they were looking for. So they partnered up with Credit Network Assistance and packaged it in a one-stop shop, which is what makes their business coaching style stand out.  In July 2013, Bea attended a women’s conference called Defy Impossible hosted by Dr. Venus Opal Reese in Dallas, Texas. That is where she realized that she was part of a great number of women who are used to taking care of others and giving her talents away and don’t monetize on what they are worth.

She was inspired and empowered to formalize her business and decided to partner with her daughter on what it is now Baylor’s Business Consulting Enterprise. They learned about EGBI and immediately saw a good fit and found a welcoming place to launch their business enterprise.

Baylor’s Business Consulting Enterprise specializes in working with small to medium businesses, to help them secure funding and build their business credit as well as providing one on one support. They have a network of over 2100 lenders, of which 400 are directly integrated in their Business Funding Suite.  Their business  credit  advisors  and  business coach walk business owners through each step very carefully to make sure  they  obtain the funding they need  to grow their business and be profitable in a short period of time.

“Our goal is to educate new and existing business owners on how to leverage their business credit and obtain the funding needed to take their business to the next level” said Ms. Baylor.

We love seeing entrepreneurial spirit run in families and we are proud of these mother and daughter entrepreneurs. To learn more about their business and services, please call 512-350-1747.

My Granny's Kitchen

by | Jul 30, 2013 | Success Stories

EGBI Client Opens Food Trailer on Rainey Street

By Al Lopez, July 30, 2013

About two thirds of EGBI graduates wind up starting a business. In most cases, taking into account their learning, they decide to delay the start to do it in a better prepared way. This is the case of Vann Brown, who graduated from Building Success Program in August 2011. All of last year, she worked on developing her plan, continued to getting business training, attended a couple of our workshops, networked at our Annual Reunion, and kept EGBI in the loop of her progress.

On May 26th, we were thrilled to attend the grand opening of My Granny’s Kitchen food trailer on the fairly exclusive Rainey Street downtown.

My Granny’s Kitchen was inspired by Vann’s grandmother, who had a passion for cooking and providing healthy meals to her family. Vann shares the same passion, and she understands that spending time in the kitchen preparing healthy meals can reduce the quality time with the family, so her goal is to provide a solution to those of us with busy lifestyles.

“We at My Granny’s Kitchen strive to provide a healthy affordable fast food alternative to the everyday family that is available when you need it and revive the traditions of southern style cooking” said Vann.

We applaud Vann’s perseverance and wish her all the success in her new business. We invite you to please take the time to stop by My Granny’s Kitchen and try one of the delicious meals on her menu “There is no reason why nutritious meals cannot be sold as fast food!”.

Vann is one of many EGBI clients who have accomplished their goal of starting a business. We are proud of her and look forward to many more celebrations to come.

 

My Granny’s Kitchen

Mobile Food

by | Apr 30, 2013 | Success Stories

The Austin Chronicle

http://www.austinchronicle.com/food/2010-08-20/1070852/

Mobile Food

Some tips on getting a foot in the door of the trailer business

BY MICK VANN, AUGUST 20, 2010, FOOD

The mobile food trailer, cart, or truck is the new wave of Austin eatery, and it’s taking off like gangbusters, attracting national TV, radio, and print media. Austin had 648 mobile food businesses in 2006, but we’re projected to have 1,620 by the end of 2011. Many see it as the inexpensive alternative to opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant: While a mobile operation can be opened on a shoestring for $20,000 to $30,000 (the cost of a new car), a full-fledged restaurant can start at 10 times that amount and quickly rocket way, way up. While a mobile vendor might have zero to very few additional employees, even a small cafe requires at least a dozen. With dependent staff and lots of money invested come responsibility, worries, and headache, while the mobile vendor can start up with his psyche relatively unscathed.

What’s happening here in Austin reflects a national trend. New York City has a permit waiting list 10,000 people long and a new Green Cart program that shortens the wait if a licensee agrees to sell only fresh fruits and veggies and target neighborhoods with a need. With mobile food vendor permits capped by the city’s health department at 4,000, there’s a huge and lucrative black market for selling or leasing existing permits, and relatively violent cart wars have broken out over competition for spots. New York has its wildly popular annual Vendy Awards, which give awards to the best food vendors in the city, determined by diners’ votes and a panel of expert chef judges. Los Angeles just held its first-ever L.A. Street Food Fest and had 15,000 people turn out. San Francisco, long the habitat of burrito and taco trucks, has entered the fray with more than 50 new mobile food trucks Twittering their nomadic locations to the faithful. Portland, Ore., now has 600-plus vendors, and the list goes on.

To jump in seamlessly, you need a creative and original idea, along with food as good as, or hopefully much better than, that already being prepared in the area. It helps if your product is unique, but at the very least, it had better be good and worth the price. It’s a plus if there are hordes of drunken, starving, cash-laden pedestrians staggering by your operation every night, but if what you produce is appetizing enough, the hordes will go to considerable trouble to seek you out, aided by bloggers and food sites like Chowhound.com and TacoJournalism.com.

To get your operation started, you need to start a long series of steps, the first of which is gathering the required money. Many of the next steps are outlined in the Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Depart­ment’s packet for a permit (see “Links for Hitching Up,” below). For this, you’ll need deep pockets (yours or an investor’s) or a pile of empty credit cards and, with either, a business plan to go along with that great idea and your talent. You need to know your start-up costs, and when you start ciphering those, they can add up quickly.

If you want to roam the streets and tweet changing locations, a used catering truck can go for as little as $10,000, while a new one can cost $75,000 or more. (Under a new proposal due to be enacted in October if it is approved, your itinerary must be on file with the health department; more on that toward the end of this story.) If it’s a trailer you’re after, a new 16-footer can be had for $16,000 or twice as much. You can always build one yourself on a trailer frame or retrofit an older trailer such as an Airstream, Shasta, Airfloat, or Spar­tan. A Web search will turn up dozens of used truck, trailer, and food-cart dealers. The requirements are simple: cleanable surfaces that can be sanitized, triple sink and hand sink, refrigeration that holds foods at temperatures below 41 degrees, equipment to hold hot foods at 135 degrees or higher, pressurized water system with a hot water heater, gray water capacity that exceeds freshwater by 15%, and thermometers to monitor temperatures of foods. Basically it must operate within the same guidelines as a restaurant kitchen, and once a year it must make a sacred pilgrimage to the headquarters of the health department to be inspected and permitted (so for a brief time annually it must possess the capacity to roll through traffic).

Commissary Kitchen

Whether you’re restricted (selling prepackaged products) or unrestricted (producing food in the trailer or truck), you’re required to be aligned with a commissary kitchen. The commissary kitchen must be inspected on a regular basis, have a certified potable drinking water source for filling the trailer’s freshwater supply, and have a grease trap so that wastewater (aka gray water) from the trailer can be disposed of properly and not pollute the city’s water system. The commissary can be used for cleaning the vending unit, storing raw materials, food preparation, etc. The guidelines enforce this requirement by stipulating that the vendor have a notarized and signed affidavit from the commissary kitchen, and the new proposed regulations require the vendor to keep a monthly log of visits to the commissary. There are a very limited number of commissary kitchens available in town (see “Commissary Kitchens”, below); these can be expensive on an ongoing basis, and you may not have much of a choice on when you get to use the facilities (many are open 24 hours). What many vendors do to satisfy the requirement is to align themselves with an existing restaurant.

Location

The cost of your location is rapidly becoming a big concern; currently a spot can cost anywhere from nothing (for a sweetheart deal with friends or family) to $1,500 a month, the highest rate we have heard of so far. But don’t expect that rent ceiling to last, as space becomes restricted and more vendors hit the scene. Location cost is one of the main motivators in causing mobile vendors to band together to establish more and more “trailer park eateries,” where vendors of complementary food items group together to share a location and thus share their common overhead costs: trash removal, electric service, rent, set-up and cleaning of common eating areas, restroom facilities, etc. Generally the concept works much like a “restaurant row,” where a larger collection of dining options in one place lures more total diners to the area. These arrangements can be transitory, especially when one vendor gets more popular than the others and starts hogging vital resources, such as limited parking.

Obviously you want a location with good traffic flow, foot traffic if at all possible (since the need for parking is reduced if you can lure pedestrian diners right off the sidewalk). With city sidewalk or easement locations you usher in a whole new set of problematic restrictions, having to deal with the city’s Right of Way Management Approval Network ordinances (call 974-7180 for specifics). You want good visibility from the road for car-borne diners and a spot for them to park their cars, whether they’re stopping in to grab a to-go order or staying there to dine on-site. You desperately want some shade in the summertime, or you’re limited to serving only at night, serving to-go only, or spending the bucks to erect a sun cover or shade of some sort. Finally, there are some restrictions on location that must be addressed. Carts have to be in properly zoned areas: commercial or industrial, excluding neighborhood office, limited office, and general office. They can’t be located within 50 feet of a building that contains both commercial and residential uses and can’t be within 20 feet of a restaurant located in a building. There are also special neighborhoods with their own special vendor rules; for a map, see www.cityofaustin.org/planning/neighborhood/downloads/mobile_food_faq.pdf.

Power

If there isn’t already an existing power source on your site, you can opt for having a power drop and a fuse box installed, which, according to area electricians, will cost anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000, depending on the distance to the power pole. The alternative is a noisy and smelly power generator, which will run you $500 to $4,000; requires the cost, delivery, and safe storage of fuel (and the memory to keep the generator gas tank full); and necessitates the money or mechanical knowledge to keep the machine maintained.

Employee Costs

Minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour, but most vendors pay a higher wage than that, and the employees have the opportunity to get a few tips as well. Between Medicare, Social Security, and federal and state unemployment taxes, plan on adding another 16.5% or so to your labor costs. If you want to provide a hospitalization policy, start at $300 a month and go up; for workers’ compensation, figure about $200 a month per employee.

Restrooms

Most folks think the mobile vendor restroom requirement is aimed at the diner, but, according to Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services’ Sue Simons, it’s actually for the vendor and his workers, though many vendors will include their diners and provide facilities for the comfort of the customer. Some vendors provide on-site flushable toilets; others have portable toilets and portable hand-washing stations. Under the proposed new regulations, vendors must provide either written proof that a neighboring business within 50 feet allows vendor workers to use their flushable toilets or a signed contract from a portable toilet supplier. Every trailer must have a hand-wash sink inside for employees’ use. Put in a flushable restroom, and you’re looking at $20,000 to $30,000; a portable toilet will run you about $100 a month, and a portable hand-wash station about the same.

Dining

If you want a ground cover to prevent mud, think pea gravel or decomposed granite as the cheapest choices. One cubic yard will cover 324 square feet at a depth of 1 inch, so do the math. Granite, pea gravel, or shredded hardwood mulch are roughly $32 a yard, while cedar mulch is around $20, plus delivery at about $75 a load and labor to spread it. Picnic table kits are roughly $100 each, plus you’ll need long chains and locks to secure them overnight; for commercial quality picnic tables that can be permanently anchored to the ground, start at $400 to $500 each and go up. Two-tier, wind-resistant 10-foot umbrellas start at about $125 each, and you’d need some place to securely store them overnight. A permanent metal shed roof on posts would be the ideal coverage option; it would protect diners during rain and could be inexpensively enclosed in the winter. Fans in the summer and rental or purchase of propane space heaters in the winter (plus the cost of the propane, which isn’t cheap) are necessities. Diners will suffer for great food, but they won’t suffer that much.

You’re going to need money for smallwares and tools and money to buy supplies to get started. By all rights, you should have enough operating capital in reserve to squeak by financially for six months or so with lousy business (consultants suggest a one-year reserve). Adver­tis­ing is usually done guerrilla-style, using fliers, food blogs, and the king of Austin mobile food vending sites:AustinFoodCarts.com.

Permissions Granted?

Finally, you need permits – an ever-growing pile of permits. A Travis County DBA (Doing Business As) will run you at least $13, a state sales and use tax permit is free, the newly proposed mobile vendor application fee will be $125 (a fee “to process the application,” but it’s actually to fund three new inspectors, according to Simons), a food manager’s certification permit is $110 (plus you must take and pass the test), the Austin health department fee is $210 ($90 for a restricted permit, or $60 in unincorporated Travis County), and the new proposed Fire Department inspection fee is $125. All together, that’s $585 that has to be paid up front to make you legit.

All of these rules are supposed to be based on maintaining public safety, but health department statistics that were presented at City Council Public Health and Human Services Committee meetings revealed that since 2006, only five of 699 public complaints regarding suspected food-borne illness implicated mobile food vendors. That flies in the face of the complaints by Tom Ramsey, owner of Snappy Snacks, a large Pflugerville-based mobile food vending company that leases out 70 food trucks to independent operators who cruise construction sites, office buildings, and the like. He developed a list of 42 health, safety, and environmental concerns he wanted the council to address to crack down on what he views as his new competition – this growing class of creative mobile food vendors. Of those, the Public Health and Human Services Com­mittee considered 10, whittled those down to seven, and has finally recommended six new requirements for final vote by the council: a monthly log of commissary use, notarized certification of commissary kitchen, proof of Texas sales and use tax permit, a posted itinerary for food trucks, written permission to use restrooms at work site, and a Fire Department inspection report. According to Simons, proof of product liability insurance (the seventh recommendation) was supported by the task force but ultimately rejected. Marti Bier, Council Member Randi Shade’s policy aide, says: “The proposals will be on the council docket in late September and can take effect 10 days after they pass. … They are pretty much a done deal.” Robert Garza, chief of staff for Council Member Mike Martinez – who’s been intimately involved with the mobile vendor issue – said, “Ultimately, this is not a comprehensive solution, and we’ll be addressing the issue again in the future.”

What started as a vendetta against fly-by-night illegal vendors cutting into Ramsey’s sales at construction sites has grown into a fairly big deal that has encompassed the entire galaxy of food vendors, including those selling food products at area farmers’ markets, and made Ramsey a whole new set of enemies. It’s shaken some current vendors but doesn’t seem to have scared off many newbies; new vendor chatter around town is hot and heavy, and my guess is that the projected mobile vendor numbers for 2011 will be soundly smashed. The health department will go from one inspector to three, and the Fire Department will add one inspector for vendors if the measures pass as expected. The big winners: the casual diners of Austin, who are offered an inexpensive and expanding cornucopia of creative eats, and the vendors, who are allowed to start small and dream big.

Commissary Kitchens

With more than 1,200 vendors in town and 1,650 estimated for this time next year, these few commissary kitchens are hardly enough to service that number. Even with most mobile vendors aligning with existing restaurants, the number of commissary-capable kitchens in town seems woefully inadequate to fulfill the new proposal.

The Kitchen Space: 692-9896, Adrienne, www.thekitchenspace.com

Just Add Chef: 431-1157, Herb Levy, www.justaddchef.com

2 Dine 4 Fine Catering (rents out some space): 467-6600, Stephen Shallcross, www.2dine4.com/index2.php

McGovern’s Organics GF/CF Delights (gluten-free): 983-3197

Manor Downs Kitchen: 632-3323, Miles Compton

There is an ongoing discussion/contact group on local commissary kitchens at Better Bites of Austin (aka Small Bites of Austin), where vendors and kitchens can make contact:www.smallbitesaustin.wordpress.com/007/05/02/commercial-kitchen-space.

Links for Hitching Up

Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services regulations page:

www.cityofaustin.org/health/eh_regulations.htm

Application for mobile food vendor permit: www.austintexas.gov/health/downloads/CH-TC_304_MFVPacket_10-07-08.pdf

“Starting a Food Business” – Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department: www.cityofaustin.org/sbdp/downloads/startfoodbus.pdf

“Tasty Tips” – Austin Small Business Development Program: www.cityofaustin.org/sbdp/downloads/2009_tastytips2.pdf

“Ice Cream, Hot Dogs, or Vegetables: Starting a Mobile Food Vendor Business” – Callaway Aimone’s primer for Texas C-BAR:www.texascbar.org/content/legal_library/economic/downloads/mobil_food_vendor.pdf

Copyright © 2013 Austin Chronicle Corporation. All rights reserved.

2013 eRaiser

by | Apr 17, 2013 | News & Events

Support Our First e-Raiser!

EGBI’s first online and social media fundraiser, April 16-May 16, 2013

By Al Lopez, April 17, 2013

 Last October, I wrote about why I support EGBI, hoping to stimulate some additional support for our organization.  Well, needless to say, I was pretty gratified by the results we experienced last fall.

Many of you who have come to know EGBI the last couple of years know that we re-launched the organization in 2011.  After a few years of a great partnership with the Housing Authority of the City of Austin and outstanding collaboration with the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, we embarked on a strategy that would increase awareness of our efforts in order to expand our pool of clients, volunteers, and supporters.

In these two years, we have earnestly driven to expand awareness of our mission and increase the investment in our efforts.  We are thrilled to have attracted new investors who are supporting our work. We are most satisfied with the fact that the largest percentage of our clients comes from referrals from previous clients, and we have many clients who have become investors in EGBI.  Those of you who know our work also know that one of our objectives is to keep the price of our services as low as possible, while we continue to improve the quality and variety of services we provide (some of which are unique, like our ground-breaking Curso Empresarial bilingual training program).


In an effort to continue to broaden our outreach and diversify our supporters—folks who know about and are willing to invest in EGBI—we’re holding our first ever online and social media fundraiser over the next four weeks.  What we would like to do is have as many of our connections (and their connections) commit to a $25 donation to EGBI.  We, of course, have our annual year-end fundraiser – Celebrating Success. Adding an annual eRaiser every spring will allow us to target small donations from our connections, like you, with an appeal to share the opportunity with your respective associates.

So, vote for EGBI with a little bit of your wallet, then share the opportunity with your friends.  We’re hoping the increased awareness will expand our client and investor pool. A $25 donation may seem small, but when you recognize that $25 covers 50% of the cost of up to 12-weeks of training for a client, you see how even that small amount can make a big difference in an entrepreneur’s life.

So, please join in and help spread the word – we’ll announce the results of this effort at our EGBI Reunion on May 16th.

Sincerely,

Al Lopez


EGBI Executive Director

Click here to make a donation and please help us spread the word through your social media outlets!

 

I support EGBI

by | Apr 15, 2013 | News & Events

Why I support EGBI

By Al Lopez, October 2012

We have been asking our stakeholders to support the Economic Growth Business Incubator (EGBI), and we have seen an unprecedented increase of individuals willing to support us – including our clients!  It is very gratifying to get such strong endorsements from people who know us the best.

Personally, I support EGBI.  Of course I do, I’m the Executive Director for Pete’s sake.  But, if you were to question why have I invested my work, and sure perhaps some of my own personal resources in this organization, I would say that over the years, I have become pretty passionate about community and economic development. I decided a couple of years ago that I was going to take my extensive business experience and find a mission that would complement my passions. EGBI has turned out to be that, especially given the importance of small businesses to our economy.

I’ve witnessed the development of our clients as they progress through our program and receive one-on-one consultations. They express their gratitude for a program that opened their eyes to the opportunities and also the challenges of being a business owner. I’ve seen them come with a dream and leave with a foundation for their business plan. I’ve enjoyed seeing them developing their marketing and networking skills by actively taking advantage of their free chamber membership. I am proud of our clients, and we feel their struggles and celebrate their successes. Starting a small business can be a fragile situation, that’s why EGBI staff, along with our volunteers, strive to be a resource that will help them succeed.

In the current economic environment, getting new investors (I much prefer investors to donors) for a non-profit is difficult, but we have seen that organizations and individuals who share the same passion for economic development are willing to support us. We are hoping to continue to increase the number of folks who know about our work and are willing to invest with me in helping EGBI prosper. 

Our Second Annual Celebrating Success event on December 6th is the perfect opportunity to get to know more about what we do and if you like, financially support our organization to allow us to continue to expand our capacity, reach and impact on the community we serve.

Is Collaborating Really Beneficial?

by | Mar 27, 2013 | Business Tips

Is Collaborating Really Beneficial?

By Al Lopez, March 28, 2013

In the last couple of years, as I have navigated around the nonprofit/public sector, I’ve observed very different levels of organizations that are willing to work together when it may be in the very best interest of the clients they serve and the mission they purport to have.

Having been a long time financial executive, I find that management of an organization is all about making the best use of your resources, seeking out and implementing best practices, and continuing to drive for improvement and efficiency – along with executing your mission.

For the most part, there seems to be acceptance of the fact that collaborating around some issues can have an impact on the clients and communities being served; in addition to the improvement of effectiveness and efficiency of each individual organization.

However, there seems to be reluctance on how to best work some of these relationships. There definitely seems to be a trust factor that plays into conversations, if it’s felt that both organizations are “competing” for the same resources or clients.

Much like we tell our small business entrepreneur clients when considering a “partnership”, which does have a legal organizational implication, make sure everything is understood up front… how is the initiative mutually beneficial, what roles will each organization fulfill, and even under what circumstances will the working together cease.

Jane Wei-Skillern & Sonia Marciano wrote in the Stanford Social Innovation Review article The Networked Nonprofit, “networked nonprofits achieve their missions far more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably than they could have by working alone.”

We’ve been extremely fortunate with the partnerships we have developed here at EGBI. Besides the great relationships we have with the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Capital City African American Chamber of Commerce among others, we’ve also established some key ones where we deliver our training services.

Our bilingual Curso Empresarial is a product of a couple of pilots we ran in 2012 with Las Comadres Para Las Americas.  Those successful pilots led to expanded plans for 2013 and even some terrific recognition from Austin’s FuturoFund as their 2013 grantee. Our next class with Las Comadres is scheduled to begin on April 9th.

In addition, we are working with El Buen Samaritano to run a Curso Empresarial at their facility in south Austin for their clients. The cohort at El Buen will begin on May 14th.

Finally, our latest partnership involves entrepreneurial outreach to veterans as we work with The University of Texas-Pan Am Veteran’s Business Outreach Center.  The Entrepreneur Training Project for Veterans is scheduled to begin at EGBI’s Emerging Enterprises Business Development Center on April 4th.

Encourage start-up entrepreneurs you know to sign up… the next wave of classes will start in a couple to a few weeks!  Go to the bottom of our home page and register.

Through our partnerships, we have been able to expand our footprint and service offering. In a city with thousands of nonprofits, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Nonprofit collaborations can be very powerful if they are managed correctly. If you are a nonprofit thinking about collaborating with other organizations, check out Greenlights for Nonprofit Success’s Town Hall event on May 7th and explore national trends and local experiences with nonprofit collaborations and mergers.

Are you Financially Fit?

by | Mar 27, 2013 | Business Tips

I know we’ve talked about this, but ARE YOU FINANCIALLY FIT?

By Al Lopez, March 19, 2013

Our initial session for EGBI’s small business startup training is Boot Camp. Many of you have taken it, and I know that many wonder why we are starting our “how to start a business” program with a class on personal finances and credit. However, it is surprising to me how many of the clients who begin our program have very little idea when it comes to their financial obligations, book-keeping and overall financial fitness. So we start with the basics and build on that. In fact, as we have refined our curriculum over the last two years, most of what we have embellished has been financial in nature – more detail on income statements, break-even, cash flow, pricing, and taxes.

Cash flow is critical – a business can be “profitable” and still go bankrupt. So, don’t get caught up looking at your income statement over a year and assume the cash will flow. It is critical to look at it monthly and sometimes, depending on payment cycles, even inside the month. Be prepared to navigate through those dips in available cash with savings, lines of credit, etc.

As a finance executive for most of my career, spending the last 11 years of it at Dell, Inc, where metrics and data were the only “truth,” I am pretty obsessed with looking at key measures. As a small business owner, you should measure everything: profitability, balance sheet, and cash-flow statements. In addition, there may be some measures that are unique to your business – identify them and track/measure those that are specific to your customers and product/service. As your business grows, make sure you evolve and expand your metrics so that you are able to understand the state of your business at all times. Those measures may be more operational in nature, but they will affect your financials. It is also important to review your performance and understand the indicators of the future of your business. Ask questions, be wary, and know what you are getting into. If there are areas that you are still uncomfortable with, get help. Don’t be too proud or take too long to “figure it out”.

Make sure you are financially fit at the personal and business level, and remember that EGBI is here to assist you. In fact, we are proud to be part of the Financial Fitness Greater Austin Week, which is coming up April 22-28, 2013.

Financial Fitness Greater Austin (FFGA) is an education and awareness initiative in partnership with the Alliance for Economic Inclusion, Senator Kirk Watson and more than 60 entities in the Greater Austin area. The goal of FFGA is to provide financial awareness and information to the Greater Austin community and emphasize the importance of financial literacy and the need for consumers to be proactive about managing their finances.

EGBI is a partner in the Adult Financial Fitness (FF) Contest, as part of the FFGA. This contest engages participants in actively managing their finances. Participants get to choose between a “CREDIT” or “BUDGET” packet that walks them thru four financial activities. After completing the activities, participants write an essay on how their “new financial knowledge” has made a difference in their lives. Packets are available at EGBI for pickup now thru April 12th (or downlaod them from the FFGA website). Check it out: 1st prize gets $500, 2nd prize gets $300, and 3rd prize gets $200. Join in and demonstrate your fitness! Please email nayeli.gallegos@egbi.org for information and to request a package to participate.

Robo de Identidad

by | Feb 26, 2013 | Business Tips

Protégete contra el robo de identidad

Por Nayeli Gallegos, 26 de febrero del 2013

Todos hemos escuchado alguna vez de casos de robo de identidad. Entendiendo como robo de identidad cuando alguien se apodera de tu información personal y la usa sin tu permiso. Provocando con esto problemas en tus finanzas, en tu historial crediticio e incluso daños a tu reputación, sin olvidar la pérdida de tiempo y dinero que puede implicar.
Si alguien se apodera de tu información personal, pueden vaciarte tu cuenta bancaria, hacer compras con tus tarjetas de crédito, abrir cuentas de servicios públicos e incluso recibir tratamiento médico usando tu seguro.

Muchas veces ni siquiera nos damos cuenta de que alguien más está usando nuestra identidad. Por eso es recomendable revisar nuestros reportes de crédito al menos una vez al año. En Annualcreditreport.com puedes checar tu reporte de crédito de manera gratuita una vez al año por medio de cada uno de las agencias de reportes de crédito: TransUnion, Experian y Equifax

Protege tu información. Ten mucho cuidado al exponer tu información personal a negocios o por medio del internet. Mantén tu información personal guardada en un lugar seguro. No divulgues tus datos personales en las redes sociales y ten cuidado con páginas de internet dudosas. Protege la información que tengas guardada en la computadora y teléfono, y asegúrate de eliminarla en caso de que vendas el aparato.

Además de los daños que le puede ocasionar a un individuo, el robo de identidad puede dañar profundamente a un negocio. Imagina que tú tienes un negocio donde recibes información personal como tarjetas de crédito o números de seguro social. ¿Qué pasaría si alguien llega a tu empresa y roba documentos con esa información personal de tus clientes? ¿Sabías que como dueño del negocio, puedes meterte en problemas legales si no estás bien protegido? Además, un caso de robo de identidad puede afectar la reputación de tu negocio.

Si tienes un negocio, entrena bien a tus empleados para que sepan manejar la información personal de tus clientes con prudencia y mucho cuidado.

Los casos de robo de identidad siguen en aumento, te recomiendo que te informes y te protejas de manera personal y a tu negocio. Visita la página de internet de la Comisión de Comercio (FTC por sus siglas en ingles). Esta es una agencia nacional de protección del consumidor que trabaja para prevenir las prácticas comerciales fraudulentas, engañosas y desleales en el mercado. Aquí puedes encontrar información acerca de que hacer en caso de robo de identidad y como protegerte contra ello.

También puedes asistir a un seminario gratuito que se va a ofrecer el 13 de Marzo de 9 a 10 am en la Incubadora de Negocios EGBI, donde se va a tratar este tema. Para más información y registro, llama al 512-928-2594 o visita nuestra pagina. Infórmate y protégete antes de que sea demasiado tarde.