As a former dairy farmer in Northwest PA, Ernie Post might not seem like a small business expert. But lessons from the farm served him well during a quarter century of management and start-up experience health care and agribusiness and now as the director of the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Kutztown University in Berks County.
“You’re constantly managing cash flow, and we preach every day the most important thing is to survive and fight another day,” says Post. “Dairy farmers are faced with that even in good times.”
Funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration and Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, the Kutztown SBDC is one of 18 centers of its kind throughout the state and provides entrepreneurs with education, information and tools to start or grow a successful business in Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Berks and Chester Counties. It’s staffed by Post and eight other small business experts who are on the ground with their own ventures.
“They’re not academics,” says Post.
In 2008, the Kutztown SBDC helped companies secure more than $170 million in government contracts, save or retain 1,500 jobs, and obtain $14 million in loans. The center also helped launch 50 businesses. More than 30,000 people have registered for the center’s online learning modules. In response to the swelling ranks of unemployed, the SBDC later this month will begin offering certificates for many of its online classes.
Post says that he helps entrepreneurs focus on their pitch for financing, not full-fledged business plans, as funders increasingly don’t have time to review a 50-page document.
“If someone has a dream, we’ll help them achieve it,” Post says. “You don’t need an MBA.”
Source: Ernie Post, Kutztown Small Business Development Center
Writer: Joe Petrucci