Kathleen Lavine | Business Journal
Kathryn Arbour, president, and Pam Pressel, CEO of Capabilities in Westminster. They worked with Jim Olp, a consultant with a Small Business Development Center, in setting up their new business.
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Alyson Probst may double her sales this year, thanks to help she received from the Denver Small Business Development Center (SBDC).

In 2002, she founded Star Kids Products, which sells travel trays for car seats and strollers. She contacted the SBDC after the first version of her product had to be pulled off the market because too many were being returned. Probst knew she'd need outside financing and marketing advice to re-launch the product.

"Jim [Olp] and Marcia [Pessimier] seemed to like my product, and they gave me the momentum to get moving on my business plan," Probst said.

She worked with SBDC consultants Olp and Pessimier to develop her business plan, which secured her a $50,000 line of credit.

Online sales of the Snack & Play Travel Tray are growing each month. One of her e-tailers had been ordering 300 units a month, but just increased its order to 500 for July.

"If the last half of the year is like the first half of the year, I will have doubled my sales over last year," Probst said.

One consultation with a lawyer or accountant could cost a small-business owner a significant chunk of their operations money. But, without spending a dime, local entrepreneurs can obtain expert advice at 13 Colorado SBDCs and two satellite sites in the state, including a new center in Vail that opened July 1. SBDC staffs include lawyers, accountants, marketers and business people who offer free confidential counseling and low-cost seminars.

SBDCs also offers workshops covering everything from taxes and legal issues to marketing strategies.

"It was definitely a good place for me to get started because I don't have a business background," said Ben Brinckerhoff, a computer programmer and co-founder of Pretheory, a software company. "I didn't even know what I didn't know."

Brinckerhoff attended several seminars hosted by the South Metro SBDC this winter. He said the most valuable seminar was about intellectual property. He didn't know the difference between copyrights, patents and trademarks. But now, a basic understanding of intellectual property will help Brinckerhoff and his partner, Dan Mayer, as they write the code for their Web site.

Even an experienced entrepreneur and a former Fortune 500 executive sought out their local SBDC when starting their latest project. Pam Pressel, co-founder of the Partners in Colorado home-care business, and Kathryn Arbour, a former executive at Smith Barney and Kaiser Permanente, also worked with Olp to perfect their business plan and secure a loan to fund Capabilities, a retail medical supply store in Westminster.

"[Jim] was a terrific help to us to put some reality around the numbers," Arbour said. He encouraged them to examine their cash-flow assumptions, and had them re-write their business plan until they had a strong, realistic one that got them a needed business loan.

That plan also earned them a place in the Make Mine a Million $ Business program sponsored by Count Me In for Women's Economic Independence, a nonprofit that supports women entrepreneurs with microloans and education opportunities.

Capabilities opened in September 2005, but Pressel and Arbour still call the SBDC regularly for advice. Pressel said they're looking to open stores in other states.

People may not think the SBDC's services are valuable because they aren't expensive, said Kelly Manning, state director of the Colorado SBDC network -- but the centers are funded in part by tax dollars, so they've already paid for the services. "We're one of the best-kept secrets," she said. Without a marketing budget, SBDC news tends to pass by word-of-mouth.

"We're really looking at the grassroots effort -- grow from within and keep a steady growth for those companies," Manning said. "The biggest thing we can do to help a company is one, to let them know there are resources, and two, to tell them it's OK to ask for help."

Manning said that for every dollar the state, federal government and community organizations invest in the SBDC network's training and counseling services, local businesses attract $4 to $70 in investment from lending groups. Since 2005, Colorado SBDCs have helped companies get more than $114 million in loan money.

Manning hopes to reach even more people through the U.S. Small Business Administration's new Patriot Express Loan program, which is available to veterans, active-duty members, reservists, National Guard members and their families.

To be eligible for Colorado SBDC services, companies must have 500 or fewer employees, which applies to 97 percent of Colorado businesses.

There are SBDCs in every state. The program is a collaboration between state and federal governments, the education community and the private sector. In Colorado, the SBDC operates under the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Business owners who use the Denver SBDC's services tend to have cash-flow issues and are looking for help in getting financing and improving sales strategy, said Tameka Montgomery, director of the center that's housed at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, 1445 Market St.

In 2006, Denver SBDC consultants saw 776 people and helped them secure more than $5 million in business loans, she said. The seminars drew 1,500 attendees.