Success Stories

North Line GIS was founded in October 2006 by Mike George and Trip McLaughlin after seeing a need for a GIS business to service the needs of the local community as well as the western slope of Colorado. Both Mike and Trip were employed full-time by others at the time of the start-up, so they were able to start the company with personal funds while building the business.

Although both founders have extensive experience as geographers, they needed assistance with ideas for managing and growing the business. After researching available resources, they contacted the SBDC to help them strategize about growing the company. The SBDC director helped them to modify their business plan including identifying metrics crucial to measuring their business success as they worked toward their goals.

In less than six months since the initial contact with the SBDC, Trip is now working full-time with North Line GIS and the company hired three more part-time employees to assist with the work being generated by Trip and Mike.

“We look forward to the opportunities ahead of us and the resources available from the SBDC to help us move forward.” Trip McLaughlin

For Nina Anderson, helping people has always been a passion. Nina is the owner of Express Employment Professionals in Grand Junction, CO. Express offers a wide range of services for job seekers and employers and is a national chain. The job seekers can have their job skills evaluated so they know what skills they need training in and then can be matched with an employer that meets the job seeker’s skill set and career preference. Express also provides many services to the employer. Along with the hiring of employees, Express can also handle a majority of the employer’s human resource needs.

All of these services became available in April, 2007 when Nina opened her business. She has a strong human resource background and passion to help people. This passion sets her apart from other employment service businesses. She truly cares about helping job seekers find a career and helping employers find the employee with the perfect fit. Nina’s background in human resources took her career all the way to Vice President of the Human Resource department in her most recent position. When she realized that she needed to have a college education to advance her career , she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management. Through past positions, Nina dealt with Express to fill job openings. She liked the service so much that she decided to open her own franchise.

To help her create a successful business, Nina utilized the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). She attended classes in finance and marketing. She also used consulting sessions to help her set up different avenues of marketing to help promote her business, which lead her to compete in the elevator pitch competition and win first place at the 2007 Western Colorado Venture Forum.

Thanks to the help of the SBDC and the passion that Nina has for helping people, her business is successful and growing.

Kevin Leuallen’s grandfather, Floyde, and father, Charles, inspired him to become an entrepreneur. His father owned various food delivery routes, a donut store, a mini storage, a miniature golf course, and a liquor store along with A & W and Dairy Cream restaurants in Rifle, Colorado. As a young boy working for his grandfather, Kevin used to help out in his restaurants . Kevin also helped his dad deliver Holsom Bread in the Rifle, Colorado area.

Kevin later worked a Pepsi delivery route and had his, then, 2-year-old son, Brandon, sitting at his side as he made his deliveries. Kevin went to work for a public utility company for a few years before he realized his passion was to build assets and start new food-related businesses as his grandfather had done. His son Brandon followed in his footsteps and partnered with his father in what is now Leuallen Sales & Service. Kevin’s wife Tammy and Brandon’s wife Betty Jo are also a big part of their success.

In May 2014, Kevin and Brandon purchased a Blue Bunny ice cream distributorship in Grand Junction. His son Mike has joined him to expand the ice cream business. They currently run this and their other food distribution businesses out of the Business Incubator Center where they are able to access the services of the Grand Junction SBDC as they continue to grow. Sales tripled from 2014 to 2015, and the SBDC has been critical in helping them expand. Kevin and Brandon feel they can ask any question and the Grand Junction SBDC is able to find answers acting as a mastermind group of consultants to help them learn and grow.

Their advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to “keep it simple and do a really good job at whatever you do, follow that where it leads you and look for open doors.”

The SBDC has helped them have a solution mindset, not a problem mindset.

Kevin and Brandon believe that one of the keys to their success is that they genuinely care about the people that work for them and their family. They listen and find ways to actually help them. “If you know what people need,” says Brandon, “you can care for them.” Leuallen Sales & Service has successfully grown their business by this principle.

Lynn Brittner, Executive Director, started planning the Southern-Ute Cultural Center and Museum over ten years ago. The Center’s opening this past May was her reward for years of dedicatedly holding the vision.

Brittner’s relationship with the Southwest Colorado Small Business Development Center started way back at the beginning. She needed help and only had three staff. A grant from the Administration for Native Americans provided funds for her to take Board members to visit other successful and non-successful museums around the country with an emphasis on tribal museums. They had a lot to learn about creating a world class structure inside and out in Ignacio.

The Southwest Colorado SBDC Director had students from a business class at Fort Lewis help with the research she would need to write the business plan. “The SBDC has also been a consistent support and on-going resource. They have introduced me to people who could help with various aspects of the project and found us grant money to update the strategic plan.”

Brittner was surprised at how many details have to be considered in creating a museum and exhibits. “We had to consider the exterior design, the interior design, signage, height of the educational plaques, size of the displays, as well as their user friendliness and degree of engagement.”

The Cultural Center and Museum features a panoramic cinema, stunning exhibits and interactive display. Priceless artifacts can be viewed as well as beautiful jewelry, baskets and bead work.

In addition to exhibits teaching about the history and culture of the Ute Indians, the museum sponsors cultural events and has a facility available to rent for weddings, parties and staff retreats.

Marcus Garcia has been the owner of the Rock Lounge (RL), an indoor climbing gym in Durango, since 2014. Marcus had transitioned from being a RL employee, a rock climbing guide, and owner of a small construction company before then. The RL was profitable in his first year, yet he thought there was more potential to be realized. Marcus had sent his business manager to a locally sponsored event which introduced them to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Fort Lewis College. SBDC is a free resource for entrepreneurs wanting to start, grow or sustain their business. Marcus contacted SBDC and was put in touch with an advisor whose specialty is business operations.

The SBDC consultant instructed Marcus to create a profit/loss system to find where the RL made and lost money. In addition, the SBDC consultant provided insight and structure on financial costs and overhead projections. Marcus saw positive gains over the course of that first year into the next two years. “The SBDC consultant helped me understand how the business worked and what made this business unique.” In March 2017, the property owners sold the building where the RL was located and they had to be out by the end of April. Marcus contacted Region 9 (a non-profit that promotes economic development in southwest Colorado) for a small business loan, but was rejected. This left him unsure of how to proceed. He reached out to the SBDC for guidance. The SBDC consultant contacted Region 9 on his behalf and learned Marcus would need to provide a sales forecast for the next three years to show future profit. Since the RL was profitable during Marcus’ three years as owner, the SBDC consultant gave instruction on how to create a financial spreadsheet which would provide the details Region 9 wanted. During this time, Marcus had friends who had offered him a building location to relocate the RL.

The loan Marcus had applied for would be for interior reconstruction. As the building codes and requirements were being sorted out, the SBDC consultant spoke directly with the loan officer to justify RL’s business model and explain their financial projections. Marcus said that the SBDC consultant’s involvement was an important reason the loan was secured in November 2017. Construction soon began with the help of Marcus’ friends and members of the community. The RL reopened in February 2018. “I learned the importance on how to account for all expenses, including the small ones. From the cost of a computer servicing, paper towels, to knowing the exact point of sale that comes from the swipe of a card.” Due to the loss of time between closure to reopening, the RL is not yet where it was financially from early 2017. “We have been reaching out to the community to let them know our new location (111 East 30th St., Durango). I want the RL to be a climbing community center and a place where the youth of Durango can find who they are through climbing.” Marcus will revisit SBDC at six months’ time from the reopening to review the financial information and stay on course with the projections. The RL currently has one full time and six part-time employees. His present focus is to raise $120,000 to expand by constructing a rope climbing area.

“SBDC being free to the public was the biggest thing for me. They helped get me in the right direction and guided me along the way.”