Monday Manufacturing Motivation with Temple University SBDC

Curt Anderson  0:01

Okay, hey, it’s 12 o’clock. It’s Eastern time. It is Monday, August 30. I don’t know where the summers going. Happy Monday everybody Sarah, my dear friend Happy Monday to you. How are you today?

Sarah Mailloux  0:15

I’m doing great. How are you doing?

Curt Anderson  0:18

I’m doing awesome. So this is such an honor such a thrill you and I have built a nice friendship relationship this past year. So a few things so you know, we do these interviews on Monday Sarah, and so we interview a lot of folks from SPD I’m gonna throw some acronyms out people like what are you talking about? What are all these? So sbdcs MEPs. We’re gonna dig into this a little bit. But I found that a lot of folks are just super overachievers. You know, I’m like, Kurt. Dude, you got to step your game up. So I’m going to share a little bit with any anybody out there listening. Today I’m going to share a little bit about my dear friend Sarah. So Sarah, you come from the great state of Delaware. And to my understanding, you were like number three in your graduating class. I’d have like nearly 300 students. So like a rock star. You carry that into college? You graduated at University of Delaware kumada. A, you’re super active with your band. I saw jazz band at the pep band for the football and sporting events. You went on for your master’s degree at UD. And you crushed it. You had a 4.0 Yeah, I was super close. I was right behind you. I was like a two three. So I just want to commend you on what a great academic career you’ve built. And you find yourself back in academia, but just hear a little bit about your background. academia, wise college, some fun things band. Talk a little bit about that. Would you please?

Sarah Mailloux  1:43

Yeah, sure. So I actually started off in Connecticut. That’s where I was born. Yep. And, yes, I did really enjoy all of those nerdy things like marching band and concert band and choir. I did that all throughout high school. And I actually visited University of Delaware back when I was like, 12 years old. Yeah, I was already thinking about colleges back then. So you’ll see nerdiness is kind of a theme here. When I knew all the way back then that I want to go to UT. So I did end up transplanting to Delaware. My experience there. Yes, I did take full advantage of the extracurriculars, especially in the music department. I actually got a Bachelor’s in international relations, and I have a huge fascination with Asian Studies. So I did minor in that time in China, I could do a tiny bit of Mandarin, it’s kind of lost most of its momentum since leaving college. Yeah. But I did really have a huge emphasis also on international political economics. And you’ll see it throughout my career, political economics really just continue to come into play. So that’s the only reason I bring that up here. I do graduate in three years, like you said, and then went on to the next big thing. I went right for that Master’s in international business and really started getting that business mindset ready to propel me into my career. So that was all very fabulous. I didn’t meet my husband while we were in college. We just got married last month. So that was very exciting. Oh,

Curt Anderson  3:11

and we used to print the newlyweds are super happy, exciting. So I know you had a wonderful wedding about a month ago, right? Yeah. little excitement this summer. So

Sarah Mailloux  3:22

and he is a choir teacher. So he kept with the music theme, and I moved over into economic development. Um, my first job right out of college was at a larger Corporation. If any of you are from Delaware, you’ve probably heard of CSC. It’s the largest, one of the largest employers in Delaware and I did business licensing and annual reporting for small businesses there. I’m kind of moved into Wealth Management from that. So I do have some accounting and financial management in my background. And all of that was really fun, really business worldly dealing with clients and a lot of numbers, a lot of math. But it wasn’t really fulfilling. And I, I was looking for something a little more purpose with a little more grounding in the community that I was located in. And as you said, Kurt, I did end up back in academia, I ended up at the University of Delaware, which is the lead office for the Delaware Small Business Development Center network. And I worked there for quite a few, quite a few years actually managing all the programming off the operations, overseeing the consultants and what clients they received looking at all of our annual surveys during our KPIs. It was really a really great fun time. And don’t worry is beautiful. If any of you are from Delaware. I still live here. I love it here. It’s a bit of a smaller pond compared to Philly though. So when an opportunity came up at Temple University, Small Business Development Center, I had to jump on it. Yep. And I’ve been here for about 10 months now and I absolutely love it. I love what I do. I get the opportunity to work with fabulous people such as Kurt Anderson. We do a ton of in digital marketing and e commerce which is what we’ll be talking about. I’m assuming for a little bit today, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself. But that’s a little bit of the trajectory. I’ve done a ton of other stuff in between. I’ve done a lot with marketing, nonprofit marketing. I do work as an independent consultant for a few different universities, where I help them establish course design for graduate level courses, right? And I actually work with a small business as well. So I’m a solopreneur. I am employed by a small business and I love helping small businesses as my full time job so I really have it all hurt right now I could.

Curt Anderson  5:26

Man Life is good, isn’t it, sir? So you I tell you are just such a breath of fresh air. So I’m going to give a shout out. Kim dropped a Hello my buddy Gary wood said good morning, Gary. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Little fishing, I hope. But guys. What a great story. There’s, there’s just so much uncovered there. So yeah, we need to you impact a lot. So a lot of academia, you know, and I appreciate your humility with a ban. You know, the nerd comment. But man, I’m telling you, every single one of us out there I was in band a while too and left that that trajectory. So many of us were like, Man, I wish I was stuck with a band because we would love to play an instrument when we become an adult. You know how if we really are when you’re a teenager, you’re not thinking that way. But I love that you and your husband just and cheer real quick. You and I were talking I just I want people to get this picture. So Sarah had a very blessed, wonderful, amazing career, as many of us working remotely through this tough time through COVID. Your husband is a teacher choir teacher at the local public school, I believe. And so both you’re working from home, share what that was like for both of you working from home while he’s trying to teach choir, kids singing choir, you’re trying to do your job.

Sarah Mailloux  6:39

It’s pretty tough. I mean, we have a fairly large house, but it doesn’t matter where he went, he could be in the basement, he could be upstairs in the office. Anywhere you able to hear singing you would hear if he wasn’t having the students sing or he wasn’t singing. He was playing musicals or other you know things for them to see other people singing and it was just too much. So

Curt Anderson  7:00

that is absolutely classic. So Damon, Happy Monday, my friend. How are you?

Damon Pistulka  7:05

Well, I just have to apologize. First of all, because I realize I am seven minutes late for this. And I think this is the first time I’ve been late on a live stream in my life. So well.

Curt Anderson  7:15

Hey, dude, we’re having a great time. So Sarah is sharing with us about her husband is a choir teacher night and he was working remotely from home and Sarah was trying to do her job from home and they were both she was describing how singing in the house was going on while she was trying to do her work. So that’s, that’s where we’re at. But Sarah, let’s let’s dig in. So you know, great career very diverse. And what I want to really touch on for folks that aren’t familiar this, there’s this little thing, this little agency called the Small Business Development Center. So sbdcs sbdcs are in every nook and cranny throughout the country. I believe there’s nearly 1000 centers throughout the country. I know here in New York, we have 23 centers all throughout the state. There’s like three in Manhattan, around the burls. upstate in Pennsylvania. Hi, Sarah, how many do you have? You have over 20? Don’t you there’s the 16 in Pennsylvania, okay, so 16 all throughout. And the great thing about the SBDC Small Business Development Centers, they are always parked at a place of academic so it’s either at a college, community college or university. And like Sarah just shared, so she is now at Temple University. And that’s intentional, because they want to help teach, and educate and have that that layer of trust for entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs that feel safe to come into SBDC. So Sarah, you went from an academic career to corporate, like you said, nonprofit, you’ve had a counting Wealth Management talk. And and and what I love, you’re an entrepreneur yourself. So talk a little bit about what you see that goes on at your rest, eat and talk about the Delaware SBDC and then share a little bit about the transition to the Temple University. SBDC

Sarah Mailloux  8:57

Yeah, sure. I mean, definitely, it’s it’s different going from a small state like Delaware. So as Kurt just mentioned, there’s 23 in New York, Pennsylvania is also really big. They have 16 doors small, they have one center, it takes care of the entire state. So it had satellite locations, there’s only three counties in Delaware for any of you from big state, like California. That might sound sound crazy, right? Only three counties in Delaware. So we have satellite locations with maybe one or two staff. But the bulk of the staff are located in one location. But it was statewide. So I really got the opportunity to work with agriculture business is down. So fun fact, Delaware has more chickens than people

Curt Anderson  9:38

who rule we got to drop that one down.

Sarah Mailloux  9:41

My favorite fun facts about Delaware. You know, there’s a huge ag program down here. There’s a lot of technology in Wilmington. So I am commercialization and technology certified to coach small businesses that are trying to ideate and iterate in the technology space. There’s a huge international base out of the Port of Wilmington, you know, so one One thing that I really loved from my experience at Dover was just getting that holistic view of all the different types of small businesses that really exist out there that are the restaurant, the solopreneur, the manufacturing businesses, you know, there’s just so much out there and they all need to get online to get first of all, maybe the actual projections, whatever it is, it’s really great to be able to provide those services holistically. And temple SBDC is part of a larger network, which is also very new and very refreshing for me. And each center kind of focuses on what you know what the economy looks like, within their purview. So Temple University focuses on Philadelphia, as well as Eastern Montgomery in lower Bucks County. So you can imagine the types of businesses I see on a daily basis are a little bit different. We leave the ag businesses to you know, University of Pittsburgh, or you know, someone out on the west coast on the west side of Pennsylvania, we do see a lot of that inner city, restaurants and solopreneurs and marketing people that are that are rolling around there are manufacturers as well, as you look out at Eastern Montgomery, more Bucks County. So it’s a bit been a bit more targeted and the types of clients we’re finding Yeah. But then you really get to grow that reach organically through those people that are coming back time and time again. Because you they know you’re a trusted service in that specific key area. And Kurt, I don’t want to go on a huge tangent, but if you love to kind of mentioned what the Pennsylvania SBDC network did during the pandemic, you can kind of help grow some of these services.

Curt Anderson  11:30

Yeah, and sir, and I love this. So hold that thought. I just want to share with everybody real quick again, if you are new to this concept of Small Business Development Center, and as Sarah said, Your solopreneur maybe life threw you a curveball this past year, maybe you found yourself as a potential solopreneur really not wanting to maybe you know, job loss or you know, whatever your case might be. But again, the Small Business Development Center is completely Damon, what’s our favorite word? Free me 100% free and totally confidential. And Sir, what I absolutely love, let’s and we’ll transition right into what you did in Pennsylvania. But I love your experience at Delaware where three counties, and Delaware is a beautiful, wonderful state, you have amazing beaches, like you said, agriculture, you’re kind of, you know, suburban from Philadelphia. So there’s a lot of nice diverse mix. So you saw encompass the whole state. Now you go you know, to now you’re a little bit of a smaller fish in a bigger pond at Temple, but you’re just crushing it in temples. So we’re going to talk about that. But please share where we left off, what’s going on with Pennsylvania some of those initiatives. And then like that I love to dig into like what you did specifically this past year?

Sarah Mailloux  12:38

Yeah, sure, of course. And I just want to reiterate like Kurt said, yeah, it’s no cost services. If you’re unfamiliar with the SBDC network, I encourage you to just Google the state you’re in and then SBDC, whether it be Kentucky SBDC, or Island SBDC, where there’s one in every single state. And the no cost services are available to you, we have the majority of the staff, our consultants who do one on one consulting, they’ll meet with you one time, two times for the next five years. I mean, it’s completely what you want to make out of the program, but they’re all full time specialized experts that are here to help. And we do offer a variety of other services that I’ll get to in a second. But one of the biggest things that the Pennsylvania network did during the pandemic was created things called centers of excellence. So most of the services offered by Temple University SBDC or scran SBDC or pit SBDC, wherever you’re at in Pennsylvania, are a bit more localized, right, so we’re each focusing on the counties that were near, if you were looking for a consultant, you would get forwarded to the SBDC where you’re located versus one across the state. And with the remote work environment that we all came into with the pandemic, the Pennsylvania network created Centers of Excellence to provide services that would be statewide so no matter where you were in Pennsylvania, you could attend these services or get these services at no cost still to you. So they did put a specialized push into that you can go on pa sbdc.org and see the centers of excellence that are out there. One of them is in digital services which is at Temple actually and that’s one of the programs that I run and they have a ton of others as well I think there’s eight or nine in total. So that has been a really big push to help people in specialized areas and one of the biggest ones of course with the pandemic was digital marketing and e commerce that’s very big and I’m sure you know the title of this manufacturing e commerce success you guys can kind of imagine is going to be something we’re going to talk about a little bit more

Curt Anderson  14:33

no I absolutely love that and that’s and you’re spot on because like you know what’s going on you know like in Orlando obviously you know big you know amusement park service you know all the businesses that that provide services around Disney or what have you that’s going to be that target. If you’re in the rust belt, you know heavy duty manufacturing, you’re going there agriculture so again, what’s what’s great, you know, like there’s, you know, in Manhattan, there’s a SBDC right next to Wall Street at Pace University. So Again you know, whatever is in your neighborhood that’s what the SBDC is targeting. And for anybody out there listening just I mean listen to this wealth of information from Sarah and Sarah I get like you just epitomize the the incredible abundance of talent that finds its way to the sbdcs and so what’s great is if I again solopreneur you are not on in a silo you are not on your own there are so many resources at your disposal and a great thing is you can walk into temple or maybe your you know, wherever like you said, Scranton, or wherever you are throughout Pennsylvania, or in any any state, you go to your local SBDC and even if they don’t have a subject matter expert in house like Sarah saying, Well guess what? They have a whole statewide network that they can pull in say like maybe an ag ag expert, or maybe a manufacturing expert or what have you. So again, your expertise digital marketing is great, you know, you’re just a man you 200 webinars I think you’ve put out like, it’s not saying Sarah how, like you set the bar so high. How like, talk about your and you are so methodical and systematic talk about like, your efficiency in some of the programs that you’ve put out this past year?

Sarah Mailloux  16:13

Yeah, sure. So one, I’ll just say You’re too kind I keep, I don’t mean to keep making faces when you compliment me, but I’m just like, I don’t know what to say. But yeah, so like I said, we’re at Temple University, the Center of Excellence for a digital transformation, and we have this huge push to make things relevant to the small businesses across the state that need to get online digital literacy is huge right now. There are hundreds of studies out there, one that shows you know, people that work at small businesses, over two thirds of them don’t have two basic digital literacy, excuse me digital literacy skills to update a website or use social media correctly, you know, it’s just not something in their skill set, but they never had to learn before and in a world where 80% of people are shopping online or with their mobile phones even not even getting on a laptop anymore, it’s just really really important to be present in that space and make sure you’re not just online statically but that you’re online dynamically and actually interacting with people and engaging with people like this LinkedIn live video you know, this is a great way to promote your business doing something like this and really engaging with your consumers. So that has been the big questions I got hired at Temple SBDC that I had in my vision was how do we get these things out to different small businesses and one of the biggest pushes has definitely been webinars just due to the fact that everything is still so remote but we do have them available at different times we rotate the times depending on what kind of business you are when you’re free when you’re not free. A lot of them do end up on our YouTube channel so that you can review them on your off time we’re always happy to assist you or follow up with resources but as you can imagine her and and Damon there’s a I think Damon when he did his webinar with us last week actually said this you know, there’s just so much in the e commerce space it’s not just a website or just social media there’s there’s a lot of different moving parts and like some of the big buzzwords everyone’s talking about SEO right now it’s like oh, what’s SEO I don’t even know what it is but I need to get in on that you know, that’s what’s kind of rotating in this field right now. So we have consciously put together a stream of webinars that touch I want to say almost all of it I won’t I won’t use any final like all but we really do try to get as many of those different subjects into our life as possible from artistic businesses using Pinterest to people trying to use WordPress from scratch to manufacturers that are trying to use e commerce or get online with Amazon or figuring out specific strategies for their SEO you know we have all of those different things going on at the same time. And yes, we do do about seven to eight webinars a week so very busy.

Damon Pistulka  18:56

Oh, you’re just what you’re doing though, as you’re bringing awareness and then some information these people these webinars because you know, we talked about you know, COVID, the effects of COVID and all that and everybody the remote working but honestly on the other side of this for business owners, this has changed the way that they have to be online and what they have to do and I think you’re getting that awareness out to people because that’s the first step and understanding how to how do they really change to the market and and react to the market because any business I don’t care and I see him now even the local businesses, there’s a bakery that’s literally a mile from my house. They’re killing it on Instagram. They don’t have a storefront right, they’ve got the mall. They’ve got a commercial bakery that sells everything through Instagram and they have they say, you know there’s a day that they’re, they have their pickup and they’ll have pop up stores. And literally, they bring the product in a in a van and it’s a pop up can’t and they’re killing it they can’t they can’t make as much as they their demand is. So these kinds of things that people have pivoted and really embrace digital that’s one thing but even for the company that still has word of mouth advertising or still does most of their business word of mouth and if people can’t find them and easily wherever it is my Google My Business whatever the lid, they’re not a website, whatever they need to have, they got to be able to be found it’s just so critical because like you said, everybody’s gonna pick up their phone as soon as they know that day. Oh, I want to work at Damon’s company because I got referred to him by by Gil. Oh, I got to look them up. Well, how do you look? The next thing you got to get

Sarah Mailloux  20:45

over? Yeah, you have to show up and there’s a very interesting statistic about 82% of people even if you have a brick and mortar store they’re going to look you up online before actually go into your store. So it’s it’s really relevant no matter what you’re doing manufacturing in person are completely remote. Yeah, people need to be able to find you when they do that Google search.

Damon Pistulka  21:05

Yeah, it’s

Curt Anderson  21:06

it This was this blew me away. So Sir, I was on a panel for the Staten Island SBDC two weeks ago, and it was myself and another gentleman and he threw this out and this kind of blew me away. He goes, you know, he goes, now he goes if I ask for a referral to a restaurant local, right, you know, retail data, and Kurt says, Hey, check out you know, Joe’s restaurant, you know, you know, cheese steaks, you know, Pat’s cheese steaks? Well, you know, that’s great that Kurt said that, but you know what they’re gonna do, that person is now going to go to Yelp, or Google My Business because you know what, my word isn’t enough. So it’s not just word of mouth just isn’t enough anymore. And I know a lot of you know, so let’s dive into manufacturers. You know what we’ve talked about Sarah? What Damon, what we always talked about was like, what’s it manufacturers now? was hitting retailers 1520 years ago, when its whole, like new internet, what’s the social media? What is Facebook? When they were getting hit with this 1520 years ago, manufacturers could kind of still skirt fly under the radar, keep being the best kept secret? Well, now all of a sudden, you know, they relied on trade show with sales reps on the road. That’s completely upside down. So sir, talk about you plunged in, you guys are doing this great program with manufacturers. You still have some upcoming webinars, we’ll talk about those dates and art speakers coming up. But talk about the initiative that you’ve done with manufacturers in the e commerce front.

Sarah Mailloux  22:26

Yeah, sure. So one of the things and I’ll talk about two programs here. The first one is the webinar series. But then I just want to briefly mention a new program we just started as well. But the first thing is obviously we were just talking about all those webinars, right. And we want to have ones that are specialized to some of the biggest industries in Pennsylvania. So if you’ve been on the temple SBDC website or we after this, you know talk either you’re like, I want to go look at that website and see what they’ve got going on. You’ll see some are very specific, like food, business, etc. And we also have a huge targeted push for manufacturing since especially in Pennsylvania, that’s one of the areas that Department of Community and Economic Development is really focusing on right now. There are ton of manufacturers in Pennsylvania and they just need help getting online or staying relevant in this digital world. So we actually put together a 10 part series with Kurt here. With guest speakers such as Damon’s we actually have a really great All Star group of speakers that are coming together to put on this 10 part series. And it walks you through all the different things you might need when it comes to being online and utilizing e commerce from e commerce one on one to how do you utilize digital marketing? How do you really optimize your digital storefront? How do you even go global or utilize third party platforms like Amazon and Alibaba? So the 10 sessions run over a three month period. This is our second time running it, we’ve seen some great traction and we have three sessions left like her headset earlier September. We’re running into September, there’s three sessions in September, I’m more than encourage you to look@temple.edu slash SBDC. Take a look at those events. We will have the focus for September is going global right so we have actors going global and then we’re doing one on Amazon and one on Alibaba two which is up and coming. I know that might be one that some of you might not have heard of before. I urge you to take a look at what’s going on Alibaba. Go ahead curtain.

Curt Anderson  24:14

No that is so let’s we’ll just let’s unpack that for a second. So September 8, Wednesday, September 8, is our deer free razor guide. Oh, and Ray is he’s brilliant. He’s He’s hysterical. You guys want a good laugh? You want to check it out? He is truly a global expert. He was a president of a 1500 person manufacturing operation. global operations he has he’s done business in Malaysia all over Asia. So I mean, like he is a true not a theorist. He is an expert and he’s, he walks the walk. He’s done it. So he’s great. On September 8, we have Brian back on September 15. Brian back is really man he is he’s a home run. He’s a keynote speaker. He wrote a book called billion dollar b2b ecommerce. He’s really an authority on high level b2b Amazon transactions, what have you. So he’s on September 15, he he has a fun webinar he does once a month. And then we have last but not least is our friend Kate Anderson. And Sarah, you’re hitting it right on the head. And we have a company that we’re working with voice Express, that they’ve they’re starting to build some nice traction on Alibaba. Alibaba is a great platform for manufacturers to take their product global. So again, good super lineup of people coming up in September. Very exciting that we have coming up here in the next couple of weeks.

Sarah Mailloux  25:36

So yeah, and then, if it’s all right, I just want to draw attention to we have one other new program, we’ve been doing it for about three or four months now where it’s we call it digital Connect. It’s a program where we hire students from the computer and Science Technology Department at Temple University. And we’re actually letting small businesses in Pennsylvania apply to get website assistance, whether it’s just updating your SEO or adding some new tabs, or if you’re not familiar with how your WordPress site works, because someone else built it for you. We do allow you to apply for this program. And we have had a couple manufacturers come through the program. So I do encourage anyone that’s interested, like I said earlier, temple.edu slash SBDC. If you go to the services page, you can see that it’s a very popular program, there is a queue, but I encourage you to take a look. And if you’re interested get in line, because it’s really beneficial. And once again, like most things that SBC is it’s no cost, it’s no cost. And for those of you that have been looking into building our website, maybe you’ve built one, you know that the average cost of a web designer is 2500 to $5,000. Some people charge even more than that. So it’s definitely a huge lift for some small businesses. So I do encourage you to take a look at that as well.

Curt Anderson  26:48

Absolutely. What a what a phenomenal programs years ago, so I’m an alum of the SBDC years ago, and there’s like 2014 15, we put together a social media intern program for manufacturers had phenomenal results. That program is still going on today. We just had somebody we saw daymond I do an e commerce training program. And Damon Valle from mine refracts, she actually can’t see contacted a local SBDC and they’re bringing on a social media intern. So I love I love what you’re doing, Sarah, and again, let’s give a shout out to your fearless leader. We had. We had we interviewed more a couple months ago, Damon and she is just amazing. I can’t speak highly enough about Maura Shanker. She is she’s dynamic. She’s relentless. She has a great global view. She and Sarah talk a little bit about your center specifically and just the energy in what you guys are, you know, with Moore’s leadership with your expertise. Talk a little bit about let’s talk about tempo for a little bit. Yeah,

Sarah Mailloux  27:52

sure. I mean, tempo. SBDC has really grown exponentially in the last couple of years. And a lot of it is due to more and her leadership, I mean, she has really found the right people and put them in the right place in this organization to help us grow. And that’s part of the reason we were designated as a center of excellence for digital transformation and marketing. But even beyond that, were doing a ton of other programs. We are currently working on a pw incubator for startups in the technology space, looking to maybe assist with gas, or to take a look, those applications are on our website as well. We’re running an entire series on procurement after this getting a consultant who specializes in government procurement. So we really have a lot of great things that are going on right now. It’s not just in the digital space, I’m more than happy to talk about that, because that’s where I’m most pleased. But there we have the rich program. So we do have a consultant that entirely helps small businesses, and specifically is trying to get European businesses to interact with the United States, make them come here and work in Philadelphia. So really, it’s an all star cast, we’re doing a lot to further Pennsylvania to further Philadelphia. And yes, I do agree more is awesome. And I appreciate her leadership. She has such a great vision for what sbcs can do in this community. And we and we’ve seen that it works. we’ve really seen so much impact even in the last couple of years. So yes, give her a good shout out because she definitely deserves it. Well, and

Curt Anderson  29:15

it’s a credit to the whole team, you know, because you know, her leadership and again, she tracks the talent like yourself. Again, you’re very modest, very humble. But again, I think what’s great about this for anybody listening is again, just having deep insight of what goes on behind SBDC you know, I was at I have a little wonderful gym around the corner for me, I’m at the gym, young man, again, unfortunate victim of COVID where there was a downside situation. He’s decided to he wants to get an entrepreneurship. I’m like, Oh, dude, you’ve got to call the local SBDC What is that? I’ve never heard of it before. So again, it’s just it’s just consistent and constant and just you know, and the great thing about the SBDC it’s like it’s a it’s a great sorority fraternity. It’s like a big family. You know, we’ve interviewed folks here in New York, Sarah, it’s like, you know, different centers throughout the state. Like, when everybody comes together through the state. It’s like they all rooting each other on in a common mission, a common theme with every SBDC doesn’t matter where you are in the country. It’s all about the entrepreneur. You know, it’s like, you’re coming into it. And again, you are solopreneur yourself. You know what it’s like, you’ve walked in their shoes. So let’s and Sarah, we I know we could talk all day. You’re a busy person. Damon, did you know she’s a newlywed? Do you know she got married about a month ago? Little exciting things going on in here. So

Sarah Mailloux  30:37

Kurt Mars my birthday, too. Oh, happy birthday.

Curt Anderson  30:41

My mother’s day. So happy birthday. August 31. Happy birthday, Sara. Happy Happy one month and what was your wedding date? What

Sarah Mailloux  30:48

was the 17th? July 17. Okay, so

Curt Anderson  30:51

you made it. Hey, you made it that first month is always the toughest right? Damon, you get you. You make that first month that’s like just Piece of cake from here on out here. Trust me. Yeah. 20. I’m 22 years in. So it’s a piece of cake. Well, happy birthday. You don’t want to demonize us saying so we will. We won’t Thank you. But talk a little bit about on as we typed like the family atmosphere or just like that mission for the entrepreneur, you know, that mission minded sense for the entrepreneur to help them succeed. Just talk a little bit about that from the SBDC perspective.

Sarah Mailloux  31:25

Yeah, I think that’s something that the entire network has really tried to cultivate. And I don’t mean just in Pennsylvania, like you said earlier, it’s, it’s nationwide and they really look for people who are passionate in this space. I’ve seen that everywhere. I’ve seen that at the Delaware SBDC at Temple SBDC within the Pennsylvania network, or even when we get together for our yearly conferences, you meet people from all over the country that feel the same way and they really enjoy and value what they’re doing with the small businesses. And one other plug I’d like to put here is that you know, in terms of economic development organizations, the SBDC network is one of the only nationally accredited network so we go through a peer review every five years by the national board that makes sure that we are following these values and that we strategize purposefully to help you as a small business so you can rest assured as I said earlier, that it’s no cost it’s 100% confidential, we don’t even share what we talk with you about with our funders we’re not allowed so it’s it’s literally just between you and your consultant all the time and it’s a proven tried and true pure accredited network of people that really value and want to help you succeed so I do don’t i don’t want to you know, beat a dead horse but please do take advantage because it’s a very fabulous program and I’m not just saying that because I work here I mean, I just really love the vision and the mission of what we do

Curt Anderson  32:43

right and a great thing is sir You know, so again just for folks kind of like hey grasping what is the SBDC so the SBDC is funded are in partnership if I’m using that correct currently with the SBA and obviously boy the SBA was front and center through COVID with all the PPP loans if you’re familiar with the idle loans and I know your center alone you know helped not hundreds probably 1000s of entrepreneurs throughout Metro Philly and even the small like you said like even a small rural SBDC helped hundreds and hundreds of entrepreneurs you know tackle these PPP loans which really cut so many businesses, restaurants retail the folks that were non essential you know kept them going through very very difficult time so you know, again my hat is off to you what you guys do you know, the entrepreneurs like we’d love to say sir You know, they are truly the heroes of our economy and what’s great and it was so admirable what you the SBDC our dear friend Maura you know you guys are fighting relentlessly to help these entrepreneurs and again our what’s dear to our hearts are those manufacturers you know, creating those jobs shipping products nationwide so we’re not reliant so relying on you know, the Gary wood on a call today he’s a supply chain expert up in Rochester, New York. You know, boy supply chain has been completely upside down in my taking on this ecommerce initiative. This can really help us get on the other side of things where two or three years from now maybe we’ll look back in this and laugh someday what do you what do you guys think? So anyway, so hey, whoa, whoa, we’ll wind down Damon any parting thoughts on your end? Any last questions? I know you had an awesome time shirt didn’t before we wrap up and share a little bit about your program from this Wednesday at Temple what was what did you share? And what did you hear from engagement with your folks there?

Damon Pistulka  34:33

Well, you know, my my program is is is about really understanding why e commerce is becoming more and more prevalent. And then you know, the just the kind of things you really need to consider because what we look at is and we don’t realize is the history and all that of how we got where we are today and the fact that where that is just continuing to drive what we’re going to see in this in this digital transformation that’s happening across all businesses. Yep. And that’s that’s what I like just helping people with the awareness of that. And then what options that you have to really move into more digital sales and e commerce?

Curt Anderson  35:12

Absolutely. Sarah, my last question for you. So as a solopreneur, what, like, what are you doing differently on your end or anything that you’ve, you know, things that you’ve seen success, or any success stories that you want to share is, you know, coming out of your center, you know, so I guess I threw two questions at you. You know, What, are you doing anything differently as an entrepreneur on your end? And then we’ll tie in that second question.

Sarah Mailloux  35:33

Yeah, sure. I mean, one of the things that I’m definitely thinking about as I continue to market myself, and what I’m doing is that organic human element, so one of the things that I will say, and this is probably really key, probably one of the most important things I’ll say today is we just spent all this time talking to all of you about how to get online and how getting online is super important. And you can’t be static, you have to be dynamic. But the other thing is you can’t come off as superficial or fake because there’s so much people are inundated with digital marketing right now, it’s people aren’t even looking at Facebook ads anymore. You know, I mean, it used to be TV commercials, and the newspaper that it was Facebook ads, people don’t even want that what they want is that human content and that human contact, like Kurt said earlier, he might recommend someone that’s your in his that human interaction that they recommend this business to you, they’re still going to go online and want to see those Yelp reviews or some other reviews from another human that has an opinion on this is a paid ad. One of the best ways to get your business up and going in that space is using user generated content. Right? So engaging with people what we’re doing here today, we’re asking you to engage with us comment on this, share this, you know, tell us what you’re thinking fill out a poll, people want to feel like they’re included and valued. And if you bring that to the table, your chances of succeeding in this online space increased 200% I guarantee it. So that’s my biggest takeaway for all of you today.

Curt Anderson  37:01

drop the bomb. We have a microphone, can you please like this? Yeah, man, let’s let’s just let’s just that that’s that moment of silence. Let’s just like absorb that first. Yep.

Damon Pistulka  37:12

Good. Stop right there.

Curt Anderson  37:15

Oh, that was so Damon. You preach that all the time. You know, we talk b2b, we talk B to C. Sarah, what Bom Did you describe it’s human to human? Let’s be humans. You know, I think you know, our country has done a great job of pulling together supporting each other supporting businesses. You know, again, the SBDC. Sarah, and I promise is my last question. I’ll let you go. Any anything, any cool pivots, any success stories, any great stories that you want to share that you’ve seen coming out of your center or other webinars that you’ve seen.

Sarah Mailloux  37:47

But we’ve definitely seen a huge fraction in even manufacturing businesses coming in trying to figure out what that next step is for them. A lot of them even have websites that they’ve had for 10 ish years and willing to update you know, or it doesn’t even have a that ecommerce element, right, which is where you actually pay online. So we’ve seen a ton of people coming in from that perspective, but also pivoting in other ways that that makes sense for them, you know, so for example, I know there was this business in southern Delaware, that was manufacturing all of their products in house, the team of four or five staff, it just, it wasn’t enough, in the pandemic, when everything shut down, they couldn’t make things happen fast enough. So they actually pivoted to supplying most of their parts from Alibaba Hmm, maybe should session in September, and then hire additional staff to then just put the parts together versus trying to make it all just on their own. And that was a huge pivot for them that they were able to utilize using these new up and coming third party platforms that help you as a small business as a manufacturing business, you could be that person that they bought from online just by being on there. So that’s just one example of how in the pandemic, when everything shut down, they had to find out what to do next. And they pivoted by looking at what was online. But even if we look at you know, here in Philadelphia, we have a couple different manufacturing businesses that are trying to start up incoming one, I encourage you to take a look, we have some blogs on our website. One is tuwana. Carter Wilson, she’s doing the order back, I encourage you to take a look at what’s going on there. We did have her permission to share her information on our blog. But she just got some additional funding from chops. She’s looking to diversify. And she’s looking at where to get her marketing online as well. And she’s attended many of our sessions to figure out how to set up that initial website to get people from the get go. And one of the biggest things that we do tell her is get that organic human content first, you know, bring that word of mouth to your website so that when you launch, people already know what you’re about and have some frame of reference for that. So those are just two quick examples of what’s going on in this space from you know, existing and pivoting or starting off brand new there’s a lot going on in MySpace right now.

Curt Anderson  40:01

Well, that was an awesome story that is just so inspiring. That’s I love asking I love those great stories. So Sara Marie, I’ve got a couple comments and then we’ll wrap up and then Dean maybe, maybe we should sing to Sarah I don’t know. So Gary would my friend at Rochester wishes you a happy birthday. And now you’re going to love this. So there’s a little common bond here. So my one of my high school best friends is on a call today, Dr. Jeff Kendall, Dr. Jeff Kendall actually worked in Delaware. And what was the name of the hospital Christians? Is there a Christmas piano? Yeah. He started after his PhD started his career at that hospital. He’s now in Minneapolis at University of Minnesota. And he can attest so now Geoffrey, Sarah was number three in her class now I was very very close Sarah I was very close. I was like 170 something out of 400 kids but so anyway, so my high school best friends on the call. So guys, great. I want to I just want to drop that one too. So a little Delaware a common bond there So Susan Delaware Jeffrey. So guys, let’s wrap up. Sara, first off, happy birthday to my friend. wish you many many, many, many more. So happy birthday. Happy newlywed, honeymoon newlywed this period that you’re in. So congratulations, you and your husband. Wishing your husband great luck and success as he goes back to school teaching choir name and he’s teaching choir. What’s that mass called a singing his

Sarah Mailloux  41:27

singing mass kind of looks like a duck over your face. Yeah.

Curt Anderson  41:32

Just you know you think we have challenges poor you know her husband has a face that all day so guys check out please connect with Sarah on LinkedIn. As you can tell she is just a gem. She’s a rock star. Just a breath of fresh air. What a shining star. You are. Sarah, what a great career you have ahead of you. Thank you for your relentless drive helping entrepreneurs. manufacturers in Pennsylvania. And again, big shout out to Maura for having for what an eye for talent. She has to hire you. So big shout out to Maura. So guys, Sarah sticker. Hang on for a second. We’re going to shut down the broadcast. Damon, thank you for joining us, my friend. Happy Monday. Everybody go out there and absolutely crush it. Have a great last week of August and Sarah Thank you hang on one second. Yeah. Have a great day, guys.

Damon Pistulka  42:20

See everyone