Maureen Quinn, Business Advisor for the Small Business Development Center

Quinn has been advising businesses at the Small Business Development Center for eight years. As with many advisors, she was a previous business owner, having worked in the real estate business as well as owning a wholesale and retail bakery. Through her experiences, she has a developed a strong background in banking and financing.

Quinn explains, “The Small Business Development Center is a nationwide network of advisors who teach classes and offer no-cost one-on-one advising to the business community. Our value proposition is Building a Business that Works for You.”

As an SBDC advisor she starts by asking a lot of questions such as, Why do you want to start a business? What experience do you have in the industry? Do you need financing? And most importantly, What are your goals for this business?

Maureen says with a smile, “I have the best job in the world. Every day I meet new and interesting people, some of whom have very unique ideas, but then, others not so much. We do see a lot of trends in new start-ups, such as gluten-free products or coffee huts. Growler stations seem to be trending right now. When I help one of my clients complete a business plan and actually start their business, I genuinely participate in their feeling of success.

“One of my favorite success stories is about a client I recently assisted in starting their business. The client had just been released from prison and his prospects for getting a job were low. He had previous experience in the industry he wished to reenter and had owned his own business in the past. We worked together on a business plan for over three months and were successful in obtaining a loan. Today his business is up and running and he is reaching out to low-income families to help them with his services.”

In talking about her experiences as a woman entrepreneur Maureen states, “Having been a proprietor of a woman-owned business, I feel I have an insight into the qualities that successful entrepreneurs possess. Interestingly, statistics show that age, gender, marital status and education level do not seem to be significant factors for success. But successful entrepreneurs share certain skills such as: strong leadership ability, motivation to achieve, optimistic outlook, street smarts and responsibility.

“Business owners need to understand that their business is a direct reflection of themselves. If they show up every day and have to reinvent the wheel and the business cannot operate without them, they then don’t own a business, they own a job.

“I would begin by asking the question ‘Why did you start this business in the first place?’ Most of us would agree that we want more life, not necessarily more work. The systems we set in place today will give us the freedom we wanted when we decided to become entrepreneurs.”

Steve Curley, Interim Director Small Business Development Center, Central Oregon Community College, 541-383-7290, www.bizcenter.org.