2019 National Small Business Week Highlights

Happy National Small Business Week. Being a small business owner, it means a lot of heart, a lot of dedication. You never stop. You don't give up. You gotta keep going. Really, the SBA for us is a resource. It's one of the tools in our toolbox. They help my business. My whole business development strategy has been based on what I've learned through the sba. When I was at sba, I thought we did some incredible things, and you're just continuing to do them. Thank you, Administrator Pilkerton. I'm so pleased to be back in Washington and appreciate the opportunity for Visa to join the Small Business Administration. We come to the Phoenix Awards for disaster recovery. Here at Cheeseburger Baby, we sell the best burgers, not only in south beach, but I think across the country. When Hurricane Irma hit, one of my employees who decided to not evacuate was the first one on the scene to let us know what the damage was. The SBA helped Cheeseburger Baby by giving me the loan to help me get back on my feet. I know I could conquer so much more in my future. Ladies and gentlemen, Stephanie Vittori, Cheeseburger Bab. Now it's time for SBA's highest honor, the National Small Business Person of the Year. I'm Jeff Herbert, and I'm the CSO at Superstition Meadery. And I'm Jennifer Herbert, and I'm the CEO of Superstition Meadery. Superstition Meadery began when I bought Jeff a homebrew kit for Father's Day. We decided to take this crazy hobby I got into and turn it into a company. Our National Small Business Persons of the Year, Jennifer and Jeffrey Herbert. Honor to be here. It's sort of the ultimate validation as a small business to receive an honor like this. We're at Three Brothers Bakery in Houston, Texas. I know they're a fantastic small business. They were the 2018 Phoenix Award winner. It's great to get out into the field, get to meet customers, and in this case, it's really good to learn and sample their products. We've been in business for almost in the United States. This is our 70th anniversary. Being a small business owner for me means a lot of freedom to do what I want to do. I get to work with my husband. We really like that. Welcome to the 2019 Houston U.S. small Business Administration's Award Luncheon. I'm Corey Merrill. The business I own is the Sandbar. We're an indoor, outdoor sand volleyball venue. It's always been a dream of mine to own my own business had 180 team in that first session, and now we're doing about 225 teams. Congratulations. This is great. Can we get out on the court? Yeah, go get out there. Awesome. Now we got rally. 99% of all the registered businesses in this state are small businesses. It's my first time in Utah, and I've come to realize I love Utah. My name is Mark Madura. I'm the founder of Level Crossing Brewing Company. When did y' all open up? March 30th. Okay. Yeah. It's a labor of love. Yeah. This is where you make the beer. We'll put grain in. And the first step, it'll basically steep the grain like you would a tea. Okay. Wow. So it's two beers. Right now we have two beers that are going in the cans. We have nine beers on draft. Okay. Appreciation for all the work and effort to build out a restaurant spot like this. Thank you. This has been an incredible week. A recent report by the SBA's Office of Advocacy described women's entrepreneurs as an economic powerhouse. Thank you so much for coming out today. Thank you for being here.