National Small Business Week 2017 – Fresno, CA

Hello, I'm Linda McMahon. Welcome to National Small Business Week and thank you for joining us in celebration of the true engines of our economy, the nation's 28 million small businesses. As administrator of the U.S. small Business Administration, I'm honored to be their advocate. National Small Business Week honors the innovators who take a risk on an idea, invest in their communities and create jobs. Their skills and creativity not only support their own families, they make our neighborhoods vibrant places to live and work, and fuel our nation's economic strength. Many of you are entrepreneurs and you probably don't ever take the time to congratulate yourself or give yourself a pat on the back. Who has the time? But you have earned our thanks and our praise. We as a nation want you to succeed because when your businesses thrive, our community thrives right along with it. Small businesses are responsible for two out of every three net new jobs in the US Each year. More than half of all Americans either work for or own a small business. As an entrepreneur myself, I feel a tremendous responsibility to each of them. Like all small business owners, I know what it's like to take a risk on an idea, manage cash flow, navigate regulations and tax laws, and create jobs. My husband and I built our business from scratch. We started out sharing a desk. I remember the early days when every month I had to decide whether I should continue to lease a typewriter or if I could find afford to buy it. Yes, that $12 a month really made a difference in our budget. This week, we honor the entrepreneurs who make tough decisions like that every day. Sacrificing short term perks for long term gain. Investing in their futures, turning their vision into reality. We celebrate those who challenge the status quo. The risk takers and innovators who look for new ways of creating products or serving their communities. We we salute the courage and persistence of those who don't always get the attention or appreciation they deserve. As I think back on my own journey as a small business owner, I wonder how much easier things might have been if we'd been aware of the many valuable services SBA provides. My hope is that as more people learn about the services SBA provides, we can continue to revitalize the spirit of entrepreneurship in our country. And more people will have the confidence, skills and resources they need to succeed as small business owners. As they succeed, our economy and our nation succeed. And that's something all of us can celebrate.

Fresno, good morning. Good morning. I'm not going to do that again. Thank you all for being here today for Cinco de Mayo on Cinco de Mayo for the National Small Business Week event. My name is Mike Dozier. I'm the community and economic development director for Fresno State. And it is an honor to be the emcee for the last of the series of the National Small Business Week events. So we have a great lineup today. Couple of housekeeping items. Number one, hopefully everybody help themselves to the continental breakfast. Number two, put your phones on stun. We're broadcasting this worldwide. They don't want to hear it. We don't want to hear it. So please put it on stun. Speaking of the web, those out there watching this at home, you don't have to adjust your monitor. That is. That is a shine coming from my head. And let me reassure you, it is not a halo. Every year since 1963, the President of the United States issued a proclamation announcing National Small Business Week. It recognizes the critical contribution of America's entrepreneurs and small business owners. More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses create two out of three jobs. Today, we are concluding the National Small Business Week SBA is highlighting the impact of outstanding local entrepreneurs who are working to grow small businesses, create 21st century jobs, drive innovation, and increase America's global competitiveness. You're going to hear inspiring stories from people right here in the San Joaquin Valley who have used SBA programs to start and grow their businesses. As I mentioned, today's Cinco de Mayo, we're going to start today's program with an outstanding and amazing Folklorico dancers from Fresno State under the direction of Dr. Victor Torres. It's. It's sam. It's. It's. It's. It's sam. It's sam. Sa. Sam. It's be. Sam. The. It's.

Ma.

That was amazing. Is Neil Young in the house? That was amazing. It was just amazing. I couldn't help it but feel like I had shin splints just watching you. Nothing a little tequila won't help a little later. So thank you again to the Folklorica dancers from Fresno State, Doctor Torres. Thank you, Dr. Torres. Okay. As a proud Air Force veteran, it is my pleasure to honor. It's my pleasure and honor to introduce the Women's Color Guard of Fresno VA Hospital. Every member of the Women's Color Guard is both a veteran as well as an employee at the hospital. We thank them for their service and we thank them for being here.

Forward march.

March.

Cargo hold left, please. Present code.

Please stand for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

Corner up right. Forward march. Come right, march.

Thank you. Thank you. To the women's color guard from the VA hospital. It's great to have a full house today. So glad to see so many of us here. SBA would like to thank its lenders, partners and small business owners who took the time to come to the event today. I also want to recognize some special guests in the room. First off, Congressman Jim Costa. I saw Congressman Costa a little bit ago. He's left. Congressman Costa representing the 16th district. We also have representatives from other state and national legislators. Here we have from Diane Feinstein, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Sarah Moffitt. From Congressman Devin Nunes office, Crystal Reagan. Please stand if you're here. From Congressman David Valadao, Justin Mendez. From State Senator Andy Vidak, Brittany Watson. We also have the honorable Counsel of Mexico, David Precio. Thank you, David. Next, I'd like to recognize Mike Valente, who is the SBA administrator for Region 9. Region 9 covers California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam. That Hawaii and Guam must hurt. This is the first visit to the San Joaquin Valley for, for Mike since he's been appointed as a regional administrator last month. So welcome, Mike. I hope you come back. Don't be a stranger. Next, I'd like to recognize Mike Cardenas. Mike was the SBA director during President Reagan's administration. Mr. Cardenas, who is a friend of mine, lives in Fresno and we're happy that he could join us today. Okay. Now I'd like to introduce Fresno Mayor Lee brand. Sworn in January 3, 2017, Mayor Brand is the 25th mayor of the city of Fresno. Mayor Brand himself is a successful entrepreneur and also has been a longtime champion of small business owners. As the member of the city Council, as the chairman of the Redevelopment association, and also as commissioner of the Fresno Planning Commission, and now is the Mayor of Fresno. Please help me welcome Mayor Leigh Brand.

Good morning. Welcome SBA to Fresno, a town on the move. There's so many exciting things going on here, but I'm going to start put things to perspective. Every small business person takes a huge risk. I did this risk myself. I call it the plunge. Many years ago, I had a successful job as a healthcare administrator. I had made good money, had benefits. I was engaged and I started dabbling in real estate investments. And one was successful and two was successful. And it got to the point where I had to make this decision to get rid of the that security of a good salary job and venture or take the plunge into small business. And I did that. And I know everybody here that's in small business does the same thing. And sometimes it doesn't work the first time, but if it a second time or a third time. So I admire the guts and determination of anybody in small business. And for me, I never look back. I started with a two person office in real estate. The peak of our operations, over 200 people with operations up and down to valley construction. We managed over 4,000 apartment units. So no regrets. And I think it was a major help to me as both the city councilmember and as the mayor to have that business background to make a difference. So my administration is focused on two major areas. One is making Fresno more business friendly. Two is job creation. And so starting with the first one, the business friendly Fresno, this has been done by my predecessors and to a certain extent they've been successful. But we're going to take it the next level. We're going to bring in people that are experts in their field like residential development, industrial development, architects. We have major work culture problems and it's not just unique to cities. We're going to change that. I'll bring an HR person. Anybody in construction has some issues with PG and either they're going to have a representative on this group. We're going to finally make Fresno business friendly. And one of the ideas that came out in all these discussions was the big developers can hire attorneys, they can get consultants, but the small business person to go through the maze of bureaucracy that you have to do to be successful can be really daunting. So we're looking at the creation of a concierge position in conduction, probably with the edc. Have somebody there as a resource to guide. Whether you have one employee or two or you're thinking about starting one, give that person and that backing. Because 80% of the businesses in America and California have 20 or fewer employees. So the city of Fresno under my administration will do everything we can to lay out that red carpet and just. And again, most of our businesses are going to be these small business and do everything we can do to make them successful. And I'm thinking looking out this crowd, I've been to every chamber in Fresno, the Fresno Chamber, to Hispanics chamber, the black Metro Chamber. So I support business. And let me just mention briefly, I don't have this time today that the second big push is for job creation. And I believe Fresno is a sleeping giant. We're on the cusp of greatness. We've been very successful we landed. Ultimately, this is Ulta. When it's built out, will be 1,000 jobs. We had Nordstrom's, and by the way, they're not totally gone yet. And we have now Amazon. I've been to Seattle, I've seen their plant. I can tell you we're that close. And Amazon will bring in, when it's fully built out, 3,000 employees. So my goal the first four years is to develop at least. At least 5,000 new jobs and maybe 10,000 gives us at least a one to one ratio. And what this does, it stimulates the entire economy of Fresno. And those small businesses that are out here in this audience today are going to benefit from the overall growth in our economy. So I'm proud to be here, and I'm proud to support small business. And final note, this is going to be Small Business Week at the City of Fresno. And I have a proclamation for the sba. Am I doing this right, Mike? We're welcome to have our SBA administrator.

Thank you very much on behalf of.

The City of Fresno, claim this business. Small Business Week for city of Fresno.

Give us a hand.

Here's all the warehouses.

I just thought maybe we pulled it up.

Let's step over here and we can get a picture. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

Thank you so very much.

Thank you, Mayor Brand. Now I'd like to introduce Alan Zarenberg. Alan's the president and chief executive officer of the California Chamber of Commerce. He took the top staff position in 1998 after six years as executive Vice president and head of Cal Chamber's Legislative Advocacy Program. Alan oversees the Cal Chamber Business Services Division, which provides employment law expertise through handbooks, services and products, including HR California, a continually updated website. Before joining Cal Chamber, he served as chief legislative officer, advisor. I'm sorry, an advocate to. To Governors George Duke Mason and Pete Wilson. He was a captain and flight navigator on KC135's Jet Air Refueling tankers while in the air force from 1970-75. Semper fly. As for all you Marine Corps people out there, that's for calling us flyboys. Alan holds a BS In Economics from. We are Penn State. Penn State. And a J.D. from McGeorge School of Law at the University of Pacific, where he was a member of the Law Journal. Please welcome California Chamber of Commerce President Alan Zemberg.

Morning, everybody. Glad to be in Fresno.

It's great.

Great.

How did I get in this position? When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me, and I and Mike and I have a connection because I grew up in Pennsylvania, and Mike grew up near Penn State, and I went to Penn State, as he told you. But you know my history a little bit. My mother, when I was growing up, she said, alan, you should be an attorney when you grow up. You love to argue, argue. And so my history as Mike went through. After I got out of Penn State, I went to the Air Force, and then I went to law school. As my mother, I was following my mother's directions. And when I practiced law for a couple years, I figured out the only person I really enjoyed arguing with was my mother. And so I had to find something else to do. It's great to be involved with of business. Just a little background. And this is a message for our special guest, the administrator of sba. The Central Valley of California, from Stockton to Bakersfield, leave out. Sacramento has a population of 4 million people, more population than 24 states in our union. Unfortunately, you don't have your own governor, you don't have your own senators, but you have your own impact on California's economy, on the nation's economy, and it's a significant impact. And as everybody talks about numbers and how important small business is to our economy, I think what's most important about small business, A. All big businesses started out as small business. Their payroll, but their entrepreneurship, their employees. So let me step back a minute, because I think it's important for you to recognize how important you are to the national economy and how important The Central Valley is 4 million people to California. So there's a little story. So it's kind of odd that I would be asked to do this, but our California chief Justice asked me to be part of a task force on civics education in California to look at it. And we realized that civics was taught in the second semester of 12th grade in high school, and that was it. You remember what you were doing in the second semester of the 12th grade of high school? Well, you weren't paying attention to civics. I. I can tell you mostly that. And of course, as we all know, California is a community, I'll say, a state of cultural differences, of immigrants. And not everybody went to school here. And so after we did this task force and we developed these ideas for new curriculums to take them throughout the state, we recognized that the adults also need recognition of civics. And you may say, Alan, why do you, as a business person involved in business, why should business care about civics? Why should you care about it? What does it mean to you? And we go through this. And we look at how many people can name U.S. supreme Court justices and let alone California's chief justice, and what are the roles of the branches of government? And you ask, why do I care about.

About this?

Why should you care about this as a business person? Well, it's our form of democracy that sets the stage for you to be able to take risks, to be innovators, to be entrepreneurs, to have our three systems of government where they're a check and a balance. They're going to protect your ability to do contracts with somebody you don't know, which is really important in many countries. I'll take Italy, for example. You're afraid to do contracts with somebody you don't know because the courts take five years to resolve them or longer. We have a form of government that allows you to take those risks, to be innovators, to be entrepreneurs. And I tell you this because it's an opportunity that doesn't exist everywhere in the world. And you all should take advantage of.

Of it.

You should all be impressed with what you do and how you develop jobs and how you're innovators and entrepreneurs. And if there's one thing that California business, whether it be here or the Bay Area or Southern California, I think is a leader on, is innovation, entrepreneurship. You know, I. So you're going to talk to Fred Ruiz, you're going to hear Fred Ruiz talk a little bit later, who was truly a small businessman who turned a small business into a relatively large business throughout the country. And Fred was on the UC regents for 12 years. And I'm a big believer in higher education. And here in the Central Valley, from Bakersfield, Cal State, Bakersfield, Stanislaus State, and of course, I'd say Fresno State is one of the real gems of our California State University system. But now the Central Valley has UC Merced, a potential research university. So when you draw a circle around California's research universities, UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Caltech, UCLA Berkeley, Stanford, I gotta tell you, it's the best economies probably anywhere in the world. We create entrepreneurs, we create innovation innovators. But most importantly, it's the people in California that want to take advantage of those opportunities. And I look forward to the day probably my successor will say, let's draw a circle around UC Merced to encompass the Central Valley and look at it and say, with your leadership, your entrepreneurship, your innovation, my God, that's one of the best economies in the world. They produce jobs, they produce innovation, they produce entrepreneurs, and those are the leaders of our economy. And I leave you with that message, because I tie that together to say, this is what democracy brings you as an opportunity and as the leaders in your community, take advantage of it. Take advantage of your opportunity to be leaders. And as you know, as employers, the most important thing in your business are people. Develop those people. Take advantage of the young people that go to Fresno State or UC Merced or Cal State Bakersfield. Foster them, nourish them, and make sure education is part of that. But you, most importantly, understand that you have an opportunity that doesn't exist in the rest of the world. And I encourage you to be that leader, to be that small business innovator, and you produce the best quality of life for your employees because you give them a job. So thank you and it's great to be here. And welcome. Lynda.

Thank you, Alan. That's a pretty good gig. Now, it's my honor and privilege to introduce SBA administrator Linda McMahon. I'm told this is not her first time in Fresno. I certainly hope it's your best, and I hope it's not your last. Linda McMahon serves as the 25th administrator of the Small Business Business Administration and as a member of President Trump's Cabinet, she advocates on behalf of 28 million small businesses throughout America. Now, I did a little research and thought to myself, if I'm going to introduce the administrator from the sba, that I should know a little bit about her. And I'm going to tell you a little bit about her. But I'm going to tell you some things that I came away with in my research. Number one, I couldn't believe how uniquely qualified you are to have this position. Look it up. I'm going to tell you about it. Sometimes people get into positions that they're not qualified for. This is not the case in this administration. As an entrepreneur and business leader, administrator McMahon is the co founder and former chief executive officer of Women's Leadership Network Live, llc. This is a company that educates women to launch and expand their own businesses, advance their careers towards executive roles, and pursue opportunities for leadership in public service. We all know this one. Administrator McMahon is also co founder and former Chief Executive officer of WWE Wrestling Fans Out There. She helped grow WWE from a small regional operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees and offices worldwide. Which means, basically, you're no longer a small business, but you took a small business to the hype. Welcome SBA Administrator Linda McMahon. While Administrator McMahon is joining us on stage, I also want to invite the entrepreneurs who will be joining her to talk about their experiences starting and growing businesses. Vicky Goudreau, Fred Reese and Mark Jackson. Vicky Goudreau and her husband Wayne own Innovate Commercial Flooring in Fresno. She is a dynamic advocate for the San Joaquin Valley and has received numerous honors for participation in civic and community groups. Vicki used a number of SBA programs to start up and to scale up her company. Fred Reese and his father co founded reese foods in 1964. They are recipients of an SBA loan and they were later honored as SBA National Small Business People of the Year and inducted into the SBA hall of Fame. Mr. Reese is active in a variety of community organizations and sits on numerous boards. He's a founding member of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, which I happen to be the lead executive of at this point. Mark Jackson is a founder and president of Blue Dolphin Design and Engineering, and he is a professional engineer who used SBA programs to start up and scale up his company. He is very active in local small business development initiatives including angel investment programs, innovation and technology development at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. We'll forgive you for that. And works closely with UC Merced, sbdc. Okay, you've made amends. Mark is also a member of the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance. Please help me welcome Vicki Goudreau, Fred Reese, Mark Jackson and SBA Administrator Linda McMahon.

Thank you so much for that kind introduction. I certainly appreciate that. And when President Trump, at that point, point, President Elect Trump asked me to take on this position, exactly what was covered in the early remarks is what he said to me. I want somebody in this job who has grown a business and built a business and understand what our entrepreneurs and our small business owners go through. From he knew of some of our past building of our business and he said, someone who understands what it's like not to have bricks and mortar or hard assets to use as collateral against a loan, who understands that some oftentimes in business, when you, especially when you're first beginning, it is all about cash flow management. And who understands what can happen when in spite of everything you've done, something goes wrong and you wind up having to declare bankruptcy. That happened to my husband and I and our house was auctioned off and my car was repossessed in the driveway. I was pregnant with our second child. So those were tough times. I can relate.

I get it.

And I want all of our small businesses to know that I am your advocate and SBA is your advocate and we want nothing more than to help create the environment with policies and opportunities for you to have access to capital to get the counseling you need through our score and our other resources, our SBDCs, which are so vital to what we do through our vboc, our veterans organizations, and our Women Business Centers. So I want to thank all of you for being here today. It is truly an honor for me to have been nominated by President Trump and then confirmed, confirmed by Congress to serve in this capacity. And I understand that this is the first time that an administrator in over 16 years has been to Fresno. So it was high time and I'm happy to be here today. So we're going to do a little roundtable discussion. Although we have no table. We're just going to have a little discussion, a little conversation. And I'm going to start with Fred, if you. Fred Reese, food has come a long way since 1964, when you and your father, the late Louis Ruiz, embarked on a dream to sell frozen food made from your grandmother's recipes. In spite of many challenges, Ruiz Foods has become the largest manufacturer of frozen Mexican food in the world. Congratulations. And by all measures, your company and you were successful, whether measured by community service revenue or the number of jobs sustained, which is now around 2,500. What do you wish you had known back then? First question and what advice would you give yourself if you were starting a small business today?

Well, thank you very much for that question. I guess if what would I have liked to have known when we first started the company? I probably would say I didn't have to worry about that because I had my dad. My dad was my partner or I was his partner and it was his idea, his work ethic. I learned so much from my father, from the experiences, especially when things really get going tough. But so, but you know, Reese Hoop probably started out with what I would call a good idea. Not a great idea, but a good idea. And so, you know, that was really important. I think every small business, every new business needs to start out with a good idea. Hard work. You know, there is nothing if you can't do hard work. You ought not get into small business because it just is a lot of hard work and that's what it takes to get things done. One of the things that I learned is that there are a lot of really great people out there that have answers to questions that I needed to know or to ask. And I learned that sometimes I could call a person and ask them about something that they were doing that I did not know this person, but I could call them and ask him and I was always amazed at how often, often, you know, they. People were willing to share with me and give me their advice and their recommendations on how, you know, we can do something. So that was important, you know, basically, learn from your mistakes. Nothing wrong with making mistakes. There's a silver lining in every cloud when you make mistakes. But. But learn something for them from them, because that's really, really important. The most important thing is don't make that same mistake twice, but learn from what you take the good from that. Good planning. Good planning is very important. This has to do with budgets. It has to be thinking about what do you want to accomplish this year? Setting goals, doing reviews. I mean, this is basically kind of a common sense perspective. But good planning is really important. New products are very, very important in a company. That is the life. It's the lifeblood for a company to continue to grow is what's the new products that, that are coming forth from one year to the next. And then probably the best advice I can give you is just don't give up. I mean, in business, small business especially, there are lots of challenges, and challenges never go away. So get used to it. Become good at solving problems, because they're going to be there. But that's what it takes is not giving up. It's going to bed at night, waking up in the morning, knowing that you're going to solve this problem, and you do. So that's kind of a very simple way of sharing with you what I think made our company very, very important, successful.

Thank you. And one of the things that you mentioned about working 24 7, because all entrepreneurs do that when you start. So when I am advising and if I may add one thing to all of the things that are right on that you start said, when I've advised young entrepreneurs who've asked me about, you know, what is it that you would say first off? And I would say, have a passion for what you're doing. Do something that you love. I've never felt that I've gone to work a day in my life because I have so thoroughly enjoyed everything that I've been doing. Some days were better than others. I trust you. But you have to have a passion for what you're doing. Right? Vicki, let's go to you next. Your business innovation commercial flooring has used a variety of SBA programs to start and grow. And earlier today, I met with a panel of women entrepreneurs from the San Joaquin Valley to talk about the challenges of being female business owners. What would you say to another woman who wanted to start or grow a company and wonders how SBA might be able to help them.

Well, I have a feeling that some of the SBA members have teased about how often I show up in their office. And I've actually taken a couple classes a couple times just because, you know, in the growth process, you learn things new, you know, some things you hear and can apply right away. And then other times, you just need a little bit more growth before you get and so you take it the second time. So I know a lot of these guys by name in the sba, in the sbdc and in the SCORE organization. I have attended as many classes as I possibly could. And I've also attended the Emerging Leaders class, which is a real lifetime MBA program for businesses. And the application is immediate. Immediate. That was an amazing program. So I would say that for a woman who is interested in starting a business or taking her business up, I would. I would get online, I would see what's available. I would get to know the people at the SBA office and their partners and realize that not only are they professionals, but they're kind people. They really care. They want to see us succeed. They are not there to judge us. We won't be ridiculed. There's really no reason to be fearful. These are good community members, and although they won't do the work for you, they will help provide guidance so that your time is well spent and you get the job done. So I have loved working with the, the local SBA and its partners, and they will continue to see us in their office.

Thank you very much. And I think that speaks to the dedication of the SBA here in Fresno that we welcome you anytime. We want you to come with whatever problem you have, whatever idea you have. No idea is too small and no question is silly. So please, come, speak forth, ask your questions and seek advice. Because one of the things we found with SBA that I found in my short time here is not only access to capital really important, where you have to have capital, you know, to start and grow a business. But it is that counseling and mentoring aspect that clearly helps make more of our entrepreneurs more successful. So. So, yes, please do take advantage of that. Mark, if I may. Your company, Blue Dolphin, is a high tech business located in a rural part of California next to an orchard. Seems like an unlikely place for a technical company to start. What advice would you give to another aspiring entrepreneur in a rural part of the country who wants to start a high tech firm where they live and wonders how SBA can help them thanks for that.

Can you guys hear me? You think with the technology I'd be able to figure this out?

It's the little stuff that'll get you every time.

I learned early on, years ago, when I first came out of school, I was an engineer and working in aerospace. And I thought, you know, the number numbers, that's the guys upstairs doing the contracts. And then after a while, I got this entrepreneurial bug. And in the process, I've started nine different businesses. Some of them still exist. And I learned that business was relationships. And the numbers, of course, are part of that, but it was relationships. So. So the thing that's become valuable to me is the networking, because the networking is what helps build the relationships. The networking is what allows me to develop pipelines for customers. It's what allows me to find team members and resources. It's what allows me to keep in touch with technology so that I can keep it state of the art. I also took advantage of the emerging leaders class. It's a tremendous class. I was so fortunate that I was selected to take that. But I also have been involved quite a bit with sbdc. I'm on the regional advisory board and I attend a lot of the events. And I've learned that. That networking, the ability to interface with your community, keeps you from being isolated. So the point I'm trying to make is whether you're in the middle of a city or whether you're in the middle of an orange orchard, which is where we're at, I get these calls all the time, people going, are we going to the right place? We're a bunch of orange orchards around us. It doesn't look like there's an industrial park here. So just keep driving, you'll find us. But what I learned was because by getting the message out about what your business does and also learning what's available out there to work with you, that you're not isolated, either geographically or otherwise, you can start a business. You can be successful. You just have to take advantage of all the resources around you and find out what those are.

Thank you very much. So I'm going to ask all three of you this question, and we'll ask you to answer first, please, and afraid you'll start us off. So the first respond to this, if you would. You might have challenged it. You might have answered a little bit in your first response. What is the biggest challenge you see entrepreneurs facing today? And how can SBA help those who want to start or grow a small business?

Biggest challenge? Well, there's lots of Biggest challenges. But I would say, you know, it is, you know, having a good idea. You know, what. What is it that you want to accomplish in your business? What product do you want to develop? Whatever you do, that product needs to be different and better than your competition. Probably different, more importantly, because that's what, you know, it's like. It's a brand. You know, if you have a brand, a successful brand usually is different from your competitors. So to me, that is really important. You have to have a product that is different. It should be better. And if you can do that, I think that is the basic need that a business needs to have to become successful.

What inspired you and your father, I don't know if it was your idea or his, to produce Mexican food, frozen Mexican food.

Well, that's a great question. First of all, you know, I am Mexican. My heritage is Mexican. My father, when we came to the Valley from Los Angeles, he and his brothers were partners in a flour tortilla company, and they built a great company. Very successful. But they didn't get along very well. And eventually, you know, my dad left the business. And of course, I was very frustrated, disappointed, because I thought that was going to be part of my future. But. But that was. If I'm answering your question, you know.

Yeah. What made you decide to do frozen food as opposed to just opening a restaurant or something like that?

Thank you very much. Being Mexican, my father working in the flour tortilla business. Very successful business. Business. My mother made great Mexican food at home. And so we, you know, we decided to use that as the basis for the flavor of our products. And what was different about. There were other Mexican food companies at that time, but our products tasted Mexican, you know, as simple as that might sound. You know, most. Most of the Mexican food being offered in those days was not really Mexican food as we know it, but being here in the Central Valley, being Mexican, you know, we had a market, you know, that people, you know, knew and appreciated good Mexican food. So that's how we got Mexican food.

Thank you. See, that was that idea that was different. Frozen was your tagline. It's really Mexican food.

Yes, we did.

We use that tagline for all real Mexican food.

See that? It's all about marketing and promotion, too.

A real Mexican food company is what we called ourselves.

Fantastic. But you have to have a good product, so it survived because of that. Mark, how about you? Well, biggest challenge. Facing entrepreneur.

Biggest challenges. Okay. Blue Dolphin. Over the last 18 years, we've dealt with hundreds of entrepreneurs, and so they come and they go. But one of the things that they all have in common, and you mentioned this early, and this is the same thing with this true with me and all of us here, I'm sure, is they have passion for their idea. They believe in it more than anybody on this planet, or at least they better. And there's no question that the other part that they possess is that they're probably the expert. Expert on their idea. The problem is, is that having what you think is a great idea and being the expert at it doesn't mean you have a business. So there's all these other aspects. You know, how do you do your business plan? How do you do your customer development? You know, what's your marketing strategy? There's numerous things that most people don't know or maybe have little bits and pieces of.

So.

And you think SBA was helpful and could be helpful in doing that?

Absolutely. SBA and sbdc, they provide the mentoring, they provide those resources to fill in the pieces of the pie. When we took the emerging leaders class, we all had different aspects of our business that we were probably good at. Mine was being an engineer, but also finance was good. Marketing, not so good. There were things that we all realized we had our weaknesses in. And sba, sbdc, you know, the SBA really helped us try to figure those things out. And so that's really where the SBA can help. One of the things that, you know, Lee mentioned is trying to make Fresno an innovative area. We're working currently on creating a product incubator right here in the Valley, which would be in conjunction with the SBDC here, and it is in conjunction with UC Merced. So as Alan mentioned, they're trying to draw a circle around UC Merced. We're working on trying to make that all happen. And it would provide those things through sbdc, would provide that mentoring and leadership and classes and seminars and all that stuff related to how to get these other aspects of your business up to speed.

Thank you very much.

So I would say one of the biggest challenges that businesses face is being so busy with the actual work of doing the business that it's hard to work on your business. And so, in fact, currently I'm working with Misty at the SBDC on developing a strength finder curriculum that helps to build team within your business. And because we all have just 24 hours in a day. And like you were saying, you know, you may be good with finances and what have you, but not in marketing. Well, learning to work together with other brilliant people. Well, really can take A business up. And yet it is so hard to get away from your business business to work on your business. And I think team building is an area that I know we could benefit from. And so I would encourage, you know, the SBA and the SBDC and SCORE to help develop, you know, team within a business. And the, the emerging leaders class was exceptional in helping us develop a three year business plan and to understand, even if it was not our expertise, but understand financials, marketing, all the different elements of a business. I really hope that that program comes back to Fresno.

Terrific. Mark, do you think it's equally important in encouraging businesses and taking that idea and developing them at SBA as it is? For sometimes when you said that entrepreneur comes in, in with a great idea that he or she believes in more than anything and it's not a business and SBA has to let them know, you know, this is a great idea, but today this business can't work.

Yeah, that's important. I mean, you mentioned failures and I know what that feels like. And there are the aspects about it that are difficult for you to see. And, and sometimes that's the hard conversation to have, is to say to somebody what a great idea, but your market is three people and that's not a business. So that's a difficult conversation. That's difficult, but it's necessary. If they have that energy, hopefully they'll put that energy into something else because the idea is to try to make success, successful venture.

Well, that's fantastic. Well, it's very rewarding for me to hear how SBA and SBDC and our SCORE program, to name others, has been so helpful to all of you and how strongly supportive you are of sba, as SBA is supportive of you. So we hope to continue those programs. Emerging Leaders is a great program, and I've heard that now from all five towns that I've visited this week during National Small Business Week. And it's been incredibly rewarding for me as I go around, because part of what I would like to see, and I'm seeing it more and more, is that revitalization of the entrepreneurial spirit. Over the last few years, we've had fewer and fewer startups of small businesses, and it's entrepreneurs afraid to take a risk. The regulatory environment, the tax environment, and other issues that have been brought up to me today, which were particularly here in Fresno, some of them relative to immigration, those are the things that we want to make sure that we are helping through our policies. And President Trump is certainly committed to doing that. He is supportive of small businesses. He knows the value, that they are the backbone and the engine of our economy. And so SBA exists to help you create those jobs, to help you with access to capital, whether it's through the 7A program or the 504, which can let you refinance or buy plant property and equipment. Do you want to expand through our 8 program for minorities, through our government contracting businesses? And I know there's a lot of that here in the Valley Valley. So we are committed to helping you and we want you to come in as often as you want and let us be your guides. So I thank all of my panel members for being here with me today. I've enjoyed our conversation. Please keep up the good work. And as I say, when I speak to crowds like this, and we've talked about how important networking is, be ambassadors. Be ambassadors for small business business, be ambassadors for sba. Because I want people to know about sba, more businesses to know about SBA and all of the things that can be helpful to them from sba. So I'm asking your help to be our ambassadors. So thank you again so very much for inviting me to be here today. And also thank you for my panel members who were here with me, for the businesses that you've started, supported for your community, give backs that I know all of you do. And we're going to keep growing this economy. So thank you so much.

Thank you. Can we get another round of applause for Administrator McMahon, Fred Reese, Mark Jackson and Vicki Goodrell? Now I'd like to ask Ron Hesket to come to the stage. Ron is president of Borgo Steel Buildings and Components, and he's coming up to be recognized as the 2017 SBA Business Person of the Year for the 15 County Fresno District region. So let me tell you a little bit about Ron. Ron grew up in Corcoran, California and graduated from Fresno State State. Go Bulldogs. With a degree in mechanized agriculture, he worked in Agriculture with J.G. boswell Co. For nine years, then transitioned to manufacturing. Ron worked for the Otay company for 16 years, eventually becoming Vice president of manufacturing in Cleveland, Ohio before the Valley got him back. When he was hired in 2012 to execute the business turnaround of Borga Inc. Borga Inc. Is located in Fowler, California. Along the way, Ron connected with SBA who helped him acquire the assets of Borga Inc. That was in 2014 and started Borga Steel Buildings and Components. Ron is a founding member of the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing alliance, and I'm happy to call Ron a friend. We Kind of run into each other every so often. I won't tell you where, but he's a biker.

Thank you.

I have some brief remarks, I suppose, and I'll echo a lot of what you've already heard. First, I'd like to thank Carlos Mendoza and Don Golic and the rest of the SBA team here in Fresno. I did participate in the Emerging Leaders program, a phenomenal program. My background was large, corporate, sort of large. We were a $500 million company. I had a lot of staff. If I needed hr, I just talked to that person. I did this. I talked to that person. When I decided to start my own company, I did not have those resources, and I really needed to get back into understanding how a small business works. Great program. Met a lot of great people. It was wonderful. I've also used the SBA for a couple of loans to acquire the assets and start my business, and then later to buy the property that the business is sitting on. Frank Gallegos from Sen. Cal Business helped quite a bit, as did Gil Lara from Chase Bank. Very good people, and I still work with them today. I'd also like to thank my kids. My son Hunter's right there looking bored. My daughter Caitlin couldn't be here. She's a workaholic like her father. They saw me go from doing a turnaround to starting my own business, and it takes a lot of time. Both of those things do take quite some time. We're happy to say that everything's working out well, though manufacturing does create very good jobs. We need more of that here in the Central Valley. You mentioned the San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance. For those of you who are in manufacturing or support manufacturing, I really do encourage you to go to the website, learn more about it, reach out to Sam Gile, Mr. Betts, myself, whomever. It's a great organization. It's growing very rapidly. Since starting this business in 2014, we've transitioned from very tiny buildings, 40 by 62,400 square feet and components to very complex structures. We're currently working on a new community center for the city of Delano. It's a beautiful building. Basketball courts, administrative. Administrative offices, a place to show movies. You know, a few years ago, there was no way we could do that. The other thing that we've done is moved into solar. We do solar structures. In 2015, we did $15,000 in solar structures. We did one project. This year we'll do. We're scared to do $7 million in solar structures. So it was a very fast ramp up. We Again, back in the solar set, we've completed projects in Sunnyvale, Walnut Creek, Marin, Santa Clara. We have some going in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Jose, and all over the Central Valley. We've moved the footprint out. We sort of export from the Valley, and I think that's a very important thing for all the manufacturing companies here. Get past the Valley. Get past that horizon or that mental block, if you have one. There's a lot of people over the hill or up the street or up the state or out of the state that have a lot of money and really want to buy things from you. So I do encourage that. I'd like to thank my team members. Some of them are here. If you'd raise your hands, Tim, you could raise yours, too. I'm very proud of each and every one of them. They contribute at a very high level. They tell me when I'm crazy, they tell me what won't work. They tell me when to slow down. But we really do have a good culture. They care about each other, they care about the business. They care about the community. A lot of them do work in the community. We do stuff with the junior colleges and elementary schools as well. I guess I'll finish by saying being an entrepreneur, starting your own business isn't the easiest thing to do. But if you're thinking about it, take that step, make that move, take the risk. Everything in life is risky. When you apply yourself, when you get the support from the sba, from good mentors, good friends and family, the chance of working on it is really pretty good, and you will live a different and better life. Thank you.

Congratulations, Ron. Well deserved. As SBA administrator. Linda McMahon is leaving for another event. Can we give her another big round of applause? Thank you for being in Fresno for the National Small Business Week. This is, as she mentioned, one of five cities nationwide that she's visited. It really is an honor for Fresno to be a part of that. Thank you again for our sponsors in today's event. SBA lenders, partners and small businesses who were here today. While the former program is over, we still have some great information for you. I know you all like to network and that networking begins now. So don't just leave. Continue networking. SBA Resources Partners, UC Merced, sbdc, Score, the Women's Business center, and Veterans Business Outreach center are all going to be in the lobby. Additionally, some of our sponsors for the National Small Business Week will be there as well. They include Facebook, Constant Contact, Chase, Leadpages, Lockheed Martin, Salesforce Square, and Yellow Pages. They're here, too. And please take the time to meet with them in the lobby. Now, before I let you go, one other area that we need to recognize that have not been recognized as yet is our district. District office. Our District Director, Carlos Mendoza. Where's Carlos? He left. And Deputy District Director Don Golick also left. And the staff? The local staff. Would all the local staff stand up, come up front to the dance table. Be sure to tell Carlos and Don that they were recognized. Thank you for all you do on behalf of sba. Thank you to our speakers, guests, panels for being here in Fresno for National Small Business Week. You are hereby dismissed.

It's.

Sam.