Small businesses on the First Coast now have the opportunity to get some extra advice as they continue to operate through the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of North Florida has launched Beyond Business Hours Consulting, offering small business consulting outside of normal business hours, Huston Pullen, director of the SBDC, told the Business Journal Friday.
"Our vision behind this was that we wanted to find a way for us to work around their schedule and provide an opportunity to have flexibility for them to come to us when it's convenient for them," he said.
The SBDC has five consultants who are former entrepreneurs looking to help local small businesses.
"Some of them are subject matter experts in things like social media, finance and operations," Pullen said. "These are not just anybody – these are consultants that have a proven track record of being able to work with people to succeed."
The response has largely been good, he said, and business owners looking for help have enjoyed the flexibility.
"Flexibility has always been one of the top things that a small business or an entrepreneur looks for," Pullen said. "Sometimes if you're an entrepreneur and you want to start a business, you're working during the day or you're going to school during the day, so you don't have the time to go and meet with someone ... This allows those folks who would like to start a business to get some one-on-one, technical assistance with an expert."
Pullen said the small business and startup community in Northeast Florida is strong, and he sees it getting stronger in the near future.
"I think over the next year, two years, or five years, we're only going to continue to see growth in these areas, and we're not going to see (businesses) backing down."
He also said now is a good time for those businesses to get additional help.
"It's been such a challenging time with Covid-19," he said. "It's forced businesses to have to evolve and innovate, so now you have folks who are thinking about things in a new way and are finding ways to do business differently."
The free consulting appointments begin at 6:30 a.m. and go until 8 p.m. during the week and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends.
