“Minority-owned Business: Essentials for Success,” was the latest edition of the virtual Florida State College at Jacksonville Business Speaker Series presented by First Florida Credit Union.
Moderated by FSCJ professor of logistics and distribution Johnny Bowman Jr., the Dec. 9 panel comprised three entrepreneurs and Carlton Robinson, chief innovation officer at JAX Chamber’s JAXUSA Partnership economic development division.
Robinson said one of the keys to success is to approach establishing and building a small business without focusing on being a member of a minority group.
“You can’t build your business to be a minority business. Resources are available, but be a business first,” he said.
Robinson said skills and attitudes that lead to success include being able to build relationships, listening and observing, and recognizing opportunities and seizing them. Understanding that business runs in cycles, being a risk-taker and seeing the big picture also are important skills, he said.
Eric Nguyen, vice president and director of operations at I-TECH Personnel Inc., a multilingual staffing business, said communication and being able to relate to people in all walks of life helped him build his business, along with perseverance and having faith in yourself and your idea.
“You have to be diligent and never give up. In 15 years in business, many days, I was done. There will be struggles, there will be failure. Learn from it,” Nguyen said.
He also cited communication and building relationships as paths to success.
“We’re up against international companies. The personal touch works best. We go to job fairs and meet the local employers. People want to give the small guy a chance,” Nguyen said.
Kristen Keen is founder and CEO of Rethreaded, a small nonprofit that employs women who are survivors of human trafficking. It collects T-shirts and other materials and then creates clothing accessories, like scarves.
She agreed that communication helps a company grow.
“We communicate regularly with our customers. We call them and thank them for their support,” Keen said.
Professional photographer Aaron Mervin owns Headshots Studio in Northwest Jacksonville.
He said making sure his clients can depend on receiving a high level of service helped him grow his business.
“I have a lot of corporate clients. They want to know they can count on me to be on time and deliver on time,” Mervin said.
Bowman said COVID-19 has changed how businesses need to operate, but they still have to survive and move forward.
Mervin said the pandemic had a profound effect on his studio. When the shutdown started in mid-March, he was essentially out of business.
“Seventy-percent of my business was corporate events and gatherings and I was closed for the first three months because photography is not an essential business,” Mervin said.
He adapted during his three months at home by honing his computer skills and teaching virtual classes for people who wanted to learn how to use digital photo-editing software.
The shutdown forced Nguyen to send his staff home to work remotely.
“Move with the flow and change with the wind,” he said.
Keen said the pandemic created an opportunity to diversify Rethreaded’s product line.
“For the first four months, we made masks,” she said – about 3,000 face masks for people who work in local hospitals and more than 25,000 for retail customers.
“And we had to figure out how to sell our products on the internet,” Keen said.
The chamber partner organizations promote an “entrepreneur ecosystem,” Robinson said. He advised potential and established small business owners to visit jaxsmallbizhelp.org for a list of local agencies that help the entrepreneur community.
Visit https://www.fscj.edu/business-speakers to view the presentation and for more information about the speaker series.