The last few years of economic uncertainty for business owners and potential business owners has been challenging in the Crossroads from Hurricane Harvey, the COVID-19 pandemic and current market conditions.

However, since 1985, the University of Houston-Victoria’s Small Business Development Center has been a resource for the region to help both businesses starting up and existing business chart a path through moments of uncertainty.

One such person is Felicia Ramirez, owner of Victoria County based Martin Printing, who in 2020 lost the person who kept her business’s books and had to learn everything on the fly.

Ramirez’s mom recommended the center to her daughter at that time and soon she was able to do her own books and with her relationship established with the center she has seen tremendous growth in her business, Ramirez said.

The center is part of the Texas South-West SBDC Network, which has 10 centers over a coverage area stretching from Jackson County to El Paso County.

Each center is affiliated with a higher education institution and through funding set aside by the federal and state government is a free service to local businesses and new businesses.

The network collectively in its 2021 fiscal year generated a $7.16 return for every tax dollar spent from the state and federal government supporting the centers, according to the network’s 2021 annual report.

Each day, the center’s business advisors go out to their clients or stay in communication with them to help their business grow across 11 counties, center Director Lindsay Young said.

“We are out there doing the good work,” Young said.

For those who work at the center, it is a journey to help those they advise and be there as a resource throughout their business’s life, said Mark Martinez, senior certified business advisor.

This includes business plans, helping streamlining processes, determining which are the best routes for funding, human resources, marketing, etc., Martinez said.

“We really hit on all those subjects with our clients and help them be successful,” he said. “What we do is not just you come in and help you with whatever it is you need help on, we’re looking at building long-term relationships. That’s the goal.”

Sometimes this means telling a business owner the resources available to them so they can make the decision not to start the business just yet, Business Advisor Ty Zeller said. However, they never say something can’t be done.

“We don’t do that. We let the client make the best decision for themselves,” Zeller said. “There have been times where there have been ideas that I thought would never work and a few years later they come back and have made it work.”

The center also offers training programs to help people along their business journey with workshops and webinars including small business basics, emergency preparedness and more, Young said.

The biggest benefits to their clients the centers offer is confidential, the ability to help clients obtain financing for their clients and it’s a free resource, Young said.

Being free in particular is a big selling point as often so many business development programs are trying to sell a product, while the center is only focused on the client’s success, said business Advisor Scott Lindsay.

“If someone wants to start a business or is having a challenge, they should start here,” Lindsay said.

Network clients generated 11.1% sales growth in 2021 compared to -5.4% of the average Texas business, according the network’s annual report.

The challenge for the center is that while the work they are successful in helping businesses they have to rely on word of mouth, going to community events to hand out materials about the center or referral, because they can’t market themselves, Young said.

“That is our biggest challenge,” she said. “We can only help those we can get through the door.”

However, they still have to help a set minimum of businesses each year with some advisors having as many as over 100 clients, Young said.

If someone were looking at the center to help with their business Ramirez said they should “absolutely” do it after how it has helped her.

“We’re here anytime that they need us. They can call us. They can email us. We’re just one call away from being able to assist them,” she said.

Kyle Cotton was born and raised in San Antonio and graduated from San Antonio College and the University of Texas at Arlington. Cotton has covered economic development, health care, finance, government, technology, oil and gas and higher education.