Team Helps Turn Vision to Business
By Nathan Mueller
STAFF WRITER/HOMETOWN NEWSPAPERS
Driven Technology was an upstart business trying to gain footing in the South Lyon area when its owners first met with the Business Assistance Team (B.A.T.). They did not have their own store at the time operating instead out of a home but they did have a vision. And the B.A.T. helped them realized that vision.
"All of their advice applied to the decisions we made," said co-owner Patrick Garrity. "They helped us understand what it was going to take to get operational with our business, and the main part was they gave us different ideas to make the business grow."
This is the second time the B.A.T. will visit South Lyon, and Driven Technology plans on meeting with them again. The business now has its own storefront, and even expanded recently to another office.
The B.A.T. is a group of volunteer members experienced in their respective fields who help businesses remedy issues or give them fresh ideas. The team is made up of Lola Are', senior business development representative from Oakland County; Jerry Dettloff, former downtown Royal Oak city manager; Bob Hodson and Earl Kuhlik, SCORE representatives; Tamra Ward, director of the Chamber of Commerce for the South Lyon Area; Kristen Cunningham, director of community and economic development for South Lyon; and Patrick Mondro, Jim Angelillo and Alex Nafranowicz, National City Bank representatives.
Mondro said the purpose of the B.A.T. is to find out what keeps small business owners up at night and give them solutions.
"Small business owners have something they do extremely well," he said. "But I think when they encounter problems they do not feel that there are people that care for them and don't know who to contact. It is kind of a helpless feeling."
Garrity said he felt it was a great opportunity for them to get a group's outside opinion on how to run or improve their business. He even joked that he should have listened to everything they said because the team told them to get a store that was a little bit bigger than they needed; instead they got something small and had to open another office down the road.
"The help we are looking for this time around is how to grow and market our service better," he said. A struggling economy has made times very difficult for small business owners, but it does not mean they have to throw up their hands and give up.
Cunningham, who is extremely interested in the health of downtown businesses, said this team is prepared to help businesses remain in business. They do not provide a quick fix, but they offer another pair of eyes to look at the business and give them other avenues to reach their core audience.
She said the biggest issue facing many owners is financial planning.
"It takes one or two years to see a return on business, and a lot of people have great ideas but have not thought through not having money in the lean times," she said. "Also they don't realize they have more than one core audience. There are a lot of untapped resources out there, and sometimes we can point that out to them."
The B.A.T. makes it a point to not tell business owners how to do their job, and they also do not try to make it seem like everything is great when, in fact, it is not. Mondro said because times are tough it is important to seek outside help.
"We want people to feel like they are part of the community and we want them to be here," Mondro said. "Hopefully this results in a stronger business."
Being a business owner himself, Garrity said he can see why people often fall into traps."The biggest thing I see is that people are happy with where they are at," he said. "But you have to be active and get out there and do different things to make your business grow.
"The best thing you can do is form relationships, network and take every opportunity to make the best out of your company."
For more information on B.A.T. or to set up your free consultation, contact Mondro at 248-446-5785 or by e-mail at patrick.mondro@nationalcity.com.
RTT USA, Inc., a leading 3D animation studio and producer of design software for automotive, aircraft and consumer goods applications, sponsored the first Computer Generated Images for Advertising & Marketing Conference (CGAM), March 10-11 in Los Angeles at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.
For the first time ever, Computer Generated Images (CGI) companies, advertising and marketing agencies and corporate executives from around the world joined together for a common cause. The conference focused on cutting-edge technology and the value of CGI in marketing and advertising and featured a variety of tutorials and conference sessions.
Mark Adams, Oakland Countys senior business development representative attended the conference. Adams fully supports RTTs rapid growth as a high-tech company based in Oakland County. RTT is one of Oakland Countys emerging sector successes and represents the type of creative class that has our focus, said Adams. At the conference, I will support RTT in its effort to promote its technology and Michigan as a desirable place to live and grow a business.
Munich-based RTT AG began operation in the U.S. in 2005 in Pasadena, Calif. and has since expanded to Royal Oak, Mich. The Royal Oak office has added eight new employees since September 2007, five of which were relocated from outside of Michigan. The company plans to add 20 employees in total to the Royal Oak office in 2008.
