Archive for category: Success Stories

Hi-Performance Designs of Hillsborough County

For one Florida-based designer and manufacturer of aluminum alloy wheels, Hi-Performance Designs, cars have always been more than a business—they’re a lifelong passion. “Since I was about two or three, all I did was cars, go-karts, racing—so my background is automotive, and that’s my passion,” the owner, Henry Gaudens shared.

From a blank sheet of paper, he and his team design and develop wheels for everything from golf carts and trailers to classic and specialty cars. With six market segments and a focus on innovation, they create distinctive designs, engineer them overseas, and bring them to life for customers across the country.

But when a hurricane brought over a foot of water into their facility, the business faced a serious setback. “Our showroom was nice but completely destroyed from the inside,” Gaudens recalled. “Getting hit by the hurricane couldn’t come at a worse time,” he added.

That’s when he turned to the Florida SBDC at USF and senior business consultant Bill Burnham for help. “Bill was awesome – absolutely incredible,” Gaudens said.

Through the Florida Emergency Bridge Loan, the business was able to recover and begin rebuilding. “He helped a ton, and I explained what we were doing [and] he goes “We can figure it out.” Within I think two or three weeks we had it nailed down and finished after about four or five months of waiting… so without Bill I wouldn’t be sitting here with you guys,” he added.

The business owner thanks the Florida SBDC at USF and his business consultant for all of their help during the tough times and looks forward to what’s to come. “Since Bill helped us, he’s a source, so SBDC in general [is] fantastic,” Gaudens said.

Now, the team is back at work—reconstructing, designing, and staying positive. “Hopefully within the next couple months we’ll have this thing looking nice – having a good place, a clean nice place to work in,” Gaudens said.

The Daiquiri Deck Inc of Sarasota County

What began as a Key West-inspired idea in the early 1990s has grown into one of Florida’s most recognizable frozen drink destinations. In 1993, after envisioning a place where locals and visitors could enjoy handcrafted daiquiris in a lively beachside setting, Troy Syprett and his partners launched their first Daiquiri Deck location in Siesta Key Village.

Today, the concept has expanded to five Florida locations, combining signature frozen drinks with a polished, casual dining experience featuring a menu designed by a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef.

But like many hospitality businesses, the restaurant faced significant challenges after natural disasters, Hurricane Debby, Milton, and Helene, disrupted operations. That’s when Syprett turned to the Florida SBDC at USF.

“The hurricane that did the most damage in our area experienced between 7 and 9 ft of storm surge. That storm surge inundated one of our restaurants with about 12 inches of water that had been contaminated with grease trap oil and other materials. Our store in St. Armand’s also experienced about 12 inches of flooding too,” Syprett said. “The other major impact that the hurricanes had on our region was the destruction of a large portion of the short-term rental accommodations and housing throughout the barrier islands, which led to a precipitous drop in our sales,” Syprett said.

Senior business consultant Scott Carpenter guided the business through disaster recovery funding, helping secure a Florida Emergency Bridge Loan and a Small Business Administration (SBA) Economic Injury Loan.

“Once we began working with the SBDC, Scott became our point person,” Syprett shared. “He not only helped us access recovery funds but also connected us with other SBDC advisors, including an import-export expert evaluating opportunities in South Korea and a financial advisor helping us strengthen our structure,” he added.

The owner credits the Florida SBDC at USF and his business consultant with being a steady partner through tough times: “Scott was able to help us and support us by connecting us with the correct people to help us get through that application process which we are still in, post storm. At this point [he] has been a critical point or a critical partner in helping us survive the last seven months after the hurricanes, his support and their support helped us secure the funds that we needed to get us through a very difficult time when we were lacking in customers and lacking in sales,” Syprett mentioned.

With recovery well underway, the company is thriving again and planning future expansions into new markets. “For the most part our stores have physically recovered except for one store we have that still needs major repairs. The other four stores are open and operating at full capacity and those stores have seen a return of sales,” Syprett said.

Corona’s Coffee Shop of Hillsborough County

Nestled in the heart of Tampa, a cozy Latin coffee shop and restaurant, Corona’s Coffee Shop, has been serving flavorful coffee and authentic cuisine for over 40 years. Originally opened by a Cuban descendant with a passion for community and culture, the business was later purchased by its current owner, a proud Dominican entrepreneur, Johanna Santos, who has continued the legacy while adding her own cultural flavor.

“Back in 1999, this was my mother’s first job in the United States. As a teenager I used to come here and help my mom prep and help my mom cook so I was always involved in the business, not necessarily working but on my free time. Miguel, the prior owner, he was very much in love with the way I like cooking so back in 2019, when he decided to retire, he just called me up and said, ‘Do you want Corona since you’re here all the time?’ And I said, Absolutely I will keep it,” Santos explained.

The shop offers more than just a cup of coffee—it’s a place where locals gather to enjoy warm, homemade Latin meals and connect over shared traditions. The current owner was drawn to this business because of its rich heritage and the opportunity to preserve a beloved neighborhood staple. “I love cooking, I started cooking when I was 9 years old and I was always very passionate about not the cooking element but the seeing people gather together and just have a great meal and talk about anything and it was a dream of mine to always have a restaurant and when the opportunity was given to be honest with you I was like “Oh my God, this is happening.” So, I wasn’t nervous, but I was more like okay we got to take this challenge and let’s go ahead and do it. My mother was here for the first two year helping me because she knew this business for so long and the entire community just welcomed me very well,” Santos said.

When hurricanes threatened the Tampa Bay region, the business faced difficult decisions. “When the storm happened, we were with no electricity, we were closed for a total of about 10 days, no electricity for 6 days. That entitled that we got ready for before the storm. Never in our thoughts we thought that we were going to be without electricity for that long, so we had stocked the restaurant in hope to open quickly after the storm and that was not the case. We end up losing pretty much every product that we have, all the inventory was lost. With that also we kept payroll the same because we knew that our staff if we suffer our staff also were suffering. After we got electricity, it took us to use our own credit cards to supply the business again, seeing that and seeing that we were already going through so much the structure has suffered some damages,” Santos explained.

Unsure of the path forward, the owner turned to the Florida SBDC at USF. Business consultant David Vargas provided her with valuable resources and one-on-one guidance to stabilize and refocus the business. “I was very surprised to see that within two weeks of me going to the SBDC I was quickly approved for $50,000 and after I was approved for the 50,000, which I couldn’t even believe it, three days later it was in my bank account and it was like I felt like they have saved our life at that moment and they have saved Corona and I thank God in every second of that and we were able to quickly fix the place and continue with our business,” Santos said.

With support from the Florida SBDC at USF, the shop not only remained open—it began to grow again. “Receiving those funds that fast I would say immediately cleared the fog that was on top of the business because I was able then to continue payroll, I was able to supply the restaurant, I was able to fix a lot of things that were major for the restaurant,” Santos said.

“At first I was like embarrassed every time someone came and gave me a compliment about the business and now I have learned to embrace um and sometime it took me a long time to actually realize that people around this community were proud of me you know that they that they were proud of me and they were proud of the business that they come in here and they said “Oh my god this place has changed so much and it have changed for the better or um they cannot see a day without coming in here,” Santos mentioned.

Looking ahead, the owner plans to continue leaning on the Florida SBDC at USF as she explores new opportunities and strengthens her operations as she gives thanks to her business consultant for all of the help. “Florida SBDC, especially the one here in USF, I am for life grateful and I know that that is their job to help us but I always felt and again I don’t know if they do that with everybody but I felt like the attention to myself, the attention to my business was always very personal and they made me feel very welcome and again they made me feel just very hopeful. David Vargas from the SBDC thank you so much I want to thank you so much for all the help and all the encouragement that you give me because we had conversations about business and I have received nothing but positivity encouragement and also a lot more information that I didn’t know,” she said.

Through dedication, heritage, and support, this Tampa coffee shop continues to thrive—one cafecito at a time.

The Story Garden of Pinellas County

For one lifelong educator, a love of children’s books blossomed into a business that is now inspiring young readers across St. Petersburg. Megan Kotsko, owner of The Story Garden, opened her bookstore with a simple yet powerful mission: to provide children from birth through age 12 with a space to discover stories, creativity, and the joy of reading. The store carries a wide variety of fiction, nonfiction, art supplies, and activity books—everything connected to sparking imagination in children.

With more than 20 years of teaching kindergarten and first grade, Kotsko knew firsthand the magic of reading to children. After raising her own kids at home, she decided it was time to take a leap of faith and pursue her dream of owning a bookstore.

To bring her vision to life, Kotsko partnered with the Florida SBDC at Pinellas County Economic Development (PCED) and business consultant Debra Schweikowsky. Together, they worked on marketing strategies, financial planning, and securing the right permits.

“She [Debra Schweikosky] has been instrumental in just guiding us and holding our hand through anything related to opening this children’s bookstore. She has helped us looking at our financials. She has helped us as far as setting opening dates, just looking at all the fine details of what it takes to open a business. She helped us dig into the permits that we needed. She helped us find the license we needed to carry snacks and drinks,” Kotsko said.

Most importantly, Schweikowsky assisted in obtaining the loan that made the business possible. “Working with Deb, with the Florida SBDC, we were given her guidance and that helped us navigate the loan application process and helped us obtain our loan. And also she helped us with some resources to obtain a line of credit, which was very helpful when opening a new business,” Kotsko explained.

Today, The Story Garden is flourishing. Families stop by regularly for story time, and children leave with books and activities that nurture a lifelong love of learning. “I find a lot of success in being a part of children’s lives in the community and building literacy within our community. It’s just a joy to see them walk through the door and say, hi Miss Megan, or the parents tell me that they wanted to come to The Story Garden to find new books. So being a part of the community and, um, and helping children find their love for reading has been my biggest success so far,” Kotsko said with a smile.

Moving forward, the business owner plans to use the Florida SBDC at PCED for more guidance. “As we continue to grow with The Story Garden, we will certainly continue meeting with Deb. Working with the Florida SBDC was instrumental in launching us, and I think it is going to be a very valuable resource for me as I continue learning and growing as a small business,” Kotsko said.

As for advice to other small business owners, Kotsko offers this: “I would tell other small business owners to find their local person with the Florida SBDC immediately. The minute that I started meeting with Debra monthly, just kept me on track. It gave me focus points. In working with her, it told me the next steps that I needed to do to keep myself going.”

“It was just having this incredible resource, obviously low cost, as it was a free resource, which is incredible for us. But it was really just a nice reassurance every month and it kind of also gave me that accountability. I function much better when I have that accountability. So, meeting with Deb kept us on track and it helped us meet our goals and our deadlines in order to open our doors,” she added.

The Story Garden is a reminder that with dedication and a great support system, a beautiful story can be written.

The Wine Garden of Polk County

When Lisa Brophy opened The Wine Garden on April 1, 2025, in Lakeland, it was the culmination of a lifelong dream. The wine and gourmet food retail market, complete with a wine bar, blends her passion for fine food and wine with her vision for creating a welcoming space for the community.

“I mean, it was the goal pretty much like all of my adult career life. I went to a Culinary Institute of America, and even while I was there, I was kind of formulating the idea of what I wanted to do in the future. And so that’s how this business, 30 years later, came to pass,” she shared.

To turn her dream into reality, Brophy connected with the Florida SBDC at USF and business consultant Greg Manning. “Greg was instrumental in actually helping me organize myself, figure out what my needs were, my documentation, my God, the, documentation that Greg gave me, the spreadsheets. I mean, oh my God, I could not have done it without him,” Brophy expressed with laughter.

Together, the business owner and her business consultant worked on detailed financial planning that helped her secure a commercial loan. “Once we were able to put all of that information together, I was able to present that to several financial institutions and was in fact offered a loan,” Brophy said. “I was actually offered an SBA loan. I ended up not having to go that route. I ended up going a different route through a private loan which again, I was able to acquire because of the various documents and spreadsheets and information that Greg helped me put together,” she added.

The funding acquired also helped the business owner cover contractor costs for remodeling her location and allowed her to hire a talented team. “If you ask me, my greatest success has been my team,” Brophy said. “That’s the thing that I’m most proud of, is the team members. This runs like a well-oiled machine at this point, and it’s not because of me, it’s because of the team,” she added.

Since opening, The Wine Garden has welcomed a steady stream of customers eager to explore its curated wine selection, gourmet offerings, and inviting atmosphere.

As she looks ahead, Brophy plans to continue working with the Florida SBDC at USF for guidance as her business grows and to use its various other services.“I’ll be using the Florida SBDC at USF student teams, that participate in assisting with marketing and advertising and consulting. And then I would love to utilize Greg’s talents at the end of this year for maybe doing an assessment of how we did this year and what we can do to possibly improve moving forward, how to, you know, streamline things as necessary, make sure that we’re profitable,” she mentioned.

As for advice to her fellow small business owners, Brophy had this to say: “Use them. I really didn’t know what to expect when I reached out to them and it was so reassuring. I was a deer caught in headlights. I really didn’t know how to open this business and Greg helped steer this ship. He listened to me and then, you know, didn’t come at me in a way that made me feel like I didn’t know what I was doing. He was extremely helpful and helped guide me according to what my needs were, and so I would absolutely recommend using them.”