Growth Acceleration Services

Growth services offer you results-driven benefits

Accelerate the growth of your business with no-cost services designed to provide substantial business consulting to qualified businesses.

Our certified business consultants are available to assist your business in a variety of areas, through in-depth consulting sessions. Growth Acceleration Services enables business owners to:

• Find new market opportunities
• Uncover hidden profits
• Create sustainable growth

How It Works

Upon verification of eligibility and initial consultation, a dedicated consultant will:

• Conduct an in-depth business assessment and on-site visit
• Develop sustainable growth strategies, including:
  • shoring up financial practices
  • accessing capital
  • determining market diversification tactics
  • developing strategic business plans
• Prepare a Business Health Assessment Report
• Consult confidentially as necessary to implement recommendations

Qualifications

To be eligible for this no-cost service, qualified small businesses must:

• Have a goal for growth
• Be in business for at least 3 years
• Have 5 or more full-time employees
• Have at least $500,000 in sales
• Be willing to submit related financial, marketing and operations documents

Apply Now

Frequently Asked Questions

Consultant

• Pat Gordon

  

  Florida SBDC at USF

  Specialty: Market/Sales Growth, Cash Flow/Financial Management, Food & Beverage Management, Strategic Planning, Startup

  Pat Gordon focuses on assisting existing businesses to find new opportunities, uncover hidden profits and create sustainable growth. For more than 20 years, she led an IT consulting and staffing firm which grew from $750k in annual revenues to more than $40 million in yearly sales during her tenure. The company branched out from the Miami area and ultimately earned the status of primary and preferred supplier to several major clients in the oil and gas industry in Houston and across the border in Canada. Gordon has her bachelor’s in communications from the University of Buffalo and her MBA from Canisius College and a Food and Beverage Management Certification from Cornell University.

  As an entrepreneur, she owns a seasonal fishing lodge near the Adirondack Mountains of New York and has a small used car dealership in Florida. In 2017, she earned Florida SBDC at USF Employee of the Year honors.
  
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• Bill Burnham

  Florida SBDC at USF, Tampa

  Specialty: Accounting, Business Planning, Business Valuation, Cash Flow Management, Financial Management, Growth, QuickBooks

  Bill Burnham is a lifelong resident of the Tampa Bay area. He is a graduate of the University of South Florida where he majored in accounting. He obtained his MBA from Florida Institute of Technology. Burnham has more than 25 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies, nearly 20 of those years in management positions. During that time he managed more than 200 employees and spent time in accounting, finance, manufacturing, production control and strategic planning. He managed government contract budgets in excess of $50 million dollars and operating budgets of more than $25 million dollars.

  He prepared analysis for potential acquisitions, proposals for government contracts and conducted company-wide training programs on several different topics. Complementing his large company background, Burnham also has 15 years of experience as a small business owner in industries as diverse as dry cleaning and home health care. In addition to those endeavors he has also worked as a business broker and business valuator performing valuations and selling business throughout the state of Florida. He has hands on knowledge in business planning, budgeting, forecasting, profit and loss management, cash management, business sales, business valuation and franchise operations. Burnham is also a Certified LIvePlan Expert Advisor, QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor, Strategic Management Performance Systems certified, and a Profit Mastery Facilitator. Burnham was the 2018 Consultant of the Year for the Florida SBDC at USF region.
  
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• Joe Pfeiffer

  

  Florida SBDC at USF, Tampa

  Specialty: Growth Acceleration

  Joe Pfeiffer has more than 30 years of experience helping businesses of various types and sizes nationwide identify and resolve business problems that maximize efficiency, profitability, customer satisfaction and the market value of the business. He currently assists Florida SBDC at USF Growth Acceleration clients with operations evaluation and plans. Pfeiffer had a 22 year career at UPS with management positions in operations, training and industrial engineering at the district office and in the corporate office as air IE ground handling operations, international marketing, and pan-euro acquisitions IE project manager. Each of these roles managed projects involving $100M to $500M. He has held senior management positions working for various mid-sized companies. For the past 15 Pfeiffer has been focused on using his experience as a designer of training programs, facilitator and presenter of a variety of workshops and innovation sessions, business coach, business analyst and management consultant to assist businesses of all sizes and industries. His education includes earning a bachelor of science in business from Indiana University, an MBA from Butler University and a certificate in entrepreneurship from Clayton State University.
  
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