With schools cutting back on recess and physical education classes, students around New York City were left without opportunities to be active and healthy. In addition, active play, character development, and healthy competition were starting to become less of a focus in most school-day and after-school physical activity programs. To address these challenges, Emil Ramnarine started Fit 4 Life NYC. Fit 4 Life NYC, a certified B Corporation and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program alumni, strives to improve kids’ quality of life through sports, fitness, and health for all New Yorkers and works to combat childhood obesity especially in underserved communities. Emil Ramnarine started for Fit 4 Life NYC in 2003, and today he partners with schools and nonprofits throughout the city. Hiring from these same underserved communities, Fit 4 Life has grown to 7 full-time and 63 part-time trainers and staff members. When our team first paired Emil … Read More
Sourced Adventures
Sourced Adventures — a company that packages day trip adventures for city dwellers in New York — found BusinessAdvising.org when they needed help with developing sustainable business strategies, cash flows, and marketing. We matched Sourced Adventures founder Kyle Davidson with two business advisors: George De Bruin (who worked with Kyle on operations, financials, and business planning); and Brett Weine at Facebook (who’s assisting Kyle with marketing tactics and digital ad strategies.) Since he started his first season adventures, Kyle’s success has spoken for itself. His adventures cater to 5,000 people every season! His team started Sourced Adventures from scratch, and now they’re reporting great growth in revenues.He’s created new jobs, and also given his staff leadership experience and skills they might not otherwise acquire in other jobs.
Super Woman Productions
Super Woman Productions and Publishing is a diverse media brand growing, expanding and challenging the norm in the areas of book publishing, television, radio, internet, merchandising, motivational entertaining and event planning. The company was founded by Angela T. Jones, who had extensive experience in event planning, business consulting, business start-up planning, contract negotiations, and real estate. However, she’d not run her own business before. As her company started growing, she found BusinessAdvising.org when she needed outside advice. We matched her with an advisor who helped her to improve the marketing of her products and services. She also experienced increased engagement with her core demographic, which has allowed her the ability to strive towards additional business goals. Her mentor has been encouraging and supportive of her goals, and has helped her to look at the overall scope of her endeavors.
Ciro’s Landscaping
Ciro’s Landscaping owner Ciro Delgadillo had a succession plan in place and was preparing to retire from his successful business when the recession hit. With large loans on two commercial properties and business dramatically slowing, Ciro suddenly found himself considering the unthinkable – dissolution of his decades-old family business. Ciro’s turned to the originator of his Small Business Administration loan, San Diego-based CDC Small Business Finance, for help. After reviewing the business’ new operating realities, CDC was determined to deliver a better outcome. Knowing Ciro’s Landscaping needed business expertise to confront the many challenges ahead, CDC brought us in. We worked with Ciro to model realistic business projections and develop a plan for leasing his excess commercial space. We provided sound guidance and asked the hard questions. Our advisors also worked in tandem with Ciro’s Landscaping and CDC to help the company restore its real estate debt payments and its credit. With the company’s properties … Read More
Innerstellar Yoga
Kristin Lovelace is a certified Forest Yoga and Pilates instructor, who’s been teaching yoga since 2001, and opened her first studio — Innerstellar Yoga & Pilates — in 2011. While she’d been in dance and movement her entire life, operating her own business began to pose new challenges, so she came to BusinessAdvising.org to find a mentor. From her first meeting with her advisor, she was able to implement changes that have proven profitable to her business. They updated the format of her website to feature her Pilates and Yoga Teacher Trainings, and made some other internal changes to make a priority of marketing them. Since then, she’s experienced an 80% increase in teacher training signups!
Kaia F.I.T.
Kaia F.I.T. is a women’s fitness and nutrition program built around a core strengthening program. With busy lives and a limited amount of time for exercise, Kaia F.I.T. has developed a simple but creative workout program that engages women in different ways each day. Oakland’s Kaia Fit was founded by Mary McQueen in 2009, with the goal of helping moms get their pre-pregnancy bodies back. As her business started to grow beyond that mission, she came to BusinessAdvising.org. We paired her with volunteer advisor Alison Sizer, who worked with her on strategy, marketing, pricing strategy (how many classes at what price), and managing the HR implications of multiple locations. The result? Her business has since grown over 50%!
Triple BK Landscaping
Triple BK is a family-run San Francisco landscaping company who have mastered the city’s micro-climates and plant performance within them.
Parties That Cook!
Parties That Cook, a mobile culinary event company staging corporate team building event and private cooking parties, operates across four states