Taco Holler
Ashley Bledsoe is the mastermind behind Harlan County’s Taco Holler, a food truck and catering business established in 2017. After coming up with the idea during a visit to Taco Luchador, a popular taco spot in Louisville, Kentucky, Ashley and her wife, Leslie Bledsoe, got to work to bring a similar concept to far southeastern Kentucky. Finally, in summer 2017,…
Copy Cats Printing Company
Debbie Stepp of Copy Cats Printing has been providing printing services out of her shop in Paintsville, Kentucky, for more than 13 years. She has helped countless families and businesses celebrate significant moments like baby showers, graduations and grand openings since opening the shop in 2007. She serves a wide range of customers from several Eastern Kentucky counties and is proud do…
Bernadette Mopera and Co. Showroom
Bernadette Mopera has been the proprietor of a woman-owned and operated apparel and accessory showroom since 1997. Due to COVID-19 and the Safer at Home Order, Bernadette’s wholesale apparel distribution business was severely affected. The European brands she sells were shut for business and warehouse shipping was halted due to pandemic. This led to her business revenues to plunge 50%,…
Ragsdale Home Furnishings
Phil Myer built his first table lamp in junior high school, never imagining that someday he’d be doing it for a living. Today, as the owner of Ragsdale Home Furnishings and a master craftsman, he specializes in the original design creation and reproduction of high quality, handcrafted mission lighting and tables. Myer has designed lamps for notable retailers Williams Sonoma…
Hudson & Associates
Shelia Hudson is a sole owner of Hudson & Associates, LLC established in 2005. The business provides Project management, operation support, planning and public relations services. Hudson & Associates, LLC specializes in parking systems, project and construction management. The COVID pandemic and shelter in place order has taking a huge impact on the industry the business services (parking and airport…
Velodrome Coffee
At the start of March 2020, two and a half years after launch, Velodrome Coffee in Marquette, Mich., was growing at a rate the owners hadn’t expected. Business was up 40% over the previous year with a number of incredible opportunities on the horizon beginning to unfold. When COVID-19 came to the U.S., owners Brice Sturmer and Paul Vafa had…
The Bird and the Bear Grill
Nancy Forster-Miller and Jim Miller start The Bird and the Bear Grill as a local diner in Roscommon in 2018. An SBA Microloan by Northern Initiatives, a CDFI in Michigan, allowed the couple to purchase a building and equipment, and have working capital for the first few months of operation. The diner was immediately both popular and profitable since it…
GSD Home Improvement
In the midst of a global pandemic that has many small business owners focused on saving their existing businesses, there are still entrepreneurs looking to start or grow a new one. One such enterprising individual is Aury Souvenir, owner of the recently launched GSD Home Improvement. GSD Home Improvement is a small, locally owned business specializing in painting, carpentry, landscaping,…
Experience Maine
Rachel was taking clients and recruiting members for her website, ExperienceMaine.com. Everyone in the industry was enthusiastically making plans for 2020: “2020 was supposed to be a banner year for Maine tourism – we were looking forward to the bicentennial, being a stop on the PGA’s top developmental tour, a visit from one of American Sail Training Association’s Tall Ships –…
Wash My Dog Grooming Service
Excited about providing a convenient, high-quality grooming business for dog owners in their area, Andrea and Terryl decided to open Wash My Dog in 2019. Andrea and Terryl had some of their own savings to invest in their new small business, but still needed additional funding to purchase grooming equipment and supplies as well as complete the build-out of the…
Dellwood Pharmacy
Dellwood Pharmacy is located in north St. Louis County in an area that is considered a “pharmacy desert,” where in recent years two major chain pharmacies have closed. Rebecca Mawuenega first came to Justine PETERSEN to access an SBA Community Advantage loan to acquire the community pharmacy that had been in business for 13 years. Subsequently, COVID-19 led to a 40%…
Jolie Day Spa
Jolie Day Spa and Salon is a full-service spa located in downtown Dahlonega, Georgia. This small business loan was to provide permanent working capital for Nicole Wimpy to restart business operations post Covid-19. Nicole was able to cut expenses, start a spa membership program and actually increase revenues over the previous year by the end of 2020. Nicole Wimpy has been…
Eclectic 79 Home Furniture Store
Juan Carlos and Viviana Ramirez, owners of Eclectic 79 Home Furniture Store in Dalton, Georgia first learned about ACE when they needed a small business loan to purchase inventory in January 2020. Furniture sales were going well until the pandemic hit in March and traffic in the store came to a standstill. They became very concerned because the store was…
Treasure Valley Movers
In Spring, 2020 as people left crowded cities during the pandemic, Treasure Valley Movers saw an increase in demand for its services. Owner Troy Richmond felt like he was missing the competitive edge he needed as a small moving company in a bustling market. His Boise, Idaho-based company had just received authority to operate across multiple states and Troy was…
Calf Pen Products
Council, Idaho (population: 865) is home to Robyn Warner – the owner Calf Pen Products. Robyn was able to fulfill a longtime dream of growing her home-based bakery and canning operation into a viable, main street business. It’s a big leap for any entrepreneur, but especially for Robyn, a mom of four who holds two part-time jobs and also runs…