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A popular feature of the annual Mayor’s Small Business Conference is the roundtable discussion and Q&A with successful local business leaders.
Thursday’s conference was no exception, as Gary Brand, Lori Collins, Sylvester Formey and Ruel Joyner shared insights on growing their own businesses and answered questions from the standing-room-only crowd that packed the ballroom of the Savannah Civic Center.
Brand, founder of Brand Ferland Advisors, turned what he called “a typical, bottom-line-focused CPA firm” into an interactive company that works to help clients find solutions to such critical business issues as operations, employees management and cash flow.
“We organized focus groups of our top clients, and it was a real eye-opener,” Brand said. “While they felt we were doing compliance well, what they really needed help with was improving their businesses.”
Brand’s advice to other small business owners: “Instead of just putting in long hours, look for creative ways to better serve your customers.”
Collins visited coastal Georgia from her native Australia a few years ago and fell in love with both Savannah — “a city that punches way above its weight” — and Savannah Coffee Roasters.
“I wanted coffee that tasted as good as it smelled,” she said. “So I bought the company.”
Almost immediately, Collins set about making strategic changes, everything from finding a new location and putting together long- and short-term business plans to using a collaborative approach to grow the company as an agricultural manufacturing hub centered around the new location on Liberty Street, now under renovation.
“We hope to be in by October and will eventually welcome partners such as Verdant Kitchen, which grows and sells organic ginger, as well as a deli and pasta shop and yoga studio,” Collins said.
Her advice to other small business owners: “Begin with your ‘why.’ It sounds simple, but it’s important to understand what motivates you.”
Formey, a native Savannahian whose family history is steeped in pubic service, is president of the Vanguard Companies, which include Vanguard Developers and Vanguard International.
A long-standing proponent of inner-city economic development, he was heavily involved in the creation of Savannah’s Sustainable Fellwood Complex, while the international side of his business is a multi-disciplinary developer and manager of commercial, institutional and residential projects.
Formey pointed out that most successful entrepreneurs experience as many failures as they do successes. What’s important, he said, is to learn from those failures.
“One of the first lessons I learned is that customers don’t buy something because you’re selling it,” he said. “But they will buy what they need from someone they like.”
His advice: “Be dyslexic. When the customer says no, hear ‘it’s on.’ And remember there is a lot of good advice available in Savannah — from SCORE to the Small Business Assistance Corporation. Take advantage of it.”
Like Formey, Ruel Joyner grew up in Savannah, where his family operated a rent-to-own store on Broughton Street.
“My father wanted me to come into the business, but I didn’t want to do rent-to-own,” he said. “So I asked him to take a leap of faith and allow me to take the business in another direction.”
That was the beginning of 24e, Joyner’s successful high-end furniture and design firm.
“People said this would never work here,” he said. “Not on Broughton, not with such a modern design style.
“But you can be a local business and still be international.”
Interestingly, it was an act of philanthropy that helped the young enterprise start taking off.
“We were asked to donate our time to create a special setting to show off the city to the Inc. magazine folks who were coming into town,” he said. “We designed an ‘outdoor living room’ that was such a big hit, Inc. asked us to do several projects for them. That exposure was priceless and gave us a great jump start.”
Joyner’s advice to other small business owners: “Ask customers what you can do for them. A simple ‘How can I help you be more successful?’ can go a long way in creating solid business relationships.”