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ORIONVEGA | Allegheny County Quick Links Chris Lewis adjusts the lighting during a commercial shoot. Last year, Joe Serkoch and Chris Lewis lost their corporate positions producing television commercials. Their entire department was eliminated due to cutbacks related to the down economy. With only two months until their official separation date, the enthusiastic young professionals teamed up with a local freelance web designer. Collectively they built ORIONVEGA from the ground up. They began their operations just in time to make a seamless transition from their old positions to the new company, creating video, web and print media for local, regional and national companies. As a new company of four young professionals, the ORIONVEGA team realized that they needed to learn more about how to manage and market their company. They had heard about Small Business Development Centers from a friend and leveraged the Self Employment Assistance (SEA) Program searching the web. Having been accepted by the SEA program, Joe and Chris received 20 hours of training at Duquesne University SBDC. Their training covered all vital areas of business start-up: business planning, marketing and promotion, and financial projections. At the end of the training program, Joe and Chris started working in person with their SBDC consultant, discussing their current managerial and marketing challenges in detail as well as working on their business plan. Their consultant directed their managerial efforts by teaching them how to research and analyze the market, handle client and supplier relationships, promote their business and create financial projections. “The SBDC made the process of starting a business much easier. Knowing that they are there for us whenever we need them is wonderful. All small business owners should seek out their services!” ORIONVEGA beat its first sales goal in March and continues to generate steady revenue, which not only sustains the four employees but also allows them to upgrade all their equipment. Through numerous discussions with their SBDC consultant, Joe and Chris have learned to forecast their revenue and expenses more realistically and anticipate what they were not anticipating. ORIONVEGA is optimistically looking forward to the expansion of their business and feels confident that their SBDC consultant will help them overcome their business growth challenge. Be it dealing directly with clients or with the less familiar business end, the burgeoning company has attained valuable knowledge through its SBDC experience. Now that the SEA program has ended for Joe and Chris, they continue to schedule regular meetings with the SBDC, stating that the value of what they have learned is priceless. Future plans include continuing to update their business plan, developing a marketing budget and plan, and planning to move into their first office by next year. |
