The SBTDC wants you to start a business--and they want to help.
By Geoff Williams

Julius Howell, Sr., 54, knows something about the wisdom of backup and the value of good leadership. After all, as a master sergeant when he retired from the Air Force after 22 years, Howell saw history in the first Iraq War and was in the thick of things during hot spots in Somali and the American raid on Libya in 1986. So after retiring in 1995 and making the transition to the civilian life by working at a chemical manufacturing firm, Howell quickly recognized that the company lacked leadership.

“I really thought I could do a better job, so I left,” recalls Howell, “but not intending to do what I’m doing now. I was going to be an independent distributor.”

Today, Howell owns Deep Reflection Products & Services, Inc., a janitorial services company in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina that services churches, professional offices, banks, schools and some of the biggest agencies in the U.S. government. The company, started in 1997 and now staffed with 56 employees, brought in $2.7 million last year and continues to expand exponentially. But Howell is quick to point out that his success never would have had happened without skilled backup supporting his mission.

In his case, it was the Small Business & Technology Development Center, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina and with over a dozen branches across the state. After his underwhelming experience in chemical manufacturing, Howell became an independent distributor selling chemical-based janitorial cleaning products. One of his customers worked at a facility owned and maintained by the Federal Emergency Management (FEMA).

“They were having problems with the chemicals. I went up there to talk about the problems they were having,” says Howell, who soon found himself being talked into starting a janitorial business and taking the FEMA facility as his first client.

Knowing he didn’t have the infrastructure or experience to start his own business, Howell happily took the advice to visit the SBTDC, where a counselor walked him through the steps of putting people on a payroll and a host of other complicated tasks. “I had never written a business plan,” says Howell. “I knew nothing about how to do that, or anything with the registration process. I didn’t know what a Dun & Bradstreet number was, or any of those things that are necessary to do business with the government. They even aligned me with an accountant, who is still my accountant to this day.”

They also helped him get a business loan. With two kids in college, Howell was paying for his life with credit cards to the point where his credit score was in tatters. Despite a representative from the SBTDC accompanying him every time, Howell was turned down for a loan at 12 banks. He finally was granted a $2,000 business loan from Wachovia.

Even there, he got the loan because he found a loan officer who had a lot of knowledge of the SBDC in general. And the loan officer understood what should be a no-brainer—it was worth lending the man $2,000, so he could have the working capital to secure a $100,000 contract.

“FEMA, in turn, paid their invoices within 10 days, so we could have cash flow,” says Howell. “The SBTDC, my contact at FEMA and Mr. Billingsley at the bank basically formed a circle with me in the middle to help me succeed.”

And Deep Reflection has, not just for giving Howell a legacy and employing citizens in North Carolina. Howell, you see, never forgot how the leadership at the chemical manufacturing plant treated, or didn’t treat, the staff. That’s why Howell gives his workers full benefits, including dental, life, cancer, accident and of course, health—all plans that the SBTDC helped Howell implement.

“I’ll always be a client,” says Howell. “You’ll never know everything.”