City helps entrepreneurs to ‘Think B!g’
Starting your own business from the ground up is no easy task. For small businesses in San Marcos that are feeling overwhelmed and unable to reach their business goals, there is currently a free solution.
The city of San Marcos has entered into a partnership called Think B!g with Business and Community Lenders of Texas to foster the development and growth of small businesses in the area.
According to BCL of Texas Entrepreneurship Specialist Leo Pozzobon, BCL of Texas is a company that fosters economic development for its clients—usually city governments—and has been in business for over 30 years.
He said they also work with financing for development projects, entrepreneurship services, business lending and business coaching.
Pozzobon said his role is to support the Think B!g program in San Marcos, which provides services in both English and Spanish.
And he’s not new to this industry, as he met with more than 400 businesses and entrepreneurs at the Economic Growth Business Incubator of Austin—his previous position. He said he is originally from Venezuela, where he worked supervising the “adequate execution of grant money for small businesses.”
Pozzobon said there are four classes available in the program’s curriculum, which focus on marketing, finance, raising capital and understanding how to read financial statements and interpret them.
“The Think B!g program is meant to provide small businesses in the area with free coaching and classes for their goals,” Pozzobon said. “My role here is both supporting it by doing outreach, promoting the program and also being a small business coach.”
Through this program, he has met with three businesses in the area so far and is hoping to reach more that are in need of his services. Pozzobon said that for any business owner to be successful, they must understand where the business is currently and where they would like it to be. He said there are a variety of factors that can be addressed to reach business goals like cutting costs, increasing revenue, offering different products and services and deciding whether they would like the business to provide their primary source of income or extra income.
“We have a business that has been struggling. A couple of entrepreneurs who bought an existing business and were met with the big hassle of running a business and meeting real world problems, such as managing the books, managing finances, making sure there’s at least some profit to pay themselves, plus some other worse problems like having to deal with theft and losses in the business,” Pozzobon said. “Those are really difficult conversations, but there’s a lot of good planning and meeting their objectives going on right now. Every conversation starts with their goals and understanding where they are sitting right now.”
Pozzobon said he will be in the San Marcos BCL of Texas office every Tuesday and Thursday, which is located at 302 W Hopkins St. Suite 2.
“I’m open to listening to anybody’s concerns by phone or in person,” Pozzobon said.
You can reach out to Pozzobon to discuss your small business needs via email at lpozzobon@bcloftexas. org and phone at 512-9129984. Learn more about the Think B!g program at this link: sanmarcostx. gov/3469/Think-BG-Small-Business-Counseling- Pro.
