°®Éñ´«Ã½

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Podcast: S9 Ep. 6
Date: March 02, 2026
Title: LU Moment: Small Business Development Center at LU | S9 Ep. 6
Host: John Rollins

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JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with °®Éñ´«Ã½ faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. If you're someone who is interested in starting a new small business in Southeast Texas, my guests today might be just the resource you've been looking for. Today, I'm sitting down with John Lee and Mark Speirs with the °®Éñ´«Ã½ Small Business Development Center. John and Mark, welcome to the LU Moment. Glad to have you both here. So, let's start with a very easy one, and whoever wants to jump in, what is a general overview of the Small Business Development Center?

JOHN LEE: Go ahead, Mark.

MARK SPEIRS: Okay, yeah, well, the Small Business Development Center, we're a free resource. We help small businesses at all stages of the life cycle of business. It can be somebody with a business idea, they don't know if it's a good idea or not. We can help them decide whether it is or not, if they're ready to launch their business. We can help with that. If you're in business, we can help with everything business growth, with business planning, financing, pretty much everything that marketing plans. And if you get to the point where you get ready to retire, want to sell your business, we can help you with that too. Pretty much everything you know, the whole life cycle of the small business. We can help at any stage and pretty much all business types. Any industry and any size. I've helped micro business make a few dollars. I've also worked with businesses with 50 employees, manufacturers that have $2 million in sales. So pretty much soup to nuts as far as what we do and the service we offer, in any size, in any stage of the life cycle of business.

JOHN R: Full service, right? I like that. And free, that's the best part, right? So, John, do you want to add on to that at all?

JOHN L: We're here as an economic development organization to try to help people either get started or be successful in their business. And I usually tell the clients, you're not paying me so I can afford to be brutally honest with you, right? Sometimes, it's talking somebody out of a bad idea, but a lot of times, people just don't know exactly which way to go with something, and need a little bit of guidance. And we're here to help. Anything we discuss stays confidential, and we can, like Mark said, we can help you in all stages of the business. Y

JOHN R: Yeah, it kind of reminds me a little bit of the Southeast Texas Nonprofit Development Center, but just for businesses, for for-profit, right? So that's kind of amazing that we have that resource here, available on our campus, and we'll get into more of y'all's programs and things that you've got going on in just a little bit. But before we go too far, I want to have you two introduce yourselves to the listeners or the readers, and just tell us a little bit more about yourselves.

JOHN L: I'm John Lee. I've been with the Small Business Development Center now for about seven and a half years. I'm currently the director. Grew up here in Beaumont, proud South Park native, and left after high school. Wasn't planning on coming back, but my previous career was in management with United Parcel Service, and in 2006 they asked me, asked me to come back here and take over the Beaumont/Port Arthur center. So I did that from 2006 to 2018 and took early retirement, was retired for a weekend and came to work for the SBDC.

JOHN R: Couldn't stay away, right? Well, we're glad you came back to Southeast Texas and Beaumont, for sure. What about you, Mark?

MARK: Yeah, I'm Mark Speirs. This is actually my third stop on the SBDC tour. I spent six years at the University of Wisconsin SBDC. Then one year at Western New Mexico University, SBDC, and I've been here pretty much exactly one year at the Lamar SBDC. Before that, I was actually a small business owner. My background is construction. I worked in construction for a number of years, and eventually wanted to start my own business. So in Phoenix, Arizona, I got a contractor's license for Finch Carpentry, and did a lot of commercial work and residential work. Built the business up to about five employees. Had about $800,000 in sales every year, and did that until 2009 when the housing crash hit, and it kind of put me out of business, but made me think about doing something else. And this is what I'm doing now.

JOHN R: And you're kind of guiding people and helping them navigate those same things now. Okay, so let's get into some of the specifics here. You know, John, we can start with you. Paint a picture for us. What does a day in the life of your role in the Small Business Development Center look like?

JOHN L: So we meet with clients, usually the initial meeting we want to have face to face. After that, it's according to what the client wants, whether they want to come in, or we can do virtual meetings or just a phone call. We try to figure out where they're at in the process and exactly what it is they want to do. Usually, the clients are seeking some funding to be able to do what they need to do. So it's difficult to get money for a startup. Banks don't want to do those loans, but there are ways to do that. So we walk the client through that process. Help them put together business plans. They write them, but we'll help edit them. We've got some programs that can help them write those business plans, and then we have some very good projections. We can help the client put those together. And then, you know, try to do everything we can to help them, assist them with the loan paperwork, so that they can get to a point where they can get the funding to get started. We have some that need a very small amount of money. We have one nonprofit lender that we work with, it's able to do small loans at a very good interest rate, and so we can direct some of the clients toward that. Others that need a significant amount of money, we usually work with most of the regional banks in the area and have very good relationships with them. So we can help send them to a lender that's actually going to talk to them and work with them to do something for them.

JOHN R: That's good community collaboration and partnerships, which we're all about at °®Éñ´«Ã½, obviously. And I love that you bring up the funding piece of everything, because I think maybe that's the part that people don't always think about. You just think about hiring employees, and you know, how to get it off the ground, but you’ve got to have the funding in place to get to launch it, right? So, Mark, let's switch over to you. Tell us about your role as business advisor.

MARK: Okay, yeah, I just want to mention, the first step would be actually to sign up for consulting. We have a website. You can Google: SBDC, Lamar SBDC, Beaumont will pop up there, create an account, fill it out. The form takes maybe five minutes, and it'll go to our administrative person, Jenna, and she'll call you or text you or email you and set up an appointment with either me or John. Once you have an appointment set up, as John said, it could be in person, it can be Zoom, we can do phone call, etc. Whenever we have an opening, whenever it's convened for them, they come in. And I would say, as far as me, I do probably 80% of my job is consulting, you know, one on one, either mostly in person, sometimes Zoom, depending how far away the person is. We do a little bit of a training, you know, things like that. John will talk about that later, about what we have coming up later in the year, as far as trainings and stuff like that. But I think John covered exactly what we do, as far as advisors, you know, just helping the clients, whatever their needs are, we’re pretty flexible with whatever they're looking for. We try to help them with what they're trying to find, or whatever their issue is, or wherever they're, you know, trying to get to.

JOHN R: I mean, these are big roles that you all have on campus, because depending on your workload, how many businesses you're working with. I mean, that's a lot to manage and do the consultations, and, you know, all the things. So y'all definitely have a lot going on. So let's talk about, you know, John, you mentioned this to me previously, before the podcast, y'all are putting a special focus on workshops that are talking about entrepreneurship through acquisition. So tell us a little bit more about that.

JOHN L: There's an awful lot of “boomers” in the workforce that are aging out a lot of those own small businesses, and yeah, maybe their kids have moved, or they don't have any, and they are looking to, at some point, retire and possibly sell that business. So we want to work both with them to make sure that they are ready to be able to do that, and all their financials are in order to maximize the value of the business. And then we also want to work with people, the younger entrepreneurs, because purchasing a business, and as we call it, entrepreneurship through acquisition, purchasing a business is sometimes a lot easier than starting one, and you're walking into something that's already cash flowing. You may think, “Well, I don't want to take that on,” but I've seen quite a few businesses that have no online component. They really don't have a social media presence. They really don't have those things that so many young people are so well acquainted with and know how to navigate. And there are some that you could go in to a business that's already making money, and if the seller's willing to work with you, you can go in for not a lot of money, take over that business and make some huge changes to really, you know, double or triple the revenue coming in. There's a lot of things that you can do, put your own stamp on it, and turn it into what you want. And banks will loan you money to buy a business quicker than they will to start one.

JOHN R: Yeah, that's a really great point. You know, especially about the established storefront. Like you said, if you go in and they have no social media presence, but you go in and start one and start an online e-commerce type feel for that business that maybe isn't online currently, you could double the profit, and you could be walking into a win-win situation, honestly. So I love that you are doing that. And there's a big event coming up March 17. You want to talk about that a little bit?

JOHN L: That is our entrepreneurship through acquisition workshop. Okay, so it's going to be tentatively, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 17, over in the CICE building, and it's free, open to anyone, and there will be some information coming out through the Lamar channels, and we'll also be posting it on our social media. So we do want you to register ahead of time, but if we will be walking people through what they need to do to get themselves ready to be able to acquire business, it may be something that you never even thought of. Just because you're not a plumber doesn't mean you can't own a plumbing business.

JOHN R: Good point. I think about all the people who, even if you buy property, you know, owning a rent house and turning that into a side income, or there's all kinds of things that you can do, realtors, real estate, you know, all kinds of opportunities there. Do y'all partner a lot. And Mark, I'll direct this question to you with the local community, or even with maybe some of our students here who are in the graduate program, maybe going for an MBA, or something like that, and interested in starting a business.

MARK: Oh yeah. We work with both Lamar students, Lamar professors, if they're interested in starting a business, yeah. I've got a handful of students that come in. The have lots of knowledge about social media, things like that. Oh yeah, interested in, like, technological, starting apps, things like that, very, very creative. What they're doing, and they make really good clients is, again, they need they understand what they want to build, and they understand market they don't understand how to get to where they need to go to. And that's kind of like what we help them with.

JOHN R: I like that. Creative guidance. They've got the tools. They just need to know how to put them in place, right?

MARK: Exactly.

JOHN R: I love that. So anything else, you know, I serve on the South Park Neighborhood Partnership with you, John, and I love that you're from that community, so I think you are a very valuable voice at the table for that fact and just for all that you do. But y'all have a partnership with Be Well Beaumont initiative, if I'm not mistaken, and do you want to talk about that a little bit? I mean, I know it's kind of a little outside of the Small Business Development Center, but you're pretty involved with that.

JOHN L: Yeah, through the South Park Neighborhood Partnership, we partner with Be Well, Beaumont, and we got a grant through ExxonMobil to do some workforce development. And so, to do something totally different than the normal little job fair. Yeah, we're going to be offering a entrepreneurship class that's a heavy emphasis on AI that is going to be happening in May and June, and this is for high school freshmen that live in the South Park neighborhood. We'll be able to come to this class. We're hoping to get 15 to 20 kids in there that we'll run them through a four-week program to teach them about what the opportunities are. As far as entrepreneurship, we think a lot of these kids really just don't understand what the opportunities are for them, right? You don't have to be rich. You can just if you work hard enough and you learn enough, you too, can be an entrepreneur, and there's plenty of opportunity out there to do that.

JOHN R: I think that's a great point. And, you know, start young, right? Let them know now what the opportunities are so and even sometimes the letting those students know that they there's a possibility that you can come to college. Maybe that's not always in their mind. College may not be for me, but let them know what's available. And we've got scholarships, financial aid, we've got so many opportunities for you to come get elevate your education even more. And right here, sometimes in your own neighborhood.

JOHN L: I've got a bachelor's, I've got an MBA. Mark's got a master's. Also, there's a great value to education, but it's not for everybody, right? And somebody that goes to LIT and gets a HVAC degree could very well start and open a HVAC business, and could do very well for themselves. So you don't have to do that. Maybe they come back later and finish up that bachelor's degree, because they are running the business, and they want to know more about it, but that everything you do, I mean, the biggest thing, I think, is to get people and get them to be constant learners, right? Because true entrepreneurs are constant learners. They're always listening for the next best thing and trying to, you know, figure things out and how to do things better. And that's what, that's what true entrepreneurial spirit is all about. Is constantly self-improvement and learning new things.

JOHN R: Yep, the hard work. Keep at it, because it will be long hours sometimes, you know. But to your point, you know, college is not for everybody, school and if you sometimes even just going for extra trainings or things that can equip you to be a better manager, be a better leader if you want to open a business. So Mark, let's go ahead and wrap up with you. You kind of touched on this earlier, but let's say someone out there listening wants to start a small business. How do they start the whole process? Is it with a phone call, or they go straight to, I know it's consultation first, but how do they go through all the steps to make sure they're going through the process right with y'all?

MARK: Okay, yeah, like I said, the first thing is to Google us, Lamar SBDC or Beaumont SBDC. We have a phone number, we have a website. They go through Jenna's administrative person, or they can set up the appointment. They come in again, when they fill the form, they'll give us some kind of basic information about what they're looking for, what they're interested in, as far as the help they're looking for. And once they come in, it's kind of like a learning process, you know, we're trying to learn from them what they're looking for, and then we're trying. They’re learning from us what we can provide as far as their issues and problems and things that are looking for like that. And people I've had clients come in, they have, like, one basic question. We sit down for an hour and a half, we figure out what they need to needed, and I don't see them again. I have other clients who have been, you know, helped them start a business. And they like to come in once a month and sit down and just kind of like, you know, use me as a sounding board and say, Hey, I had this great idea about doing this. What do you think about that? Yeah, and everything in between, yeah.

JOHN R: I love that you've got repeats who come back and kind of check in and so you're there, literally there with them through the process. That's awesome. Well, John and Mark, thanks again for all that you do. Thanks for connecting those resources and starting these businesses off on the right foot. We appreciate all that y'all do.

JOHN L: Thanks, John, thanks for having us.

JOHN R: As we wrap up another episode, please make sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcasts to keep up with the events, activities, programs and people right here at °®Éñ´«Ã½. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.