When Tina Paradiso bought a printing business five years ago, it turned out to be quite a different experience from what she had anticipated. The financials weren’t as good as she had thought, and “the back office was a mess.”
Now that company is the successful Imprintable Solutions. On May 3, Tina was honored as a “Client of the Year” by the Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE.
Tina credited her two SCORE mentors, Jack Dailey and the late Tony Carlisi, with helping her to turn the company around. They guided her on streamlining processes to be more efficient, and figuring out how to grow the company using the resources she had.
At the “Client of the Year” luncheon held at Oak Hill, Tina thanked SCORE, its partner the U.S. Small Business Administration, and Pathstone with helping her make her business a success. When she was starting out, “I had no idea how rich in resources Rochester is for entrepreneurs,” she told the group of about 100 attendees. She also urged the business owners in the room to seek certification as a Minority or Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE), which can help the business get contracts. Tina said 41% of her customers are due to her having the certification. She also bought a second business in 2016.
Also honored as a “Client of the Year” was Evie Hurt, owner of Dazzling Dust Bunnies, which provides cleaning services to homes. Kristin Ragona has been Evie’s SCORE mentor since 2014. Evie said that she knew when she started her cleaning business that she wanted to have employees, and be insured and bonded.
When she met with Kristin, “she gave me great information on the very first day” and the two have continued to meet for mentoring sessions. Today, Dazzling Dust Bunnies has four employees and 50-60 regular clients in Orleans and Monroe counties. The Better Business Bureau has awarded the company a five-star rating. “We’re getting well known for the quality work that we do,” Evie said. “I don’t hire someone who doesn’t have the passion for house cleaning like I do.”
Each year, the Greater Rochester Chapter of SCORE honors clients who have worked with SCORE mentors over several years and have established profitable businesses. The event was part of a day of seminars on “Knowing, Growing and Protecting Your Business.”
To read about the 2017 Clients of the Year, click here.
I’m the chairman of volunteers for the SCORE chapter, and we offer free one-on-one mentoring and low-cost or free workshops. This group does amazing work, I’m proud to say. I’m always looking for savvy business people to join our chapter as mentors. For more information on our chapter’s mentoring services, workshops or volunteering, click here.
