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Business Continuity

In times of disaster, the Florida SBDC serves as the primary point of contact for small busi-
ness owners impacted in a negative way. Following Hurricane Matthew, the Florida SBDC at
UNF assisted nearly 50 business owners with the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge
Loan Program process. With the assistance of the Florida SBDC at UNF, Viola’s Pasta & Sea-
food in St. Augustine was able to recover faster and get back to normal operations.
What type of damage occurred?
We lost almost everything in our restaurant. All of our kitchen equipment had to be re-
placed. All of our ovens, coolers, bar equipment and even office equipment. Total loss/
replacement value came to approximately $75,000.
How helpful was the Bridge Loan?
Without it we would not have been able to re-open our restaurant! We have 25 employees
that were out of work (including us). The Bridge Loan gave us the opportunity to employ some of our employees during the two
months it took to re-build and re-open. It helped us pay salaries, bills and start purchasing new equipment.
How helpful was the SBDC?
AMAZING is the first word that comes to mind. The quick response was essential. Every time I called with a question or need the
phone was answered or I received a call back within hours. I have to give special thanks to Marge Cirillo for her personal care during
the process. She even supplied us with big scissors and ribbon for our re-grand opening!

Growing Business

Jacob Fales and Merlin Welton met at St. John’s River State College in 1998, both majoring in Computer Science.
Being heavily involved in technology and gaming, they knew that their careers would be in Information Technology.
They wound up together in Atlanta starting Ambient Technologies, LLC in 2005 and in 2006, uprooted and relocated in
Palatka. Upon arriving in Florida, the company was renamed to Ambient, Inc. an IT company specializing in hardware
and networking for small businesses.
Business growth was sluggish as the 2008 economic downturn took full effect in Putnam County. “We’re techs -
specialists at what we do. Unfortunately, running the day-to-day operations of a small business was something we
were woefully poor at. It was difficult for us, as a start-up, to focus enough to understand planning for the future and
obtaining the capital we needed for growth. Luckily that’s when Cheryl Lynch of the FSBDC was introduced to us” says Fales.
Most immediate was that Jacob realized Ambient, Inc. needed a proper business plan, a better understanding of the company’s
financial reports and a clear understanding of how to grow the company’s footprint. In working directly with the Florida SBDC, not
only was Ambient able to produce a working business plan; they also came up with several pricing models, expanded into the remote
maintenance sector, took control of their everyday expenses and reporting and worked on building the business’ credit. Ambient was
finally able to analyze the company’s scalability and determine what markets are best for their future expansion.
The greatest challenge was how to finance Ambient’s growth. Jacob had approached several banks with hopes of setting up a line of
credit to assist with these plans. “No one wanted to help a small business - our numbers weren’t large enough” says Welton. After two
years of working with the FSBDC, Lynch assisted Jacob and Merlin with locating the right banking partnership. “I doubted the process,
when you’re told ‘no’ enough times you begin to expect no,” says Fales, “so when the bank said ‘Yes we would like to offer you the
line’ I didn’t think it was real. We have Cheryl of the FSBDC to thank for it.”
“Sometimes businesses don’t present themselves in the way that banks can understand them best,” says Lynch. “Maintaining
relationships with the local lenders and understanding what their goals are where small businesses are concerned helps avoid lots
of legwork for the small business owners.” Ambient will continue to work directly with Lynch at the FSBDC in order to maximize their
monies, hire additional employees and be able to measure the return on the investments they plan on making.
Ambient, Inc. offers your business a reliable IT solution, servicing office technology systems in the Northeastern Florida region. Their
primary directive is to provide the convenience and reliability of in-house IT support and maintenance to smaller local businesses,
without the steep costs in managing and operating an internal department. Their techs also help provide updated information on
emerging technology that might provide service to your business and productivity.