University of La Verne SBDC Small Biz Blog

General Driveshaft Service, Inc. 133 W Maple Avenue Monrovia, CA 91016 Duane and Kristin Howland are the management team of General Driveshaft Service, Inc in Monrovia, California. The company builds and modifies driveshafts for rear-wheel-drive vehicles. The vehicles Duane works on range from large diesel trucks to high-performance race cars and even classic cars. Duane worked for the company for 23 years when the previous owner decided to retire and sell the business. “In 2016, we were trying to figure out if we were going to buy this business (General Driveshaft) or if Duane was going out on his own. We got to the point where we wanted to buy this business and we weren’t quite sure how to do that or how to negotiate with the previous owner. We really didn’t know where to start,” Kristin explained. The University of La Verne SBDC had just opened its doors and became the talk in certain circles on campus. Kristin became familiar with the center and reached out for consulting. There we

  by Joshua Botello   A Notary Signing Agent or mobile notary is a profitable business that almost anyone can start. Just because it’s easy to start, doesn’t mean it's easy to run. Mobile notaries seem to be popping up everywhere because it's so easy to start but hard to stand out and grow the business. In this video, I'll tell you what you need to know about starting up a notary business to see if it is right for you. Business Concept If you want to be a Notary, you first need to figure out what services you want to offer. Will you be offering signature verification only or will you expand to include Live Scan or other services? Your next step will be determining who your customers are, such as real estate loan brokers, lawyers, school districts, health care, or other professionals. Finally, you want to determine your type of business mobile or office. Many Notaries are mobile and able to charge for travel but you will need to make that decision based on your clientele. Co

By Joshua Botello 2020 was all about virtual meetings and Zoom was the one to use. It was easy and free. But is it a good choice for your small business? In this video, I will cover what you need to know to get started with Zoom and its features to see if it’s right for your business. So let’s get started. Who is Zoom For? Zoom is primarily for small and medium business owners who are looking to set up virtual meetings and want easy-to-use software. Zoom is also an easy way to give webinars and stream online to Facebook, YouTube, and other third-party platforms. Zoom is not great for tech-savvy business owners or full-time content creators who want more quality in their streams or live webinars.  Demo Let's take a look at how to get started and what we can do with Zoom. Just head to Zoom.us and sign up for a free account with your email address and a password. Once you can set up your account you can download the zoom client on your Windows or Mac and log into your account. From y