Small businesses hone tactics at CCP

In the appliance world, the bored Maytag man became a symbol of dependability. Ralph E. Wolff is another.

But there has been nothing boring about his existence in the appliance industry. Terrifying, yes.

"We got whacked left and right, but we're still here," Wolff said in an interview earlier this week.

By here, the owner of Jersey Coast Appliance, a two-store chain based in Toms River, Ocean County, means still in business.

By whacked, he meant nearly put out of business by events beyond his control - a recession and Hurricane Sandy.

Those tests of endurance motivated Wolff to make the 120-mile round-trip commute to and from Philadelphia once or twice a week for 15 weeks this year to participate in a national small-business education program. Funded by Goldman Sachs, it is taught locally at Community College of Philadelphia (CCP).

On Friday, Wolff, 66, and 19 other business owners will graduate from the 100-hour program, bringing the regional total to 189 since Mayor Nutter urged Goldman Sachs to expand its 10,000 Small Businesses initiative - free to participants - to Philadelphia in 2013.

Launched in 2009 to provide education and support services to help 10,000 business owners grow revenue and create jobs, it has just reached the halfway mark in owners going through the program. Developed by Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., the program is offered in 26 locations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Goldman Sachs has committed $5 million over five years for the program at CCP.

Of the $500 million that Goldman Sachs has committed to 10,000 Small Businesses nationally, $300 million is to support nonprofit Community Development Financial Institutions and other small-business lenders, including the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp.

From the $10 million PIDC has from Goldman Sachs for distribution, $5.7 million in loans have been approved so far for 22 businesses, said PIDC president John Grady.

"It's gone beyond the vision I had," said Nutter, who will deliver remarks at Friday's graduation, CCP's seventh, and meet with graduates to learn about their businesses and their classroom experience. "This program is strengthening our entrepreneurial community, our business community."

Elected class speaker, Wolff also will have some podium time. And then he'll drive back to the company he started in 1981 to implement a growth plan Wolff says the Goldman Sachs program gave him the tools and confidence to pursue.

He said he's proof that longtime business ownership doesn't necessarily mean having all the answers, especially when a recession causes a nearly 50 percent revenue drop, followed by a historic storm that wipes out vital servicing accounts. Repairs and installations accounted for half of Jersey Coast Appliance's $3.9 million in gross revenues in 2007, Wolff said.

"I certainly learned I didn't know it all," said the Navy veteran, who, after the Vietnam War, returned to New Jersey to uninspiring jobs in commercial printing and appliance repair before striking out on his own. "While I learned to survive in the world of small business, I was never really sure my business skills were as solid as they could be."

Part of the "brilliance" of the Goldman Sachs program, Wolff said, is that the curriculum - from understanding financials and developing effective marketing, to leadership and creating a growth plan - is applied to each participant's own business.

Four months of such introspection has "taken us from a defensive posture to a posture of growth," Wolff said.

He hopes to launch a "night owl" service by the end of September, making technicians available in the evenings until 9 p.m., and on Saturdays and Sundays, to help rebuild the service business. Success will mean the ability to add employees to Jersey Coast Appliance's stable of 20.

According to Katherine Jollon Colsher, national director of the Goldman Sachs program, 46 percent of program participants added jobs within six months of graduation; 67 percent increased revenue.

The median age of businesses coming through the program is 11 years; the owners, 46. Companies must be in business at least two years and have four employees and revenues of $150,000 to $4 million, though the top limit is flexible.

"We are looking for a special slice of the small-business world," said Margaret Berger Bradley, executive director of CCP's Goldman Sachs program. Wolff fit the bill, she said.

"I felt he had such a strong sense of commitment to his employees," Bradley said, "and desire to figure out a next chapter."

215-854-2466

@dmastrull