I was chief pollinator for a seed company. In the mid-1970s, I worked in San Francisco with a small development group to convert rundown spaces into urban lofts for artists. In 1978, I joined the Peace Corps as a bee keeper for the government of Belize and served as a trainer for Peace Corps groups coming in. I realized while I was a volunteer I wasn't going to go further and that I needed a college degree for my career path. So I came back to the U.S. and usually worked two jobs while I was in school. I wouldn't recommend it.
Belize RPCV Thomas Juring has joined the Small Business Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence
Life's work, travels give Pitt director business insight
Dec 10, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Dec. 10--Thomas Juring joined the Small Business Development Center at the University of Pittsburgh's Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence in September. He previously worked for several service and nonprofit organizations and also founded his own customized puzzle company.
QUESTION: What does the SBDC offer to aspiring entrepreneurs?
ANSWER: We offer workshops for folks wanting to start a business about what it takes and all the components that go into it, from what forms you need to fill out to what things you should consider to proceed.
We have workshops on how to write a good business plan. A lot of people think a business plan is just a document to get a loan from the bank but it's actually a really great road map to make it work and take it step by step. It's a crucial element.
Once people have some sort of plan together, we will sit down with them, go from that plan, identify weaknesses and look at areas perhaps they haven't looked at to help them proceed. We have staff who will go through the plan pretty deliberately and scrutinize the financials by really digging into it. And we'll take a hard look at the markets. There are a lot of good ideas out there but there needs to be customers for them. If you don't have a customer, you don't have a business.
Q: What's the biggest mistake people make?
A: Not thinking about who they're selling their product or service to and being undercapitalized. A lot of times people come in with an idea to sell to just one type of customer and they may have something that's much broader and could go much further.
Q: What's the climate locally for getting investment capital?
A: You don't have the same level of venture capital as you have in other parts of the country, but there are some venture capitalists looking way beyond their immediate region. I think the geographic boundaries for venture capital are much broader than they used to be. They're usually institutional investors. At the venture capital fair held [in Pittsburgh] this fall, there was some really good exposure for companies here and it was also interesting to see the number of venture firms coming in from outside to very seriously look at businesses here.
On the other hand, angel investors are still much more local and much more engaged in the business. And frankly, there are a lot of good angel investors firms here: Blue Tree Allied Angels is one. So I think there is some decent money available. A number of banks here have been very good partners in terms of working with new companies and companies interested in growth.
Q: Describe your own management style.
A: We have a staff here of about 15 to 17 that varies because we use a number of graduate and undergraduate students. My style is directed. I'm concerned and interested in accomplishing some goals. I look at the possibility of what we can do and what we're not currently doing. I try to make sure my staff has the ability to go in the directions that really showcase their strengths.
I'm not interested in micro-managing but I do follow every single hour that's being given as consulting services. I guess it's a matter of looking at the big picture but really paying attention to the details. It's just like running a business: If you want to do it right, you've got to really delve into it.
Q: You took a relatively non-traditional path of working for 10 years between high school and starting college. What kind of jobs did you have?
A: There were a number of them. I was chief pollinator for a seed company. In the mid-1970s, I worked in San Francisco with a small development group to convert rundown spaces into urban lofts for artists. In 1978, I joined the Peace Corps as a bee keeper for the government of Belize and served as a trainer for Peace Corps groups coming in. I realized while I was a volunteer I wasn't going to go further and that I needed a college degree for my career path. So I came back to the U.S. and usually worked two jobs while I was in school. I wouldn't recommend it.
Q: What kind of things did you do with the foundation where you worked after earning your bachelor's degree?
A: I helped form the Katalysis Foundation that started its work in Belize. It was a consulting, non-government organization that provided business skills and training to local groups. We also helped start other groups in Honduras and the eastern Caribbean. I was based in California, not quite living out of a suitcase but traveling a lot.
It was very exciting, fulfilling work seeing people who really had nothing and helping guide their transformation into productive, economically viable futures. For example, there was a group of 12 to 15 farmers trying to sell their papaya basically out of the back of a truck and not having much success. We did some market assessment and looked at how limited the market was in Belize and organized a trip to Miami where they could see the process of fruit wholesale -- from the unloading dock, to the wholesale auction market, to the distributors and finally to the store shelves. They were just totally blown away when they saw the numbers and what they could potentially do.
They now export a fair amount to the U.S. So I have to smile when I go to the grocery store and that papaya is there.
Q: Why did you start your own puzzle business?
A: We moved to Tallahassee, Fla., and I was a trailing spouse. (His wife, Mary Crossley, is the dean of Pitt's School of Law and was formerly a professor at Florida State University College of Law.) I had always wanted to start my own business and it seemed as good a time as any. I had met an artist years ago who was taking people's photographs, gluing them to pieces of wood, making jigsaw puzzles and selling them for outrageous amounts of money. I said, "Someday there's going to be technology so you can do that cheaply." I always had that in the back of my mind.
And sure enough, with color laser printing, you could make a decent color image that was suitable for a cardboard jigsaw puzzle. So I got a cutting press [that could cut 120,000 pounds] and bought a series of cutting dyes and developed my own box. I did not have partners; I did it all on my own. I invested my life savings. The business is now being transferred to a family member and going through a major transformation. I'm not involved in any of the day- to-day operations.
Q: What's it like to live in Pittsburgh after spending years in Florida and California?
A: We (he has two sons ages 9 and 13) have done more here in the last year in the outdoors than we did in five years in Florida: Boy Scout camping trips, backpacking, canoeing. The weather here is much better for doing stuff outside. It's really true. You have the whole summer, spring and fall and winter is great if you like skiing, which we all do. I grew up in Montana on cross-country skis.
