Seattle,
Washington: In this show we take you into a place well-known in the
design community as the place to buy large ceramic pots for up-scale hotel
lobbies and office buildings. Grace Tsujikawa-Boyd has re-invented the business
she started in her basement in 1969. She now has engineers working for her in a
new division that makes ceramic castables; though made from clay and
fired in kilns just like the clay pots, these forms are used by companies like
Boeing to make aircraft parts. She got some help and leveraged her assets in
new ways to develop an entire new customer base -- the aerospace
industry.
Start-up funding: SBA-backed loan.The URL for all SBA resources by state is: http://www.sba.gov/regions/states/
Industries: Aerospace & defense; Architectural; Hospitality
Also, in this show: Meet Jim Schell our veteran entrepreneur. When things start going wrong, point the finger at the person you see in the mirror. Also, meet Alan Cohen, one of the earliest adopters of the Internet..
Connected? Grace was an early adopter of the Internet. If you need more inspiration to get that web site set up, review Hattie's overview of other early adopters. Grace's web site saves her thousands of dollars per year in printing costs. Her customers are able to order and pre-configure their orders online. She is not afraid of technology and she uses it effectively to look and act like a big business. Get connected with inside information about the evolution of technology; get connected with the largest invention-research group in the USA -- IBM's Watson Lab. Register (By coming to this site, you become part of a Small Business Index of Learning Companies).
Key
Points.
- Do something different.
- Nothing stays the same.
- Nothing happens over night.
- Even though the paperwork can be maddening, the government does want small businesses to succeed.
- GO
TO SCHOOL: Review parts of the show on the Internet. If you are
enrolled in Small Business School
click here; if you
want to learn how to enroll,
click
here. It requires DSL or cable connection with no firewalls. If you answer
the questions in the teaching notes and study guide, you may qualify:
- to get listed within your business type and within your state's listings,
- to be profiled on a show (local or national),
- to generate automatically a business plan for debt financing and/or a SCOR for equity financing,
- to be listed within a Small Business index, and
- to qualify as one of the Small Business School best of businesses within a business category.
- AT YOUR LOCAL COLLEGE: Check this list of schools (partial). Also, check for classes with your local Small Business Development Center, Chamber of Commerce, and Economic Development Commission.
- LOOK AT STEP 1: INITIAL IDEAS. Where do people get their initial ideas for a business. The best source -- your experience. What do you know well? What fulfills you? Grace gives us some clear insights as to why she started PyroMedia and can not quit.
- OTHER REFERENCES IN THE SHOW. We encourage everbody to learn from people within a specific business type. Please select your business type and study those shows. Then study the other shows referenced within this show:
- WATCH TV! To find out what is airing in your market, usually on your local PBS-member station, click here.
- READ THE TRANSCRIPT: All the words of this show are part of Small Business School. The introduction is here.
- CONTACT:
Grace Tsujikawa-Boyd
Pyro Media
7911 - 10th Avenue, South
Seattle, Washington 98108 - Tel: 206-763-7020 Fax: 206-763-3495
- URL: http://www.pyromedia.com/ E-mail: Click here.
- Industries: Manufacturing
- Associations: Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, The American Ceramic Society
- Magazines: Pottery Making Illustrated, Ceramic Engineering and Science Proceedings, and others
- KBTC-TV: PBS-member station for the greater Seattle area.