In beginning…

It’s all about history

“It all started in a 5,000 watt radio station….” If you were a Mary Tyler Moore Show fan, you would remember Ted Knight talking about how he started in the business.  The history of SBA * Consulting isn’t that much different.  It started in a bunch of small businesses where I learned to do every job, from the warehouse to secretary; bookkeeper to programmer.

Somewhat like Ted, I had a knack for numbers.  Unlike Ted, I wasn’t an “idiot” or at least Mr. Grant thought Ted was…  So, I started consulting.  I was good at numbers, accounting and computers.

I figured I could create a business combining those three elements and thus was born SBA * Consulting.

In the beginning I had two logos created. One for SBA * Consulting, the other for SBA.NET.WEB, my internet division. Sadly the logo for SBA * Consulting is lost to the bit bucket.

Where did SBA come from?

When I first formed my consulting business I needed to pick a name.  I wanted something unique, but didn’t’ want to use my name.  I felt that was somewhat conceited.  So, what to pick as a name that sort of matched what I was and wanted to do.  In addition, what type of slogan would I create that complimented both the name and my mission?

So what was I doing in the beginning of history?  Installing computer systems. These systems were used obviously in business.  And most often I also was putting some of the early PC based accounting systems (like Dac Easy, Peachtree or One-Write Plus).  So I looked at what I did and stringed the key words together:

Systems for Business and Accounting

Born was a slogan, now what could I use for a company name? Back in the day, very few people knew about a small division of the US Commerce Department call the Small Business Administration.  I figured as people learned about them it would bolster my business.  Little did I know… but back to that later.  So, the Small Business Administration used the moniker SBA.

Coincidentally so does Systems for Business and Accounting.  Viola!  a company name was born.  SBA Consulting.  As an ode to Grandma who worked at Macy*s for over 25 years, I stole the asterisk, and SBA * Consulting was born. In 2001 I incorporated, and again wanted to be different.

In New York State, a corporation can use Inc. or Incorporated; Corp or Limited (LTD) to signify a incorporated entity.  Thus in 2001, we became SBA * Consulting LTD.

Logo 2010 – 2017

When QR tags became the rage around 2011 I thought they were cool.  I was about to re-do my website, so I chose a QR tag that when you read it, takes you to what is now this website.

Our New Logo adopted in April 2017

I didn’t forget.

In the years since I became SBA * Consulting the parallel to SBA has produced maybe a call or two a year asking if we did SBA Loans.  The real answer is never go to a broker or “consultant” for SBA Loans.  Just go to local bank which is authorized to do the paperwork.  Save your money.

And the other negative was when I first started on the Internet (I was an early adopter).  The SBA drove me crazy about putting a disclaimer on my website saying we weren’t connected.  Not that anything on the website said I did anything with or for the US SBA.  Eventually when the law got clarified (I’m sure someone got to their elected officials) they stopped bothering me.

Well, that’s a brief history of SBA * Consulting!

Let’s not forget those clients!