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Erica Crisco had all the confidence in the world that she could shine shoes with the best of 'em.

But she wasn't certain how she could make a living at it, not having much experience with marketing or choreographing cash flow.

"I'm an awesome shoeshiner. That part I have down," Crisco said with self-assurance. "But running a business doing what you do is different than knowing the business you're doing."

"Marketing, networking, budgeting — I'm not sure how good I am at wearing all of those hats," she added. "I have to find a way to wear them that's balanced and makes sense."

So for a second time, she turned to the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund, which had provided her with money to get her business — Polished — off the ground. This time, she sought technical assistance with nuts-and-bolts matters necessary to turn a profit.

The loan fund, a private nonprofit financial institution promoting community development, is striving to give its loan recipients a better foundation for making it.

Using a $46,000 grant from the federal Small Business Administration (SBA), it formally opened a client service center this week next to its main offices at 154 E. Ford Avenue in South Salt Lake.

"Instead of giving them a loan and crossing our fingers and hoping they pay us back, we can give them training to succeed in business," said Danielle Lower, the fund's acting director following the departure of longtime leader Kathy Ricci.

With the SBA funding, Lower's team built out the unused portion of its building, equipping it with smart boards, laptops and flexible desks and chairs that can be rearranged to meet the needs of different class sizes.

There also is a lounge area with comfortable chairs where business owners can confer with Microenterprise Loan Fund employees or consultants about ways of spiffing up a social-media marketing campaign or fleshing out a business plan.

Adjacent shelves hold borrowable books with titles such as "Learning Web Design," "Business Writing for Dummies" and "Handmade to Sell."

Angela Hill came to the client support center for a social media 101 class so she could better spread the word about AJ's Treehouse, a daycare center she owns that lets parents drop off toddlers on an hourly basis. It also is available on weekends and later in the evening than most daycares.

From previous jobs, Hill said, "I know operations, but I don't know how to start, develop a marketing campaign, or much about leasing, buildout and inventory.

"When you have gaps in your knowledge, they fill that," she added. "This was the best class I've taken because it was relevant to what I needed right now."

For Aimee Jongejan, who is starting a wellness center called Breakthrough Bodyworks in Millcreek, the mentoring she received from loan officer Alisia Wixom was essential to feeling more confident about "finding direction for our vision" of nurturing athletes and others with soft-tissue injuries.

"Many people are visionary but not implementers," Jongejan observed. "The Microenterprise Loan Fund helped us implement the things we planned."

Ryan Burningham also credited Wixom's guidance with helping him and his business partners to launch Virtualities, a virtual reality arcade in The Gateway shopping district in Salt Lake City.

"Alisia smoothed the rough edges so that our business plan was basically banker ready," he said.

That's the point, Wixom said, noting that too many potentially solid businesses fail because "you don't know what you don't know. [Our clients] just need a place that will give them a chance."