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Thanks to a grant from one big business and a nonprofit organization, two small-business owners in Utah have received money and training that will help them take their business to the next level.
Sam's Club and SCORE, a nonprofit that offers mentoring to small businesses, collaborated for the grants, which awarded each business with a $1,000 gift card to Sam's Club and an all-expenses-paid trip to Texas, where participants attended a workshop geared toward helping them learn new skills to better run their companies.
Kris Rudarmel, who owns Taylorsville's Anchor Water Damage and Restoration with her husband, received one of the grants. She said she went to the two-day workshop in January and learned about different ways to market the boutique-style emergency flood-service business, including using YouTube videos and blogs.
"I took away some awesome ideas," Rudarmel said. "A lot of it was a review for me, but there were two ideas that should really help our business grow."
Along with the workshop, Rudarmel's business received $1,000 to spend on business expenses at Sam's Club.
With the money, she said she was able to update accounting software, purchase two external hard drives and make plans to buy a new computer.
"It's just things I needed, but I didn't want to spend the money on," she said.
Rudarmel and her husband, Frank, have owned their own business for 12 years, but they started Anchor Restoration seven years ago. She said that while the company started with just the two of them, they are now close to having 10 employees.
Anchor Water Damage and Restoration specializes in flood cleanup and carpet cleaning. It serves areas from Park City to Tooele and Ogden to Provo.
Rudarmel said the business has been successful because it offers quality work and a customer-service program driven by inspirational and motivational messages.
"We're not just an emergency flood service," Rudarmel said. "We help our customers by inspiring them."
There were 102 businesses across the nation that received the grants — two in every state and two from Washington, D.C.
"Our mission is to grow successful businesses across America, one at a time," W. Kenneth Yancey Jr., CEO of SCORE, said in a news release. "Small businesses truly are the backbone of our economy, particularly during lean times."
Gimme Creative, a Utah-based social-media design and marketing company, also was selected for the grant.
Twitter: @jm_miller