SBA advice lets startup stand out.

• Author: Millard, Elizabeth
• Position: FROM BEGINNERS TO BIGSHOTS

Ten years ago, when Elise Hernandez considered creating a technology services firm, she didn't think about the challenges of being a Hispanic woman in the business world, and particularly the difficulties she might encounter in the male-dominated IT arena.

She simply saw a need, and knew she had the business experience and drive to build a solid company.

After spending the majority of her career in sales and management at big technology corporations, Hernandez and her husband, John McGuire, decided to move to northern Minnesota in 1996, and develop Ideal System

Solutions Inc., a value-added reseller for manufacturers such as Hewlett Packard Co., International Business Machines Corp. and Cisco Systems Inc.

Although Hernandez envisioned a company that could grow steadily as a reseller, she didn't anticipate that help from the Small Business Administration, and even her own gender and ethnicity, would give ISS a much broader scope than she'd planned.

At one of her first meetings, a customer asked Hernandez if ISS was an 8(a)-certified company, since it had more than $1 million earmarked to spend with that type of firm.

The SBA's 8(a) program helps small, disadvantaged businesses compete for federal contracts. It also offers training. Although ISS was serving commercial clients, the chance to obtain government contracts was intriguing.

"You better believe I called the SBA right away," she said, laughing. "That million dollars is what got me interested, but the more I learned about the program, the more compelling it sounded."

The process for 8(a) certification is time-consuming, with a thorough screening to ensure that those who apply are not merely a small part of a much larger company. Hernandez qualified since ISS is both woman-owned and Hispanic-owned. Becoming an 8(a)-certified vendor allowed her to broaden her business, she said.

"If it hadn't been for this program, I probably wouldn't have gone in some of the directions I chose," she noted. "There are so many organizations doing technology sales and solutions in the commercial space, and this program has allowed me to go outside the box and distinguish the company from competitors."

Hernandez credits the program for much of the company's growth, which has clocked in at about 35 percent per year and reached $30 million in 2007. Having SBA advice available through the 8(a) program has been a boon for business.

"The matchmaking events, seminars, and government agency networking they do has...