Page One Consultants
In order to be recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), you have to be doing something right. Since Sheryl Page, president, and CEO of Page One Consultants in Orlando, was named Woman-Owned Small Business Person of the Year by the State of Florida SBA in 2017, a lot of people have started to look at what she’s doing and how her company has become so successful.
Page, who runs an engineering and construction consulting firm, started the business back in 1993, but sort of trudged along for many years with moderate success. There were plenty of times when Page could have thrown in the towel, but she kept pushing through.
Starting out in an industry dominated by male-owned businesses wasn’t easy, nor was the prospect of finding enough money to support the quality services she had to provide clients. Page used as many as 15 credit cards to help the company stay in business in the early-to-mid 1990s. Then, she received a $250,000 7(a) SBA guaranteed loan in 2001 to keep the company afloat after nearly a decade in business. The gamble paid off, and she was eventually able to attract a healthy clientele and repay the loan.
Since then, the company has tripled revenues, hired more than two-dozen new team members, acquired more than a dozen new company vehicles, and almost doubled its square footage. It’s a massive growth spike for a company that’s been around for nearly 25 years and speaks to the hard work and commitment of Page and her team.
When asked what her biggest piece of advice to small business owners and entrepreneurs would be, Page says, “Keep your faith and be patient. Don’t give up…Don’t quit!” Those words have a tendency to sound cliché, but when they come from someone like Sheryl Page, who is living proof of the good that can come from being patient, they ring truer than ever. If you learn anything from her company’s success, it should be that growth is rarely immediate, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t coming.