Event provides small businesses a chance to network

By Shannon Ong
Staff Writer

The seventh annual Small Business Networking Event in Alumni Park Tuesday provided opportunities for small business owners and representatives to promote their companies, meet prospective clients, and attend workshops on strategies for building a successful corporation.
The event, sponsored by the Small Business Development Office, included a panel discussion about the opportunities and significance of small business in Los Angeles, workshop sessions held in Von KleinSmid Center, booths for vendors and lunch featuring guest speaker Wesley Ru, president of Western Badge & Trophy.
Ru shared the story of his success during the luncheon.
"All I can do here today is to share with you (my) story and perhaps at the end of all this, I can trigger some creative juices that you can take back with your company and perhaps some good will come of it," Ru said.
Ru began by telling about a high school teacher who told him to attend trade school because she did not believe he would make it to college. He not only graduated from college but was able to work for a corporate company and make deals his superiors were unable to accomplish.
After that, he began to realize that instead of making money for other people, he could do it for himself. So he started his own business.
"Many times we come across great ideas and great products, but we don't have the money or the finances to put it together," Ru said. "It's very frustrating."
Ru got his break when he was able to strike a project with one of the largest trading companies in Asia. When the general manager of the company said he wanted to stop and see Ru's facilities before returning to Asia (a couple of days later), Ru was still working out of his house.
"My facility?" Ru said. "I can just imagine this delegation going through my kitchen, my upstairs. You can imagine the panic attack I had. So the following day, I must have met the world's most happiest leasing agents because I leased a suite of offices within 15 minutes."
He called all his friends and moved in everything they had that resembled office furniture, art, phones and the like. He then held a meeting in his newly constructed "office."
"(After the meeting) the general manger thanked me for the tour and he expressed confidence in doing business with me, (then) he says, `Just one thing, Mr. Ru--I would feel a lot more comfortable if your phones were connected.'"
Participants, including companies such as Boise Cascade Office Products, GTE, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Sun Microsystems, were able to look around at the different booths at the event.
"It's not so much what you get here today as it is `just be seen,'" said Julio Rivera, a representative from Mini Mailiers. "The show day could be very disappointing, (but) it's what happens maybe a week later or a month later--it's being seen and getting the name out there that's ... important."
"It's all what you make of it," said Mike Malconian, an attendee who was browsing through the booths. "The opportunities are all out there; you just have to go follow up on them."
This year an attendance of 600 was estimated--a considerable growth from the 200 participants five years ago, said Tiffany Shuttleworth, who helped to coordinate the event.
"What we found out was after a few years, the vendors wanted to be able to show off their products and services, spend more time with the buyers," she said. "That's when we decided to have a trade fair, and then we've gone into having more workshops for the educational side--how to do business with USC and some opportunities that are here. In the last couple of years, (we have added) other large businesses that are public and private, just to expand the opportunity."