SBA SUCCESS STORY
STEVEN SUISSA, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT
SHS SERVICES, LLC??
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On Becoming the Smartest Person in the Room
Steve Suissa graduated from Ithaca College and earned his MBA from the University of Maryland (?GO TERPS!?). With a mind for numbers, he went into public accounting and later became a staff accountant for a privately held company. Over the next 10 years, Steve worked his way up to become the firm?s CEO. He had grown the company into a $30 million operation. The company was then sold, and he decided to go out on his own. Having helped several family members with their own payroll and HR needs, Steve was seemingly well prepared for this next chapter of his professional life. But, as Steve recounts in the words of his wise father, ?The smartest person in the room is the one who knows what they don?t know.? Steve had started his small business as a sole proprietor in 2002. At the time, he had zero employees and few clients. By 2009, he decided he either had to commit to growing his company or find another job.
Taking heed of his father?s sage advice, Steve sought the counsel of a SCORE mentor ? someone with entrepreneurial experience and expertise, someone who was willing to share what they knew with someone eager to learn what they didn?t already know. The one-on-one, free counseling Steve received through SCORE proved to be invaluable. He began by hiring several part-time workers. As the business continued to build over the years, Steve had learned about an intensive training program for entrepreneurs called Emerging Leaders. Offered through the SBA, the program involves about 100 hours of classroom work and special projects to sharpen one?s marketing skills and overall business acumen. The Emerging Leaders? cohort-based model also allows participants to learn from and network with one another while making important connections with SBA staff members. Steve, a graduate of the Emerging Leaders Class of 2019, describes the program as highly productive and worthwhile. In fact, he credits his training ?for allowing us to grow our GovCon division by more than 50%.? Then came 2020, and everything changed.
?In March 2020, we had no idea what was going to happen,? Steve recalls. ?Would we need to lay off staff or reduce their hours?? He then learned about the SBA?s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) programs. Steve applied for and was granted both types of SBA-backed loans, which helped to keep his company intact. As the owner of a back-office support company with a 98% client retention rate, Steve describes his PPP loan as a ?lifeline? that allowed him the freedom to put on PPP webinars with community-based organizations and government entities, including the SBA.
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