Success Story: Robin King

Creating one of a kind, handcrafted jewelry keepsakes that are just as unique as the stories they tell. Rene TreVor Jewelry is dedicated to helping you tell your story, whether it be to honor a loved one that has passed, cherish a blissful union, or savor the milestones of a growing child. Your heartfelt memories are creatively designed as a beautiful story you can wear and share.

Robin King always dreamed of having her own business but never imagined it would be conceived from extremely tragic circumstances. On October 3, 2017, her mother lost her life to a long battle with cancer.  Four hours after her mother’s death, her 25-year-old son’s life was taken while he mourned the loss of his grandmother. In her grief and as a way to process her healing, it was very much a natural response for her to make something beautiful in honor of her mother and son. She created memorial keepsakes that contained flowers from her mother’s memorial and son’s ashes to always keep her loved ones close. Upon reflection, she knew she wanted help others to feel comforted by their loss and began making keepsakes for family and friends. In the loving memory of her mother and son, a name and concept for her business were conceived. However, she realized she lacked the knowledge of how to make it happen.

In the spring of 2018, she enrolled in the Start, Run and Grow Your Business Course offered through MCSC and the Women’s Business Center.  This was missing piece she needed to get started. Robin was the winner of the class’s business plan and pitch competition where she was awarded a $500 prize to help start her business.  At the one year memorial anniversary of her losses (October 2018), Rene TreVor Jewelry launched an e-commerce website. She says following through with a business plan to honor her mother and son brings her such joy because she gets to share with the world the beautiful stories they wrote on her heart.

Robin says “There were so many nuggets of wisdom from the course to which I am still gleaning from.” Her advice to fellow entrepreneurs is “to continue educating yourself and never stop growing in the wisdom of how to operate your business.”  She says we’re living in times of newer, bigger, better and things around us are changing at rapid speed, whether through marketing, technology, social media, etc. As you enhance your personal growth, your business has no other choice but to grow with you. This is where MCSC and the Women's Business Center came in handy. She found them to be very supportive of her vision of entrepreneurship and offered excellent workshops with the most knowledgeable mentors. She continues to put her faith in the Women’s Business Center to help her evolve as an entrepreneur and grow her business to the success she’s envisioned.  

Making the American Dream a Reality

MCSC featured in the SLO City News!

Click the photo or follow the link to read the article here: http://www.tolosapressnews.com/making-american-dream-reality/

Excerpt from the article: 

"If knowledge is power, then the MCSC is a powerhouse for small business entrepreneurs. The non-profit offers consulting and learning programs to aide people in starting their business venture.

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, small business that receive consulting have an 80% improved chance of being in business after 3 years than those that do not receive consulting.

In 2006, MCSC of San Luis Obispo joined the Women’s Business Center (WBC) national network to educate would be small business owners on the intricacies of starting and maintaining a business. In 2016 alone, the organization held 214 training events that had 2,834 attendees and totaled more than 7300 training hours. Through grants from the Small Business Association (SBA) and matching donations from community sponsors, MCSC has helped launch 165 businesses in the last 10 years and has brought an estimated $26.5 million to the Central Coast economy.

Their entrepreneur-training course entitled “Start, Run & Grow” is a 12-week course with three hour classes held once a week. There is also a Spanish equivalent of the course called “Empezando.” Apart from the classes and free consultations, MCSC also does monthly workshops that explore different venues to promote and fund current businesses. Scheduled for April 18, the next two-hour workshop will be about utilizing Instagram for a company’s digital presence. They also host monthly 1.5-hour sessions called Brown Bag Workshops, the upcoming one is called Freelancing Your Way to Freedom.

MSCS reports that the average of women starting business for SLO County is 1.4, just below the national average of 1.5. In the past 3 years 78% of their SLO clientele was female and 61% for Kern County."

For more information, visit www.mscorp.org or call 805-595-1357

Empezando Graduation

Congratulations and felicidades to our newest San Luis Obispo County "Empezando" graduates!

On November 16, seven dedicated students completed Mission Community Services Corporation's ten-week "Empezando" business start-up class.

Special guest speakers included Ana Rodarte, a past Empezando graduate and owner of Las Delicias de Zacatecas, Fernando Sanchez, Cal Poly Professor, as well as Wells Fargo representative and past Empezando instructor Carla Blandon.

Thank you to our sponsors PG&E, Cuesta College and their Doing What Matters program, U.S. Small Business Administration and Wells Fargo Bank for making this possible.

The Board of Directors and staff at MCSC are very proud of these students for the months of hard work and commitment to achieving their goals. Please join us in wishing them all the very best as they begin their business ventures!

Put Your Business on the Map with Google & Yelp Event

Last week MCSC and a bunch of our resource partners came together to offer a hands on training event for Google and Yelp! The event was a great success. Thanks to everyone who came out and of course to our resource partners: Cuesta College's 'Doing What Matters' program, SBDC, Score, and the City of Arroyo Grande. 

VAFB Small Business Outreach Event Was A Success!!

Last week the MCSC Crew headed down to Santa Maria to attend the Vandenberg Air Force Base Small Business Outreach Event. The purpose of this event was to help inform small business owners how selling to the federal or state government can benefit their business. If you want to learn more about selling to the federal government and if it would be a good fit for you and your business, give us a call at MCSC (805)595-1357. We have consultants that are able to meet with you one-on-one and free of charge.