In 2023, SBDC client, Noah Witt, completed his third successive year in our Small Business Management program. We’re proud of the many successes that Noah has achieved as a business owner in the Roseburg area. From humble beginnings to a rapidly growing enterprise, Noah has built his company with courage, determination and a continual eagerness to learn.
At the age of 22, Noah challenged himself to ride a bicycle across the United States from the Oregon coast to the Atlantic shore of North Carolina and all the way back, coming in just shy of 8,000 miles. Having accomplished this epic personal challenge, Noah realized that the road to success began with setting goals, having fierce determination, committing to succeed and, yes, a lot of hard work. Once done, Noah viewed this accomplishment as only a foretaste of other personal and professional goals he could pursue, including that of business ownership. In his words, “If I could do that, what else could I do?”
In 2012, at the age of 23, Noah started a small carpet cleaning company, servicing homes and businesses in and near his hometown of Roseburg, Oregon. In just a couple of years, Noah had hired on two full-time and two part-time employees. Their work was focused largely on stain removal and, to a smaller extent, damage restoration.
By 2020, Noah was determined to expand his business and felt a strong need to make it more “recession proof.” It was during this time period that Noah learned of the UCC SBDC from a fellow business owner. Noah began working with the SBDC as he wanted to gain more expertise in the areas of finances, HR policies, marketing, inventory controls, strategic planning, and other ways to professionalize and grow his business. After several meetings with SBDC advisers on these topics, and attendance at a national summit related to his business, Noah signed up for the 9-month “Small Business Management” (SBM) course. He came into the first class making a “commitment to learn from every session.” It was also during this period that he bought a franchise territory from a multi-state firm, True North Restoration, in an effort to expand his reach by using the larger “brand name.” Since then, Noah has gone on to participate in two additional advanced levels of the SBM course. His business has expanded significantly as the focus has shifted to full restoration services following damage caused by fire, water, trauma and other catastrophic events. He now employs over a dozen full- and part-time staff and has expanded his service area to include other communities within the region.
When asked about his relationship with the SBDC, Noah had this to say, “The SBDC has brought me two valuable resources: People and Knowledge. These two keys have opened doors for me, and have increased my joy, success, and confidence as an entrepreneur.”
Overall, Noah’s significant business achievements have come after many mistakes and lessons learned, an epic bike ride, lots of hard work and goal-setting, and a strong commitment to his faith and to continuous learning and improvement.