Mainebiz

V O L . X X V I I N O. X M AY 1 7 , 2 0 2 1 28 S M A L L B U S I N E S S F O C U S M ichael Stiggle had been suc- cessfully running his restau- rant Timberwolves in Mars Hill for about three years when the pandemic hit. "It was like being bombed," he says. "We were not prepared. We needed to run for shelter." He immediately closed the Aroostook County barbeque restaurant that he runs with his wife, Bobbie Jo and nephew, Chandler Dixon. "We didn't know what the out- comes would be, and we had to come up with some ideas," he says. In Abbott, Pauline Eldredge was try- ing to figure out how to keep things afloat at her business, Trailside Gardens. She uses the same bomb imagery as Stiggle when she looks back at March 2020. "Everything just exploded," she says. Eldredge was about to apply for a loan to build a greenhouse at her Piscataquis County nursery so she could store plants. By the end of March, she needed a new plan. In Orland, Joe Brown's livestock farm, Longshot Revival Homestead, needed a plan, too. He raises Mangalista pigs, turkeys and chickens, and most of the profit at his Hancock County farm was from processing pork. When the pandemic hit, it changed the market. e three were among nearly 3,000 small-business owners who turned to the Maine Small Business Development Centers for free business advising and resources in 2020, twice the number who had sought help in 2019. YourPace Admissions 207.768.9433 umpi-yourpace@maine.edu umpi.edu/yourpace/maol YO U R J O U R N E Y. YO U R PAC E . 100% ONLINE COURSEWORK AFFORDABLE TUITION BUILT-IN FLEXIBILITY INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION REAL-WORLD APPLICATION M A S T E R O F A R T S I N O RGA N I Z AT I O N A L L E A D E R S H I P (MAOL) E A R N YO U R in as soon as 1 year for $12,000 or less! Financial aid eligible for qualified students. It was like being bombed. We were not prepared. We needed to run for shelter. — Michael Stiggle Timberwolves Restaurant S O U R C E : Maine SBDC 2020 Annual Report SBDC 2020, BY THE NUMBERS The Maine Small Business Centers, in 2020, had 2,956 clients engage with its offices across the state for free mentoring and resources. Here are some of the numbers: 514 jobs created or saved 93 new businesses started $38.3 million in capital generated Already SBDC clients New clients Women BIPOC Veterans 57.6% 42.5% 8.2% 52.4% 6.3% CLIENT DEMOGRAPHICS Home-based businesses Retail businesses Lodging or food service businesses Arts, entertainment or recreation businesses Agriculture, hunting, forestry or fishing businesses 23.6% 18.7% 8.2% 9.4% 7.7% CLIENT BUSINESSES Small businesses BIG SUPPORT Last year Maine's Small Business Development Centers supported more than double the number of clients it had in 2019 B y M a u r e e n M i l l i k e n

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