Tuesday, January 26 marked the first Entrepreneur Night of 2016!
Hundreds of entrepreneurs and small business owners gathered at Sevyn — a locally own nightclub and restaurant, and one of the hottest spots Flagler County has to offer. This month’s event had well over 200 people in attendance, and nearly half of them were first timers – making the first ENT Night of 2016 the largest in history.
It was nothing short of phenomenal to see so many hardworking, passionate people interacting with one another – filling the room with entrepreneurial enthusiasm, setting the atmosphere as only Entrepreneur Night can. Listening to the stories of each and every individual is undoubtedly fascinating, simply because you learn about how others have overcome challenges that you may be facing in this present moment.
One of these entrepreneurs was Carla Cline. Cline has lived in Flagler County for over thirty years, and she has now recently opened a restaurant named The Island Grille – along with four other partners.
She began this new phase of her life through a long time friend, Joe Rizzo, who also owns several restaurants throughout Flagler County. Rizzo and Cline have known each other since they were just ten years old, and have been able to work on some amazing projects together.
A few years ago, a mutual friend of theirs, Josh Crews, passed away in a car accident. He was an avid reader and prolific writer who believed that knowledge was power, and it was no question that his legendary storytelling skills touched everyone he met.
So in 2011, they started a memorial scholarship fund – the Josh Crews Writing Project – that has been set up to continue Josh’s efforts in encouraging and empowering young creative writers in our community. Their hope is not to re-write his story, but to commemorate his life and talents through words.
Just last year, they reconnected when Rizzo was interested in finding a competent person to join his team. He sought to have Cline work with him – who gladly accepted, and on May 26, 2015, the Island Grille was opened. Reflecting on her years with Rizzo, she says,
“It has been a great learning experience, and full of exciting fires to put out on a regular basis.”
Besides the restaurant and the foundation, Cline also works for a exterior and interior painting company named Rhino Property Services. This was started by her husband upon moving to the United States from South Africa. It was easy for her to join this business with him because it just so happens that painting is a passion of hers – a hobby of sorts.
Throughout her life, especially her life as an entrepreneur, Cline has learned a plethora of life skills that has equipped her to press forward with her journey.
“When you’re an entrepreneur you have passions for something that you like or love, and then there is also the dirty side, which is the business aspect of it. It is learning how to balance both of those things that is the biggest thing that I have learned.”
She has learned the balance that many small business owners have not yet learned. As Cline believes, by working under someone who has similar passions, you can find out how they have become successful – then, you’ll have the key to being prosperous yourself.
For true entrepreneurs, work – no matter how difficult, time consuming, or strenuous it may become – is enjoyable, and the outcome is well worth the effort. Entrepreneur act out of passion, not for a paycheck. For herself, Cline mentions
“I wanted people to give me money for being myself.”
For her, the entrepreneurial spirit was instilled within her at a young age. Sam Cline, her father, who is the owner of Cline Construction, has been very influential in her life. When she was just a child, he instilled into her the work ethic that has carried her throughout her successful and accomplished life. Those special moments with her dad has never left her mind and it has always pushed her to strive for the best both in business and in her personal life. “My father used to tell me,” Cline started, “if you are going to do something, you do it right.”
Clara reminisces in a time from her childhood when she wanted to purchase a surfboard. “In order to buy it I was going to use the money that I earned from mowing the lawn to pay for the surfboard.” While that idea may have seemed simple enough, her father disagreed. “He said, ‘you should buy multiple surfboards, fix them, and then sell them.’ ”
Many people may say that Cline has done well for herself, that she’s successful – but that’s a subjective term. Cline explains that she is, “never focused on the money aspect of success.
Success is about doing a really good job – and then all of the other things that you need will fall into place.”
Carla Cline is truly an entrepreneur who strives to make her community a better place.
But this is only 1 of the 247 people that attended! There are plenty of people every month who have their own unique stories
Another entrepreneur that attended was Lillian Villanova, the founder and owner of the company Lily Loves Pets. Villanova has two rescue dogs of her own and is the sole caregiver of her mother. She wanted to find a way to balance her love for animals and simultaneously be able to a accommodate to her personal life. So, the answer was evident in her life: she could take care of other people’s pets when they’re unable to.
In order to start her business she had to do an incredible amount of market research. She looked at the market of the pet industry, which helped her to determine whether or not she would want to pursue her passion of taking care of animals, and the odds were in her favor.
This idea of hers has formed into a concrete entity, and has not only stood strong for three years, but has grown throughout Flagler County, with intentions to expand even further.
Last year, her company was up by 43%. How did she do it? She honed in on her marketing strategy. This year, she is looking for excellent assistants who absolutely love animals. This characteristic is crucial for her business, and something any company striving for excellence will encounter – not necessarily someone who loves animals, of course, but someone who has drive and passion: a go-getter.
The most difficult issue she faced throughout her years in the pet industry has been finding people to work for her who truly care about the well-being of animals. The reason for this is because she wants to have an honest company, who cares about all animals. Villanova also wants to expand by doing “Doggie Day Care” and other things such as “Pooper Scoopers”.
She’s looked a great deal into this as well, and has found that many of the services she wants to implement do not exist in the region. She is also looking to do long term care for animals that need to be surrendered by their owners due to age, illness, or death. It’s clear that she is an avid supporter of animals, and even mentioned how “animals are easier to deal with than humans”. But despite her love for animals, her past reveals that she has quite an ability to connect with others.
Within her past, she has invested in real estate, wrote books on tax deeds and investing, and consulted with start ups to get them going in the business world. She has a BA in economics, and – as we all know – loves to work with pets.
“By coming to events, like Entrepreneur Night, I’ve been able to connect with other businesses and find other resources that I could tap into as I work on expanding my business.”
Villanova has been in the business sector much of her life, and fortunately she has been able to share her advice with upcoming entrepreneurs. She recommends they start to look into things that they are good at – things they enjoy; and not to let money become a factor that pauses your dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. She wisely points out,
“If you wait till the right time to start a business, you will never start your business.”
Being enthusiastic about your work is an important factor of being successful, evident by the many stories told by our very own accomplished entrepreneurs.
iTech Smartphone Repair was yet another company that made an appearance that night, represented by the dynamic duo: Ricci Magsino and John Valevich. They currently have two locations, in Jacksonville and St. Augustine, but are looking to open up their third store in Palm Coast. Magsino and Valevich make a powerful team: together they have the work ethic and determination of an experienced business owner, and here’s the interesting part: they’ve only been open for about four months!
They were inspired to pursue this because they saw a desperate need for it. Big cell phone companies were monopolizing the industry of cellphone repair, which enabled them to do whatever they wanted. It gave the business of technology repair a bad reputation, but these guys have been able to turn that reputation around.
“We’re a new brand, a new business, and we are already, like, the best in town. We are the best in quality, the best in price, and damn sure the best in customer service and appearance.”
Magsino and Valevich are committed to making sure that their customers get the best service possible. They want to focus on the customer, not because they are good for business, but for the fact that they are people who deserved to be treated with respect.
Additionally, they are looking to improve the technological skills of those who are 50+. They realize this is a growing problem in today’s society. More and more people who did not grow up with technology are getting smart phones and other electronics, but have no idea on how to operate them. iTech is looking to begin classes that will help these people become more technologically self-reliant.
In the past, Magsino and Valevich worked for the same company before starting up this business, enabling them to work cohesively together to create such a successful business. They’re both determined individuals, who want to revolutionize the cell phone repair industry.
As any revolutionist, they were met with obstacles along the way, which has helped them to grow stronger. Starting a business is an easy task, and oftentimes requires long, draining work hours. These two entrepreneurs are true fighters, and have the support of family and friends, which makes them all the more stronger. Magsino and Valevich gave much praise to Entrepreneur Night, and enjoyed meeting so many fresh faces. They have prosperous futures ahead of them- as anyone who Entrepreneur Night naturally does- and it is truly exciting to see what they’ll bring to Flagler County.
Entrepreneur Night is a grassroots event for and by Entrepreneurs, which takes place the last Tuesday of each month – except July, August, and December at a different location and venue. It is free to attend. Complimentary appetizers are provided by the venue hosting the event as well as a cash bar. In each event you can expect to meet many new entrepreneurs, investors and service providers; and have meaningful conversations. You can check out the previous Entrepreneur Night events or RSVP to the Next Entrepreneur Night Event