Tools for Business Success: A Little History

 
Carolyn Usinger, a California entrepreneur, created Tools for Business Success over several decades, working with the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Community College system’s Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to refine her product and deliver services to small businesses. In early 2007, Carolyn connected with the California Academy for Economic Development and its partner, the California Association for Economic Development (CALED). An agreement was reached for Carolyn to further develop the Tools and to work through these two organizations in delivering the service in California.

Kay Reynolds, then Executive Director of the California Academy for Economic Development and Vice President of the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) had been frustrated because of the lack of assistance available to small companies and the duplication of effort being expended in gathering resources for business assistance. The deplorable condition of most economic development websites and the lack of quality information for those companies exacerbated this frustration.

A 2006 study of 142 rural community websites conducted by the California Academy for Economic Development and a class from the University of California at Davis confirmed that there was little information available at the community level for local entrepreneurs. The connection with Carolyn Usinger to address these problems seemed to come at the perfect time. A centralized webfeed was created to deliver the information and material previously developed through Carolyn’s company. Resources were strengthened and new information gathered.

In mid-2007, Carolyn and Kay formed Tools for Business Success, LLC (The TOOLS). This new company is now significantly expanding their innovative resource and marketing the service nationally. CALED and The Academy currently partner with Carolyn and with Kay for the development, delivery, and marketing of The TOOLS in California. Partnerships are being developed in other parts of the country with statewide and regional economic development organizations, chambers of commerce, and public agencies.

Profile of Carolyn Usinger

Profile of Kay Reynolds