Tech Center Helps Small Business Find New Customers & Profitability On The World Wide Web

Story by Larry Lehr
Central Technology Center

When the nation’s economy began to cool and sales began to slow down, one small business owner in Sapulpa found a remedy in going high tech with her sales efforts. With the help of the Business Assistance Center staff at Central Technology Center in Sapulpa, Pam Manuel’s “Creative Station” has gone world-wide with a marketing plan via the Internet.

Then, five years ago, with friends and customers telling Pam of their difficulties in finding clothing in plus sizes, Rae’s Plus Sizes for women was added to the alterations business. Things went very well, according to Manuel, until the state’s economy began to slump. So did her sales. That’s when a sideline service to customers became a full-fledged niche business. “A Time to Sew’s Creations Station” was born as a sister business to Rae’s.

Creations Station lets each customer, regardless of age, gender, size or taste, personalize articles of clothing with every imaginable kind, design and color of rhinestones, sequins, transfers, or whatever, permanently. The embellishments are applied with an adhesive and heat press of 55 lbs. pressure and 385 degrees of heat. They won’t wash or dry clean off…ever. Only nylon and polyester fabrics are off limits.

The worrisome quick change in the pace of business that had come with the change of economic conditions set Pam Manuel to thinking of how to enlarge her market without significantly increasing her operating overhead. The answer to securing her future in the business world lay in accessing the unlimited potential of sales via the internet.

Pam’s first inquiries about going on-line with her businesses told her that the costs would be prohibitive for a business enterprise her size. It was then that she learned of the services available to local businesses at Central Technology Center’s Business Assistance Center at 1720 South Main Street in Sapulpa.

“At the Business Center, Norma Tyler and Stan Kaltwasser counseled me as to what I would need to build a web page and go on-line with my business. Best of all, their assistance through Central Tech made the whole thing very affordable for us. I bought the necessary software for my computer and Stan helped me design our home page and get us up and running,” says Manuel.

“I now have customers as far away as California and New York and the ability to market our services and merchandise to an unlimited market at a cost any small business can afford. I have also discovered that our customers on the web tend to purchase more items than do walk-in customers at the Sapulpa store. Stan is working with me now to train me how to better maintain my web page to keep it fresh and stimulate more sales,” said Manuel.

Manuel’s sales staff is currently helping the store expand its sales at the wholesale level, and with the influx of internet sales, opportunities for creating more jobs for local residents seems likely in the not too distant future.

The artistic store owner says her most unusual request for embellishment has been from a lady that had a new dress adorned with gold rhinestones spelling the word “Bunko” and large dice. No request, in good taste, is declined and every design is unique. Rae’s and A Time to Sew’s Creation Station are located at 18 East Lee or can be found on-line at www.raesfashions.com.