Brys featured in national resource guide

Chuck Brys, a retired UW-Green Bay Small Business Development Center counselor, started working with Hometown Trolley some years ago, which lead to a long-term relationship with the company. Hometown Trolley, owned by Kristina Pence-Dunow, makes old-timey transportation vehicles that are now distributed in various states. Back when competition arrived to the industry, and Pence-Dunow found herself in a hardship of keeping her business going, working with the SBDC counselor helped her pull through as Brys connected her with a local bank to settle her debt, and helped her develop a business plan aimed for growth. “Without help from the SBA, “I would have never stepped out and known what to do,” Pence-Dunow says. “All of that, it was great learning experience that I still use today. I’m doing a lot more on my own, because I have more resources, but I can refer back to that.” But she says the most important resource was the moral support. “Someone saying, ‘You can do this.” The story was featured in the latest U.S. Small Business Administration Resource Guide.