All Economic Development is Local - SCORE District Director Dabbles in Mentoring

Bob Shaver,

Thank you for the great service that you and the SCORE team provide here in Leander and across the region. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and talent with small business owners, like Michelle, which helps grow their businesses and our local economy.  Thanks for all that you do!

Thank you,

Cameron Goodman

Director of Economic Development | City of Leander

A young woman, Michelle Martinez, was working at a gym in Leander, Texas (the fastest-growing city in the US so LOTS of new families moving in every day). She thought the Owner, her employer, could be doing more to capture the opportunity that all those new families represent. But, the Owner was tired and wanted to sell and retire. When the Owner realized that Michelle wanted to buy her out, she fired Michelle but put the business up for sale, anyway.

Michele and her husband, Chris, approached Bridget Brandt, the President of the Leander Chamber of Commerce, looking for guidance. Bridget recommended that they talk to me. Over a few months, we recruited a real estate broker, and an attorney, developed a business plan and presented it to a local bank. The broker approached the old Owner but the terms and price kept getting steeper and steeper. We had to shift focus.

The broker found another site with an owner who was more receptive and a deal was done! 

Phoenix Athletics is situated next door to a daycare center on a main thoroughfare in Leander. They offer cheer, tumbling and Parkour classes for ages 4-18. The opening reception has been strong. After I touted Phoenix Athletics on our neighborhood Facebook page, one neighbor responded, "This is just what my kids need!"

Phoenix Athletics is the second new business opened in Leander this year through the mutually supportive efforts of the Chamber and SCORE. If it's true that "All politics is local" then that's equally true of economic development. 

Very happy to help my client, Michelle Martinez, celebrate the grand opening of Phoenix Athletics in Leander, TX. - Bob Shaver, SCORE Austin Mentor, SCORE District Director of Louisiana