KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – A state and federally-funded business startup program wants to help entrepreneurs here navigate their way to opening day, but it appears hardly anyone is listening.

Despite high demand for her services in other parts of Clay County, consultant Annie Grogan with the Florida Small Business Development Center has seen weak support for the free business start-up and business plan workshops in Keystone Heights, which currently has several vacant buildings in its downtown core.

“It’s a small community, and it takes time. You’ve got to build a relationship. “I certainly plan on scheduling more workshops out in Keystone Heights. I’m going to try to do more cold calling with some businesses,” Grogan said.

While she plans to continue offering services here, Grogan has since scaled back from leading a workshop every other Tuesday at city hall to working with businesses by appointment only.

Grogan helps businesses develop business plans, which are a necessary aspect of running a startup, especially if a business owner needs to seek funding, such as a small business loan. Grogan also provides businesses with research about their markets that help identify their competition and barriers to entry, other key aspects of running a successful small business.

“I think she provides a necessary service,” said Scott Kornegay, Keystone Heights city manager. “We were seeing a lot of businesses fail, open up and then fail. A lot of that had to do with the fact that they were new entrepreneurs who had no experience. If you go up South Lawrence Boulevard, there’s not that many businesses, but there has been some come and go through there over the last few years.”

Grogan, who is based at an office in the Clay County Chamber of Commerce headquarters on Kingsley Avenue in Orange Park, explains the poor turnout in Keystone Heights to the busy lives small business owners, who she says have a “million and one things to do.”

Grogan’s presence remains one of the only opportunities business owners in Keystone Heights have for hands-on, no-cost business consultation.

“There was a karate school that came during the time I was there,” Grogan said, “and after introducing myself they expressed interest in coming to see me. I’m not kidding you by the time I made my second visit to Keystone Heights they were already gone, they never contacted me.”

While lack of entrepreneurial experience can describe many of the shuttering doors and vacant buildings in the city’s urban core, some of the blame could be due to lowered traffic throughout the city.

“Not every business can survive in this town,” said Thamer Bashir, seven-year owner of Julia’s Midtown Café Pizza and Ice Cream on South Lawrence Boulevard. “The major factor always goes back to one – the lakes. The lakes went down; the city went down – bingo… There is about nine vacancies or 11 between the traffic lights and city hall. We’re not talking about miles, we’re only talking about four blocks. In a small town, that’s a lot.”

Bashir said the closure of Keystone Beach, essentially the shore of Lake Geneva, reduced customer flow into the community. Keystone Beach closed to swimmers due to low water levels five years ago. It reopened to visitors this past summer.

Grogan’s workshops could help start businesses, but ultimately low customer traffic through the city will continue to close shops, Bashir said.

Grogan said new shops automatically attract higher frequencies of customers and help keep downtowns from becoming ghost towns.

Three entrepreneurs have attended Grogan’s Keystone Heights workshops since she began them six weeks ago. Across the county since January, however, she’s consulted with 72 entrepreneurs and brought $410,000 of new capital into the county by helping startups.

“Getting loans is incredibly difficult,” said Dustin Brunell, owner of The Rogue Gallery comic book shop in Orange Park. “You need to have a plan when you go to take a loan out, because they’re going to ask where every dime is going to go. It’s not something that people should do on a whim…I think Annie prepares people for these things.”

Grogan consulted with Brunell when he first opened his shop in early April and helped him obtain a $15,000 loan.

Grogan is one of the 25 consultants working in Northeast Florida’s SBDC located on the University of North Florida’s campus. The program receives funding from the U.S. Small Business Administration and maintains partnerships with local banks and businesses.

Each consultant has access to databases to help small business owners thrive by providing business intelligence and other information needed for marketing and customer acquisition. Grogan said each consultant specializes in certain aspects of business, so internal referrals are common in the group.

The SBDC also provides military veterans who want to be entrepreneurs with access to export services and government contracting.

Grogan will continue to reach out to the Keystone community. She currently holds workshops in Green Cove Springs, Orange Park and Keystone Heights when clients make appointments.

“It is about companies understanding that there are resources that Clay County is trying to give,” Grogan said.

To schedule an appointment, contact Annie Grogan at (904)239-0722 or email her at a.grogan@unf.edu