Testimonials

Rich Cosgrove and Nancy Green describe their venture as “a hobby that got out of hand.” Business was brisk when they began working with business consultant John Twyford but fluctuating food and fuel costs were eroding their margins and Twyford worked with the couple on strategies to increase their profitability. Less than two years later, Whole Hog North nearly doubled its sales largely due to expansion of the restaurant’s catering services and an unwavering eye on financial performance.

The Mathews family are owners of  National Custom Hollow Metal Door & Frames as well as Maple Leaf Awning & Canvas. Most of the family is active in the daily operations of the businesses.

“With the help of Rudy Ortiz, we were able to establish reasonable business valuations on two existing Central Arkansas businesses (businesses indicated above) and were able to acquire them and provide continuous operations for their employees, customers and vendors.

After the purchases, Rudy remained interested and engaged offering other assistance including Website assessment and effectiveness. His advice has been reassuring that our performance and goals are realistic and attainable.

Rudy’s sincerity is genuine and can be trusted as an advisor regardless of the business topic."

“Mr. Ortiz is a Gem! I found myself in the predicament of owning a business without knowing anything about running a business. Mr. Ortiz listened and quickly knew the questions to ask to get my mind thinking in the right direction. He was incredibly helpful in guiding me as to which challenges were most pressing and should be tackled first and which could wait. He was also able to identify additional challenges I wasn’t aware of. He reassured me they were all manageable.

After just one meeting, I felt such a sense of relief. Finally, I knew I didn’t have to run my business all alone. Mr. Ortiz was always attentive, interested in my business and kept me motivated to continue with it. I highly recommend Mr. Ortiz to anyone struggling with their business."

“Rudy was an excellent business coach. He was direct and to the point and his suggestions improved my company immediately. He assisted with focusing our time and energy into money-making activities. I would recommend him for business coaching without reservation."

“We first took our business to Rudy in hopes of preparing our financials to secure a large SBA loan. In the process of working with Rudy, we discovered we, in fact, could have been running our business much more efficiently. Rudy has a wealth of knowledge in cost accounting and manufacturing cost of goods sold. In essence, Rudy worked as a well versed CFO to help get our company not only the loan, but to prepare us to be more profitable in the future.

Rudy taught us that by learning to prepare and read our financials they would tell us if our company was running efficiently or not. Rudy explained how to break down our cost of goods sold, analyze our profit margin, and decide where we could make improvements in our process just by looking at our financials. Rudy also helped us understand the correct way to price our product to maintain both a profit and a market share. In addition to acquiring the loan, our business has been positively impacted by working with Rudy in the past two years and that impact will last for the life of our business."

“Rudy Ortiz has been a welcomed sage during the past couple of years with SweepScrub.com.  With Rudy’s help and assistance, our company received the Arkansas Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade. He always has good, tough questions to ask; the answers to which will make your company more prepared and stronger."

“We first took our business to Rudy in hopes of preparing our financials to secure a large SBA loan. In the process of working with Rudy, we discovered we, in fact, could have been running our business much more efficiently. Rudy has a wealth of knowledge in cost accounting and manufacturing cost of goods sold. In essence, Rudy worked as a well versed CFO to help get our company not only the loan, but to prepare us to be more profitable in the future.

Rudy taught us that by learning to prepare and read our financials they would tell us if our company was running efficiently or not. Rudy explained how to break down our cost of goods sold, analyze our profit margin, and decide where we could make improvements in our process just by looking at our financials. Rudy also helped us understand the correct way to price our product to maintain both a profit and a market share. In addition to acquiring the loan, our business has been positively impacted by working with Rudy in the past two years and that impact will last for the life of our business."

In our continued efforts to improve our production processes and of availing any assistance for such through the State of Arkansas and its related agencies, Rudy Ortiz with the Arkansas Economic Development Council has been nothing less than invaluable. Specific areas of assistance are as follows:

1. Section 301 Tariff Exclusion Application-Mr. Ortiz provided a roadmap for Lycus through this most complicated process. Although our application was not successful due to a very technical matter, Mr. Ortiz got Lycus down this difficult path to get the answer on the application which was helpful in structuring our operations to absorb the raw material tariff.

2. TTAG Grant-Mr. Ortiz guided us through the successful application of funds related to the discovery process of creating a raw material process through the University of Arkansas. That process is ongoing. However, Mr. Ortiz has continued to keep that process on track the past several months which, if successful in developing, will not only save Lycus hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and result in an increased payroll and benefits of several hundred dollars annually.

3. "Ready for Business" Grant-Mr. Ortiz made Lycus aware of a $21,000 grant catered to the development of means to deal with the new issues related to COVID-19 in the workplace. These funds became an integral part of our internal COVID-19 Action Plan. As a result, we have had only one instance of a virus contraction.

4. Arkansas Economic Development Council-Mr. Ortiz invited Lycus to attend ExporTech export seminars which has fortunately resulted in Lycus increases its sales percentage of exports from 13% to over 30% in less than five years. That equates to approximately $1,500,000 in annual revenue.

5. Networking-Mr. Ortiz has freely shared his huge network of manufacturing professionals throughout our state in addressing Lycus' day to day operational issues. This network has allowed Lycus to obtain valuable expert advice with just a phone call or email.

“Mr. Ortiz is a Gem! I found myself in the predicament of owning a business without knowing anything about running a business. Mr. Ortiz listened and quickly knew the questions to ask to get my mind thinking in the right direction. He was incredibly helpful in guiding me as to which challenges were most pressing and should be tackled first and which could wait. He was also able to identify additional challenges I wasn’t aware of. He reassured me they were all manageable.

After just one meeting, I felt such a sense of relief. Finally, I knew I didn’t have to run my business all alone. Mr. Ortiz was always attentive, interested in my business and kept me motivated to continue with it. I highly recommend Mr. Ortiz to anyone struggling with their business."

“Rudy was an excellent business coach. He was direct and to the point and his suggestions improved my company immediately. He assisted with focusing our time and energy into money-making activities. I would recommend him for business coaching without reservation."

Rich Cosgrove and Nancy Green describe their venture as “a hobby that got out of hand.” Business was brisk when they began working with business consultant John Twyford but fluctuating food and fuel costs were eroding their margins and Twyford worked with the couple on strategies to increase their profitability. Less than two years later, Whole Hog North nearly doubled its sales largely due to expansion of the restaurant’s catering services and an unwavering eye on financial performance.

“We first took our business to Rudy in hopes of preparing our financials to secure a large SBA loan. In the process of working with Rudy, we discovered we, in fact, could have been running our business much more efficiently. Rudy has a wealth of knowledge in cost accounting and manufacturing cost of goods sold. In essence, Rudy worked as a well versed CFO to help get our company not only the loan, but to prepare us to be more profitable in the future.

Rudy taught us that by learning to prepare and read our financials they would tell us if our company was running efficiently or not. Rudy explained how to break down our cost of goods sold, analyze our profit margin, and decide where we could make improvements in our process just by looking at our financials. Rudy also helped us understand the correct way to price our product to maintain both a profit and a market share. In addition to acquiring the loan, our business has been positively impacted by working with Rudy in the past two years and that impact will last for the life of our business."

“Rudy helped me develop my first business plan which directly led me to becoming Entrepreneur of the Year at BYU and built a multi-million dollar business in a few short years. He can help you to make wise decisions and consider things that will help you to avoid amateur mistakes early on. I would greatly encourage anyone considering starting their own business to meet with Rudy! He has the skills and experience that will lead you to success.”

“As a recent small business start-up, Rudy gave me very sound direction.  His advice has kept my business growing, now in its second year. Looking back, I went into my first visit with a plan however, it had problems and Rudy wasn’t afraid to tell me what improvements I needed to make.

I learned quickly that Rudy was 100% on my team and he wanted my business to succeed just as much as I did.  What I also found invaluable was Rudy’s breadth of knowledge concerning the steps needed to actually start a business.  He laid out a map for me that covered everything from choosing a business name to managing my first orders.

The successful start-up of my business has had a positive impact on my family, and I contribute a large part of it to Rudy.  The consulting you receive from him will be Top Notch.”

“Rudy Ortiz is a highly knowledgeable business consultant who has provided my company with valuable guidance on strategy, process, culture, and technology. His guidance has provided critical insight into needs and requirements surrounding data gathering and market analysis, problem solving, and product development. I feel Rudy’s expertise has been a key asset to my start-up and I cannot express my appreciation enough for his diligent reliability for my needs."

“Rudy Ortiz is a highly knowledgeable business consultant who has provided my company with valuable guidance on strategy, process, culture, and technology. His guidance has provided critical insight into needs and requirements surrounding data gathering and market analysis, problem solving, and product development. I feel Rudy’s expertise has been a key asset to my start-up and I cannot express my appreciation enough for his diligent reliability for my needs."

“From the very first meeting I had with Rudy, I knew I was in good company. My early stage company needed guidance as I secured intellectual property protection, sought capital and negotiated investment agreements. The wisdom that Rudy had to offer was not just insightful, but proved to be tangibly fruitful after I applied it to my business. Anytime I needed to “run the traps” on a new development, or prepare for a pivotal meeting, I would seek consul from Rudy. By our third meeting, I trusted Rudy so much that I asked him to be on my company’s Advisory Board.

Looking past the great advice, one thing that stood out early on with Rudy was the spirit of his professional relationship. I quickly understood that Rudy had my back, which gave me great confidence as I navigated the startup journey. His advice was crucial as I negotiated my company’s largest milestone; securing an investment partnership that’s taking my product to market. Without Rudy, my company would not have experienced the same degree of growth and progress as it has in the past 6 months."