Small Business Ventura County

He is a field representative for the Siemens Ultrasound division of Siemens Medical Systems. She is a video editor at the Point Mugu Naval Base. He has the practical business experience. She has the technical video knowledge. Together, they have a new business. Husband and wife Ken and Dee Finning recently opened Virgin Moon Post, a video post-production facility in Ventura.

In a largely symbolic vote applauded by union leaders and grocery workers, county supervisors on Tuesday directed staff to study a proposal by Supervisor John K. Flynn to limit the sale of groceries at popular big-box discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco. The board voted 4 to 1 to direct Chief Administrator Harry Hufford and County Counsel Jim McBride to review the issue and report back with recommendations.

Los Robles Bank next week is expected to launch its Small Business Development Group, an informational and networking collective for small businesses in Ventura County and the Conejo Valley. The group is intended to serve as a peer support group for entrepreneurs and a way to help small business owners weave their way through the business loan process.

Joseph Huggins, manager of the Gold Coast Small Business Development Center in Ventura, calls strategic planning one of the key elements to business success. Unfortunately, he says, it is also one of the elements lacking in the operation of most small businesses. Huggins will conduct a strategic planning seminar Nov. 6 to help local entrepreneurs chart a long-term course of operation.

Ventura County is flush with businesses, but its entrepreneurs, like their counterparts across the country, generally have difficulty creating marketing plans and projecting cash flow, said Steve Matthews, who organizes a monthly business forum based in Ventura. "I think the problems beginning businesses have here are not unlike those you would have in Minnesota, Massachusetts, anywhere," said Matthews, who helps plan local meetings for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum.

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday agreed that the county should consider easing rules that require small businesses to promote ride-sharing and other anti-pollution measures. Voting unanimously, the board agreed to seek further information on how the county could implement a program allowing businesses with between 50 and 99 employees to skip ride-sharing and instead contribute to a fund to get smog-spewing junk cars off the road.

Principals of Delta Microwave have acquired a 13,140-square-foot industrial building in Oxnard and are relocating the company from Camarillo. A December occupancy is planned for the half-acre site at 1301 Vanguard Drive, where Delta will employ 22 people. Delta Microwave, a privately held company established in 1973, designs and manufactures microwave components for commercial business and the military. Daum Commercial Real Estate Services represented the sellers, the estate of James W.

Lisa and Jason Lazar are ready to dive in. The husband-and-wife team plans to open a scuba shop this week at Oxnard's Channel Islands Harbor. They chose the location because of tentative plans to expand facilities at the harbor to include additional restaurants, an aquarium, marinas and other visitor attractions. Lisa Lazar said she's come up against naysayers who argue that this may not be the best time to plunge into a business, considering the state of the economy.

In a largely symbolic vote applauded by union leaders and grocery workers, county supervisors on Tuesday directed staff to study a proposal by Supervisor John K. Flynn to limit the sale of groceries at popular big-box discount stores such as Wal-Mart and Costco. The board voted 4 to 1 to direct Chief Administrator Harry Hufford and County Counsel Jim McBride to review the issue and report back with recommendations.

Since the Rev. Broderick A. Huggins came to St. Paul Baptist Church in 1990, his south Oxnard congregation has swelled from 300 to more than 1,200. But after nearly six years behind the pulpit, the 39-year-old pastor now wants the simple, A-framed sanctuary on South C Street to serve as something more than a spiritual hub.

Donna Moore hopes you have it made in the shade--her shade, that is. The sea of bright yellow umbrellas dotting Ventura's beach-scape is her doing, and the splash of color is definitely turning heads. Moore's Yellow Umbrella Co. is the latest venture to hit the beach. She's banking on the idea that some beach-goers don't want to lug all that gear--umbrella, chairs, towels, snacks, drinks--across the sand and would prefer to have their place in the sun ready and waiting.

Unlike most science laboratories, Kathleen Simpson's Oxnard operation has a loaded spice rack that would make Wolfgang Puck proud. And unlike most kitchens, the facility can brag of microbiology testing equipment within arm's reach of the chopping counter. Rather than being the result of an odd shopping spree, the products and machinery are the tools of the trade at Simpson's Standard Quality ImprovementsFood Technology Lab.

Rick O'Bryant and his wife, Jan, have traveled to Cancun, Jamaica, Hawaii and Australia. They have taken in the sights and sounds of these places. They have visited the beaches, tasted the cuisine. And perhaps most important, they have studied the in-room guest guides at the hotels. After all, guest guides represent a good portion of their lives.

Chris Morley and her husband planned for three years, but nothing prepared them for the upheaval that arrived with the birth of their daughter in 1986. "I was completely unraveled," said Chris, 41. "I had an avalanche of questions, but there was nobody to help." In times past, relatives and friends usually helped new mothers with cooking, cleaning and child-care advice. But with society more mobile and families living farther apart, many new mothers today have little such support.

Monty Lunde and Rock Hall, former Disney special-effects technicians, ran their company for a decade in an awkward string of three buildings in Burbank. When they decided to consolidate the operation in a Valencia industrial park, they met with city officials to sell them on the rewards of bringing a new employer to town. When they needed quick approvals and permits, Lunde says, they realized just how much those personal relationships helped. * We moved to Valencia in late 1993.

The owner of Designer Pools West of Simi Valley has constructed and remodeled pools in Ventura County since 1987. Over that time, he has seen demand rise and plummet. With the economy now on the upswing, Mead said, so, too, is his business. But he doesn't expect to see sales climb to previous highs any time soon. "We're up probably 20% in volume over last year--I'd have to say that's the general economic climate," said Mead, whose company has built about 25 pools this year.

The owner of Designer Pools West of Simi Valley has constructed and remodeled pools in Ventura County since 1987. Over that time, he has seen demand rise and plummet. With the economy now on the upswing, Mead said, so, too, is his business. But he doesn't expect to see sales climb to previous highs any time soon. "We're up probably 20% in volume over last year--I'd have to say that's the general economic climate," said Mead, whose company has built about 25 pools this year.

Fists on his hips, Bill Parker paced the small, crowded conference room. "Why are you doing this? Anybody?" he said. Arranged in rows before him, 44 local business people sat with pens and notebooks, students in their first class at the Ventura County Entrepreneur Academy. More than two months of classes stretched before them, and Parker, one of the instructors, was sizing up his charges. A babble of answers followed his question. Make more money. Whip the business into shape.

Thanks to a quirk in the calendar, Thanksgiving came a week later this year than it did in 1995. That may have shortened the holiday shopping period, but it had good results for John Hagle, owner of the Hagle Tree Farm in Somis. "We are way ahead of schedule because the time frame is squished down," said Hagle, one of about a dozen pine tree growers in Ventura County who do the bulk of their sales the first couple of weeks after Thanksgiving.

Principals of Delta Microwave have acquired a 13,140-square-foot industrial building in Oxnard and are relocating the company from Camarillo. A December occupancy is planned for the half-acre site at 1301 Vanguard Drive, where Delta will employ 22 people. Delta Microwave, a privately held company established in 1973, designs and manufactures microwave components for commercial business and the military. Daum Commercial Real Estate Services represented the sellers, the estate of James W.