Two local small business owners who worked with MiraCosta College’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in developing their businesses were among the honorees at the 2010 San Diego Small Business Awards ceremony, held earlier this month at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego. Winning the Minority Small Business Champion of the Year award was La Sonja Boulware; and the Delores Braswell Award, advocating women in business, went to Cheryl Protzeller. Both winners now offer their own guidance and expertise to new clients at the SBDC.

La Sonja Boulware started her consulting group BizNess Variety in 1989, which grew from her passion for helping small business owners and individuals learn to creatively market their talents, skills and services. Her business has since expanded to helping students transition from school to the work force. In addition to running her business, Boulware has been employed with the state of California for 19 years and is currently employed by the California Department of Transportation, managing five units including Small Business. In this role she works with MiraCosta’s Small Business Development Center and facilitates outreach programs to train small businesses on how to compete for Caltrans contracts.

Cheryl Protzeller was a client of the SBDC in 2007 when she was building her business, P2 Solutions, Inc., a personnel consulting firm. Shortly thereafter, she began offering human resources workshops once a month at the center, assisting the center with community outreach and public relations, which resulted in an increased awareness of the services provided by the SBDC. In 2008, Protzeller joined the SBDC as an independent consultant offering one-on-one counseling services to area small businesses.

For more information about the Small Business Development Center, contact director Sudershan Shaunak by e-mail or call the center at (760) 795-8740. A photo is available for download here. 

By William P. Barrett, Forbes

Despite populist rhetoric, poor men don’t become president–unless they become prosperous first. Here’s our ranking of the 10 richest.

Don’t believe all that born-in-a-log-cabin hype. Only four United States presidents actually started out that way, Abraham Lincoln being the most famous. By the time the other three, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and James A. Garfield, entered the nation’s highest office, they shared one trait with its other 40 occupants: All had achieved a certain measure of financial prosperity.

Despite two centuries of campaign rhetoric touting identification with the common man, the simple fact is that no truly poor individual ever has become president of the United States. MORE AT… http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/14/george-washington-hoover-jfk-obama-personal-finance-10-richest-presidents.html?boxes=Homepagetopspecialreports

By Lori Weisberg, UNION-TRIBUNE

As prospects for a strong economic recovery dwindle, the hard-hit restaurant industry is looking for any help it can get, but it shouldn’t expect the mammoth baby boom population to come to the rescue.

If a new 10-year food service forecast is to be believed, aging boomers, despite their large numbers, will in fact have a dampening effect on restaurant traffic as they choose to economize and eat out less often, according to The NPD Group, a Chicago-based market research firm. And dinner, concludes the forecast, will take the hardest hit because of all those stay-at-home boomers. MORE AT…http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/sep/03/rescue-by-boomers-not-on-menu-for-eateries/