| Art Henry |
Washington Financial Funding’s (WFF) mission is to offer homeowners and prospective homeowners access to a wide variety of home financing options. The business offers low fees and high quality personal service.
The business started out with owner Art Henry working from a card table with a computer on it and a phone sitting on the floor. Today the business employs eight people in a professional office setting. Since he opened his doors for business in the summer of 2002, Henry has purchased six computers and software, office furniture and equipment including a scanner, printer and fax machine. He wrote a comprehensive business plan with the help of the SBDC and the NxLevel� program.
Speaking of the assistance he received from the SBDC, Henry says, “Even though I have a lot of experience in business, going through the exercise of writing a business plan helped me identify areas I needed to improve in. The counselors were always willing and able to help me come up with alternatives.”
WFF exceeded all income projections during the first few months of operation. The SBDC played a vital role in helping the business identify and overcome barriers to growth. WFF obtained additional working capital, hired more loan officers, telemarketers and loan processors. SBDC counselors referred Henry to the Applied Technology Center and the Custom Fit Program, which now offers Quickbooks and other training to WFF employees.
Henry has over 20 years experience with customer service as a manager of a retail supermarket and in other capacities.
According to Brent Behling with the Southeastern Utah Small Business Investment Fund, his agency helped improve the local economy by occupying a downtown office in Price and by putting six people to work during challenging economic times.