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Shelmire Strengthens East Texas Through Role as SBDC Director

A Dallas native, Day Shelmire has strong ties to East Texas. His mother grew up on the grounds of Premier Oil Refining Company in Longview, and his grandfather retired to a farm in Smith County. And although Shelmire’s grandfathers and father were entrepreneurs, he did not have childhood dreams of becoming one himself and helping East Texans with their small business and entrepreneurial dreams.

“I can’t say that I always wanted to be an entrepreneur –– I just sort of fell into it,” said Shelmire, director of the UT Tyler-Longview Small Business Development Center. “As a kid, my interest was completely absorbed by space flight and the moon landings. My career path has definitely been unconventional and nonlinear.”

Shelmire has been an entrepreneur for a large portion of his career, having started several companies with stints in wealth management, banking, real estate, government contracting and small business consulting. He started his first company, Global Visions, in 1992, which was based on a high-tech mapping technology developed by NASA. This and other early-stage technologies, Shelmire said, were the precursors of the technologies now used to produce the maps and images for Google Street View.

In his next entrepreneurial venture, Shelmire helped grow Janie’s Cakes, the Tyler-based baker of premium pound cakes, into the nationally recognized brand. “That was my favorite venture, or more like adventure, I’ve ever started,” Shelmire said. “It was so much fun building a company based on a superlative product with superior customer service. The early years were all consuming, but it never felt like work. Just fun.”

As a self-proclaimed natural teacher and motivator of people, Shelmire has developed the knowledge, skills and expertise to lead and grow an organization such as the SBDC. The SBDC advises and consults with entrepreneurs and small business owners to start and grow businesses and help them thrive. The center’s team of business advisers also acts as small business consultants and helps with business plan development, market research, financial plans and projections, marketing and sales, and more.

“The people we work with are dreamers and risk takers,” Shelmire said. “Our team of business advisers are all entrepreneurs. We know what it’s like to put everything on the line. Our duty to our clients requires us to do our absolute best for them.”

“We help a lot of entrepreneurs start the businesses of their dreams, and we help small business owners grow their dream businesses to the next level,” he added. “And most satisfying, we have helped small business owners bring their companies back to health from the brink of disaster.”

SBDC Although the SBDC does not make loans, the center additionally helps small businesses owners develop loan packages and make introductions to lenders who might be interested in loaning them money either through conventional or SBA financing. SBDCs are part of a national SBDC network funded in part by a grant from the Small Business Administration.

“The SBDC also receives funding from the state of Texas and the grant host, which in our case is The University of Texas at Tyler,” Shelmire said. “There are over 1,000 SBDCs across the country hosted by local colleges and universities. Every county is covered by an SBDC, and our services are free of charge.”

Shelmire advises current and future Soules students to follow their dreams and see where it leads. “In my case I wanted to work for NASA. After four years there, I identified a promising technology that I licensed, and the next thing I knew I was an entrepreneur and the owner of a high-tech company,” he said.

“I like to tell students and budding entrepreneurs that starting a small business is like having a baby,” Shelmire added. “It will absorb your life. It’s the most wonderful, joyful, stressful and time-consuming thing you will ever do. And, never forget, the baby is the boss!”

In his free time, Shelmire enjoys reading, traveling, hunting and spending time with his family. His middle son, William, is an undergraduate student in the UT Tyler Soules College of Business and works as an assistant in the dean’s office.

For more information, or to request SBDC services, email Shelmire at dshelmire@uttyler.edu.

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