Stratford Small Biz Owner Hosts Workshop Series

As a longtime small business owner in Stratford, Ron Parrs knows a thing or two about adapting and surviving in a continually changing business environment.

Par Pool & Spa on Ferry Boulevard opened in the 1950s. In 2000, Parrs launched the company website. Ten years later he was posting how-to pool care videos on YouTube.

"Recently a lot of people are saying they found us online," said Parrs, 53, adding that lately he's been spending countless hours maintaining the website.

But even with clients in every state as well as Canada and Europe, Parrs said his family-owned company still struggles to keep customers from leaving Par Pool & Spa for a big box store.

"You name it, every industry, they are eating our lunch," he said. "Customers basically left out of curiosity."

Parrs said the way to stop people from booking it to the big box -- or to bring them back -- is to do what small businesses do best.

"The places we shine in is expertise and relationships," he said. "We have customers come back saying they might have gotten a good deal but [the big box stores] didn't know about their past problems."

BRING TOGETHER LOCAL ENTREPRENEURS

Parrs is taking his seasoned business background and teaming up with an international business consultant in offering a series of workshops for local entrepreneurs.

The first of four "Hold Fast Leadership Workshop" sessions is on Saturday, March 10, and will focus on "setting the foundation you need to move your business forward." Preregistration per workshop per person is $50; the price at the door will be $55. The talks will take place at Calvary Evangelical Free Church, 498 White Plains Road, Trumbull.

Parrs said his idea to create a place for local business owners to congregate came out of "a need and a frustration."

"I look at myself as a typical small business owner but I don't know the small business owners around me," he said. "I know we are all struggling … how can we reexamine ourselves?"

Brad Cotton, an international business consultant who has worked with some of the largest blue-chip companies in the world, will be the featured speaker at the workshops. According to his bio page on the event's website, Cotton has worked in the fields of banking, retail, pharmaceutical, fast-moving consumer goods, manufacturing and telecommunications.

Cotton is from the United Kingdom but "believes in American business," Parrs said.

Parrs invites entrepreneurs of all types -- retailers, gas station owners, electricians, plumbers, lawyers, accountants -- to come to the workshop if only to share their burdens.

"Paradise Green is basically a town mall and the traffic is down to nothing," he said "The town hurts most when its small business base hurts also."

Proceeds from the workshops will go to benefit two local ministries, Parrs said.

For more information or to register for a workshop, email info@transformmycompany.com or visit the event’s website. PDFs of the brochure and registration form are accessible in the photo gallery that accompanies this article.

What would you say is the state of Stratford's small business community? Tell us in the comments.