Veteran's exit from corporate world gets assist from free programs.

By the time the dot-com boom was going bust, Samuel McCline was ready to strike out on his own.

He had military experience and had spent time in corporate America, but the lift he got from small-business counseling programs helped him get his company off the ground.

Today the company he founded in 1999 has won millions of dollars in government contracts.

McCline had joined the Navy in 1975 and had assignments that took him all over the world. He was a communications specialist who worked with air recognizance squadrons that dropped antennas out of planes for submarines.

When he got out of the service in 1981, he worked as a communications engineer, making his home in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

A native of Los Angeles, McCline and his wife also lived for five years in Honolulu but made their way back to the mainland because they couldn't afford to buy a home in Hawaii. They struck out for Atlanta.

"We started driving our cars from L.A. to Atlanta, and our '85 Buick broke down in Phoenix. So we decided since we were here, we'd just stay," McCline says.

By that time, McCline says, he had seen the world, had children and was ready to settle down.

His military communications experience helped him land a position with chip maker Intel Corp. in Tempe, where he worked for seven years as a network engineer in charge of global assembly and test facilities.

"This was the dot-com era and the bottom started to fall out," McCline says of the late 1990s. "Intel started laying people off, I saw the writing on the wall, and I wanted to own my own company.

"So I was plotting my exit strategy and came across some information about the Small Business Administration's minority business programs, the 8(a) program, federal contracting and the small-business goals associated with each dollar that the federal government spends."

SBA assistance, McCline says, was just the thing he would need to get his business off the ground. The icing on the cake was when he found out about the SBA Office of Veterans Business Development. His company is certified as a disabled veteran-owed small business under the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. That means it's eligible for federal contracts set aside for disabled-veteran businesses.

"When I found out about that, I registered a week later," McCline says. "All I have to do is start a business and the government is there to help me? I thought it sounded too easy."

In 1999, McCline founded his company, today known as NETSIS LLC, an acronym for "network, engineering, training, security and information systems."

To launch the venture, McCline knew he also had to have the broader SBA 8(a) certified business designation. The 8(a) Business Development Program helps entrepreneurs gain a foothold in overall government contracting.

McCline's first stop wasn't the local SBA office, however. Instead, he went to Maricopa Community Colleges Small Business Development Center because there wasn't a waiting list to get help. The organization is part of Arizona's partnership that links the state's community college districts and the SBA.

Rich Senopole, director of the SBDC, says the center's diversity coordinator, Gil Padilla, helped McCline apply for his 8(a) certification and get certified by the city of Phoenix as a Minority Business Enterprise and Small Business Enterprise.

The SBDC also guided McCline through the process that helped him take advantage of his disabled veteran status and trained him in business development and federal procurement.

"As a result of the various training and one-on-one counseling sessions and the special SBA programs available, Sam is now running a very profitable business," Senopole says. "In the past year, the company received more than $90 million in government contracts and is subcontracting out most of the work, which creates many jobs and adds to Arizona's wellbeing."

McCline was able to fund his company without loans because of his buyout from Intel. His company had sales of $500,000 in 2005.

"The SBA loan is there if you need it," McCline says. "A lot of people tap into that loan when they shouldn't. It's more important to have a good, solid business plan and the right partnerships."

NETSIS began as an IT services provider but has since expanded into other business lines, including telecommunications, modular furniture installation and construction services such as mechanical, carpentry and electrical work.

"I had a mentor who said there are IT companies everywhere you look," McCline says. "So we had to diversify."

Without becoming SBA-certified, McCline thinks the odds of growing a thriving business would be against him.

"I don't think you can not work with the SBA and the SBDCs," McCline says. "They are free, available resources that work together. They provide training whether it's business-plan writing or going through the 8(a) paperwork."

McCline's next SBA endeavor is to participate in its mentor-protege program, which calls for joint-venture arrangements to help 8(a) firms improve their ability to compete for government contracts.

NETSIS LLC

601 W. Hatcher Road, Suite 104, Phoenix, AZ 85021

[phone]

www.itnetsis.com

Founded: 2000

Employees: 10

2005 revenue: $500,000