Roane State Community College

The Tennessee Tech partnership with Roane State’s Cumberland Business Incubator provides special technology services to CBI clients. TTU’s Business Media Director Kevin Liska and web developer Mack Lunn work with LeveragePlus business partners Amy Campbell and Jeff Dahlberg to design and program a professional website for their business. LeveragePlus is CBI’s newest resident in the incubator. From left around the table are Lunn, Liska, Dahlberg and Campbell.

 

The numbers added up for Amy Campbell and Jeff Dahlberg.
 
The co-founders of LeveragePlus Organization were exploring the best approach to expand their established business. As they considered their growth strategies, they evaluated the benefits of the new Cumberland Business Incubator. The results of their analysis clearly showed that moving to the CBI would be a smart business decision.
 
“The whole support system, the assistance and resources — these are all things you have to pay for if you are outside the incubator,” Dahlberg said. “We see the value of this in the hundreds of thousands of dollars over a period of time.”
 
LeveragePlus is the first client to move into the Cumberland Business Incubator, a $1.28 million facility located at Roane State Community College’s Cumberland County campus. The CBI is designed to promote economic growth in the region by supporting the growth of small businesses. LeveragePlus, formerly located at 91 Cross Creek Place, plans to stay in the CBI for three years.
 
“We are very excited,” Dahlberg said. “We consider ourselves a cutting-edge business, and the CBI is a cutting-edge initiative. It’s a win for everybody.”
 
Dahlberg said the CBI’s tangible features — affordable office space, conference room, high-speed Internet, IT support, close proximity to the interstate and to the college — appealed to him and Campbell. The CBI’s mentorship and advisement program, however, was especially attractive.
 
CBI mentors are highly skilled and experienced business professionals, either retired from the corporate world or currently active in business. They volunteer their time to share their expertise with CBI clients.
 
“Having a network of highly skilled professionals to work with you is essential in this new business environment, which demands vast resources of knowledge from many industries and disciplines,” Dahlberg said. “I was shocked that Fortune 500 talent already existed in Cumberland County. This expertise is usually reserved for larger organizations and not readily available to small- or medium-size businesses. It’s almost like having your own highly skilled board of directors. The CBI brings big corporate America to small town America.”
 
Campbell and Dahlberg founded LeveragePlus in 2007. The company provides human resource support and talent management services to small and large businesses.
 
LeveragePlus provides multiple business solutions that assist owners and managers in reducing cost and improving efficiency. One of their signature offerings is a unique service that allows small and medium businesses (SMEs) to compete with large businesses on cost-per-hire and quality-per-hire.

The service also reduces large businesses’ cost-per-hire by more than 20 percent per hire without reducing quality. This is one of many new services LeveragePlus will offer the local business community.
 
“Our approach is to reduce costs while improving efficiency, whether for a small company or a large company,” Dahlberg said.
 
Campbell has deep roots in Cumberland County, while Dahlberg moved to Crossville after working in Atlanta for many years.
 
“In my personal opinion, this has been one the best places to live while growing a business due to its close proximity of work to home, low cost of living, centralized location to many major metropolitan areas, quick access to multiple interstates and airports,” he said. “I love it here, while in Atlanta it could take hours just to drive across town in heavy traffic.”
 
Dahlberg said he and Campbell were, at first, slightly concerned that the CBI program could give clients the impression they were less established, or take away from their existing relationships. Those fears were put to rest when they learned how the incubator’s strict guidelines for membership actually provide members with more credibility.
 
“While LeveragePlus Organization has had some national exposure, we are looking forward to working with the expertise offered through the incubator while growing the business both on a local and national scale,” Dahlberg said.
 
To inquire about LeveragePlus Organization’s services and how they may help your business, contact Jeff Dahlberg at (931) 210-6655 or 1-800-654-4468.
 
For more information about the CBI, call (931) 456-4910 or visit www.cumberlandincubator.com.