Losing a job can make a person discouraged, depressed or unmotivated. Not Sean McDermott. And that’s probably why, as the owner of Advanced Protection Systems Inc., McDermott is being honored as the Small Businessman of the Year by the San Diego U.S. Small Business Administration.

Back in 1984, McDermott was unemployed and anything but a success. Through the classifieds, he found an opening with All Secure Custom Home Electronics. Owner Richard P. Apgar remembers him well.

"This smart-aleck puny kid responded to an ad for alarm installer with our company," said Apgar in a support letter for McDermott. "He could not even spell technician, but he persisted in obtaining an interview. He had what I call 'piss and vinegar.' Although he was much younger than his co-workers, he was soon leading crews and selling systems."

When read this letter, McDermott became choked up. "That means a lot to me," he says, admitting that Apgar knows his strengths well. "I’ve always been confident of my abilities. I’m not egotistical, but I’m not afraid to try things. I tell people that our company is on the bleeding edge, because we’ve suffered to get it going. It took tenacity or what Richard calls piss and vinegar."

How McDermott went from an unemployed technician to the owner of a successful small business is a story of perseverance and the willingness to take chances against everyone's advice.

The 22-year-old McDermott started APS in 1986 as a company focused on residential alarms. But his partners had a completely different focus and McDermott decided to buy them out three years later.

"That was an emotionally challenging year," says McDermott, who owned 34 percent of APS at the time. "My partners tried to sell the company out from under me. They had loans they were defaulting on. It was a tough decision, but one of the better things I’ve ever done."

To do this, he had to go through financial hardships, deferring his own salary for up to six months. But his gamble paid off. APS has gone from San Diego’s 15th largest security systems company in 1996 to the county's largest systems integration company. Last year, it ranked 11th in Custom Electronics Professional's top 50 companies in the United States.

The secret to APS's success can be attributed to two factors. First, the decision to offer more than just alarm systems. Second, McDermott's insistence to do business with contractors in a new way. In 1995, McDermott found a builder who agreed to let APS sell its own options. APS now contacts new owners directly and lets them select which options they want installed in their new homes, including home theaters, audio systems, access control systems, home automation systems, alarms, fire alarms, surveillance devices, intercoms, central vacuum and telephone systems.

"This was a case where I was willing to put my neck on the line," recalls McDermott. "Again, it was an uphill battle, but I didn’t think the old way of doing business was working. Eventually, we took this model to other builders."

APS now has contracts with multiple builders who provide services in residential projects. The company averages 300 to 350 new installations every month. APS also is making the foray into commercial business. No wonder the business is now financially stable with more than $3 million in sales in 1999.

But once again McDermott is taking risks. Toward his dream of having branch offices all over the country, he's opening a new office in Phoenix. This expansion has many associates shaking their heads, he says. But as Apgar noted, nothing stands in McDermott's way.

"I have never said 'no' to trying something new," McDermott says. "If we stand by compliant, we’ll get gobbled up. Sometimes I’m scared to death, but I’m never too afraid to try."

Call it a financial hat trick. When a lender starts a small business lending program once, it’s exciting. But when they do it three times, as Ric Schroder has, then they are honored as the Financial Services Advocate of the Year.

Schroder has been assisting small businesses in San Diego for more than a decade. He started the SBA lending department for The Money Store, the Rancho Vista National Bank and then Valley Independent Bank in El Centro, where he just left to join First National Bank.

Between 1996 and 1998, he lent $42.2 million. He is known to close SBA loans that were declined by other lenders and still maintains a low delinquency rate (he has yet to have one of his loans repurchased by the SBA).

A true small business advocate, he is active in the Service Corps Of Retired Executives, has been the chairman of the chamber's Small Business Recognition and served on the Small Business Week planning committee.

But it’s his hands-on approach that he's best known for. Most borrowers have access to his office phone, cell phone, pager number and sometimes even his home number. He underwrites applications, processes documents and approves loans.

That's not just a great banker, but a true advocate for small business.

Sometimes a business name can have more than one meaning. Such is the case of Teamwork Athletic Apparel, owned and operated by five members of the Lehrer family. Not only does this family operate a successful business, which has led to being named Family-Owned Small Business of the Year, but they know how to work together to get through the worst of times.

Those dark days descended on Charles and Nancy Lehrer in 1987. With more than 25 years in the clothing business, they had been working as the West Coast representatives for RBIII, a sports equipment and clothing business. But then the factory providing RBIII with its largest source of product was sold.

"We sat and pondered the possibilities of how to satisfy our West Coast customers' need for product while trying to recoup our lost income," patriarch Charles Lehrer wrote in a statement to the SBA. "I tried to contact all my former company’s competitors to see if they needed a sales representative to no avail. The future looked bleak. Nancy suddenly said to me, 'Why don’t we set up our own factory?' Nancy named it 'Teamwork' because the two of us working together comprised the entire company."

The two started a small factory in San Marcos with family borrowed money and a highly mortgaged house. The gamble paid off. Today, Teamwork distributes its athletic uniforms through 6,000 dealers to all 50 states and 42 foreign countries. Charles now serves as chairman and Nancy is the secretary/treasurer. Son Matthew is the president, while son Andrew is vice president and daughter-in-law Violet is operations manager.

The family is community minded, volunteering with a variety of organizations including the Boys and Girls Club, the San Marcos Chamber of Commerce, Palomar College Red Cross Disaster Services, youth sports teams and various activities at Temple Adat Shalom.

"Two sons and a daughter-in-law have joined the business and truly made it a most satisfying team effort," says Charles. "Teamwork is a unique family business run by people who truly care about their employees, their customers, their community and each other."

Even in the worst of times, Teamwork has made the difference and come out ahead.

While Carol Krysko is being honored as the Woman-Owned Small Business of the Year, her story is quite different from that of a typical woman-owned business. Her tale is of triumphant survival after losing her partner in business and in life.

An Iowa native, Krysko earned a degree in elementary education and taught school for several years before becoming the center director for the preschool Children's World in 1973. She married Ken Krysko in 1969 and they had two daughters.

In 1984, Children's World sent them to San Diego to start a new region. Three years later, Krysko resigned to consider a new career and in 1989, she and her husband started Early Explorations in Encinitas.

This child care facility, which promotes a play-based curriculum for children age 2 through second grade, grew so quickly that soon the couple opened another in Tierrasanta and then another in Orange County. Today, the three locations serve more than 600 families and employ 89 staff members. Child magazine ranked the Encinitas center one of its best day care centers in America in 1992.

Tragedy struck in 1996 when Ken passed away from cancer. This life-changing experience made Krysko realize she had to learn what she wanted from the business.

"I slowly realized that I was now the leader, the president of Early Explorations," she said in a letter to SBA. "It was important to continue the vision that Ken and I had."

To do this, she hired a consultant, paid off her business loans and purchased the leased building that houses the Encinitas location. She has added extensive benefits for her teachers and added her two now-grown daughters to the staff. As a result, the business has thrived under her capable guidance.

"I am very proud of Early Explorations," she said, "and what we, I, have achieved in nine short years."

Youthful interests in journalism and business led Tim McClain into a career that combines both, resulting in his position today with the media holdings of Metro San Diego Communications Inc., which was launched in part with a Small Business Administration loan.

As editor of San Diego Metropolitan, San Diego’s largest-circulation business publication, McClain helps run a small business that provides continual supportive exposure for other small businesses and entrepreneurs.

"McClain is a journalist jack of all trades and master of many," says Publisher Gary Shaw. "He's friendly and sometimes skeptical, which are important for a reporter to gather information. He knows how to write, which is important if you expect readers to read. He's well organized and fast. He loves San Diego, real estate, computers and mobile phones."

McClain, 43, also manages the twice-weekly Uptown Examiner, a legal notices newspaper; the twice-yearly Guide to Downtown San Diego; the 24-hour-a-day Internet site, sandiegometro.com, proclaimed in 1999 by the San Diego Press Club as Best Overall Web Site in San Diego; and the recently acquired monthly, North Park News.

McClain is a fitting choice for the Small Business Journalist of the Year honor.

McClain's first newspaper job was in 1983 with the Coronado Journal. He moved to the Chula Vista Star News in 1984 where his assignments sparked an interest in business writing.

His goal to land a job on a business newspaper became a reality with a 1987 move to the San Diego Daily Transcript. While with the Transcript, McClain established the city's first news column to focus on San Diego’s tourism business. That feature, "Food, Booze & Beds," now runs in the Metropolitan. While at the Transcript, McClain developed expertise in local government, real estate and retail business reporting.

After a stint as managing editor of San Diego Executive magazine, he returned as managing editor of the Transcript and then moved to Brice & Associates, where he saw the inner workings of another small business, a public relations firm.

McClain was lured back to print in 1996, when Shaw bought the San Diego Metropolitan, and together they fine-tuned the business magazine with emphasis on CEO and management news in real estate, telecommunications, computers, biotech and hospitality fields. Through his employment agreement, McClain has earned 15 percent ownership in the Metropolitan's parent company.

While many employees imagine some day owning the business they work for, it’s a dream that rarely comes true. Henry Barros is one of the exceptions.

Raised in Imperial Valley and one of eight children of Mexican immigrants, Barros started his sales career early by hawking snow cones on the corner. At 18, he worked as a file clerk at McKendry's Insurance, where he soon proved his worth. On his second day he went out to take pictures of a mobile home park and came back with $1,300 in premiums.

At 21 he earned his insurance license, moved to San Diego and got a job at Dwight Gove Insurance Agency in South San Diego. Although he only made $8,000 the first year, through perseverance he eventually made enough to buy the company in 1994.

But buying the company proved to be no bed of roses. Barros had to cover company losses and buy out his partners, which meant he drew no salary for 18 months. But under Barros' leadership, Dwight Gove thrived and grew from four employees to 27 (many of whom are bilingual). He now has two offices (the other in Mission Valley) and has become the largest independent insurance agency in South San Diego. Sales have grown by $1 million every year he's owned the company.

Barros also is quite involved in the community, sitting on the boards of the San Diego Workforce Partnership, Sharp Hospital and the San Diego Youth Council. He is active in the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and an honorary member of the San Diego Sheriff's Association.

Dwight Gove offers a wide variety of personal insurance, including auto, home, boat, life, and commercial. The company also offers financial services under Gove Financial. All this is a far cry from the snow cones of his youth. But that is why Barros has been named Minority-Owned Small Business of the Year.

If ever there was a perfect poster child for the Welfare to Work Small Business Owner of the Year award, Gale Walker is it.

In 1985, Walker quit her job with the Postal Service to move with her two children to San Diego to care for her dying mother. To make ends meet, Walker spent eight years on welfare.

That all changed when she opened Children of the Rainbow, a home-based child care center. But even achieving that dream wasn’t enough. In 1999, Walker opened a 7,000-square-foot child care facility in Logan Heights that is open from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week. The center accepts children from infants to teens so parents can leave all their children at one facility.

Walker's plan is to help other parents on welfare for whom flexible child care could make the critical difference in getting a job. Ninety-five percent of the center's clients are transitioning or have already transitioned off welfare.

The center now employs 36 people and serves more than 200 children. Almost half of the staff members are former welfare clients Walker has trained and given a job. She works closely with Cal Works and MAAC Project, who refer clients to her.

It’s no wonder Walker was recognized as the National Welfare to Work Entrepreneur last year. Even Vice President Al Gore has visited her business.

Today, Walker speaks to many groups about advancing the welfare to work initiative. Who could be a better example of the program's success? That's why she has been named the Welfare to Work Small Business Owner of the Year.

To understand why lender Yvonne Jackson is so admired by others, just ask Jennifer De La Cruz. As the owner of Protogenesis in Pasadena, De La Cruz is fairly typical of the clients Jackson has helped get their businesses started over the years.

"When I graduated from Wharton, I had the ambition of starting my own company," said De La Cruz. "Despite my extensive qualifications, I found it difficult to establish credibility with financiers. The opportunity to invest in my company’s start-up was declined by 50 other firms before it was accepted by yours. Of course, history now indicates who made the right decision.

"Your advocacy of competent, capable women business owners is commendable. You broadened the horizon for me, my company and countless others."

Since joining the banking community in 1967, Jackson's career has grown steadily to the point that today she is the vice president/manager of the SBA department of the Peninsula Bank of San Diego. Along the way, she has funded $45.6 million in loans in the last two and half years and was awarded the Financial Services Advocate of the Year in 1992.

But it’s in her willingness to talk to women about their financial business options that Jackson has really given back to the community. She regularly speaks to women's groups and serves on various boards and committees whose mission is to provide advice and counsel, leadership and participation through various entrepreneurial assistance programs, says Larry Alameda, executive vice president of Peninsula.

For instance, last summer Jackson participated in a five-city speaking tour "to deliver significant outreach to women in business," Alameda added in his letter to the SBA. "Yvonne took vacation time from the bank to participate in the tour and personally financed the majority of expense. I must tell you that I don’t know of an individual more deserving of this award."

That is why Jackson is being honored as the Women in Business Advocate.

Sometimes work is work and sometimes it’s a lifelong passion. For William Robert Hobdy, it’s the latter.

Hobdy spent 34 years working for the federal government, overseeing minority contracting plans for large defense contractors in the San Diego area.

"Bob spent much of this time educating and instructing large business in the methods and techniques needed to identify and develop subcontracting opportunities," says Gunnar Schalin, project manager for the Contracting Opportunities Center, a program of Southwestern College. "Bob had the authority to severely penalize large businesses if they failed to develop their minority subcontracting work. Instead, he chose to educate them in the many benefits associated with creating a procurement and contracting environment rich in minority outreach and opportunity."

After retiring in 1992, Hobdy started his own business and in 1994 received a grant to start the Contracting Opportunities Center, which opened in 1995. The program consists of workshops, counseling and bid-matching. Since then, the program has yielded more than $35 million in contracts awarded and 1,100 jobs for minority-owned businesses in San Diego.

"When he finds a new minority firm that shows potential for growing into a government contractor, Bob often introduces them to his network of business service providers," says Schalin. "Whenever possible he even makes specific arrangements for these firms to make personal business presentations at local outreach events. Countless San Diego minority firms have been helped as a result of Bob's personal outreach."

Because of that passion for helping others, Hobdy has been named Minority Small Business Advocate of the Year.

Everyone would like a little competitive edge when it comes to an election. And that’s what makes John Nienstedt, owner of Competitive Edge Research & Communication, so in demand.

But this kind of success didn’t happen overnight. Interested in politics as college student at San Diego State University, Nienstedt spent a year and a half as Susan Golding's receptionist during her term as county supervisor. After helping run phone banks at a research firm, Nienstedt and a friend decided to open their own firm in 1987 and named it Competitive Edge Research & Communication.

But the first couple of years turned out to be growth years. Nienstedt completed a Master's degree at SDSU and learned the nuances of survey research methodology. He bought out his partner and invested in automated technology that allowed the company to use a centralized calling center.

In 1998, the company relocated to a 4,000-squarefoot facility on Banker's Hill and invested in computer technology for Web-based research. Today, the company employs 100 callers and has posted $1.4 million in annual gross revenue. While the election business dips every few years, Competitive Edge has kept competitive by diversifying its political services and expanding beyond the Southern California market (about half its clients are from outside the state).

Clients include The National Association of Homebuilders, the American Insurance Association, San Diego State University, Congressman Brian Bilbray, former Sen. Pete Wilson, Daimler-Chrysler Corp., and Elizabeth Dole for President. Nienstedt also participates in various charities for children, including Voices for Children and Global Children's Fund.

While Nienstedt never sought political office himself, his early interest in politics certainly has paid off. So have his dedication and hard work, and that is why he has been honored with this year’s Entrepreneurial Success Award.

It's difficult to determine if CPA Steven H. Wimmers is being honored as Accountant Advocate of the Year for his work with small businesses or for his countless hours as a volunteer. In some cases, those two even intermingle.

For instance, Wimmers has served as the accountant for Precision Survey and Mapping for 18 years. "To be quite frank, if not for Steve, I would not have weathered the ups and downs of a cyclical economy," says Michael J. Pallamary, president of Precision. "I have also come to know Steve through his tireless efforts on behalf of many community organizations. I can attest to Steve's unselfish efforts as he served as my volunteer treasurer in my run for elected office in 1985."

Just listing the volunteer organizations Wimmers has assisted would take up several pages. In short, he has served as the volunteer treasurer for six nonprofit organizations and moved on to become president or chairman of five of these.

Professionally, he is a member of AICPA and CalCPA. He chaired the Management of Accounting Practice Committee for the San Diego chapter of CalCPA for two years, is the group's president and serves on its state board. He has more than 25 years in the accounting business and has owned his own business since 1979.

Wimmer's professional credits are impressive, but it is his volunteer work where he has served his community best. Whether it’s raising money for the Peninsula Family YMCA or serving on the Ocean Beach Planning Board, it’s clear he believes in giving back to others. He has been selected as the Accountant Advocate of the Year, as well as the SBA's Region IX award winner (Region IX includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam).