Editors note: This is the second article in a three-part series on starting small businesses that will be posted on Wednesdays.
In the first part of this series, I described the general types of help available through Small Business Development Centers. One of the most valuable services that many SBDCs offer is individualized counseling.
Counseling
Once you are signed up as an SBDC client, you will typically begin a series of meetings with your assigned counselor. The counselor can identify local professional service providers such as attorneys and accountants who are small-business specialists, and who may offer you discounted services.
The counselor can help you prepare a business plan and give you advice about ways of presenting your business to various audiences. If your business can qualify for a loan from a bank or other lending institution, the counselor can help you prepare your application package to make sure it is complete and presents your business in the most accurate way. The counselor typically has contacts with loan officers and can help answer questions about your business.
Training
Beyond the individual counseling, most SBDCs offer training on a wide variety of business topics. While this training is not always free, the cost is usually quite reasonable. Some courses are also available online for people who are unable to make time to attend a classroom session.
Topics
Some examples of topics that might be covered in classroom training include:
- Starting and Planning Your Business
- Business Start Up Essentials
- The Business Plan
- Business Plan Financials
- Keeping the Books
- QuickBooks Pro Set Up
- QuickBooks Pro Intermediate
- QuickBooks Pro Advanced
- Branding Your Business
- Social Media Branding
- How to Start a Restaurant
- Selling on eBay
- Emergency Preparedness Clinic
As you can see, some topics are general, and some are more targeted at particular types of business.
If you are trying to market or source outside the U.S., you might, for example, be interested more in global or international business. In that case, you could find courses such as:
- Your Global Edge: Doing Business In Korea
- Your Global Edge: Using Letters of Credit in China
- Your Global Edge: Supercharging Your Chinese Supply Chain
- Your Global Edge: Importing Food Products into the U.S.A.
- Your Global Edge: Discovering Business Opportunities in Colombia
- Your Global Edge: International Trade & Intellectual Property
- Your Global Edge: Doing Business in Vietnam
- Global Exporting Essentials: The mechanics of selling your products globally
- Global Marketing: Managing Your Global Distributor
- Global Sourcing Essentials: The Mechanics Of Importing Into The U.S.
Of course, the specific course titles you find will depend on the capabilities of your local SBDC. You may not need to be limited by geography when it comes to online courses. Many of the SBDCs in the U.S. do not require you to be local to register for online training. For example, the South-West Texas Border Region SBDC offers online training through this site.
Find your SBDC and get started
You can find your local SBDC and learn more about the SBDC network by clicking on your state in the map at http://www.asbdc-us.org/. Once you have done that, free help to start or grow your business is just a phone call away.
Next Wednesday, Part 3: Funding
J. Bruce Hughes is an ASBDC Certified Technology Commercialization Counselor at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development. He has worked in technology and technology businesses since 1980. The Institute’s web site is at http://www.iedtexas.org/
