Mentoring is Key to Small Business Success

bridgetwpollack — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:30:32 +0000

A lot has been written about why having a mentor is a good idea for entrepreneurs. One great article by Peter Cohan of Inc., gives seven reasons you need a mentor and another over on Tech Start Hub provides six. It’s clear that the experts agree: working with a mentor has a positive impact on startups.

But I want to show you evidence – hard numbers – that proves that mentorship really does create greater success for small businesses:

Thanks to a recent survey of our small business clients, we learned that in 2012 alone, SCORE’s clients started 37,054 new businesses and created 82,207 new jobs. Since 2009, 581,039 SCORE clients started enterprises, created employment opportunities or increased their revenues. Those numbers represent a huge impact in not only the success of that individual business, but also the prosperity of the U.S. economy and in local communities. This is all thanks to the hard work of our thousands of mentors across the country who meet one-on-one with hopeful or current small business owners and guide them through the obstacles and questions that they have faced themselves.

In addition to initial startup guidance, 71% of our survey respondents agreed that a long-term relationship with SCORE would be beneficial to them. And 80% agreed that they would recommend SCORE to friends or associates.

Mentoring is so effective because it is about skipping past the time and effort of “reinventing the wheel” of business ownership, and also pushing an entrepreneur’s vision beyond its normal limits. An outside perspective from someone who has been in your shoes can see the footpaths all around – the ones that scale mountains and the ones that avoid treacherous terrain.

So if you’re really ready to take your idea or business to the next level, bring in outside expertise. Connecting with a SCORE mentor is absolutely free and completely confidential. So what’s stopping you? Get in touch with a mentor today.

5 Tips for Hiring and Managing a Summer Intern

Caron_Beesley — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:35:42 +0000

Is your small business looking to hire an intern this summer? You’re not alone! According to a December 2012 survey by Internships.com, 53 percent of the 300 companies surveyed plan to hire more interns in 2013 than they did in 2012.

In fact, internships are becoming increasingly important to both students and business owners. The difficult economic climate means that new graduates face unprecedented challenges as they try to enter the job market. Internships give them a vital foot in the door and also provide employers with nurtured and eager talent to help them grow their business.

Just look at the data:

47 percent of employers have a structured internship program
39 percent of small businesses made full time job offers to interns in 2012
85 percent of employers say hiring an intern was a positive experience

If you want new ideas and the opportunity to nurture a potential future employee – at a low cost – read these five tips for hiring and managing an intern (within the law).

Assess your Needs

Interns will be looking for the right kind of experience, so it’s important to evaluate your needs and create a job description that is appealing for both parties. Think about how an intern can help you achieve your business goals? Do you have enough work to support an intern? Who will supervise, train and mentor this individual? What about resources – like office space or a computer?

Think about potential workload that you can hand-off in terms of short and long term assignments and be sure to plan well in advance (hiring takes time)!

Should you Offer a Paid or Un-Paid Internship?

Should you pay your interns? Interestingly, most students state that compensation is the least important factor when considering an internship. And according to Internships.com, one third of businesses surveyed chose not to pay their summer interns (choosing to offer college credits, company perks or travel stipends instead).

If you want to attract right talent and take your investment seriously, then it’s worth compensating your intern(s) appropriately. (The average hourly rate for a bachelor’s degree-level intern is $16.21, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.)

Why not get an un-paid intern? Perhaps the biggest rationale for paying interns is that the U.S. Department of Labor puts limits on the work un-paid interns can perform under the Fair Labor Standards Act. For example, your business can’t be seen to derive any benefit from the intern. Essentially, the following applies:

Unpaid interns cannot do any work that contributes to a company's operations. This includes any tasks that help you run your business, like documenting inventory, filing papers, or answering emails.
Unpaid interns can shadow other employees and perform duties that don't have a business need. For example, a bakery may allow an apprentice/intern to decorate a tray of cookies that will not be sold to customers. Because the task was only a training exercise for the apprentice/intern and the bakery did not receive any benefit from that work, the bakery would not have to pay that student worker for that time.

For more information on what exactly unpaid interns can do, according to the Department of Labor, read The Truth Behind Unpaid Internships.

Clearly, a paid internship program will give both your business and your intern(s) more flexibility.

The Hiring Process

This process isn’t a whole lot different than hiring a regular employee. You’ll need to write a job description – be sure to state whether the internship is paid or un-paid, your objectives for the position, responsibilities and assignments of the job, and specific experience that the intern can expect to gain.

Where should you look for interns? In addition to posting the opportunity to your website and online job boards, approach local colleges and schools and register with their career services office. Many of these candidates are screened and motivated. Another option is the Department of Labor’s Summer Jobs+ Bank, a Presidential initiative designed to connect youth with employment and internship opportunities. Post your listing here.

Managing Interns – Considerations to Remember as an Employer

Perhaps the most important thing to remember is that this is a learning experience for your intern, not a traditional “summer job”. Consider the following:

Expose them to Real World Experiences and Tasks - There’s no harm in giving your intern mundane, tactical tasks to complete, but be sure to mix it up and give them real business experience as well. Have your intern sit in on meetings and sales calls. Give them the opportunity to take a first stab at a project, guide and mentor them through it, don’t be afraid to let go of the reins a little, and step in when you need to.
Mentor – An intern is used to feedback (college tutors provide it all the time), so be prepared to coach and provide honest feedback about what they are doing well on a particular project and where there’s room for improvement.
Set Parameters and Guidelines – This may not be something you are used to doing with your regular employees, but expectations need to be set about appearance, business attire, work hours, and acceptable internet/social media use.
Set Expectations Among Other Employees – If you choose to delegate mentoring to another employee, be sure that employee is aware of your expectations. Likewise, set expectations across your staff so that the intern doesn’t find him or herself being taken advantage of or assigned tasks that are not within their job description.

Workplace and Labor Laws

Many of the labor laws that apply to employees, such as workplace discrimination laws, also apply to interns. You must also ensure you comply with workplace health and safety laws. Some states also require that you carry workers’ compensation insurance for interns.

Related Resources

Small Businesses Get a Leg Up with Financial Literacy

Michael Chodos — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:59:30 +0000

President Barack Obama recently proclaimed April National Financial Capability Month. Recognizing the importance of smart financial planning in achieving the American Dream, this month calls on individuals to empower themselves by seeking knowledge and tools for strong financial capability.

Nowhere is financial literacy more important than in the small business community. Small businesses are the embodiment of the American dream and the backbone of the American economy, creating 64 percent of the net new jobs created between 1993 and 2011.

Financial literacy for small business owners is imperative to making sound business decisions in an environment where financial services are often handled in-house. The success or failure of a small business in its early stages is often dependent on the financial capability of the enterprise’s leadership.

In this vein, the federal government is doing their part to promote financial capability and literacy for small businesses. Since its founding the U.S. Small Business Administration has helped secure millions of loans, loan guarantees, contracts, counseling sessions and other forms of assistance to small businesses.

Last year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and U.S. Small Business Administration partnered to create Money Smart for Small Business, a training curriculum for new and aspiring business owners. The FDIC and SBA have also formed a Training Alliance for organizations that continues to support small businesses through training, technical assistance or mentoring.

The 10 modules in the instructor-led training curriculum provide introductory training for new and aspiring entrepreneurs on the basics of organizing and managing a business. In addition to grounding participants in the basics, the curriculum serves as a foundation for more advanced training and technical assistance. The modules are: Organization Types, Time Management, Financial Management, Record Keeping, Banking Services Available for Small Businesses, Credit Reporting, Risk Management, Insurance, Tax Planning and Reporting, and Selling a Small Business and Succession Planning

To date, over 12,000 copies of the Money Smart for Small Business curriculum have been ordered and more than 10 Training Alliance Members have implemented the curriculum. The program has been an invaluable tool for small business seeking to improve their financial capability and literacy. Small business owners, persons without formal business training, financial institutions, small business development centers, city/county economic development offices, faith-based organizations and others have found the program greatly beneficial.

Another government tool promoting financial literacy is Mymoney.Gov, a Website dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about financial education. Whether a person is buying a home, balancing their checkbook, or investing in their 401(k), the resources on MyMoney.gov can help individuals maximize each and every financial decision. In addition, the site contains important information from 20 Federal agencies and Bureaus designed to help them make smart financial choices.

These programs are easily accessible and simple to use with the click of a button.

From more information on Money Smart for Small Business or to order the curriculum visit http://www.sba.gov/moneysmart .

8 Things you Can Do to Be Taken Seriously as a Young Entrepreneur

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 11:11:03 +0000

Are you a teenager or in your early 20s? Do you have a great business idea? Perhaps you’re already making headway towards starting your own business.

But how do you get others to believe in you and your business idea?

Here are eight surefire ways that you can be taken seriously as a young entrepreneur:

1. Have a Plan

Having a plan means knowing where you want to be and what steps you are going to take to get there. If you can’t communicate this to investors, vendors, distributors, employees, and so on, you will never be taken seriously.

Case in point – SBA Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011 – Mollie Breault-Binaghi. Now in her mid-20s, Mollie owns two successful graphic design and printing businesses in Vermont. With input from her boyfriend and her family, she spent considerable time working out the details of a business plan. “When you’re going to be investing not only money but your time, you need to invest an equal amount of energy laying it out on paper before you jump in,” Mollie said. (Read more about Mollie’s story here).

Not sure where to start with your business plan? Check out SBA’s online Build your Business Plan tool—a step-by-step guide to help you get started. Save your plan as a PDF file and update it at any time.

2. Be Serious About Your Passion

While Mollie’s advice for other young entrepreneurs is simple: “Plan!” she also added: “And you have to be passionate about it. Otherwise it’s not worth doing. Owning your own business is not easy and it’s not going to make you rich quick. You’re going to be in it for the long haul, so it’s got to be something you love.”

It’s inevitable that you are going to come across people who are going to try and talk you out of your idea—put your ear muffs on and stand your ground. Be proud of your idea, innovation, or business and be ready to showcase what you’ve done to get this far and what your plans are for the next step.

A few sure fire ways to demonstrate your commitment include:

Work at it – Be prepared to put the hours and weekends into your business.
Educate yourself and take educated risks! – Take advantage of free or low-cost business start-up workshops from your local business incubator, Small Business Development Center, Women’s Business Centers and more. Check out free online courses such as those offered by SBA in the Learning Center on this site. Learn about your industry but also what it takes to be a successful business leader/marketer/planner, and so on.
Stick at it through adversity – Nothing says commitment better than sticking with something even when you feel like throwing in the towel.
Identify what went wrong and learn from it.

3. Find a Mentor

Many young entrepreneurs struggle to succeed because they don’t have a mentor. Whether it’s a former boss, someone in your business network, or family friend, find a mentor who has experience in your field and has walked in your shoes before. Not only can a mentor provide valuable advice, they can also give you access to contacts, resources, and events that you might not otherwise have access to. If you can’t pinpoint a mentor, check out SCORE – a network of over 13,000 volunteer business mentors who have helped over 10,000 Americans start and grow their businesses.

4. Surround Yourself With the Right People

Just as it’s important to have a mentor, it’s also important to work on being around the right people – as much as you can. Surround yourself with the kind of people who are living the life you want to live or exemplify – they will challenge you and probably tell you things you don’t want to hear, but they’ll also tell you the things you have to hear. Look to entrepreneurial groups, experts in your industry, college professors – those who are respected in your industry or community.

5. Put Yourself in Environments That Will Allow You to Grow

Just as surrounding yourself with the right people will challenge your way of thinking, push yourself to seek out new possibilities beyond your comfort zone. As a series of young entrepreneurs explain this “Advice for Young Entrepreneurs” video from PHP Associates: “Putting yourself in an environment that causes you to be against the wall and maybe is a little uncomfortable, but being around it enough times you start to own it and you start to get a little bit more belief, in increments, in yourself and all that adds up to where you’re comfortable in your own shoes…”

6. Don’t Be Flash with Cash!

One of the surest ways to show you are serious about your business idea is to demonstrate that you can manage your cash and keep it flowing. Look for ways to keep costs low. Consider working part-time when you launch your company; this will help you build your business with less risk and provide you with a steady cash flow from another source. Once you’ve established a base, then transition to full-time business ownership.

You should also utilize technology and the resources around you to keep costs low – think of using garage space to store inventory instead of paying for a warehouse, or use social media to make the most of low-cost marketing.

7. Need Financing? – Do Your Homework

Securing financing as a young entrepreneur can be particularly challenging. Without a credit history or career history, finding someone who will entrust their money to you isn’t going to be easy. But with a solid business plan and commitment to success, investors are out there ready to take you seriously. Here are just some of the options that young entrepreneurs can explore:

Also read What Lenders Look For and Tips for Winning them Over.

8. Look Like a Pro

It goes without saying, or does it? Try to look like you are serious about what you are doing. Whether you are meeting customers, potential partners, mentors or investors – clean up your act. No, you don’t need to wear a suit all the time, but dress appropriately. “Remember, you might need to overcome some preconceived ideas about what teenagers are like, so be sure your looks and your language reflect the fact that you're serious about your business,” advises Young Enterpreneur’s, Adam Toren. “When communicating through email, use spell check and keep slang and abbreviations to minimum. If you're polite, professional and knowledgeable, your potential customers are sure to take you seriously.”

More Information

Young entrepreneurs can get more tips and practical guidance about starting a business in SBA’s online course: Young Entrepreneurs - An Essential guide to Starting Your Own Business. Also check out SBA’s Young Entrepreneurs guide for resources and programs to get you started.

4 Tips for 50+ Entrepreneurs

bridgetwpollack — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 19:51:57 +0000

Americans age 55 and up are the fastest growing group of new business owners in our nation today. Already, more than 7.4 million Americans over the age of 50 work for themselves. "Fifty is the new 30," says Rieva Lesonsky, founder and CEO of GrowBiz Media and a member of the HuffPost Small Business Board of Directors. "Boomers don't feel or act their chronological age. We have a lot of good years ahead of us, and we don't want to sit idly on the sidelines. We'd be bored -- and many of us would simply run out of money."

There are many resources available for these entrepreneurs who don’t want to sit idly on the sidelines, so that they can pursue this self-employment option at this stage in their lives. Take advantage of these tools and tips to start this next phase off on the right foot.

1. Understand your readiness. The Small Business Administration (SBA) and AARP have partnered to offer an online self-assessment that will help potential small business owners understand their readiness for starting a business as well as information to help with business planning, shaping a winning business idea, professional counseling, financial services and information to find local resources in your area. This can be found at http://www.sba.gov/content/50-entrepreneurs. There is also a wealth of resources at http://www.sba.gov/encore.

2. Figure out your finances. With the economy still recovering from the recession, entrepreneurs need to find alternative ways to finance their business. Take the time to learn about the choices you have, and figure out what is best for you. Read about your options here: http://www.score.org/resources/obtaining-small-business-financing or listen in on this online workshop April 25 http://www.score.org/workshops/live-webinar-425-getting-your-business-ready-financing.

3. Beef up your tech knowledge. The majority of people these days can surf the web, email effectively, and even participate in social media. However, some businesses require a deeper understanding of technology, such as running an e-commerce business, implementing search engine optimization (SEO), and utilizing autoresponders. To make sure you start off on the right foot, and use technology to your advantage and complete more effectively, take a look at some of these resources at http://ebusinessnow.org/.

4. Get advice from those who know. Small-business owners who have a counselor see higher sales, hire more employees and stay in business longer. By talking with someone who has the “been there, done that” expertise, you can avoid a lot of the pitfalls that are common for small business owners. SCORE, a nonprofit organization and resource partner with the SBA, provides free and confidential mentoring from its network of more than 12,000 volunteers across the nation. Make an appointment in your local SCORE office, or visit www.score.org to ask your questions online.

Communication Converts Leads

bridgetwpollack — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:09:52 +0000

Honesty is the best policy. Adopting an attitude of being clear and upfront has many benefits in life, from reduced stress to better relationships, but it can also be valuable in your business and key to converting leads into real customers. SCORE mentors will tell you that developing an open and honest relationship with your leads is important for several reasons:

- Honesty creates trust. If a lead feels comfortable sharing their needs and concerns, you can address them directly.
- An honest dialogue will determine if your business is well suited for addressing their needs.
- When choosing from multiple providers, a lead will choose the one that makes them feel most comfortable and capable of fulfilling their needs.

If you are able to honestly communicate your business’ capability to the leads, it brings you much closer to closing the sale and gaining a customer. Converting leads into sales is really about being a good match for client needs and effectively communicating that pairing. Here are some tips for effectively communicating your business to your potential customer:

KNOW YOUR COMPETITION AND KNOW WHERE YOU STAND
If you’ve positioned your business correctly, then you offer something different than your competitors. But it’s important to stay on top of how your competitors are changing and evolving their products and services. Check out their websites, follow them on social media and stop by their retail location. This will allow you to communicate your uniqueness to your customers in an informative way.

SEE WHAT YOUR CUSTOMERS SEE
Remember – you are a consumer too. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think about things like “What’s the first thing I would want to see upon walking into a specific business?” If you’re having trouble seeing from that perspective because you are too close to your business, ask your friends, family and colleagues for their opinions.

TAKE ONE STEP FURTHER
If you’ve effectively communicated your business to a lead and their needs align with what you can offer—but they are still hesitant, you must nurture that lead. If this is your first time in sales, and for many small business owners it is, this can be an uncomfortable proposition. Think of lead nurturing efforts as friendly reminders. Here are some tactics for lead nurturing. See which works best for your customer base and your personality.
1. Be concerned
2. Be persistent
3. Remind of benefits

GET FEEDBACK
It is crucial to take stock of how your lead conversion efforts are working and modify as necessary. Solicit feedback from both successful and unsuccessful conversions to see what you’re doing right and where there’s room for improvement. For unsuccessful conversions, ask questions like, “Did we effectively communicate how we could meet your needs?” and “What caused you to choose another provider for this product/service?” For successful conversions, ask questions like, “What made you choose our business as your product/service provider?”

As with most things in life, honesty about you and your business is the best policy.

What's Your Feedback for Startup University?

Stephen Morris — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:52:47 +0000

Last year the Small Business Administration held a series of regional roundtables with accelerators and universities, and one of the major takeaways was that universities could use a dedicated forum to discuss best practices and build new connections between academia and startup entrepreneurs.

Based off this feedback, the SBA and Department of Commerce created Startup University as a forum for educators and entrepreneurs like you to vote, comment, add provide feedback, but we need your help!

Visit our new Startup University website and tell us what you are seeing:

Vote: Which initiatives stand out to you? Vote on your top 5 success stories and tell us if these programs should be replicated elsewhere.

Add Your Own– How you have promoted innovation and entrepreneurship on campus and in the community? What can be done to replicate your success, or learn from past mistakes?

Sharing is Caring- Is someone in your community is doing something that should be recognized? Spread the word then check back on March 21^st as we presented the results at the NCET2 Conference!

Tweet This: What are the best university and #smallbiz #startup programs? Tell @SBAgov here: http://bit.ly/startupu

What can universities and #smallbiz do to support high growth #startups? Tell @SBAgov here: http://bit.ly/startupu

Post on Facebook: What can universities and Small Businesses do to support high growth startups? http://bit.ly/startupu

Share on LinkedIn: How can universities and businesses really support high-growth startup companies?

Women Business Owners – How to Get the Start-Up Boost You Need with Accelerator and Mentoring Programs

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 12:41:42 +0000

Start-up accelerator programs are popping up all over the country offering industry-focused programs and support for a variety of business owners. Although traditionally focused on high-tech businesses, accelerators now serve a variety of entrepreneurial needs, including those of women, through programs that facilitate mentoring and education, access to investors, and networking opportunities.

Take for example The Women’s Small Business Accelerator of Central Ohio, a nonprofit organization launched last year, with a mission to support women as they launch and grow small and micro businesses. The accelerator, located at 403-409 W. Main Street in Westerville, is just over 6,000 square feet of co-working space divided into four suites, two conference rooms, two kitchens, a creative space, and a training space that accelerator participants can lease at a reduced rate. The accelerator offers approximately 35 office spaces, including private offices and cubicles, available to women-business owners at or below competitive market rates (as low as $225 per month).

To further assist women small business owners, the accelerator offers peer-to-peer support, mentoring, and education (on topics such as writing a business plan with the final goal to secure funding).

The Attraction of Business Accelerators to Start-Ups

A growing segment of the entrepreneurial community, business accelerators clearly offer start-ups many benefits. Yes, the potential access to investors and financing is a huge draw, but for many business owners the attraction comes in the access to mentoring and guidance from a group of experts that incubators or accelerators can provide.

Many of the programs offered are structured and offer a clear path in support of strategic business success. Programs such as The Women’s Small Business Accelerator of Central Ohio typically include educational sessions and interactive monthly roundtables facilitated by small business experts where business owners get to brainstorm real-business challenges and scenarios.

Choosing the Right Accelerators for Your Business

It’s important to screen any potential accelerator. Even though the application process can be quite rigorous, do your due diligence first. Who sponsors the group? Can they really bring experts and investors to the table? Research online and talk to previous participants. Have any of them received the funding they needed? Is the accelerator in the right vertical or industry that matters to your business?

Other Sources of Mentoring and Local Assistance for Women Business Owners

There are several alternatives to business incubator or accelerator programs that women business owners can tap. Women’s Business Centers (WBCs) are one option. Located nationwide, WBCs provide women entrepreneurs with in-person assistance and business counseling programs that can help them start and grow successful businesses. WBCs offer guidance and training on a variety of topics, including business planning and management, marketing, and loan advice.

If you think you need the services of a hands-on expert, take a look at the mentoring and counseling services offered by SCORE. With a network of over 13,000 volunteers (all of whom have business management and ownership experience), SCORE provides free and confidential counseling, mentoring and advice to startups and small business owners nationwide. SCORE mentors can help with specific functional advice such as marketing, accounting, and business planning or overall business guidance.

Additional Resources

For more resources, guides and tools to help women-owned small businesses to start up, operate and grow, check out SBA’s Women-Owned Business Guide.

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SBA Small Business Learning Center: Training, Tools and Answers via Your Desktop

Caron_Beesley — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:12:40 +0000

Starting or growing a business? Owning a small business can be a fulfilling endeavor, but as you probably already know or are just finding out – it requires that you wear many hats. This of course leaves you with little time to take a deep dive into the many aspects of starting and growing a business. Instead, many business owners turn to search engines for answers when questions come up.

But what if you had access to a small business classroom that provided informed, accurate and always-available access to the advice and guidance you need?

Welcome to the SBA Small Business Learning Center.

Online Training and Tools for Small Business Owners

Launched in late 2012, the SBA Small Business Learning Center is an online portal that hosts a variety of self-paced online training courses, quick videos, web chats and more to help small business owners explore and learn about the many aspects of business ownership.

Content is filtered by topic, so no matter the stage of your business, or the kind of insight you need, you can quickly get answers.

For example, if you’re wondering how SBA loan programs work or just need a primer in accounting or small business taxes, check out these self-paced online financing courses and short videos. Or explore tips from the pros in these archived SBA Web Chats.

Other topics covered include starting a business as a young entrepreneur, an introduction to franchising, taking your business global with exporting, marketing 101, selling to the U.S. government, and much more.

Get More Help Offline

And if you can’t find the training or advice that you need, use the “Get Local Assistance” interactive map to find one of many small business counseling, assistance and mentoring organizations in your community.

Browse around, and let us know what you think about the SBA Small Business Learning Center!

A Guide to SBA Loan Programs - Just one of the self-paced online courses available in the new SBA Learning Center

4 Factors to Consider When Deciding About Financing

bridgetwpollack — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:39:22 +0000

If you are looking to make any major improvements in your business, whether it is a second location, new equipment, or an additional product line, you most likely need business financing. But getting financing for your business can be intimidating. Despite this economic downturn, banks are still lending. However, the way banks are lending to small businesses has changed pretty significantly and they are more cautious about where the money is going, especially when considering a loan to new businesses with no track record. As a result, you may need to consider a number of options to get the money you need, whether you are looking to launch a business or need additional financing for an existing enterprise. However, before you look into alternative financing, talk to a SCORE mentor about the various factors that influence which financing option will suit your needs:

Business Impact

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, factors financing institutions take into consideration include determining the specific uses for which you need the money, whether your business is seasonal or cyclical, and whether you plan to expand. Work with your SCORE mentor to create a written business plan that will help you clarify your financing needs.

Types of Financing

Common types of financing include bank loans, SBA loans, crowdfunding, receiving funds from a venture capitalist (in which you take on investors in exchange for providing them with an ownership stake), or borrowing from friends and family members. If your small business is engaged in scientific research and development (R&D), you may qualify for federal grants under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. You may need to solicit funds from all of these sources to obtain the amount of money you need. You could also tap into personal savings or even take out a second mortgage on your home.

Pros and Cons

Each type of financing offers certain benefits and pitfalls. For example, grant money, venture capital funds and your own money do not have to be repaid, so you won't incur additional debt. If you borrow from family and friends, you may receive a low interest rate as well as flexibility in payment terms. If you borrow from a bank, you may have more stability, avoid using your own money, as well as avoiding the potential tough situation of approaching people you know to ask for money.

If you borrow from friends and family, you need to consider what would happen to your relationship if your business fails and you cannot repay them. If you default on a bank loan, you could lose your business and need to file bankruptcy. If you work with venture capitalists, you may need to relinquish some control of your operation.

Potential

Whatever method of financing you decide to pursue, your ability to sell your business concept for starting or growing successfully will increase the potential of obtaining financing when asking for money. Factors that will help you sell your idea include a solid business plan, the ability to demonstrate the need for your business in the marketplace, and any successful business experience you had in the past. Talk to your SCORE mentor today to get started with your financing planning needs.

SBA Features New Tools During National Entrepreneurship Week

Michael Chodos — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 00:16:12 +0000

In conjunction with National Entrepreneurship Week (Feb 16-23, 2013), SBA is hosting a series of online briefings to discuss “crowdfunding” strategies for entrepreneurs. The series is comprised of daily webinars Feb 19-21 and a free online briefer to showcase innovative business financing opportunities.

Hosted by the Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, National Entrepreneurship Week celebrates the origins of American entrepreneurship and promotes education for young entrepreneurs. Hundreds of schools, mentoring organizations, municipal government entities and distinguished volunteers partner with young entrepreneurs to support their interests and pursuits throughout the year. SBA’s mentor network offers the valuable resources of SCORE, Small Business Development Centers and Women’s Business Centers as they work hand-in-hand with local communities to ‘power’ the American dream of entrepreneurship. Join us in celebrating the work of these business coaches as they empower the next generation of leaders. You can find one of our counselors and mentors in your community at www.sba.gov, along with a host of online learning and other resources to help you start and grow your business. Just enter your zip code under “Local Assistance” and get started.

What is Crowdfunding?

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) encourages growth opportunities such as crowdfunding to help spur startups and job creation.

Crowdfunding brings together a network of investors who pool their financial resources to fund a start-up company. While peer-to-peer lending brings individuals together for the purpose of supplying and receiving small business loans, crowdfunding aggregates the financial resources of myriad individual investors. The Internet, especially social media sites and emerging platforms, allows rapid introduction and facilitation of crowdfunding investors to pool their resources for funding a small business.

Crowdsourcing.org reported that by the end of 2012, there were more than 530 crowdfunding platforms (CFPs), up over 60 percent from the numbers posted during 2011. The four primary crowdfunding categories that comprise CFPs include donation-based, reward-base, lending-based, and equity-based. As reported by USA Today, approximately $1.5 billion was raised by crowdfunding sites in 2011.

Crowdfunding may also create a strong support network for small business owners that may need assistance in areas outside of their business expertise. For example, a young entrepreneur owner who does not have marketing experience may benefit from the advice of a crowdfunding investor who has established a successful marketing career.

Featured Training

SBA’s crowdfunding webinars feature expert speakers offering practical tips and suggestions for immediate use. I encourage aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners to dial-in for this impressive series.

Our recently redesigned Online Learning Center offers a brand new e-briefer on crowdfunding. This learning portal is becoming a destination for users that seek to educate themselves on sound business practices and emerging trends impacting the small business marketplace.

The crowdfunding e-briefer promotes three objectives:

Define how crowdfunding helps young entrepreneurs
Describe each crowdfunding component
Share crowdfunding resources

So during National Entrepreneurship Week, personally thank a business mentor, participate in a webinar or our e-briefer, encourage a young entrepreneur and re-commit to supporting small businesses in your community.

4 Ways to Use Google Hangouts in Your Business

smallbiztrends — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 21:28:47 +0000

Small business people still seem to be in the process of catching on to Google+, the social network created by Google. Google has made a number of moves to encourage people to use Google+. It has tied in several applications to Google Plus.

One of those applications is Google Hangouts. Hangouts are a type of online group meeting using webcams so that each of the participants can see and hear the others. Think video conference and webinar all rolled up in one.

With Hangouts, you can hold group presentations online and automatically record them for YouTube, and archive them for later access. You can stream live broadcasts directly from your website, YouTube channel and/or Google+ profile with just a few clicks. Even better, you can save your recorded Hangout videos and post them on your site. If you wanted to try offering webinars, this is a no-cost way to do it – because Hangouts are completely free to do.

So what exactly can you do with Hangouts? Here are 4 suggestions:

1. Conduct Team Meetings

With so many teams having members spread out in different locations or working from home, just scheduling an in-person team meeting can be a challenge. Traveling to attend meetings can be costly and more importantly, time consuming.

Conference calls are the typical way of handling meetings when everyone cannot be present. But phone communication leaves a lot to be desired. When you can’t see facial expressions, miscommunication can arise. Worse, in today’s world, team members can succumb to distraction and start focusing on their smartphones instead of the team participants. When you can see one another, those issues are minimized. People tend to stay alert and engaged.

Need to share a Web URL to the team, or share your screen to show them something? With Hangouts you just push a button and you can do that.

With Hangouts, the person who happens to “hold the floor” and is speaking at the moment, has his or her video screen showing in the large view. Other participants’ screens are minimized until they speak.

And yes, you can restrict Hangouts to make them private.

2. Hold Webinars

Have you ever wanted to share expertise and have it available online, perhaps to establish yourself or a company executive as a subject matter expert? Or perhaps you want to start a webinar series as part of your content marketing repertoire. Or maybe you want to provide a question and answer session for customers or prospects, about a product offering either for sales or customer support purposes.

Hangouts are an interactive way to do all of the above. Hangouts normally are limited to 10 active participants (available to 15 participants with Google+ premium features). Their small size of active participants keeps them rather intimate and encourages participation and questions.

With Google Hangouts On Air, you can broadcast your Hangout publicly. You can record it, edit the recording, and share the recorded event online.

If the cost of webinar software has kept you from experimenting with webinars or customer Q&A sessions, then Hangouts are a low-risk way to experiment. Same with technology issues – if you have been concerned with the technical elements of holding webinars, hangouts are pretty easy. There’s a free Google video chat plugin you will be prompted to download and install upon your first Hangout – but it’s fast and easy. You don’t have to worry about trying to make recording software sync up. You simply start a Hangout, name it and you’re good to go.

3. Offer Consulting Hours

Remember when you were in college and your professor held Office Hours so students could get individual help? Why not offer the same feature as a consultant?

You could offer customized coaching services. A Hangout session with your client can replace phone calls and emails, or lengthy and expensive travel.

For smaller consultants and professionals, it can differentiate your business from competitors. You’ll look high tech, at no extra cost. And Hangouts can allow you to offer an expanded range of services, such as paid coaching sessions that can be advertised and scheduled on your website. Musicians can offer paid music lessons. Only your imagination is the limit.

4. Hold a Press Conference

Who says press conferences are limited to big companies? Recording artist Taylor Swift hosted a Google+ Hangout to announce her new album. During the live chat, Taylor answered fan questions from around the world, let them know what they could expect from her album, and debuted its first single. When her single was released on iTunes it went straight to number one, faster than any other song in history.

Have a big announcement – whether it’s a new executive hire, a new product, or simply to announce that you’ve won an award? A Google Hangout lets you tell the world and provide an interactive record of the announcement.

There are many ways for small business owners to use Google+ Hangouts to connect with their customers, build their brands, monetize their businesses, and create buzz. Check out the Google Live Events calendar to help spur some of your own ideas. You can also add your own events to the calendar to increase your reach. And check out this article with more ways to use Google Hangouts.

Balancing Work and Personal Life with Your Business

bridgetwpollack — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:08:43 +0000

January is the month when we promise ourselves we will change for the better…we say we will eat better, work out more and spend more time with our loved ones. And by February, we find ourselves right back into our old habits.

If you’re really lucky, the holidays may have provided a mental and physical break and rejuvenated your fervor for your business. Hopefully, you were able to spend time with family and friends and were reminded about what you work so hard for, and proved that time away from your work can do your work good.

But as an owner who has dedicated all you have to your business, it can be difficult to know how to juggle work and play. In the 2012 U.S. Bank Small Business Annual Survey, small business owners reported that “more owners in 2012 said their business is their life and their life is their business–up from 34 percent in 2011 to 45 percent in 2012.”

As with many things, the most important step in achieving work-life balance is to simply be aware of it. Know what your work and personal goals are and regularly take stock of where they stand and what needs to change.

It’s helpful to think of your life as a business, too. Its profits may not be measured in any currency and its benchmarks may not be defined by tangible assets, but it too has goals to achieve and plans to help you get there. Just like a business, to sustain yourself and your personal life over a long period of time, it needs to be analyzed, planned and dedicated time. Only once this “business” is made sustainable and profitable can it properly bolster your actual business.

As an entrepreneur who has laser-focused vision on the ultimate bottom line, it can be easy to forget about managing the personal aspects of your life. Similarly, if you have employees, you may slip into the role of the boss who demands that same 150% dedication from their employees as well. While they are most likely passionate, dedicated and hard workers, they need their own work-life balance as well. Try to make sure they have adequate time during the year to take their own leave and address their own personal goals and needs. The Golden Rule certainly applies: Treat your employees how you wish your boss had treated you.

The question then becomes, “What is adequate time to provide to myself and my employees?” and “How do I let go of some of the business aspects to focus on my own life?” These questions can have varying answers depending upon your personality, needs and the business that you are in. This is where it is helpful to have a mentor—someone who understands your business, but is removed from the situation so that they can see different aspects from you, the owner, who is engrained in all of the components.

Take the beginning of this new year as an opportunity to make a plan for your small business, your personal life and how you will balance the two throughout the next 12 months. Work with a mentor from SCORE or the Small Business Development Centers to evaluate this plan. Don’t beat yourself up if you happen to show up late for dinner or miss that deadline in lieu of a soccer game. If you haven’t already learned this in your small business endeavors you certainly will:

“When you aim for perfection, you discover it's a moving target.” -George Fisher

How to Train Your Sales Reps to be Superior Subject Matter Experts

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:35:53 +0000

Do all your sales reps sing off the same hymn sheet? Are they all equally knowledgeable about your products and services?

If you’ve ever worked in retail sales, you’ll know how difficult it is to remember your training and apply it in critical moments. After all, products are constantly evolving and inventory is always shifting. This is why it’s critical that small business owners ensure their sales teams are well trained and knowledgeable. It can make the difference between winning and losing a sale.

Thanks to the Internet and the proliferation of online reviews from experts and consumers alike, the average customer is more informed than ever—and your sales reps should be one step ahead of them. Here are some tips for ensuring your sales teams are armed with the knowledge they need to support your sales goals.

Give training the time and depth it deserves

Training is worth the investment; the nicest sales rep in the world is useless without product knowledge. This means not just knowing your products, but your competitors too.

A single training session is rarely enough, as people learn through practice and from their mistakes. If you don’t have time to handle the training yourself, pair each new rep with a mentor. This should be someone on your team who’s already knowledgeable, and willing to spend several weeks training, shadowing and observing your trainee—before that person ever gets in front of a customer. In addition to teaching, be sure to test, quiz and role play to challenge your trainee’s know-how. And don’t just emphasize product knowledge; for example, if your products are complex or technical, role play situations where a rep’s knowledge may be insufficient and it’s time to bring in the business owner or someone from your technical team. No one expects a sales rep to know everything, but they do expect them to know where to find the right answers, rather than fudge their way through a sale.

Include competitor training

If your product line or similar products are sold by a competitor, be sure to train and test your trainee reps on these. Educate reps on the competing product lines, their strengths and their weaknesses. Have them do their own research and present comparisons of your products versus those available elsewhere. Help them identify differentiators and encourage them to role play a sales pitch that involves a competitive sell.

Monitor, check in and refresh

Knowledge retention and true learning is a fine art, especially in today’s information-driven world where data is quickly consumed and just as quickly forgotten. This is why it’s important to stay on top of your sales reps performance once they are out selling on behalf of your company. Ask your customers for feedback, use customer surveys to gauge satisfaction levels and listen in on sales pitches. Commit to holding regular training sessions with your entire sales team to ensure they are up to speed on new developments, new product lines and new marketing campaigns. (Sales and marketing should always be aligned.)

Encourage continuous learning and sharing

A good rep will always look for further learning opportunities, whether through external classes, industry publications, or trade shows. Encourage this behavior, budget permitting. A low-cost alternative would be to hold monthly “lunch ‘n’ learn” training sessions where you encourage a rep to make an informal 10-15 minute learning moment presentation. This could be about a new industry development that might impact your business; sharing best practices from an external training course (a train-the-trainer concept); or providing insights on a deal or transaction that went well (or otherwise).

For more tips read 8 Tips for Training your Small Business Employees on a Budget.

What training practices have worked for your sales teams? Leave a comment below!

Related Blogs

SBA’s Most Popular Blogs of 2012: Steps to Starting a Business, Writing a Business Plan, and More

Stephen Morris — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:11:06 +0000

Now that 2012 is coming to a close, we are looking back at the past year here at SBA. We’ve posted a lot of articles – based on questions we receive from small business owners – but these are the top 10 topics that you liked the most (by number of views):

10. Starting a Freelance Business – How to Take Care of Legal, Tax and Contractual Paperwork

10,635 views

9. How to Set a Marketing Budget that Fits your Business Goals and Provides a High Return on Investment

11,647 views

8. 6 Business Tax Credits and Deductions to Take Advantage of Before New Year’s Day

12,283 views

7. Laid Off and Want to Start a Business? Self-Employment Assistance Programs May Help

13,177 views

6. How to Start a Small Construction or General Contracting Business

13,691 views

5. How to Open a Small Business Bank Account Online

14,102 views

4. The Difference Between a Trade Name and a Trademark – And Why You Can’t Overlook Either

15,927 views

3. Startup Cost Tax Deductions – How to Write Off the Expense of Starting Your Business

16,710 views

2. Building a Business Plan – New SBA Online Tool Can Help You Get Started

18,078 views

And your number one most read blog of 2012 is…

1. Starting a Business? 10 Steps Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

33,578 views

Use a Business Mentor to Plan for 2013

bridgetwpollack — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 22:50:30 +0000

Now that 2012 is wrapping up, we have the opportunity to take a breath, evaluate where the year has taken us in relation to our business goals and create a game plan for how we will move forward towards success in the new year. A business mentor may just be the perfect means to helping you create that plan. A study by the U.S. Small Business Administration, SBA ED Resources 10-11 Impact Study Final Report, found that small business clients who had received 3 or more hours of mentoring reported higher revenues and increased business growths. Whether you are already in business or looking to start one during the next calendar year, a mentor can help guide your business by providing an outside, unbiased perspective that will keep you on track towards your goals or, perhaps, offer new ideas you had not yet considered.

Planning for Your New Business Idea

If you have a great business concept—or even just a general idea of the kind of work you would like to be doing for yourself—a mentor can assist in hammering out the details of how to bring your ideas to fruition. If you have not yet created a business plan, a mentor can walk you through the process of doing so, bringing to the table years of real world business experience and having helped numerous other entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground as well.

If you are not sure exactly what shape your business will take, the process of creating financial projections like pro forma income statements and profit and loss statements will give you insight into the results of several different scenarios before taking the financial and personal plunge. These financial statements can seem daunting to the uninitiated, but with a mentor with financial expertise at your side, you will be able to navigate them with ease. Having a clear picture of the financial potential of your business concept will let you know if it truly is feasible or needs to be further refined in 2013.

Planning for Your Current Enterprise

For current business operators, a mentor can help evaluate the current state of your business and make sure it is on track towards your goals. If you have not yet created a business plan for your enterprise, a mentor can guide you through doing so. If you have drafted a complete business plan, they can help you evaluate how you have met your objectives and revise the plan according to changes in the business, the business landscape or your goals.

No matter what the business topic, a mentor has likely encountered the same scenario or is able to refer you to someone else who has. Mentors are unique in that they have specific expertise from their own experiences in the business world, but also a wealth of general business knowledge from helping others start and grow their ventures. Some topics and questions a mentor can help you think through in planning for 2013 are:

Marketing: How effective is my current marketing plan? Are these efforts on track with my goals

New Offerings & Directions: Where does my business stand in relationship to my competitors? What opportunities exist for me to expand or take the business in new and profitable directions?

Technology: Are my employees equipped with the right technology for the activities and goals I want to accomplish?

Budget & Cash Flow: Does my budget match with the initiatives I have set out for next year? Will I have sufficient cash flow to carry me throughout 2013?

A Sounding Board

One of the greatest benefits a mentor can offer your business is simply a wise ear. We hear time and again from SCORE clients that the greatest function their mentor serves is as a sounding board: someone to bounce ideas off of, rehearse their elevator pitches with and be reassured that they are on the right path. A mentor also makes a fantastic addition to your business team because they offer an outside, unbiased perspective that can spot obvious fixes or opportunities you may be too entrenched to see and supply fresh ideas to solve nagging problems. Cassie Green, owner of Green Grocer Chicago, spoke of her mentor saying, “It’s great to get a perspective from someone who doesn’t have a personal interest in the business. They are totally objective and just want you to succeed.”

Entrepreneurship can certainly seem like a lonely road at times. But working with a mentor to plan out a map that will help guide you along that road can make it a little easier.

New DOL-SBA Website Encourages Entrepreneurship

Karen Mills — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 22:58:08 +0000

Note: This joint blog with Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis was originally published on DOL's blog.

The entrepreneurial spirit is what drives this country. In fact, small businesses and start-ups are responsible for creating two out of every three new jobs in the United States. And more than half of all working Americans own or work for a small business. That’s why helping to create an environment where more businesses are easily able to start and succeed has been an important goal for this administration.

Today, our agencies — the Small Business Administration and Department of Labor — teamed up for another step forward on this path, announcing a new website to help states offer Self-Employment Assistance programs to those looking to create jobs in their communities. Self-Employment Assistance provides Unemployment Insurance recipients interested in starting a business with financial assistance, critical entrepreneurial training and resources to get those businesses off the ground.

On the website, you’ll find model legislation that your state can use to enact these programs, as well as a new online toolkit from the Small Business Administration, which offers courses and training on how to start a business. “How to Prepare a Business Plan” and “Franchising Basics” are just a few of the courses that are offered to up-and-coming entrepreneurs. There are also courses on obtaining money for small businesses, entrepreneurship and business planning, entrepreneurial marketing, developing entrepreneurial work styles, as well as a host of other topics including accounting, marketing, legal facets, sales and taxes.

This initiative is part of a larger package of common-sense measures that are helping to turn the Unemployment Insurance program into a re-employment program. Earlier this year, President Obama signed the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 − the first major overhaul of UI in four decades. Along with providing states tools to help prevent job losses and assist the unemployed in getting back to work quicker, the legislation also provided $35 million for states to create Self-Employment Assistance programs and expand entrepreneurship opportunities — like today’s announcement.

We’re excited about the ingenuity that will result from the Self-Employment Assistance program. This new site and the resources it provides will help expand access to the program, helping promising business owners create opportunities for themselves as well as new jobs for others.

Karen Mills is the administrator of the Small Business Administration. Hilda Solis is the secretary of labor.

Building a Business Plan – New SBA Online Tool Can Help You Get Started

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:50:50 +0000

Having a business plan is a must for small business owners, but finding the time to put pen to paper often means putting them on hold until the very last minute, such as right before that big meeting with a loan officer or bank manager.

But business planning does not have to be that way.

Every smart entrepreneur and business owner should already have a firm grasp of key information about their business and on what will influence the path they take and decisions they make over the course of 1-3 years.

Putting this information together into a concrete plan is essential if you want to secure a business loan or outside financing, of course. But the planning and mental exercise of writing it down is just as important to the success of your business. Writing a plan will not only help you succeed, but it will open your eyes to what it’s going to take to get there.

One of the big challenges for smaller businesses is actually building a business plan. What format should it take? What numbers should you pull together to demonstrate that you have a rock solid financial foundation?

SBA has just launched a new online tool that can help.

“Build a Business Plan” Online Tool

To simplify the process, SBA has just launched a new “Build a Business Plan” online tool that guides small business owners through the process of creating a basic, downloadable business plan. The great thing about this tool is you can build a plan in smaller bites, save your progress and return at your leisure.

To use the tool, you’ll need to be a member of the SBA Community (register here) and then log in. The tool offers a tab-based step-by-step guide that lets you enter information into a template for each section of the business plan, including market analysis, company description and financial projections. The tool is secure and confidential and will keep your plan on record for up to six months. You can also save, download or email the plan at any time.

Discuss Your Plan with a Small Business Advisor

Don’t forget: you can also use your completed business plan to discuss your next steps with a mentor or counselor from an SBA resource partner such as SCORE, a Small Business Development Center or a Women's Business Center.

Then be sure to keep your plan fresh, revisit it, and measure progress against it. As your business grows, your plan – and your benchmarks for success – will grow with it.

Related Articles

Heroes on the Homefront: New Report Highlights Our Veterans' Contributions as Job Creators

Marie Johns — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:48:29 +0000

I’m excited to announce the release of a report by the Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development called “Heroes on the Homefront: Supporting Veteran Success as Small Business Owners.” This is the second report of its kind where task force members from seven agencies have come together to collaborate on small business issues that are unique to Veteran business owners.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) believes that two of America’s greatest assets are the service of our returning veterans and the economic dynamism of our small businesses. It is no secret that entrepreneurs and small businesses are the engines of American innovation and economic prosperity. For example, our nation’s 28 million small firms employ 60 million Americans, or half of the private sector workforce, and they are responsible for creating 2 out of 3 net new private sector jobs across the country. And, these numbers are even better when looking at Veteran Owned Small Businesses:

U.S. military veterans own 2.4 million businesses, or nearly 1 in 10 of all businesses nationwide. 8.3 percent of veteran business owners have service-connected disabilities.
Veteran-owned businesses generate $1.2 trillion in receipts and employ nearly 5.8 million people.
In the private sector workforce, veterans are at least 45 percent more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed.

The focus of this year’s report, the Task Force’s second, is to provide updates on the 18 recommendations that were made in last year’s report. The recommendations are organized around three priority areas for engaging the Federal government: (1) Increase Opportunities for Growth; (2) Improve and Expand Counseling and Training Services; and (3) Reduce Barriers to Growth and Improve Coordination and Efficiencies.

We are pleased to report great progress has been made since the Task Force’s initial review. In FY 2012, the Task Force, along with the interagency Veterans Employment Initiative, developed and piloted a re-designed military transition program, entitled Transition GPS, that includes an entrepreneurship training program called “Operation Boots to Business: from Service to Startup.” This program is expected to be rolled out nationally in the coming year. The Task Force has also worked to streamline programs and cut paperwork for veteran small businesses through support for initiatives such as BusinessUSA and QuickApp for surety bonds and it has continued the efforts begun last year to make the process of winning Federal government contracts simpler and easier for service-disabled veterans and veteran-owned small business.

We know that our nation’s veterans helped reshape the American economy following World War II. They helped to build one of the longest periods of economic growth in our country’s history. And we know they can do it again if they are simply given the right tools and the right opportunities.

That’s why the SBA and the entire Obama Administration is committed to ensuring that these amazing men and women have the access and opportunity they need to fully realize their potential as entrepreneurs and small business owners.

These men have women have served our country so well. And as they begin this next chapter in their lives, we are prepared to be with them every step of the way.

Related

SBA Resources for Veterans

4 New SBA Online Tools That Can Take Your Small Business to New Levels

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 12:08:59 +0000

The old adage “time is money” is perhaps one of the most pertinent statements that you can apply to small business owners. Whether you’re starting a business or managing a growing one, entrepreneurs and business owners wear many hats and have many questions:

What laws and regulations apply to my business?
How do I start to write a business plan?
Where can I get help with X, Y and Z?

Many of us invariably turn to our networks and the Internet to find answers. But how can you trust that the information you are getting is truly applicable to your business and, let’s face it, even accurate?

As part of its mission to help business owners start, succeed and grow, SBA, through the SBA.gov website has developed numerous online tools and guides to help small businesses get information and answers they need quickly and efficiently. For example, these 10 Steps to Starting a Business and these 10 Steps to Hiring your First Employee guides are essential reading. SBA Direct is another useful tool that personalizes business owners’ experience on the SBA.gov website. Then there are the Licenses and Permits Search Tool and the Loans and Grants Search Tool.

New Online Tools to Help Business Owners Plan, Manage and Grow

Over the past couple of months, SBA has expanded its capacity and selection of tools and information business owners need by developing a whole range of new online features! Check them out:

1. Get to Know Your Market and Competition Better with the SizeUp Tool

Want to know how your business stacks up against the competition? Where your potential competitors are located? Where the best places are to advertise your business? These are all critical inputs for your business plan and can also help back up any financing applications.

Now with the new SizeUp tool you can crunch millions of data points and get customizable reports and statistics about your business and its competition. Just enter your industry, city, state and other details. SizeUp then runs various reports and provides maps and data related to your competition, suppliers and customers. It also highlights potential advertising opportunities.

2. Build a Business Plan Tool

Business planning can seem a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be that way. To help you plan and steer your business, this new “Build a Business Plan” tool guides you through the process of creating a basic, downloadable business plan. The great thing about it is you can build a plan in smaller chunks of time, save your progress and return at your leisure.

To use the tool, simply log into SBA.gov (registration is free, sign up here) and enter information into a template for each section of the business plan including, market analysis, company description and financial projections. The tool is secure and confidential and will keep your plan on record for up to six months. You can also save, download or email the plan at any time.

3. Size Standards Tool –Find Out Fast if You Qualify for Government Contracts

In order to be eligible to sell to the government and compete for small business “set-aside” contracts, business owners had to rummage through various rules and matrices to find out if their business is truly “small” according to SBA size standards. Now, with this new Size Standards Tool, you can follow three simple steps to cut through the guesswork and quickly find out if you qualify for government contracting opportunities. SBA also offers other resources including government contracting training courses, and guides to help you register as a contractor.

4. Events Calendar – Locate Business Training and Seminars

SBA and its partners, including Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, and SCORE, hold hundreds of small business training seminars and workshops across the country. Until now, there was no single repository for these events. Now, with SBA’s Events Calendar, you can quickly find and sign up for training. Enter a date range and/or zip code to locate events in your area. Results are filtered by topic such as “starting a business,” “managing a business,” “business planning,” and “financing a business.”

Tell us what you think about the new tools below. You can also Tweet @SBAgov or post your feedback on the SBA Facebook page.

Helping to Support Our Troops When They Return Home

bridgetwpollack — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 17:19:39 +0000

On November 11, we took the time out of our day to thank those who serve and protect our nation. However, our nation owes it to them to show them our gratitude every day, and provide them with the support they need after what they have given for us. The men and women of our military sacrifice so much for our freedom, and when they return after years of serving, it is a difficult transition for them and their families starting the next chapter in their lives.

The number of veterans early in their careers is on the rise: 74 percent of service-disabled veterans over the last 10 years is under 30 years old. They are equipped with unique skills as a result of their service, and their veteran status offers distinct business advantages. For those veterans and their family members with the entrepreneurial spirit, there are now several programs aimed at helping them leverage their skills and talents and start a business. With the help of these initiatives, veterans have a greater chance of achieving success and once again, providing critical support for our country as one of the many small businesses that are the backbone of our nation.

Joining Forces: Led by the First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, Joining Forces is a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families opportunities and support. The mission is to integrate existing services and offer new forms of business support, knitting them all together and making it work for each veteran’s individual needs.

Veteran Fast Launch: For over 48 years, SCORE has been a leader in providing mentoring and training to entrepreneurs through its network of more than 12,000 volunteer mentors and trainers. With the support of its partnership with the Wal-Mart Foundation, the Veteran Fast Launch initiative provides veterans and active duty military members – plus spouses and members of their immediately family — with:
- FREE or significantly discounted resources for starting businesses, such as computer software and business services (provided by major corporate partners)
- Training in how to start and how to grow a successful/profitable business
- SCORE’s mentoring program where Fast Launch participants will be assigned a knowledgeable and highly experienced mentor to guide them every step of the way.

Operation Boots to Business: The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recognizes the contributions that veterans make by owning and running businesses that employ millions of Americans. According to the most recent U.S. Census Data, veteran-owned firms represent 9 percent of all U.S. firms. These 2.45 million veteran-owned businesses employed over 5.8 million individuals. Transitioning service members are natural entrepreneurs, possessing the training, experience, and leadership skills to start businesses and create jobs. SBA is dedicated to help even more veterans grow their businesses and create jobs. Through the Boots to Business initiative, service members will learn the nuts and bolts of how to start and grow a business. They will also be introduced to the SBA’s nationwide Resource Partner network for support throughout the lifecycle of their new business.

Veterans Business Fund: The Veterans Business Fund (VBF) is a not-for profit organization, established in response to the high unemployment rate among veterans, many of whom are well qualified through their military experience to become successful small business owners but lack sufficient equity capital to qualify for a small business loan. The VBF assists veterans by providing them with the supplemental capital required to satisfy the equity requirements for a small business loan, providing capital to veterans in the form of a non interest bearing loan with favorable repayment terms.

Operation Endure and Grow: Aimed at National Guard and Reserve members, Operation Endure and Grow gives them, their families and business partners access to online training courses focused on the fundamentals of launching or growing a small business. This program offered by the Whitman School of Management, in cooperation with the SBA, offers service personnel courses on crafting a business or nonprofit plan. In addition, they'll receive ideas for presenting to investors, lenders or other financial backers.

Creating the World’s Next Generation of Entrepreneurs

Michael Chodos — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 19:08:32 +0000

This week marks the celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), an annual initiative taking place around the world with more than 35,000 events in 135 countries. The events recognize the economic and social contributions of innovative entrepreneurs and bring an unparalleled level of inspiration to those considering a path of entrepreneurship.

As GEW inspires the next generation of entrepreneurs, we here at SBA share an equal commitment to help small businesses to start, grow and create jobs. Entrepreneurs learn quickly that getting a business successfully off the ground requires building solid relationships and working collaboratively with others who support your vision. The same holds true for SBA in our mission to help entrepreneurs on their journey to achieve their goals, and we have established another connection to help you.

I’m pleased to announce that SBA has joined with the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), a non-profit organization, with a common mission to promote economic vitality through entrepreneurship. This organization has served as the only organization exclusively devoted to the mission of accelerating entrepreneurship through America’s community and technical colleges and has over 300 community colleges as members representing over 1,400 individuals at those colleges. NACCE is an incredibly important organization, and we’ll work together to strengthen and expand entrepreneurship and small business development in the nation.

Our collaboration with NACCE will allow us to share resources and experts on topics ranging from government contracting to financing as well as provide information that continually supports small businesses. We see relationships like this one as vital to keeping small businesses thriving.

As part of our salute to GEW and NACCE’s commitment to entrepreneurship, I encourage you to visit SBA’s free online resources for launching your small business.

Try the assessment tool and discover your level of readiness to start your own business.
Take the free online course, Young Entrepreneurs: An Essential Guide to Starting Your Own Business, and learn what you need to do to get your business idea off and running.
Learn more about 10 Steps to Starting a Business.
Visit SBA’s Local Assistance to find counseling, mentoring and training resources in your area.

Whether your interests include turning your business idea a reality, seeking funding sources or finding new customers, SBA and a broad network of resources are here to help you.

SBA Unveils New Learning Portal for Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs

Michael Chodos — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:41:43 +0000

Global Entrepreneurship Week is an opportunity to celebrate innovative entrepreneurs and small business owners. In the U.S. alone there are 28 million small business owners and they create two out of every three new jobs in America. But, there are so many more people with the entrepreneurial spirit and I have the great fortune of meeting many of them through my travels. Global Entrepreneurship Week is a time to ensure America’s budding small business owners have more tools to help them turn their passion into business or turn that great idea into a new venture.

Often times, small business owners will share stories about how SBA’s resources have been vital or how they are in need of finding the right help. This is one of the reasons why SBA continually strives to ensure that small business entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need for their business, including information on startup how to’s, marketing, financing, contracting and more.

We’ve learned valuable feedback from entrepreneurs who rely on our website to educate themselves about small business ownership and listened to what they said. We acknowledged that the user experience to access online resources needed to be easy, efficient and engaging. Today I am pleased to share that SBA is launching a new online learning center.

The learning center is a redesigned, online learning portal for small business entrepreneurs. It has a streamlined, searchable catalog of small business educational resources including self-paced courses, videos and web sessions. The resources may be sorted by topic, making it easier to quickly locate helpful information. For instance, if you want to take a course on how to write your business plan, the learning center is a one-stop destination to find the course as well as other supporting content.

We know that your time is precious, and the Learning Center’s design significantly reduces the number of site pages that users have to visit to find a video or online course.

The learning center’s features include:

Information available everywhere at any time for small business entrepreneurs
Improved navigation that gives users one-click access to small business courses, videos or web chat sessions
A quick snapshot of each form of media, including a brief description and system requirements
Free online courses on topics such as How to Write a Business Plan, Essential Guide to Starting Your Own Business for Young Entrepreneurs, Government Contracting 101, Green Business Opportunities and Encore Entrepreneurs: An Introduction to Starting Your Own Business
Recommended courses, videos or web sessions based on selections that the user makes while navigating

I also encourage entrepreneurs to connect with SBA’s mentor network for further assistance. Local Assistance, a location-based map, allows you to connect to your nearest SBA District Office, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs), SCORE Chapters, Veteran’s Business Outreach Centers and Women’s Business Centers (WBCs), where you can receive helpful counseling, training and mentoring from any of these resources for starting, growing and managing your small business. You may simply enter your zip code to get access to descriptive information about each SBA resource and narrow your search based where you would like to go for assistance. It’s that easy.

SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development, in collaboration with our entire communications team, is continually exploring other ways to offer engaging materials to help keep your entrepreneurial enthusiasm going.

Celebrating Veterans and America's 2.4 Million Veteran-Owned Small Businesses

Rhett_Jeppson — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:21:28 +0000

Each Veterans Day we honor veterans: those serving to protect us at home and abroad, and those who previously served. America’s service members put themselves in harm’s way to protect our freedoms and safety here in the U.S.

As a fellow veteran, I, too, understand the many sacrifices our men and women serving in the military and in the National Guard make daily, whether it’s serving overseas, or serving in a location here in the U.S. For more than 20 years I had the privilege of serving with many of these fine men and women in peacetime and in wartime. I have a deep gratitude for those who have gone before us, paying the ultimate sacrifice, and the many who still pay the price every day from injuries received while in service to our nation.

We, as a country, have such a strong and proud military heritage, as remembered this year with commemoration events to mark the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 and the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War. But it’s not just historical events that remind us of the selfless contributions made by services members; we are thankful every day to welcome veterans home from today’s conflicts across the globe.

Our men and women in uniform are everyday heroes, whose strength, duty, devotion, and resolve to protect and defend that which has kept our country safe for over 200 years. In times of peace and conflict, there is no doubt that their accomplishments have been extraordinary. The best way to honor veterans and their sacrifice is to provide them with the best possible service and opportunities here at home.

Part of the mission of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is to provide assistance to veterans and service-disabled veterans who return home to start, resume, or further grow their businesses. In fact, SBA supports Veteran business owners through entrepreneurial training and mentoring, access to capital, and business development opportunities through government contracts. To see all of the opportunities SBA has for veterans, please visit www.sba.gov/veterans.

Many of the transitioning service members apply the skills and experience they develop on the battlefield to a life of service here at home. They take on roles in their communities as doctors and police officers, engineers and entrepreneurs, and mothers and fathers. Did you know that nearly one in 10 small businesses nationwide is veteran-owned? And collectively, these 2.4 million small businesses employ nearly six million Americans and generate more than $1 trillion in receipts. In the private sector workforce, veterans are 45 percent more likely than those with no active-duty military experience to be self-employed.

For veterans who choose self-employment after military service, SBA is focused on outreach efforts for programs such as Boots to Business, an entrepreneurial training program; to Veteran Resource Centers for business counseling; and supporting access to capital for veterans through our Patriot Express Loans.

If you are a veteran or know one, please check out www.sba.gov/veterans and www.sba.gov/reservists to learn more about how we can help.

With the highest gratitude and respect, thank you, veterans, for your service. Your commitment to our nation, your communities and your families are the foundation on what makes this country great.

Join SBA and Microsoft in Portland, Oregon for a Tweetup

ngoriel — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 18:15:18 +0000

Microsoft and the U.S. Small Business Administration are teaming up to host a Tweetup for Portland area small business owners and entrepreneurs to learn about business resources in the community. The event is open to mom-and-pops, tech startups, and everything in between - just bring your tweeting (or other social media) skills.

In addition to meeting other entrepreneurs in the community, participants will have a chance to hear from SBA’s Sean Greene, Associate Administrator for Innovation & Investment, and Microsoft’s Mark Drapeau, Director of Innovative Engagement (Public Sector).

The event is free to the public, but space is limited and registration is required. To register, please visit http://pdxbiz.eventbrite.com.

If you cannot attend in person, you can catch all of the action online with the event hashtag #PDXbiz.

Details:

SBA & Microsoft Tweetup
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
6pm-7:30pm PT

Migration Brewing Co.
2828 Northeast Glisan St
Portland, OR 97232

Registration:

http://pdxbiz.eventbrite.com

What’s a Tweetup?

A Tweetup is an event where people who tweet come together to meet in person, allowing them to share more than just 140 characters at a time. The event is open to the general public, including non-tweeters interested in learning more about business resources and making connections with other entrepreneurs in their area.

About the Speakers

Sean Greene, who heads up SBA’s startup division in Washington, DC, will provide remarks as well as Dr. Mark Drapeau, the Director of Innovative Engagement at Microsoft. The Tweetup will provide entrepreneurs insights and updates into the $2.5 billion in annual federal funding for small business research, innovation, and technology transfer.

Cosponsorship Authorization # 13-2110-06. SBA’s participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made if requested in advance. Contact: Natale Goriel (503) 326-5207 or Natale.Goriel@sba.gov.

An Inclusive Vision Of Entrepreneurship

Karen Mills — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 15:23:40 +0000

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak at the National Association of Women Business Owner’s (NAWBO) conference in Louisville. It was a chance to talk about the issues and the opportunities that women business owners and entrepreneurs face as they build innovative and successful companies across the United States.

Forty years ago, women owned just 5 percent of all small businesses. Today, women own 30 percent, which equals a total of 7.8 million companies generating $1.2 trillion a year in sales.

These are entrepreneurs like Rachel Carson, whose company Helicopter Tech, Inc., is selling aviation products and equipment to over 23 countries. Rachel is using SBA’s export loan products to expand her business into lucrative markets around the world. Another example is Ms. Jenny’s Pickles in North Carolina. After the market turned, Jenny Fulton partnered with her assistant, Ashlee Furr, to start their pickle business. They worked with an SBA counselor and now their products are sold in grocery stores all over the US.

That’s what we are focused on across the SBA. Ensuring that more small business owners and entrepreneurs have the access and opportunity they need to turn great business ideas into viable and successful businesses. And we are continuing to look for new ways to support and strengthen women small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Overall, since the President took office, SBA has supported more than $12.4 billion in lending through more than 35,500 SBA loans to women-owned businesses. In addition, we put into place the Women’s Contracting Rule, which means that for the first time Federal Agencies can set aside contracting opportunities for women-owned small business in over 300 industries where women are underrepresented

And as part of National Women’s Small Business Ownership Month, which is being celebrated throughout October, the SBA will host a series of webinars to help educate and empower women entrepreneurs and small business owners. These webinars will feature speakers from core SBA programs and information on enhancements to our programs to meet the needs of more women small business owners.

At the SBA, and across the Administration, we believe that entrepreneurs and small business owners are one of our nation’s greatest assets.

And we know that when you embrace an inclusive vision of entrepreneurship, one that draws entrepreneurs of all demographics, backgrounds and locations, not only do the businesses they start succeed, America succeeds.

8 Tips for Training your Small Business Employees on a Budget

Caron_Beesley — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 11:08:42 +0000

Well-trained employees are essential to the success of your business. Unfortunately, in a bad economy, a business’ training budget is often the first thing cut. It may make sense at the time, but the long-term implications can far outweigh the immediate costs saved.

Over time, a lack of training may reduce motivation levels and business inefficiencies and, most detrimentally, result in staff turnover – which in itself can be costly. According to a 2008 article in HR Management, replacing a worker costs on average 100-125 percent of an employee’s annual salary in lost productivity, recruitment costs and new hire training.

But how can you train your employees well without breaking your budget? Here are eight tips.

1. Join Associations or Trade Groups

Many industry associations offer training programs for members at annual events, online, and at seminars. Check out your trade association website or newsletter for training opportunities that may be included in your membership.

2. Find Trainers Within Your Organization

Got someone in your organization who has strong communication and interaction skills and the patience to help others learn? Consider appointing them as a trainer. Have them attend classes and come back prepared to share what they’ve learned. You can also buy training materials and use them to equip your trainer

3. Host Weekly or Monthly Brown-Bag Lunches

These are a great way for team members to get involved in new things and help educate the wider team about how each employee contributes to the business. Ask employees to come prepared to talk about a topic. You’d be surprised how little the different teams know about what the others do and how it benefits everyone. A sales rep might present an overview on the sales process, and how important each business function and individual is to ensuring a happy customer. An employee who is exploring a new way of doing business can also share it over lunch.

4. Use Online Training Courses

Online courses are a great way for employees to learn at their own pace and select from a wide variety of courses, some of them free or at low-cost. Organizations such as Learning Tree, Dale Carnegie, BizLibrary and the Business Training Institute all offer a large selection of online classes.

5. Cross-Train Employees in the Workplace

This is common practice in businesses that need an agile workforce ready and equipped to take on other roles should business requirements change. You can do this by looking at different jobs in your organization as hands-on training opportunities for others. Give employees new roles or responsibilities. Have them shadow someone who is already doing these tasks for a few days, until they are ready to try the new role on their own. Rotate roles frequently so your employees are continuously learning and challenged to achieve new things.

6. Start a Mentorship Program

Consider partnering new or less experienced employees with mentors. For example, an up-and-coming sales rep might benefit from sitting in on sales planning sessions or attending important off-site customer meetings with a more senior employee.

7. When You Need to Bring in the Pros

These options can all be fulfilled at a low cost, but what if you need to solve very specific problems? You may need to invest in an off-site training program where employees benefit from fewer distractions and an interactive class room environment. If you are training multiple people, a more cost-effective and time-saving option might be to bring a trainer on-site.

Ask other business owners or your local Small Business Development Center or Women’s Business Center about courses and classes that fit your needs and your budget.

8. Set Goals and Measure Success

Lastly, before you embark on any training or mentoring program, be specific about what you and your employees want to achieve. Use annual performance reviews to gauge competency gaps as well as your employee’s desired areas of improvement. Then put specific training goals in place for each employee. Let your employees know that you will assess the impact the training has had on their overall job skills and performance on a six-month and annual basis.

Related Blogs

October Web Chats Offer Tips for Women on How to Start or Grow a Business

CeceliaT — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 19:55:33 +0000

[Update: the web chats have now concluded. You can view the archive of each chat below.]

October is National Women’s Small Business Month. Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing segments of the small business community. Today, about 30 percent of small businesses are owned by women, compared to about 5 percent in 1970.

This month the SBA officials will host a series of weekly web chats, aimed at helping aspiring and established women business owners learn more about starting or expanding small businesses, gaining access to capital, and government contracting set-asides for women. In addition, tips on business opportunities for young women will also be discussed during the last webinar in the series.

Participants can ask questions in advance through the links below or during the live session.

[Event Ended] Starting and Growing Your Business
Thursday, October 4 | 3 p.m. ET
Erin Andrew, Office of Entrepreneurial Development

> View Archive

Finding Capital
Thursday, October 11 | 4 p.m. ET
Pravina Raghavan, Director, SBA New York City District Office

> View Archive

Contracting with the Federal Government
Tuesday, October 16 | 3 p.m. ET
John Shoraka, Associate Administrator, Office of Government Contracting and Business Development

> View Archive

Business Opportunities for Young Women
Thursday, October 25 | 2 p.m. ET
Ana Harvey, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Women’s Business Ownership

> View Archive

To see archived web chats, visit http://www.sba.gov/content/monthly-web-chat.

6 Ways Your Small Business Can Get More From Webinars and Virtual Events

Caron_Beesley — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:27:39 +0000

Technology moves fast these days. Sometimes it’s hard to keep pace with how it can help you be more successful in business – boosting productivity, saving money and improving collaboration.

This SBA guest blog from SmallBizTrends’ Anita Campbell, 4 Ways Technology Helps you Run Your Business, offers some useful tips and recommendations on how technology can help you redesign your business processes to be more efficient and save you money.

Many of the innovations Anita mentions are still rather new – tablet computers, cloud computing, and online software apps – but there is a technology that has been around for years that can still help deliver business success: the webinar!

Webinar or webcast technology has been around since the 90s and has become a staple in many business marketing toolkits, but the good old webinar can do lots more for your business. Here are some tips for getting more from your webinar platform and its more sophisticated cousin – the virtual event.

Use It As a Post-Sale Educational Tool

Marketers often use webinars to showcase products, educate sales prospects and generate leads. You can also use webinars as post-sale learning opportunities for existing customers – where folks can learn without leaving their desks. Have subject matter experts lead virtual learning webinars so that customers can learn about things such as industry trends, new innovations and overcoming topical challenges. Remember, though, it’s not a sales pitch.

Whether you use webinars to complement or even replace field seminars, they can help position your business as a genuinely helpful brand and establish you as the go-to expert in the field.

Use Webinars to Improve SEO

When it comes to driving traffic to your website, content is king, and archived webinars are a great way to improve your company’s search engine rankings. Whether it’s a product demo or an educational event, look for ways to broaden the visibility of your webinar content. Besides posting your archived webinars to your website, link back to them from social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit and StumbleUpon, and promote them on your own social media channels. Post the slide deck to social sharing sites like SlideShare or author STREAM.

Integrate Webinars with Marketing Automation Systems

If you already have or are considering investing in a marketing automation system such as Eloqua, HubSpot or Marketo, get more from your webinar activity by automating your email invites and tracking registrant information, reminders and more. Most platforms offer sophisticated querying to track leads from the source (email, newsletters, sales efforts, etc.) and get real-time registration and attendance metrics in your automation system for dashboard reporting.

Virtual Events

Webinar technology has blossomed in recent years to enable businesses to host virtual events that mimic the traditional tradeshow or conference experience, complete with online exhibit halls, auditoriums, virtual hosts, streaming webinars and more.

Virtual events can be used for a variety of purposes. Many larger businesses use them to complement traditional user conferences or seminars and extend the reach of the event to users across the country or even the globe.

Virtual environments can also replace in-person meetings with partners or customers. For example, you can offer new product briefings or reseller training through a virtual event. You can set up multiple tracks easily, and integrate live briefings and product demos.

Popular virtual event platforms include INXPO, ubivent and Intercall, among others. As with webinars, much of the content can be pre-recorded and archived for “always-on” viewing. A virtual event can really extend the conversation beyond the initial event, offering a place to go to look up product information, meet and chat with your experts.

Product Launches

Wondering how to get maximum visibility and impact for a new product launch? Use webcasting to create a hybrid event or even replace a live product launch event. Many webinar platforms and virtual environments let you integrate social media interaction and live Q&A to ensure maximum engagement.

Employee Training and Communication

Is your team virtual or scattered? Use webinars as part of your employee learning program or as a way to keep them informed of company developments.

How have you used webinars or virtual environments in your small business? Leave a comment below!

You’ve Earned a Small Business Opportunity: Entrepreneurship at 50+

Michael Chodos — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:43:36 +0000

Life after 50 opens the door to many opportunities and new interests, and being retired or near retirement may give you the time, resources and experience that will allow you to be more passionate about these than you have ever been before. It may be time to find the answer to the “what’s next” question you’ve been pondering.

In fact, we’re seeing a growing number of people over the age of 50 – we call them encore entrepreneurs – look to small business ownership as their next big opportunity. Think of it as a great concert. What’s the best part? The encore!

I’m pleased to share today that SBA has launched our initial Encore Entrepreneurship course, an easy-to-use guide on the ins and outs of starting and running a small business, financing, identifying hot industries and more.

The self-paced course is a great first step to entrepreneurship learning, and is designed for individuals planning to start a business after earlier career endeavors. It is practical with real life examples and helpful tips.

The Encore Entrepreneurship course will help you to:

Discover how to turn your entrepreneurial idea into a business reality, and
Define and describe components to forming a new business

SBA is committed to helping encore entrepreneurs in their journey to entrepreneurship. We know it can be a challenge to figure out what to do and where to go for business assistance. There is a ton of information available on how to start and run a business, but not all of it is the right information.

Whether you want to pursue a hobby or start the business you’ve always dreamed of, the new course can help you to:

Choose your Business Idea
Determine if it has Income Potential
Develop a Flexible Business Plan that Steers the Business
Decide on a Business Model, and
Take the Necessary Legal and Regulatory Steps to Get Started

Our partners at AARP impressed upon us that people who are 50+ are digitally savvy and enjoy using engaging, interactive resources. Along those lines, we’re introducing a virtual concierge (her name is Jean). Virtual Jean will serve as our help desk resource for encore entrepreneurs, available anytime and anywhere, on desktops, laptops and tablets.

Jean’s important responsibility is pointing you to the right courses, tools and mentors, and gathering your feedback on what’s useful to you. Jean will introduce a series of “webisodes,” with topics ranging widely from freelancing, programs for veterans, disaster planning, green businesses and more.

Jean will also connect you with SBA’s 1,400+ mentors across the country. Perhaps you’ve heard that there is an opportunity to meet our small business mentors on National Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day next month on Oct. 2, a joint effort of SBA and AARP. You’ll get a chance to interact with small business mentors, and learn more about resources available at Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers and SCORE chapters.

I encourage you to stay tuned for more resources and tools that we’re developing to keep encore entrepreneurs well equipped for small business success. Meanwhile, check out our virtual concierge Jean and let us know what you think.