How to find technical and management assistance
Besides the challenges of obtaining capital, perhaps the single most important obstacle to small business success is the lack of technical and management assistance, and access to timely and accurate information, training, counseling and business education.
That’s why the Small Business Development Center program is one of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s bedrock offerings. If you are considering staring your own business or encounter problems with an existing business, the SBDC program can help you navigate the road to success by guiding you through the critical steps to business success.
The SBDC program provides counseling and training to those who want to start a small business and to existing small business owners. The SBDC program is a cooperative effort of the private sector, the educational community and federal, state and local governments. It enhances economic development by providing small businesses with management and technical assistance.
The SBDC Program can help entrepreneurs live their dreams of business ownership, just as it did for the Samovar Tea Lounge in San Francisco. Samovar’s owners turned to the SBA for assistance and were referred to the local SBDC, which paired them with a seasoned business consultant. The SBDC consultant helped them to find a location and fine-tune their loan application. The free consultations and resources from the SBDC proved to be a success. After dozens of loan rejections, the last stop to an SBA lender paid off. That last stop was the source of a $160,000 loan that jump-started their dream of establishing a tea lounge in a bustling neighborhood.
SBDC service centers are available to provide you with insightful information and valuable advice on how to start or grow your small business. The program boasts a network of more than 1,100 small business development centers, one network in every state. SBDC service centers are located at colleges, universities, community colleges, vocational schools, chambers of commerce and economic development corporations. They also provide online counseling and use “circuit riders” who visit individual businesses and hold seminars and training sessions at remote locations.
SBDCs provide services that include business counseling and training, such as assistance with financial marketing, organization, engineering and technical problems and feasibility studies. Special programs and economic development activities include international trade assistance, technical assistance, procurement assistance, venture capital formation and rural development. Counselors help entrepreneurs with loan applications, business plans and common, everyday business management problems, such as establishing a bookkeeping system, hiring employees or planning for sales via the Internet.
Each SBDC develops its services in cooperation with the local SBA District Office to bring together other available resources. The SBDC Program is designed to deliver up-to-date counseling, training and technical assistance in all aspects of small business management. SBDC assistance is tailored to each local community and to the individual needs of clients.
Each SBDC has a director, staff members, volunteers and part-time personnel. Qualified individuals who donate their services are recruited from professional and trade associations, the legal and banking community, academia, chambers of commerce and SCORE “Counselors to America’s Small Business.” In addition, SBDCs also use paid consultants, consulting engineers and testing laboratories from the private sector to help clients who need specialized expertise.
Counseling and training assistance from an SBDC is available to anyone interested in starting a small business for the first time, or improving or expanding an existing small business. The SBDCs make special efforts to reach minority members of socially and economically disadvantaged groups, veterans, women and the disabled. Assistance is also provided to small businesses applying for Small Business Innovation and Research grants form federal agencies.
SBDC sites are located throughout the country. For the location nearest to you, visit online at www.sba.gov/sbdc/sbdcnear.html.
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