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Having trouble selling your products and don’t want an Etsy store or to use eBay? Great to see that in early June, Overstock launched a site for small business owners who want visibility and a store to sell their goods. It is called Main Street Store. I’ve been an adviser recently in a couple of business events where small business owners have shared how costly a shopping cart system is for their site. I’m going to connect them to this store because for one thing, it does not have thousands of businesses on it (yet) – I am sure it will. For now you can be an early adopter and save the costs on your own technology build out, which could be thousands of dollars, or at least $50-$100 per month using a hosted shopping cart site. Peter Vanden Bos’ wrote an article about it. I imagine there will be many more stories to come. I’ll check it out and post about my experience buying a few items. Any way we can support small businesses – in this case, companies with 25 or fewer employees – is a good thing.
Tag Archives: starting small business
SBA, SCORE, and SBDCs Explained – 3 Essential Local Resources for Small Business Owners
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“When you’re the business owner, there’s no one behind you. You’re the back-stop.” (Warren Brown, Washington, D.C. Small Business Person of the Year 2006).
How many days and nights has this reality kept you on your toes? From making sure your business stays on track to cheerleading your employees, day-to-day business ownership is about what you make it.
But what happens when you need help? Back-stop or not, you can’t go it alone forever. Help is at hand, if you know where to find it.
The government, in particular, offers a great deal of resources that support small business owners, both online and locally. Take a look at this Small Business Assistance and Training guide on Business.gov and you’ll find a variety of options – local SBA offices, Small Business Development Centers, SCORE, and more.
But just what does each of these provide? And where should you start? Here’s an overview of the services and support offered, and not offered, by three essential government-sponsored small business support organizations.
1. Small Business Administration (SBA) Local Offices
What They Do: The SBA is probably best known for the loan guarantee programs it provides to small business owners in partnership with banks and lending institutions. However this federal agency also operates local offices nationwide that provide free or low cost advice and counseling on a variety of small business issues.
SBA local offices can help guide you through available SBA loan options and the application process and steer you towards small business-friendly banks. SBA offices also provide regular in-person and online training and workshops on a variety of topics including government contracting opportunities; disaster preparedness; assistance for veterans and minorities; the SBA loan process, and more.
Local SBA disaster field offices also help small business owners with disaster loan assistance in the event of a federally-declared disaster.
What They Don’t Do: SBA local offices do not help you process your loan paperwork. You must work through your bank for an SBA loan. The SBA itself also doesn’t provide direct loans; your lender will submit your loan package to the SBA for approval. SBA offices also don’t provide grants for start-ups or for-profits. For more information about the SBA loan process and other financing options read: SBA Small Business Loans Explained: Availability, Eligibility and the Application Process.
Find your local SBA Office and follow SBA on Twitter and Facebook. Continue reading