Starting and Growing a Business
SBDC Counselors: Unsung Small Business Heroes
This is a tribute to America's Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC). If you are an aspiring entrepreneur or own a business, your local SBDC offers free advice for entrepreneurs. That's right free business consulting is available to you, and, trust us, SBDCs offer very high-quality business consulting services.
In America, we have no shortage of heroes.
We are kept safe by the firefighters and law enforcement officials who worked tirelessly to protect us.
Our soldiers put their lives on the line for us. Our teachers work diligently to educate our children.
Our postal workers battle through rain, sleet and snow to get the mail to us.
Our elected officials and career government employees labor to keep our world running smoothly.
Parents across America heroically raise the next generation.
Crossing guards keep children safe as they cross streets on their way to school.
Volunteers across the country spend precious personal time to work for the public good.
Each of us is heroic in some way.
In the world of small business, entrepreneurs fight heroic battles to grow their companies and bolster the economy.
With my passion for entrepreneurship and small business, these are my favorite heroes. I can listen to an entrepreneurial hero all day long, as they discuss their battles, their successes, their failures and their lessons learned along the way.
However, I recently was able to meet several unsung heroes in the small business world.
These are folks that toil on behalf of small and mid-sized businesses every day, providing them with free business advice and helping them to become successful entrepreneurs.
They are America's SBDC counselors.
I was able to meet many SBDC counselors at their Annual Conference in Chicago, and it was great to connect with so many folks that are passionate about helping small businesses.
A Big Thank You to SBDC Counselors
If you are an SBDC counselor reading this, I applaud you. Thank you so much for everything you do for entrepreneurs across the country.
It must be nice to wake up each morning knowing that you are going to be helping an aspiring business owner to overcome the many challenges of starting and growing a business. Please keep up your excellent work and know that your efforts are greatly appreciated.
If You Are Not Familiar With the SBDC Network
America's Small Business Development Center Network (ASBDC) is the federal government's largest and most successful management and technical assistance program for small businesses.
Each year, Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) provide free assistance to small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs across the country.
To reiterate, this help for entrepreneurs and small business owners is provided for free. If you are an entrepreneur, you can get free consulting services that will help you start or grow a business.
This is no-cost business consulting and low-cost group business training. Business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs who do not take advantage of this free business consulting service are missing out on a great resource.
While some SBDCs are stronger than others, the quality of SBDC consulting services is generally very high. SBDC counselors typically have been active in starting and running their own businesses prior to joining SBDC. Many of the SBDC counselors I have met have strong educations in entrepreneurship. These are folks who could easily work at top-tier consulting firms or run their own companies, but they have a strong passion for helping entrepreneurs and recognize the SBDC's unique positioning to allow them to work with and help many small business owners.
There are approximately 1,000 SBDCs in the United States, so odds are you can tap into the free help for entrepreneurs at a nearby SBDC. There are over 5,000 SBDC counselors, and they help over 1 million entrepreneurs and business owners every year.
In addition to your local SBDC counselors, the local SBDCs leverage centralized SBDC resources. For example, if you are working with a local SBDC counselor in Champaign, Illinois and the project involves gathering market research information for a new business, the local SBDC counselor can send out a request for market research to the SBDC market research hub. Within seven days, you and your local SBDC counselor will get back some excellent market research data. If you used a private market research firm to do this, it might cost you $15,000 or so. With the SBDC, it's completely free!
So what are SBDCs exactly?
SBDCs are a public-private hybrid initiative. Each SBDC is hosted at one of many leading universities, colleges, and state economic development agencies that have embraced the SBDC concept. They are funded in part through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The ASBDC oversees the accreditation of the SBDCs, which is based on the Baldrige Quality criteria. Local SBDCs must be accredited by the ASBDC to receive SBA funding.
SBDC counselors have many tools to use to assist you, and they themselves receive in-depth training in many areas of small business consulting, from how to write a business plan to how to obtain funding to how to sell a family business.
SBDC program offerings are constantly evolving based on the changing needs of a dynamic small business economy. A local SBDC is able to address the unique needs of individual businesses through directed learning and one-on-one counseling.
Make no mistake. This is an excellent resource for entrepreneurs.
With the support of its partners, the SBDC remains the nation's premier program providing management assistance and education to America's entrepreneurs.
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Additional Resources for Entrepreneurs
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