Each year, more than 10 million people consider starting a business. Of them, only three million people take the plunge and start a business. It’s one of the most exciting endeavors that any person can undertake.

About These Courses

Several free online courses are offered by the SBA to help prospective and existing entrepreneurs understand the basics about writing a business plan. These self-paced courses are easy to use and understand. They will take about 30 minutes to complete. You can, however, exit a course at any time. Because most of the courses offer audio explanations, it is recommended that your computer speakers be turned on.

Before entering a course, you will be prompted to complete an online registration form. The registration process is simple, asks only a couple of questions and will take less than a minute to complete.

Available Free Courses

Marketing takes time, money, and lots of preparation. One of the best ways to prepare yourself is to develop a solid marketing plan. A strong marketing plan will ensure you’re not only sticking to your schedule, but that you’re spending your marketing funds wisely and appropriately.

What can a Marketing Plan do for Your Small Business?

A marketing plan includes everything from understanding your target market and your competitive position in that market, to how you intend to reach that market (your tactics) and differentiate yourself from your competition in order to make a sale.

Your small business marketing budget should be a component of your marketing plan. Essentially, it will outline the costs of how you are going to achieve your marketing goals within a certain time frame.

If you don’t have the funds to hire a marketing firm or even staff a position in-house, there are resources available to guide you through the process of writing a marketing plan and developing a market budget.

Bend Your Budget When Necessary and Keep an Eye on ROI

Once you have developed your marketing budget, it doesn’t mean that it’s set in stone. There may be times when you need to throw in another unplanned marketing tactic — such as hosting an event or creating a newspaper ad — to help you reach your market more effectively.

Ultimately, it’s more important to determine whether sticking to your budget is helping you achieve your marketing goals and bringing you a return on investment (ROI) than to adhere to a rigid and fixed budget.

That’s why it’s important to include a plan for measuring your spend. Consider what impact certain marketing activities have had on your revenues during a fixed period, such as a business quarter, compared to another time period when you focused your efforts on other tactics. Consider the tactics that worked as well as those that didn’t work. You don’t have to cut the tactics that didn’t work, but you should assess whether you need to give them more time to work or whether the funds are best redirected elsewhere.

Granted, some tactics are hard to measure — such as the efficacy of print collateral (brochures, sales sheets, etc.), but you need to consider the impact of not having these branding staples in your market tool kit before you reign in your graphic design and print funds.

Marketing plans should be maintained on an annual basis, at a minimum. But if you launch a new product or service, take time to revisit your original plan or develop a separate campaign plan that you can add to your main plan as an addendum.

At the end of the day, the time spent developing your marketing plan, is time well spent because it defines how you connect with your customers. And that’s an investment worth making.

If your business deals with emerging technology, you may be eligible for government programs designed to promote the application of technology to advance specific initiatives.  SBIR is a highly competitive program that encourages small business to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the … Read More about the Small Business Innovation Research Program

Looking for small business counseling and training close to home? SBA can help! SBA provides small business counseling and training through a variety of programs and resource partners across the country. Check out the resources below to determine which resource best suits your needs.

SBA District Offices

SBA operates full service district offices in every state of the country. Counseling, training and business development specialists at your local office are available to help you start and grow your business. Chances are good that there’s a district office located in your area!

Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)

SBDCS provides management assistance to current and prospective small business owners. SBDCs offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations. The program is a cooperative effort of the private sector, the educational community and federal, state and local governments and is an integral component of Entrepreneurial Development’s network of training and counseling services.

SCORE

SCORE, “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” is a resource partner of the SBA dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. There are more than 12,400 SCORE volunteers in 364 chapters operating in over 800 locations who assist small businesses with business counseling and training. SCORE also operates an active online counseling initiative at www.score.org.

Women’s Business Centers (WBCs)

Women’s Business Centers represent a national network of nearly 100 educational centers designed to assist women start and grow small businesses. WBCs operate with the mission to “even the playing field” for women entrepreneurs, who still face unique obstacles in the world of business.

SBA is committed to helping small businesses, which are the backbone of the nation’s economy, thrive. Working closely with a wide range of lending partners across the country, SBA has developed a number of financial programs that address the various needs of small businesses.

Before seeking financial assistance, ask yourself the following questions to evaluate your business’s financing needs:

• Do you need more capital or can you manage existing cash flow more effectively?
• How do you define your need? Do you need money to expand or as a cushion against risk?
• How urgent is your need? You can obtain the best terms when you anticipate your needs rather than looking for money under pressure.
• How great are your risks? All businesses carry risks, and the degree of risk will affect cost and available financing alternatives.
• In what state of development is your business? Needs are most critical during transitional stages.
• For what purposes will the capital be used? Any lender will require that capital be requested for very specific needs.
• What is the state of your industry? Depressed, stable, or growth conditions require different approaches to money needs and sources. Businesses that prosper while others are in decline will often receive better funding terms.
• Is your business seasonal or cyclical? Seasonal needs for financing generally are short term. Loans advanced for cyclical industries, such as construction, are designed to support a business through depressed periods.
• How strong is your management team? Management is an important element assessed by lenders.
• How does your need for financing mesh with your business plan? If you don’t have a business plan, make writing one your first priority. All capital sources will want to see your business plan for the start-up and growth of your business.

Banks and other lending institutions offer a number of SBA guaranteed loan programs (7(a) Loans, CDC/504 Loan, Microloan) to assist small businesses. While the SBA itself does not make loans, it does guarantee loans made to small businesses by private and other institutions, encouraging these loans to qualify more applicants for loan approval.

For those of you who have already successfully started a business and are ready to take the next step, you may be wondering what you can do to help your business grow. There are many ways to do this, 10 of which are outlined below. Choosing the proper one (or ones) for your business will depend on the type of business you own, your available resources, and how much money, time and resources you’re willing to invest all over again. If you’re ready to grow, take a look at these tips.

1. Open another location. This is often the first way business owners approach growth. If you feel confident that your current business location is under control, consider expanding by opening a new location.
2. Offer your business as a franchise or business opportunity.Franchising your business will allow for growth without requiring you to manage the new location. This will help to maximize the time you spend improving your business in other ways, too.
3. License your product. This can be an effective, low-cost growth medium, particularly if you have a service product or branded product. Licensing also minimizes your risk and is low cost in comparison to the price of starting your own company to produce and sell your brand or product. To find a licensing partner, start by researching companies that provide products or services similar to yours.
4. Form an alliance. Aligning yourself with a similar type of business can be a powerful way to expand quickly.
5. Diversify.Diversifying is an excellent strategy for growth, because it allows you to have multiple streams of income that can often fill seasonal voids and, of course, increase sales and profit margins. Here are a few of the most common ways to diversify:
   • Sell complementary products or services
   • Teach adult education or other types of classes
   • Import or export yours or others’ products
   • Become a paid speaker or columnist
6. Target other markets. Your current market is serving you well. Are there others? Probably. Use your imagination to determine what other markets could use your product.
7. Win a government contract. One of the best ways to grow your business is to win business from the government. Work with your local SBA and Small Business Development Center to help you determine the types of contracts available to you.
8. Merge with or acquire another business. Two is always bigger than one. Investigate companies that are similar to yours, or that have offerings that are complementary to yours, and consider the benefits of combining forces or acquiring the company.
9. Expand globally. To do this, you’ll need a foreign distributor who can carry your product and resell it in their domestic markets. You can locate foreign distributors by scouring your city or state for a foreign company with a U.S. representative.
10. Expand to the Internet. Very often, customers discover a business through an online search engine. Be sure that your business has an online presence in order to maximize your exposure.

Is Franchising For You?

Are you interested in rapidly expanding your business? You might consider franchising, especially if your business model is easily replicated. A franchise is a legal and commercial relationship between the owner of a trademark, service mark, trade name, or advertising symbol and an individual or group wishing to use that identification in a business. In the simplest form, a franchiser owns the right to the name or trademark and sells that right to a franchisee. This is known as product/trade name franchising. The more complex form, business format franchising, involves a broader ongoing relationship between the two parties. Business format franchises often provide a full range of services, including site selection, training, product supply, marketing plans, and even assistance in obtaining financing. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you determine whether your business could succeed as a franchise.

• Realistically, few businesses are franchisable. In order to be successful in franchising, your business should feature a superior product or service that sparks the interest of other potential business owners. After all, you need to convince people to want to buy one of your franchises.
• Your business concept should be easy to share and teach. If your company is based on knowledge that only you possess, you will have a difficult time franchising it. Effective franchisors create detailed manuals that outline procedures for each aspect of the business. They also create streamlined training programs for managers, owners and employees.
• Your business should be easy to duplicate. In other words, your business must be one that can succeed over and over in many locations. If it can only function in one place, it is not repeatable and, therefore, not franchisable. Be sure that you can systemize your entire business and document its operations. This will ensure that your business processes can be copied by others.
• You should be prepared to navigate the various regulatory and legal obstacles involved in franchising. The federal government has rules, and many states also have requirements that must be met in order for you to sell franchises. Once you’ve begun franchising, some states remain active in the relationship between you and your franchisees by monitoring territorial rights or limiting the transfer and renewal of your franchises.

Financing Your Franchise

Be aware that franchising incurs more costs than many other types of businesses. Before you proceed in the franchising process, be sure that your concept will produce an adequate profit.

If you’re sure your business will generate enough revenue as a franchise, next consider the fact that the initial start-up process will require a significant amount of cash. You will need to pay attorneys to handle your legal documents and to register your franchise. Additional costs will include paying accountants, creating marketing materials and running advertising to promote the franchise to prospective franchisees. Don’t forget about training the employees and developing manuals and other systems you’ll need to run the franchise. All in all, you might be looking at $250,000 or more (in addition to the normal costs of running your business in the meantime) to create a sustainable franchise system.

Starting a business can be a challenge, but there is help for you in your area. Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) are partnerships primarily between the government and colleges/universities administered by the Small Business Administration and aims at giving educational services for small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Facts About SBDCs

Location

• Located in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories.
• Operated state-wide or at a state region-wide level.
• 63 Lead Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)
  • Lead organization coordinates program services offered to small businesses through a network of subcenters and satellite locations in each state.
  • Each center has a director, staff members, volunteers and part-time personnel

What is Offered?

• SBDC services include, but are not limited to, assisting small businesses with financial, marketing, production, organization, engineering and technical problems and feasibility studies
• All services given at SBDCs are free and confidential.
• Additional low cost training option are available.

Eligibility

• Assistance from an SBDC is available to anyone interested in beginning a small business for the first time or improving or expanding an existing small business, who cannot afford the services of a private consultant.

Find an SBDC

• Visit the Association of Small Business Development Centers website to find your nearest SBDC.
• Also visit the Office of Small Business Development Centers for more information.

The Web is full of horrific small business websites, and not just one’s that are badly designed. There are several other elements (besides looks) that make your website customer-friendly and a website that stimulate them to actually do business with you.

From thorough up-to-date contact information to customer testimonials, here are the essentials that every small business website should have for it to effectively help you do business…