Many years ago, I flew with my young son (then about five years old) to a family reunion. This was before 9/11, and almost all airlines offered meals as a part of the flying experience. When our attendant served us our rubber chicken, my son nudged me. “Aren’t you going to pay her?” he asked. I told him that the meal was included in the price of our airplane ticket.
Daniel then turned to the passenger next to him and chirped, “It’s free! It’s free!” That passenger and I chuckled over our “free” chicken (and expensive tickets).
Today, I have another free service to chuckle about: I can get really top-notch business advice from experts for free at my local Small Business Development Center. I can take business classes for free (some classes do cost money); I can also meet one-on-one with an expert to receive free targeted, personal coaching on specific business issues. (Of course, as with my airline meal, I have already paid for this service, this time with my taxes.)
Let me tell you about my SBDC experiences.
I learn how to understand and manage my business finances
Because I have always been vague about numbers (especially business finances), I paid for and attended a very thorough SBDC class in “Analyzing and Using Financial Statements,” taught by Leo, a retired accountant. Afterwards, I met two or three times (for free) with Leo to apply this financial learning to my own business situation. Leo taught me the four necessary levels of financial control:
- Record-keeping
- Bookkeeping
- Accounting
- Guiding financial knowledge
Although I had always faithfully filed receipts and organized my paper data into neatly labeled files (which is the lowest level of financial control), I was clueless about best practices for bookkeeping and accounting. I had been adding categories in my Intuit Quicken for years with no apparent logic—resulting in counterproductive, redundant chaos. Nothing in my dysfunctional system showed profit or loss on each of my seven service lines or a meaningful analysis of my operational expenses.
Leo and I reworked all my categories and came up with a logical list that clearly and quickly showed me what is going on in my business. Six years later, Leo’s system still works and saves me time, and I’m grateful for his help.
I learn some new marketing strategies
Because I recently reorganized my marketing efforts to focus more time on marketing my medical editing, I attended a free class at my local SBDC to learn more about marketing my editing services through the University of Colorado Procurement Service Center, specifically to their sprawling medical institutions. The class was fast and focused and the instructor was funny and effective. She reminded us that the SBDC offers free consultations (I had sort of forgotten that), so I signed up to get some much-needed advice about my medical editing marketing plan.
That’s when I met Janine, a business owner and an MBA with a specialty in business and marketing planning. We’ve only had one meeting, but I came away with lots of ideas and, better yet, renewed energy to create and implement this new marketing plan. I look forward to several more meetings (and several new clients).
I am thrilled that I can pay my federal taxes and reap the rewards―great business advice exactly when I need it. And there’s plenty of classes for new small businesses (at our center, one can take three-hour classes in Start-up Essentials, Business Plan Essentials, Marketing Plan Essentials, and Social Media Essentials, all priced at $45 each).
Our SBDC exceeded all of its 2012 goals, which included such measurements as Jobs Created, Jobs Retained, and Capital Infusion. Its website states:
The SBDC focuses on three areas of support for small business: training (short and long-term), counseling, and access to valuable resources. The SBDC helps small businesses analyze marketing and growth issues, set reasonable short and long-term goals, obtain financing, and prosper in competitive markets.
To me, SBDC resources are like those free samples at the grocery store―how could you resist?