SBDC's are located widely; in fact there is one in all 50 states (along with Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories. They are a partnership between the Small Business Administration and local colleges and universities. They provide mini-courses geared toward potential and current business owners, as well as a wealth of free information. The one near me has a whole wall of business forms, brochures, and CDs, all of which can speed up the process of registering a business, setting up a business structure, and submitting for an employer id. Just looking at the selection can open your eyes to issues you might need to address in forming your company. If my little rural county has one it's pretty likely that yours will to. The regional office for Oregon, where I live, has a website here. The one located closest to me in North Bend has this website. Notice that this local branch has their information on the college's website. So it pays to check with your closest college to see if they host a SBDC.
They can provide assistance with "financial, marketing, production, organization, engineering and technical problems and feasibility studies." All this is free and confidential, although they do have some low cost training available as well.
While you are starting a small business, or improving an existing one you are eligible to utilize SBDC, that is until you become too successful. Once you are profitable enough to afford consultants you are out of luck. So use them heavily at the beginning. Free advice like this is priceless and can save you a lot of money down the road.
I've taken their 2-hour workshop, Ready, Set, Start Your Business, and found it useful. I'm hoping to eventually take their QuickBooks (accounting software for businesses) classes.
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