Small businesses have the same functions as massive corporations, but with less people.
Set guidelines and identify resources for agile growth and peace of mind.
Government Resources
Federal, state and local governments provide resources to help small businesses grow. They have vested interests in business success to boost their economies, tax bases and citizen/voter enrichment.
- The SBA Learning Platform teaches small businesses how to operate.
- They charter SCORE, who offer mentorships, a startup roadmap, workshops, and additional assistance.
- SCORE partnered to produce Grow with Google for digital readiness training.
- SBA is well known for funding programs, including disaster assistance funds and surety bonds.
- They also provide access to local assistance.
Economic Development
National, regional, and industry organizations are chartered to develop business activity within their scope. They help broker deals, open doors, and remove barriers. These organizations or associations are amazing partners.
- GNO, Inc is the regional economic development organization for southeast Louisiana. They help highlight and grow technology talent and provide market research support as part of their efforts to attract, retain, and develop businesses to improve regional quality of life.
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Foundation provides broad support, especially for entrepreneurs. They also sponsor Hiring Our Heroes, which connects businesses to transitioning veterans.
- The U.S. Department of Commerce‘s Economic Development Administration (EDA) features a resource directory, university centers for regional support, funding opportunities, and other programs for assistance.
The hours of labor are regulated by the organization of work and by nothing else. It is the rise of the great corporation with its ability to use power, to use accurately designed machinery, & generally to lessen the wastes in time, material & human energy that made it possible to bring in the eight hour day. Further progress along the same lines has made it possible to bring in the five day week…
Henry Ford, revolutionizer of automotive assembly lines
Corporate Resources
Major financial institutions and logistics corporations who work closely with small businesses often provide resources.
- Visa provides access to a cashflow management tool, citing a statistic that 82% of business failures are due to poor cash flow management.
- AmericanExpress features resources for black-owned businesses, discounts, and marketing programs.
- Goldman Sachs provides an accelerator and training.
- FedEx has a small business resource portal to help with shipping, ecommerce, and a wide spectrum of support.
Fellow Small Businesses
Many small businesses identified their niche and are extremely good at their trade. As society has done for millennia, working together—barter systems or not—helps us all by using each other’s strengths and building rapport.
- Blissful Prospecting teaches businesses how to find new customers in a human way. This is sales for people who hate sales. It’s also how elite corporations teach salesmanship. Check out their site and follow Jason “JBay” Bay on LinkedIn.
- Force Management is founded by a service academy graduate to develop repeatable sales processes for businesses of all sizes. They work side by side to help grow business to business (B2B) sales.
- process.st features templates for many core processes and ultimately provides workflow management software. Empower your team to work faster and more efficiently, improving both quality of life as well as business growth. Also check out their approach to developing your own standard operating procedure (SOP) for your business.
- Also see this eylean article, A Beginner’s Guide to the Core Processes of Any Small Business.
- Franchises are proven, repeatable business models and operations processes. Like a buyer’s real estate agent, a franchise consultant helps you find the right match. It’s an amazing service funded by the seller. See My Franchise Mentor to learn more.
- Hello Alice provides tools, resources, and partners to help small businesses grow. They are a woman and minority owned company focused on removing barriers and opening doors for entrepreneurs. Check out their Black, Hispanic, and Military Connected Business Hubs and sign up for their newsletter.
- At From Founder to CEO, Todd Uterstaedt interviews CEOs and founders, chronicling their transformation and growth along with their company. This is great help in the lows. He further provides cohort-style leadership and management training, leveraging his Army officer and founder background.