3 business resources you NEED to know about
Are you an aspiring business owner? New York City provides an incredible array of free business resources to help you get your business off the ground. There are so many in fact, it can be hard to know where to focus your time.
These are my top 3 resources that I constantly direct people toward:
1) SCORE
SCORE is an amazing organization of retired executives that provides free one on one business mentoring. Mentors come from a wide variety of fields and provide expert guidance on topics ranging from business planning to marketing, ecommerce, accounting, legal and more. I met with an incredibly helpful marketing expert when I was first getting started. You can find a mentor here or reach out to me if you’d like the name of the woman I worked with.
2) POWERUP!
The NYC and Brooklyn Public libraries run an annual business planning competition with cash prizes for the winners. This is a great way to build in motivation, accountability, and structure to finish your business plan. The program provide classes, templates, mentoring, and acccess to a number of other free resources available at the business libraries, not to mention the opportunity to network with other new business owners. Past winners include GreenLight Bookstore and a local business in my neighborhood, Prospect Gymnastics. Did I mention the first place winner gets a $15,000 cash price to start their business? Applications open in March and you can find out more about it here.
3) NYC Department of Small Business Services
NYC Department of Small Business Services runs free workshops almost every day on topics such as Business Planning Basics, SEO, Funding (crowdfunding, how to get a loan), Small Business Accounting, How to Sell to Government, the list goes on and on.
You can find out how to register as a Woman or Minority Owned Business and take advantage of great resources to help you scale. Did you know that SBS will help you recruit employees for your business (you know, that arduous task of screening resumes and send you a list of their top picks) AND reimburse you for a percentage of training costs for new employees. Check out their list of workshops here.
If you don't live in NYC, check out your local SBS and SCORE chapters and find out what resources are available at your own public library.
Do you have a resource you like? Let me know about it!