The last few months have been busy between personal projects, client projects, and several out of town trips. Anyhow this morning, I ran across a nifty looking resource which inspired this post, which is dedicated to all of those out there who dream of going out "on their own", have already tried and struggled but still plow along, or who are doing alright but are always in search of how to get better.
The site I ran across is:
"My Own Business, Inc. is a nonprofit organization committed to helping people succeed in business. The course is presented by successful business owners who point out the common, avoidable mistakes. Our course is geared toward the entrepreneur who wants to start his or her own business, and the individual who has an established small business and would like to see that business grow and expand. Most people fail in business because they make avoidable mistakes! This free course teaches you what those mistakes are and how to avoid them."The course is on-line, covers a lot of ground, appears to stick to the practical aspects rather than lots of theory, and has words from actual entrepreneurs like you spread throughout.
On a similar note, nearly everyone knows about local Chamber of Commerce organizations and groups such as Rotary which can be useful for networking (maybe, depending on how you do it). But most areas, including SLO County where I'm based, have a number of useful organizations specifically for those who are on their own and are either just starting or looking to take things up a notch (whether they are full-time or part-time ventures). For example:
- Cuesta Small Business Development Center
- Private one-on-one Counseling (consulting) for entrepreneurs
- Workshops
- SLO SCORE
- Counseling
- Workshops
- Other resources (such as an interesting looking online book called "How to Start a Business in SLO County")
- SLO EVC
- Workshops
- Loans
- Venture capital
- Site selection
-jr
