Business.Gov; A Recommended Resource For Future And Current Small Business Owners

                                                                                                                  

Sometimes, the best franchise and business opportunity resources are right under our noses...

Recently revamped, the official "Business Link To the US Government" has become a serious resource for those wanting assistance with their small business related questions.

If you are thinking about launching a business, this is the place to go. Thinking of business expansion? Ditto.

There is even a "Small Business Community" section on the site now in which you can discuss, share and get insight from your fellow business owners as well as industry and government experts.

{Full disclosure; I recently helped put together a group of small business experts that will be writing columns in a special section on the Business.Gov site called "The Industry Word."}

If you are at the business start-up stage, there is an entire section just for you. This section starts off with "The 10 Steps To Starting A Business." You can learn about things like research and planning, how to obtain financing, licensing requirements, legalities, and much much more, all in a real user friendly way.

There is a "Green Business Guide." If you are in growth mode, there are several ways to reduce energy costs as you expand, and this section shares them with you. Could you be eligible for a grant? Can you get a special loan because of the energy efficient upgrades you are going to do? There are programs available that can make your expansion plans a little more palatable.

Where is your new business going to be located? Do you know how to find all the important local resources that can assist you with local rules and regulations that you need to know about, to insure a smooth start-up? Just go to the Business.Gov map.  

If you would like to learn and converse with like-minded small business owners, the new Small Business Community section could be where it's at for you. Here you'll find conversations taking place on all sorts of business topics. Some past discussions have concerned business insurance, legal entity formation, online business registration, and government contracting. It's free to register as a Small Business Community member, which allows you to post discussion topics, and add comments to existing threads.

Small business experts like Rieva Lesonsky, Anita Campbell, and Barbara Weltman, will be writing columns in the newly created section of Business.Gov called "The Industry Word." Featured articles on trending small business topics, along with a healthy dose of How-To's will dominate this section, and if you are a Small Business Community member, you'll be able to add your comments to them.

Business.Gov is a great resource for you today, and should be bookmarked for future use.

Update! Short radio interview with Nancy Sternberg, program manger at Business.Gov

{I'd like to thank Jennifer Decker for reaching out to me when the Small Business Community on Business.Gov started. I'm glad to be involved. Stuart, your technical skills are fantastic.} 

Now, please check out Business.Gov

Comments

[Avelina]

Very admirable post. I already have bookmarked it for future use. I would like to have some gadgets related to business.gov too.

Thanks,
Avelina Watkins

[fischölkapseln]

I would like to visit on Business.gov, offers new gadgets, access government information and resources from anywhere on the web. The primary challenge for the Business.gov community is not motivating small businesses, who are ready to engage. Rather, it is shepherding government, at all levels, into online conversations that are meaningful and helpful.

[The Franchise King]

Donald,
If we keep reading each others posts, how will we be able to write more of them???

Thanks for everything you do for franchising.

JL

[Donald]

Well done, Joel. I blogged about this site recently (http://www.franchisedirect.com/blog/a-new-look-for-businessgov/) and it keeps getting better and better. Glad to see you're involved, Joel. Looking forward to seeing where the site goes in the coming months.

[The Franchise King]

Anita,
Thank you for chiming in.

They are ahead of the curve, for sure. As a matter of fact, a ton of small businesses don't even have blogs or anything else that can help them build a "community."

The Franchise King
Joel Libava

[Anita Campbell]

I am impressed with Business.gov, and especially with the new community site. Very progressive thinking.