Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)

If you want to start your own business and need some help, and are located in the U.S., I encourage you to start with your local small business development center (SBDC). What is an SBDC? As described on the U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) website:

SBDCs offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations. The program is a cooperative effort of the private sector, the educational community and federal, state and local governments and is an integral component of Entrepreneurial Development's network of training and counseling services.

The services do tend to vary from SBDC to SBDC, but I have found that the quality is good and it can be an affordable start to receiving some training and one-on-one counseling for your business idea. Another advantage of starting the entrepreneurial process with your local SBDC is that they have a great knowledge base of the local entrepreneurial resources that you can tap into - both within and outside their organization.

Use the SBDC Locater on the SBA's website in order to fine an SBDC close to you.

Six Degrees of Separation & Facebook

A while back, I discussed the importance of networking and how we are all closely connected to the resources we need to start a business - it is just a matter of finding out who knows who and utilizing those connections.

I recently received an invitation from a friend to participate in the Six Degrees of Separation experiment being conducted by Steve Jackson on Facebook. The theory suggests that everyone is separated by only six other people. In order to see how many people were within reaching distance of his network, Steve Jackson originally invited his friends to this Facebook group, and then asked his friends to invite their friends, and so on. When I joined, the group had expanded to a whopping 4,693,230 members!  As concluded by Steve:

Have I managed to contact every single person on Facebook? I like to think so, but unfortunately I have no way of knowing that for sure. The fact is that more than four million of you took the time to join, and that is nothing short of a miracle. As progress marches on, the world gets smaller. That’s inevitable. Whether we’re separated by six degrees or ten degrees or one degree isn’t important. What is important is the idea that we are connected.

Yes, I agree, that the idea that we are all connected is most important. And, given online social networking tools such as Facebook - just think about the possibilities of being better able to discover and exploit those networks!

So many ways to communicate, So little time

With the rise of the Internet, the way business is conducted has changed. There are many web resources (and a lot of them are free) that can help you as an entrepreneur to communicate, network and ultimately, increase your chances of being successful.  Of course, due to the high number of web applications, you do need to spend your time wisely or you can easily become swept up. Thus, you need to determine which applications are most important to you. That question can be answered by determining which applications are most important and/or being used by your key stakeholders. Where will your existing and future customers be looking? What about your suppliers, investors, lenders, potential employees, etc.? When choosing among the many different web applications, you may also want to consider the cost, time required (upfront and going forward), usage, reputation and functionality.

Online telephone - In addition to being able to put your entire phone system on the Internet through a company such as Vonage (and thus bypassing the local, old-fashioned system all together - while saving a few bucks), you can also talk through many of the instant messaging systems and/or the rising favorite Skype.

Email - Free services are offered through many sites, although some of the more popular include Hotmail, Google or Yahoo. Or, for a small fee, you can have a customized email created such as one that goes with your website domain. This is an essential base for communication is today's world.

Internet Fax Services - You can easily send a fax from your computer. For a small fee, you can also have your faxes emailed to you (instead of printing off on your fax machine) -- which can be very beneficial for keeping an electronic copy of your faxes as well as being able to retrieve your faxes while traveling. Many different companies exist - check out MyFax.com!

Website - This is becoming an essential way of broadly communicating to the public what you do and who you are - while showing that you are a legitimate business. There are several build-it-yourself website hosts (i.e. godaddy, msn) or this is something that you can sub out to one of the many firms that exist.

Blogging (such as Blogger) - Like the blog you are reading, blogs can be used to offer information. Other uses include product updates, press releases, or simply to keep others updated on your day to day activities.

Social Networking - More and more social networking sites are popping up. Some of the most popular include MySpace or FaceBook. However, there are also many social networking sites that are specific to a specific industry or objective. For instance, PartnerUp.com is a networking site for entrepreneurs. 

File Sharing - If you have created helpful documents, or if you are looking for something in particular, you might also go to one of the many file sharing websites. One that is relevant to entrepreneurs and business owners is Docstoc.

Instant Messaging (such as Windows Live Messenger) - This is a great way to communicate in a way that I consider to be a cross between telephone and email. You can chat with others online in a real time environment. Who might these 'others' be? Well, some companies use instant messaging for usage between fellow employees while others offer 'chat' customer service.

Tweeting - Formed in 2006, Twitter.com allows users to 'stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?' It can become a bit addictive...but can also be used to get to know others better (or allow others to get to know you). Depending on your industry, this could be important.

Online Meetings - Need to schedule a meeting or training session across the country or in that matter, the world? Check out some of the online meeting websites (webex, GoToMeeting, etc.) where in addition to conferencing the voice aspect, you can also conduct a group chat and give a presentation!

Online Profiles - Similar to the bulky telephone book that you may have sitting on your desk, there are many, many different 'yellow page' sites on the web that show your profile. There are many other 'yellow page' type sites that await to hear from you to add and/or customize your profile. Such profiling sites can be general (i.e. yellowpages.com), industry specific (find your trade association online and get into their directory), geographic (such as your local city/county directory) or cater to some miscellaneous purpose.  

If you know of other web applications that you have come across, but that are not listed here, please leave a post!

Small World Phenomenon

Back in 1994, three college students in Pennsylvania came up with the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game. To give you a little background, there was a play out at the time called "Six Degrees of Separation" where it is presumed that you are at most only six steps (or people) away from meeting anyone in the world. So, for example, if you wanted to meet the President, it is likely that your mother works with someone who has a cousin that has a friend that works at the White House and knows the president. These particular students (after a bottle of Southern Comfort it is rumored) decided that Kevin Bacon rhymed nicely with 'separation' and decided to try this small world phenomenon out with applying it to the Hollywood scene. Thus, they examined all the Hollywood players to see if they were all connected to Kevin Bacon in 6 links or less. The game is now kept up by the University of Virginia and I encourage you if you haven't yet, to check it out: The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia. Or, if you are a baseball fan, you can check out how the small world phenomenon has been similarly applied at the Oracle of Baseball.

What relevance does this small world phenomenon have for entrepreneurs? Well, if you think about the concept that we are all connected to everyone else in the world by six people or less -- just think about the resources that are surrounding us - it just requires networking! So, if you have a great business idea, but just need some financing, start networking. If you need to find a good accountant, a business partner, an insider at the company you want to sell at, a technology expert or WHATEVER your need, start networking.

PartnerUp

I have recently begun exploring a social networking site for entrepreneurs called PartnerUp. It is an online community that helps you:

- Find business partners, co-founders, executives and board members
- Network with other entrepreneurs and small businesses
- Ask for and offer up advice
- Find commercial real estate
- Find service providers for your business

After registering (which is free) and taking a look around their site, I think that one of the most helpful parts is simply being in a place where you can find others to collaborate with. I know many people that either come up with any idea (but don't have the business skills and/or financing) or have the business skills (but don't have an idea). This is one solution or shall I say --- an opportunity! That said, there is also a little risk in putting yourself out there online.

Businesses are not started in solitude, but rather through a network of people. Even in small businesses where there is a sole owner/founder, that individual is relying on a network of others to give referrals, offer quality support, provide professional services, etc.

I am curious as to what others think of this site or other online networking sites for entrepreneurs, as I do feel the need to connect people together in an entrepreneurial capacity (for the human capital side of things rather than the financial capital) is an important one and much more could be done here.