Being an entrepreneur can feel overwhelming and intimidating, especially in the vast, ever-changing business world. To assist with these struggles, many organizations offer free tools and resources to facilitate your daily business operations. These little-to-no cost resources can help small business owners assess economic growth, identify business opportunities and expand their network. Here are 5 resources to help take your business to the next level.

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)

The Small Business Development Center provides counseling and training to small businesses and provides informational tools to support business start-ups and existing business expansion. The Florida SBDC provides access to no-cost consulting, affordable and high-quality resources, and innovative tools. As the largest network of small business consultants in Florida, the SBDC provides you with the knowledge from the most expansive and diverse network of experienced small business experts. The SBDC programs deliver professional, high quality and individualized business and technical advising to existing small businesses and pre-venture entrepreneurs. These programs aid small businesses in a plethora of categories including accessing capital, financial management, personnel administration, export assistance, marketing, operations, sales, business planning, strategy and more.

To learn more, visit floridasbdc.org

Small Business Administration (SBA)

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) helps Americans start, grow and build resilient businesses. The SBA offers interactive online tools, informative content, guides and a video library for entrepreneurs. These tools range from business planning solutions to mentoring services and financial resources. You can explore programs that will help you grow your business and strengthen your market position. The SBA will teach you and assist you in getting funding for your business, qualifying for government contracts and exploring business certifications. In addition, the SBA provides specialized outreach to women, minorities, and armed forces veterans trying to grow or start a business. The SBA provides free counseling and low-cost training to new entrepreneurs and existing small businesses offering available services in more than 1,800 locations.

To learn more, visit www.sba.gov

Better Business Bureau (BBB)

The Better Business Bureau is a no-cost resource to help business owners with all of the diverse aspects of running a business. Whether you are looking to grow your business, learn about new resources, or manage relationships with your customers, the BBB can help you. The BBB provides assistance with almost anything related to running your business, including funding opportunities, paying your taxes and creating a business plan. The BBB helps consumers identify trustworthy businesses through more than 5.3 million BBB Business Profiles. Your BBB Business Profile could be an effective marketing tool when consumers search for your business and see that your business is credible and trustworthy. The BBB will coach you and your business on ethical behaviors to follow and how to build stronger, more trusting relationships with your customers, and will provide you with marketing, sales and technology tools to leverage your business to the next level. 

To learn more, visit www.bbb.org

National Entrepreneur Center

The National Entrepreneur Center (NEC) states they are “Your One-Stop Small Business Solution,” providing businesses support and assistance that will help your business grow and thrive. You will have the opportunity to learn from experienced business professionals for free. The NEC’s business coaches have counseled over 150,000 small business owners from a variety of different industries. At the National Entrepreneur Center, you will be connected with an experienced business professional for free one-on-one coaching, guidance and feedback. In addition, the NEC offers little-to-no cost targeted small business seminars. These seminars are filled with information packed programs specifically constructed to facilitate businesses success. Topics range from boosting your internet marketing campaigns to tips on how to effectively manage employees to building your financial plan. With weekly seminars, there is always something new to learn about running your business or something you can improve upon in your business.

To learn more, visit nationalec.org

Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship

The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship was established in 1995 at Florida State University with the mission to cultivate, train and inspire entrepreneurial leaders through world-class executive education, applied training, public recognition and leading-edge research. As the complexities of operating and growing a business escalates, the Jim Moran Institute serves as a hub for expertise and executive education. Their primary emphasis is on providing support to businesses with a minimum of three employees and a tenure of at least three years for little to no cost. With its reach spread throughout 5 regions in Florida, the Jim Moran Institute serves small business owners and nonprofit organizations by offering educational and interactive programs; primarily their flagship Small Business Executive Program and Nonprofit Executive Program. In addition to these core programs, the Jim Moran Institute’s offerings include specified programs for military veterans and their families, Peer2Peer groups and Expert Speaker Series.

You can view a comprehensive list of the programs they offer on their programs page.

Navigating your entrepreneurial journey can often feel overwhelming and daunting, but fortunately there are several organizations that offer a plethora of resources to assist you. These organizations want to empower you and help grow your business by providing little to no cost resources aimed at combating the challenges associated with daily business operations. If you are struggling with operating, starting or growing your business, these resources will help you propel your business to a new level.