Unsure About a Home Based Business? The SBA Can Help
Unsure About a Home Based Business? The SBA Can Help
Actually, the government is so concerned about small business development and entrepreneurship as a serious stimulus to the United States economy, that the Small Business Administration has constructed a website with a wide variety of tools and support systems to help businesses along. The list of services they provide is long, but includes some impressive features like business planning tips, information about various financing options, a full business law library, online business training, small business podcasts, and all the government forms you could want.
One of their most interesting web tools, though, is the SBA assessment tool: a 5-minute questionnaire designed to help potential entrepreneurs decide whether or not they are equipped to start an Air Advantage internet sales franchise, DVDNow movie rental franchise, or any other home based business. It’s a surprisingly simple list of questions, that literally only take a few minutes to fill out, and it covers just about every question that would need to be asked.
The yes/no questions are broken into 3 category headings: general; personal characteristics; and skills, experience, and training. The general section includes questions regarding who you’ve discussed your business ideas with, if you have the support of family and friends, and whether or not you have sought professional counsel.
The personal characteristics heading asks a few questions about you to help determine if you have the personal qualities that most entrepreneurs display: are you a leader, do you display confidence, are you a team-player, etc.
The skills, experience & training question list takes you through a whirlwind look at your business history, natural talents, and accumulated training. Altogether, the questionnaire is sure to give you a better idea of where you stand in preparedness as you look at the prospect of starting a work at home franchise. If you have what it takes to make it in the business world, but need a little nudge in the right direction, the SBA can help show what to you.
If, however, there is anything about your answers that would lead the SBA assessment to conclude that you are not yet ready to start a business, it doesn’t just tell you to give up all dreams of owning a business entirely. Instead, it takes your responses and develops a plan of action for you to follow that will help fill out those areas in which you may not have scored as highly as possible. Once you have read the recommended material, sought counsel from a trained business coach, and done whatever else the results indicate would be a good idea for you to do, you should be ready to come back and ace the assessment. The assessment is not something designed so that the SBA can bar people from starting businesses, but it does help to bolster people who are ready and advise people who aren’t.
All in all, the SBA and its array of business tools are very helpful to anyone interested in any kind of business. Whether you’re on the path to getting into business-to-business internet consulting with WSI Internet, just browsing for an internet franchise, or simply toying with the idea of any kind of franchise business, the SBA can help, and it wants to, so take advantage of the services that it offers. It makes no sense to avoid free help.
Unsure About a Home Based Business The SBA Can Help - To learn more about this author, visit Candice Clem's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
From start to finish, the process of purchasing a home business can be a tricky road to navigate. Even the very first decision can prove to be a hurdle for some people: am I ready for this? Particularly if you’re a person prone to worry, this can be a difficult and fearful question to ask, and an even harder one to answer, especially if you’ve never purchased or operated your own business before. Simply approaching the idea of opening your own business can be challenging, regardless of how easy a work from home model may be. However, "am I ready for this" doesn’t have to be an impossible question, and although it may seem a little unexpected, the government can help you answer it.
Actually, the government is so concerned about small business development and entrepreneurship as a serious stimulus to the United States economy, that the Small Business Administration has constructed a website with a wide variety of tools and support systems to help businesses along. The list of services they provide is long, but includes some impressive features like business planning tips, information about various financing options, a full business law library, online business training, small business podcasts, and all the government forms you could want.
One of their most interesting web tools, though, is the SBA assessment tool: a 5-minute questionnaire designed to help potential entrepreneurs decide whether or not they are equipped to start an Air Advantage internet sales franchise, DVDNow movie rental franchise, or any other home based business. It’s a surprisingly simple list of questions, that literally only take a few minutes to fill out, and it covers just about every question that would need to be asked.
The yes/no questions are broken into 3 category headings: general; personal characteristics; and skills, experience, and training. The general section includes questions regarding who you’ve discussed your business ideas with, if you have the support of family and friends, and whether or not you have sought professional counsel.
The personal characteristics heading asks a few questions about you to help determine if you have the personal qualities that most entrepreneurs display: are you a leader, do you display confidence, are you a team-player, etc.
The skills, experience & training question list takes you through a whirlwind look at your business history, natural talents, and accumulated training. Altogether, the questionnaire is sure to give you a better idea of where you stand in preparedness as you look at the prospect of starting a work at home franchise. If you have what it takes to make it in the business world, but need a little nudge in the right direction, the SBA can help show what to you.
If, however, there is anything about your answers that would lead the SBA assessment to conclude that you are not yet ready to start a business, it doesn’t just tell you to give up all dreams of owning a business entirely. Instead, it takes your responses and develops a plan of action for you to follow that will help fill out those areas in which you may not have scored as highly as possible. Once you have read the recommended material, sought counsel from a trained business coach, and done whatever else the results indicate would be a good idea for you to do, you should be ready to come back and ace the assessment. The assessment is not something designed so that the SBA can bar people from starting businesses, but it does help to bolster people who are ready and advise people who aren’t.
All in all, the SBA and its array of business tools are very helpful to anyone interested in any kind of business. Whether you’re on the path to getting into business-to-business internet consulting with WSI Internet, just browsing for an internet franchise, or simply toying with the idea of any kind of franchise business, the SBA can help, and it wants to, so take advantage of the services that it offers. It makes no sense to avoid free help.
Unsure About a Home Based Business The SBA Can Help - To learn more about this author, visit Candice Clem's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
|||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
|||
David BarrDavid Barr is the President of Venture Opportunities, Inc. David has been a professional business broker/intermediary since 1980 focusing on General Business Brokerage and Mergers and Acquisitions representing client transaction value from $400,000 to $20,000,000. Mr. Barr has handled the sale of over four hundred and fifty companies. David earned a university degree from the State University of New York majoring in economics and business. David holds the Mergers and Acquisition Master Intermediary and the Certified Business Intermediary designations from the International Business Brokers Association. He is also a Senior Business Analyst and a Texas licensed Real Estate Agent. For more information about David and Venture Opportunities, visit www.bizdealmaker.com. - Visit David Barr's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
Casey GollanCasey Gollan, Business Coaching & Mentoring Programs. Add $1 Million to $10 Million in the next 1 to 3 years. Since 1996 Casey has to added hundreds of millions of dollars to businesses. Watch a free video see client results Business Coaching website. - Visit Casey Gollan's Website |
|||
Jeff FosterWebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis website design company founded to help people start an internet business by providing them with website, business, and internet resources that help foster the growth of successful online businesses and develop innovative Internet business ideas. We specialize in internet consulting & internet marketing. - Visit Jeff Foster's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Candice's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
|
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Why Business Owners Quit Internet Marketing Campaigns Start eTutoring Business Power of Concentration Future Networking |
|
 | ||
 |
Write The PR
Press Release Builder | |
 |
Top 50 Blogs For Startups
Top Blogs To Watch In 2009 | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||