If you’re thinking about or just started your business, we want to tell you about a valuable resource.  This resource is dedicated to small businesses and provides counseling, capital, and contracting expertise and is the the nation’s ONLY Federal go-to resource and voice for small businesses.

What is the SBA and what does it stand for?

The Small Business Administration, or SBA, is an independent government agency which intends to provide support towards small businesses and entrepreneurs. They do this to promote growth, recovery, and confidence within small businesses. SBA was created in 1953 becoming the only federal agency fully dedicated to help small businesses.

How is the SBA organized?

• Headquarters Offices These offices are a little of everything. Therefore, they are broken down intro offices of advocacy, contracting, counseling, disaster assistance, financial assistance, international trade, and management. To add onto this, they also share small business audiences to make people feel included and supported. In this section they have Women’s Business Ownership, Office of Native American Affairs, and Office of Veterans Business Development.
• Regional Offices This page provides additional support to find an exact location. This provides you the ability to find what you are looking for in an office near you.
• District Offices District offices are responsible for proving small business owners the correct tools to grow and enhance their business. They want to do this through business development services and training. These offices are also responsible for proving people information about their programs based on the person’s district. On top of that it provides you locations in your district in which you can go to for assistance. For example, In Illinois I can see that they have locations in Chicago and Springfield. This page also takes you to a serious of events which are upcoming and you can sign up for.
• Disaster Offices Disaster centers are put into motion to help businesses that might have suffered a disaster, unexpected incident or much more. These offices help business owners rebuild their businesses. They provide resources for low-interest loans and counseling. This benefit is not just for businesses but it also provides help for homeowners and renters who have suffered losses due to natural disasters. Although they only have two physical centers in the US, you can reach them through phone or email. Additionally, they also offer a large list full of resources for disaster relief.
• Loan and Guaranty Centers This part of the SBA organization provides you an outlet in which you can see yourself as a lender. By creating a lenders portal, you can also see what the others are doing and get an idea of averages, normality, and risk levels. Lenders are responsible for everything themselves, even the closing. To ensure that they are compliant, SBA provides all the resources needed to follow through closing loans.

The SBA Business Guide

The SBA has a page named Business Guide which provides tons of resources from planning your business up to growing it. The four major categories are:

Plan your Business  This section breaks down the process of planning and starting your business into smaller categories. This site helps you in the marketing aspect, calculating startup cost, funding your business, and making a business plan.

Launch your Business  If you are having a hard time choosing or learning about different business structures, this site is your go to. SBA breaks down all the business structures and provides comparisons. Other aspects in which this site may be helpful is picking a business location, getting a federal ID number, opening a business bank account, applying for licenses and much more.

Manage your Business  After launching your business, you might look towards the SBA for help managing finances, hiring employees, staying complaint to the law, preparing for unexpected and much more.

Grow your Business  Once you have a running business and want to investigate growing and expanding, this guides you to opening more locations, receiving more funds, and exporting products.

In summary, the Small Business Administration serves as a guide for all types of businesses. They provide hundreds of resources and can connect you to what you are looking for.   This includes  information on topics like business guides, funding programs, federal counseling, learning platform, and local assistance.

Every category gets broken down even more which makes it understandable for all. And the best part of all?  Since the SBA is a government agency, you can rest assured that the information is compliant with all laws, reliable and accurate.  So make sure you go and check them out!