In honor of Small Business week, Q&A talks with Julio C. Casiano, deputy district director in the Hartford office of the federal Small Business Administration.
Q: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and U.S. Small Business Administration have announced new resources to support small businesses across the nation. What are some of the new resources and how can Connecticut companies avail themselves of the resources?
A: Today the SBA is providing 21st century resources to small business owners and those interested in becoming entrepreneurs through the website SBA.gov. Business owners today want access to information immediately and SBA has evolved to meet those demands. SBA.gov is interactive, offering a wide variety of program information from online training to setting up an appointment with a counselor, to starting a business and applying for a loan. Other resources available at SBA.gov are registering for government contracting. No longer does a small business owner have to spend valuable time away from their business, they can just click and visit our website and interact through our Twitter account, Facebook and YouTube channel.
Q. How is the small business environment in Connecticut? How is it compared to the rest of the nation? Better? Worse?
A: Small business environment in Connecticut continues to grow modestly and the demand for capital mirrors that growth. According to the latest edition of the Small Business Profiles issued by the SBA Office of Advocacy, Connecticut between 2009 and 2000 has seen small businesses increase from 293,686 to 318,230 for an 8.4 percent growth in 10 years; however, for the same period the nation’s small business sector grew at a much faster pace of 21.1 percent. Lending in Connecticut under all of our SBA programs for the year ended 2011 grew 36.1 percent to $282 million compared with $207 million in 2010. SBA lending activity in 2012 is back to post recession levels, as lenders are approving more and more direct conventional loans and seeking less assistance from the SBA loan programs.
Q: Money Smart for Small Business provides an introduction to day-to-day business organization and planning and is written for entrepreneurs with limited or no prior formal business training.
A: Money Smart was written in the language that a small business owner can understand. Much time and effort spanning over 10 years have been devoted into the development of this program. There are 10 class-training modules and each module can run up to one hour, depending on the knowledge base of the class group. Module 1 begins with understanding organization types such as proprietorships to the most popular limited liability company (LLC) formations. Other modules cover time management, financial management, recordkeeping, banking, credit reporting, risk management, insurance, tax planning, and finally selling your business and succession planning.
Q: The program also offers practical information that can be applied immediately, while also preparing participants for more advanced training. What are some of the advanced training that small business owner will receive?
A: Already a number of local Alliance organizations will be enlisted to provide the training and technical assistance offered in the program. Partner organizations such as the Connecticut Small Business Development Center, SCORE, the Women’s Business Centers and Spanish American Merchants Association will be invited to incorporate Money Smart for Small Business into their program mix. We anticipate many of the small business participants will continue to enroll in other advanced programs offered by our partner organizations, such as QuickBooks, marketing and business planning, counseling and technical assistance. Presently we are offering business workshops in Spanish across the state to introduce diverse business owners to business management and this program fits perfectly with the existing training.
Q: What time investment is required by small businesses to finish the course? Is there any cost involved?
A: The Money Smart program was just launched and we plan to roll it out in the next few weeks at one of our workshops. The small business workshops run from five to six weeks and each week will cover one or two of the modules. The only commitment a small business owner has to make is come, participate and share on their small business life experiences with the group. There is no cost.
Q: One of the topics touched on is succession. That’s constantly the flaw of many small businesses. What type of advice can you offer?
A: Succession planning as well as selling a business is not a norm in small business. Many small businesses are closely held “mom and pop” businesses started as a dream and the only succession plan that the owners have thought about is: Can my son or daughter one day take over the business? Small business owners tend to think generational inheritance. However, many of their children have no interest in running their parents business, let alone owning it one day. Many small businesses are eventually sold to an employee or closed for lack of family interest. We want to meet and counsel small business owners that are in the twilight of their business cycle or are looking long term. We can educate them on the benefits and pitfalls of selling a business, develop a long-term strategic plan that incorporates all these elements, as well as, introduce them to loan programs available under the SBA.
