America’s SBDC Blog

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Check Out the Koble Web App for B2B Business Discovery

June 13, 2019
By Jackie, for Koble –

Koble web appKoble is thrilled to announce the launch of its web app for Koble 2.0. The web app brings the ability to search for over 11 million companies in 30 categories, to an SMB or corporate buyer’s desktop.

The web app features Koble Pages – smaller than a website and larger than a listing – which are SEO optmized, and allow for businesses to gain unrivaled visibility online. Businesses can now own a company page which is optimized for search engines with Koble Pages, which are free. With nearly half of US small businesses without a website, owning a Koble page makes a website accessible to every SMB, without having any technical know-how.

Koble has already optimized for eight key categories, namely Accounting, Advertising Agencies, Engineering Services, Information Technology, Legal Services, Management Consulting, Market Research and Public Relations. This will progressively lead to increased traffic being driven towards companies that operate within those categories. Any company on the Koble platform is up to five times more likely to be found in a search. (more…)

Employee Training: What’s Recommended for Small Businesses?

June 11, 2019
ComplyRight - Employee TrainingBy ComplyRight –

Training your staff on essential topics helps create a safe, respectful and productive workplace. There are two types of training: recommended and required. Let’s look at some important areas of training every business owner should consider implementing.

New Employee Orientation

Training should start on an employee’s first day. Orientation helps new hires get acclimated to your business and understand your company culture. Important topics to cover include:

  • Goals and expectations, including job responsibilities
  • Compensation and benefits, including pay dates, payment options (e.g., direct deposit), health insurance and other benefits
  • Work hours, including lunch/break times, as well as clock-in, clock-out procedures for non-exempt employees
  • Code of conduct, including your company values, customer interaction, dress code and other expectations
  • Technology policies and procedures, including how to access email, your social media policy and consequences for abusing company technology
  • Harassment and discrimination, including the different types of harassment, specific examples of inappropriate behavior and how to report a claim

(more…)

What Do All Those Letters Mean?

June 4, 2019
By Shawn Hyde, International Society of Business Appraisers (ISBA) –

Piggy BankLots of people have a series of letters behind their names. These are designations that indicate specific training and education. There are several different sets of letters from different organizations that one can obtain in the field of business valuation. The following describes a little about each of them and their most commonly awarded designations.

Business valuation, as an industry, began being organized in the United States in 1978, with the Institute of Business Appraisers (IBA) and a man named Ray Miles. Prior to then, practitioners were valuing businesses, but there were no collections of authoritative texts or industry experts. In the early years of this industry, certain stars began to shine and publish books to share their expertise with the rest of us. I am speaking of names such as Shannon Pratt, Jay Fishman, Robert Reilly, Robert Schweihs, Gary Trugman, and Chris Mercer. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just those whose names are on the spines of most of the books in my library. (more…)

The Mill

May 29, 2019
Success Story: Wisconsin –

Wisconsin Success - The MillNancy Helms loved the vintage aesthetic of the former feed mill in downtown Chetek so much that she decided to fill it with a new business. The Mill is now a one-of-a-kind event venue with a modern-industrial vibe.

Nancy and her husband Leonard (Buddy) purchased the abandoned feed mill in May, 2016 and opened for business in May, 2017. Renovations included repairs to the roof and floor, and removing scrap steel and more. “We found an old tank of molasses and removed 1,000 gallons by hand, in 5-gallon pails.”

Nancy, a self-described antiques fanatic, loved restoring the building to its original state, only better. “We are ADA-compliant — we worked very hard to accomplish that,” said Nancy, who mentors developmentally delayed adults. Her aesthetic is an elegant mix of old and new that sets The Mill apart from competitors. (more…)

America’s SBDC and Venturize Ask the Tough Questions About Becoming Loan Ready

May 21, 2019
By Meghan Ott, Venturize –

Business Meeting

In celebration of our new partnership with America’s SBDC, Venturize co-hosted a Twitter chat during National Small Business Week to talk about the top tips and resources to help small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs become loan ready.

We were happy to be joined by our friends at Intuit QuickBooks, the New Jersey Business Action Center, Small Business Majority, BIGG Success, and BizBuySell. There were also a number of SBDCs that participated, including the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center, New York SBDC, University of Minnesota Center for Economic Development, and Temple University SBDC. (more…)