Counseling sessions offer help to small businesses

Fort Scott, Kan. -- Both current and prospective small business owners will have the chance to learn how to grow and develop their business through upcoming professional counseling sessions.

Counselors representing the Kansas Small Business Development Center at Pittsburg State University will be available on two upcoming dates -- Aug. 28 and Sept. 25 -- to provide free, confidential assistance to existing business owners in the region who face challenges, growth plans, or who need help evaluating the status of their business. KSBDC counselors also help people who are planning to start their own business.

The KSBDC workshops and training seminars are designed to help current business owners in Southeast Kansas improve their operations, and to help guide new business owners through the process of starting up a business.

Counselors help business owners handle such business-related tasks as better marketing strategies and better finance management, although the agency does not provide actual financing for a business, KSBDC Regional Director Kathryn Richard said.

"In the counseling sessions, our primary goal is to work one-on-one with business owners and potential business owners," Richard said. "We help them with things like marketing, cash flow management, personnel, and their future growth plans. We don't have money to lend, but we can identify financing options for them."

The KSBDC helps new business owners evaluate the idea for their business; helps guide them through the start-up process; outlines steps for them to take and any information needed for the owner or owners to get the business off the ground; and helps to provide a loan institution with a proposal on the business' financial needs, Richard said.

Prospective business owners are also encouraged to attend a "How To Start Your Own Business" session provided by KSBDC before meeting with a counselor.

These two-hour sessions provide an overview of the business start-up and operation process, and include worksheets to help the owner compile information needed to make informed decisions about his or her business plans, a KSBDC statement said.

"These sessions are recommended before meeting a counselor or before exploring a start-up idea," Richard said.

Advanced registration for the sessions is recommended by calling the KSBDC office at (620) 235-4921.

Sometimes, new business owners have to overcome financial obstacles, and the agency's counselors help those owners determine the best way to support their business financially, Richard said.

"With the economy the way it is lately, lenders sometimes aren't quite willing to take on the risk of backing a new business," she said.

During the last month or so, the agency has primarily worked to help business owners address cash flow challenges, and business owners who are considering retirement and/or the sale of their business, Richard said.

"So maybe we can help them maximize what the asking price of that business is," she said.

Richard said she and three other counselors provide services for several businesses at various locations in 12 Southeast Kansas counties. The local counseling sessions, which are divided among the counselors, allow business owners an opportunity to meet with a counselor in their own town rather than traveling to the agency's Pittsburg office for services, Richard said.

About half of the businesses that the agency assists are existing businesses, while the other half are new businesses, Richard said.

There are two outreach centers for the KSBDC regional office at PSU -- one is located at Allen County Community College, and the other is located at Independence Community College.

Richard said there is no charge for any of the agency's confidential services, which KSBDC is able to provide through funding assistance from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Kansas Department of Commerce, and six Southeast Kansas community colleges.

The next local KSBDC workshops are scheduled to take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 28; from 9 a.m. to noon Thursday, Sept. 25; and from 1 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Fort Scott Community College Greyhound Room, 2108 S. Horton St.

Counselors are available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., daily. Call the KSBDC for more information.