2009 Michigan Small Business Resource Guide

America is a country of entrepreneurs. It was built by entrepreneurs, and over the years, our economy has grown on the strength of our entrepreneurs. America has an economy that regenerates, is flexible, and adapts to opportunity. The U.S. Small Business Administration plays a vital role in enabling America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners.

 Through a wide array of services – loan guaranties, assistance for small businesses in federal contracting, and business counseling – the SBA has helped millions of entrepreneurs start and grow their small businesses. The agency continues to expand our support for small businesses. They currently guarantee more than $75 billion in loans and investments; our resource partners’ in Small Business & Technology Development Centers network centers provide counseling to more than 1 million entrepreneurs every year; and we helped small businesses secure close to $80 billion in prime federal contracts.

 This resource guide is your roadmap to all of our valuable products and services. We hope that you’ll read it closely; the SBA team has worked hard to ensure the information here is useful and up to date.

 In addition, we encourage you to visit your local Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center Region 2 office by phoning (231)922.3780, which is your portal to SBA assistance and can help you start and grow your business. Click here to get the guide!

SBA ARC Loan Program

If your small business is stressed meeting expenses during these economic times, the U.S. Small Business Administration has a new loan program designed just for you.

SBA’s America’s Recovery Capital Loan Program can provide up to $35,000 in short-term relief for viable small businesses facing immediate financial hardship to help ride out the current uncertain economic times and return to profitability.  Each small business is limited to one ARC loan.

ARC loans will be offered by some SBA lenders for as long as funding is available or until September 30, 2010, whichever comes first. 

SBA Participant Lender Fact Sheet

About the ARC Loan Program

ARC Loan Eligibility

Applying for an ARC Loan

Learn How SBA Can Help

If you would like to speak directly to a SBA customer service representative about the ARC Loan Program, please call the toll-free number (866-947-8081) Monday through Friday during the hours of 8am to 9pm (Eastern Time).

Online Tools Make the Difference

In case you missed it, the marketing game has changed of late, with new tools available for a growing business that complement traditional forms of advertising. Here’s a quick breakdown of the new tools and how they can be utilized.

Web sites: A surprisingly large percentage of businesses still don’t have a simple one page informational web site. Anyone under the age of 35 is likely to search for a business online instead of looking through the traditional yellow pages. It’s easier these days to use a formatted web template than having to make the huge investment in a web designer (not that web designers don’t have a role later). Make sure you have the ability to change the content on the site and install a site meter device to gauge and measure who’s coming and going to the site.

Blogs: A blog site can be the perfect compliment to the static web site, especially if you like to write. Quick updates and related content go a long way in building a community of like minded customers. Blogs are free and help your business rise quickly in internet search engine.

Facebook: The worlds of personal and business collide on Facebook, but the site built for social networking can be a useful business marketing tool. It’s easy to set up a group page on Facebook that Facebook users can recommend to their friends. The idea is to have others spreading the word of your product or service to others in a virtual world that has no defined geographic boundaries.

Twitter: An acquired taste, Twitter is quickly becoming accepted for business networking and for posting timely announcements and informational pieces that can be read and recommended to others.

These new online tools can quickly build on the traditional forms of targeted marketing and advertising. Those who don’t adapt and begin to understand this new online component will be at a significant competitive disadvantage.