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The Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Waubonsee Community College is dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and small business owners at every stage—whether you are launching a new venture or expanding an existing one. We provide no-cost, confidential business advising, access to resources, and practical training designed to help you start, grow, and manage your business effectively. With centers across Illinois, the SBDC makes it easy for you to get the support you need. Whether you're just starting out or looking to grow, we're here to help your small business thrive.
Services Include:
One-on-one business advice and management assistance
Assistance with the development of business plans
Help with accessing market information and the development of marketing plans
Assistance with accessing business financing programs
Assistance with financial analysis and planning
Access to business education and training opportunities
Specialized services in technology, innovation and entrepreneurial development
* The Illinois SBDC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration
To Learn More about the Illinois SBDC at Waubonsee Community College, please visit our website.
Starting and running a business means asking big questions—and finding the right people to help answer them. Whether you need legal guidance, financial know-how, or HR expertise, the resources below connect you with the support that keeps your business moving forward.
The Art of Small Business Social Media
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An essential guide for small business owners that Booklist calls "appealing and supremely useful" in a starred review and Guy Kawasaki points out in the foreword, "if you're an entrepreneur or small business owner and want to master digital marketing, you need this book." In The Art of Small Business Social Media, social media expert Peg Fitzpatrick offers a comprehensive guide tailored specifically for small business owners.
The Small Business Start-Up Kit
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Your one-stop guide to starting a small business. Want to start a business? Don't know where to begin? The Small Business Start-Up Kit shows you how to set up a small business in your state and deal with state and local forms, fees, and regulations.
Legal Forms for Starting and Running a Small Business
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Create solid contracts for your business As a small business owner, you can't afford to farm paperwork and contracts out to a lawyer--you have to deal with them yourself. With Legal Forms for Starting & Running a Small Business, you can act with confidence. Here you'll find the forms you need to start and grow your business. Each document comes with thorough, plain-English, line-by-line instructions to help you: write contracts prepare corporate bylaws prepare an LLC operating agreement hire employees and consultants create noncompete agreements protect your trade secrets record minutes of meetings lease commercial space buy real estate borrow or lend money The 12th edition has been thoroughly reviewed and updated by Nolo's experts and provides the most up-to-date legal information for small businesses. With Downloadable FormsDownload and customize more than 65 forms to help you start and run your small business (details inside).
Saving Main Street
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A veteran journalist follows an inspiring ensemble cast of small business owners fighting to keep their businesses alive through Covid-19, while exploring the sweeping trends and government policies that had brought small businesses to the breaking point long before the coronavirus hit. There is a tendency to fetishize small business even as it shrinks before our eyes. Americans extol the virtues of small, local, often family-run shops, yet buy from big-box retailers and chains that dominate the competition. Even before the pandemic, small businesses seemed endangered. When Covid-19 hit, the resounding question was: How will they be able to survive this Saving Main Street is an unfiltered, up-close examination of a small group of business owners and their employees, their struggles, and their strategies to survive. It is an eye-opening tale of grit, perseverance, and entrepreneurial spirit that follows three businesses: a restaurant owner and his rambunctious staff, an immigrant running her own hair salon, and the owner of a "non-life sustaining" gift shop--alongside a larger cast of vividly drawn characters. Gary Rivlin focuses on the first days of the Covid lockdown and the ensuing eighteen months of chaos, including the personal and financial risks, a contentious presidential election, and contradictory governmental guidelines--all which compounded the everyday challenges of running an independent business trying to attract and retain customers who expect low prices, convenience, and endless choice. Rivlin keenly observes small businesses from all angles, examining commonly held "myths"; contradictions in government policy; enormous racial and class fissures; a national self-identity intrinsically connected to the ideal of small business, and how the decline of this American way of retail impacts our notions of American exceptionalism, community, and civic duty. As Rivlin reveals, there's something enduring about small business in the American psyche. Life will have changed in unprecedented ways on the other side of this pandemic, yet hard times will also create opportunities, offering hope and survival.
QuickBooks 2022 All-In-One for Dummies
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The soup-to-nuts QuickBooks reference that will make your small business life so much simpler! QuickBooks makes it quick to do your books, and QuickBooks 2022 All-in-One For Dummies makes it easy. The leading small business accounting software will become your best friend, helping you cut costs (no more expensive financial services) and save time, with all your accounting and payroll info in one place. With this value-priced, bestselling reference, you've got access to 8 mini-books that give you the answers you need to make running a small business that much more manageable. Inside, you'll discover the key features of QuickBooks, plus refresh your memory on double-entry bookkeeping and all the other basics of small business accounting. This jargon-free guide shows you, step-by-step, how to plan your perfect budget, simplify tax returns, manage inventory, create invoices, track costs, generate reports, and accurately check off every other financial task that comes across your desk! Get the most out of QuickBooks 2022, including all the latest features and updates Sharpen your finance and accounting know-how with a friendly rundown of the must-knows Keep yourself in business with a solid budget, a world-class business plan, and clean payroll Take the headache out of tax time with QuickTime's automated tax preparation QuickBooks All-in-One 2022 For Dummies is the trusted go-to that will save you time and allow you to focus on the business of running your small business!
Entrepreneur Revolution
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Create a great business and a better life In the newly revised third edition of Entrepreneur Revolution: How to develop your entrepreneurial mindset and start a business that works, serial entrepreneur Daniel Priestley delivers an inspiring and practical book that shows you how to break free from the industrial revolution mindset, quit working so hard, follow your dream, and make a fortune along the way. In the book, you'll find a masterclass in changing how you think, the way you network, and how you make a living. The author provides clear guidance on: Why this is the greatest time in history to be an entrepreneur How to spot the right business for you How to transform a negative event--like a lay-off, recession, or downsizing--into an entrepreneurial opportunity Strategies for imaginative and creative millennials ready to take charge of their careers Perfect for aspiring and experienced professionals at any stage of their careers, Entrepreneur Revolution will also earn a place on the bookshelves of founders, content creators, business students, young professionals, and veteran managers interested in beginning a new phase of their economic life.
Cybersecurity for Small Networks
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This book is an easy-to-follow series of tutorials that will lead readers through different facets of protecting household or small-business networks from cyber attacks. You'll learn how to use pfSense to build a firewall, lock down wireless, segment a network into protected zones, configure a VPN (virtual private network) to hide and encrypt network traffic and communications, set up proxies to speed up network performance and hide the source of traffic, block ads, install and configure an antivirus, back up your data securely, and even how to monitor your network for unauthorized activity and alert you to intrusion.
Economic Conditions
Demographics
Consumers
Expenditures
Surveys/Polls
Behavior
See also the Consumer Expenditure Surveys under Expenditures above.
