You’ve made that giant step and now you own your own business. But something’s not working, and you don’t know what to do about it. Who should you call?The Small Business Institute at the University of Northern Colorado is a good place to start.
“We offer confidential counseling to small businesses in the area,´ said Lynn Hoffman, SBI director and professor of management.
Each semester, the SBI has six to eight teams of upper-level students working with small businesses. The students spend the semester doing background on the company or industry and make suggestions on how to achieve the desired goal.
“We work on whatever the business wants us to work on,” Hoffman said. This could include an accounting system, financial analysis, management problems, advertising and marketing. And the cost is minimal – just enough to cover expenses. The same service provided by a professional consultant could easily cost the business $2,000 to $10,000, he said.
The Small Business Institute has been in existence for 21 years and is a great benefit to students, too, Hoffman said. It looks good on resumes, he noted, adding that job interviewers invariably pick up on it.
The SBI can be reached by phoning Hoffman at 351-1224.