Maybe the better question is: who’s your rich uncle?
In 2003, the SBA underwrote over $12 billion in loans to small businesses. They dispersed $1 billion in disaster loans while additionally assisting small businesses in securing more than $40 billion in federal contracts.
If you’re are not taking advantage of the counseling, loans, grants, training, sample documents and other valuable tools and services available through the US government’s Small Business Administration, (SBA) then what’s the good of having a wise, rich and munificent Uncle Sam?
The SBA is the largest single financial backer of US businesses. Since their inception in 1958, the agency has awarded, on average each year, nearly a billion dollars in small business venture capital. Currently, the SBA holds roughly a quarter million small business loans, collectively worth nearly $95 billion.
Now here’s what makes dealing with the SBA so worthwhile:
· There are SBA offices everywhere—every state and every major city, plus their online support service is first-rate. · You don’t have to creatively embellish your situation when you deal with the SBA. They’ll see your tax returns and your credit rating and they will still want to talk to you.
· With the SBA, it is okay to fall outside the norm—sometimes it is even a plus. The SBA has programs to address the special needs of atypical businesses and atypical people.
· The US federal government contracts in excess of $20 billion annually in goods and services from businesses in the private sector. The SBA offers your best entrée into this market.
SBA Deputy Administrator, Melanie R. Sabelhaus says, If you think about it, what have people always done when the chips were down or their dreams just seemed so risky no one would help them? They turned to family, of course. Perhaps you too, should consider a visit to your uncle. You can find him at http://www.sba.gov/
After all, you can take advantage of the low-interest and no-interest money available through the SBA, or you can leave it on the table and let others—including your competition—benefit from it.