Small Business Connections                                 September 2012 

Welcome to Small Business Connections! 

 

The Illinois Small Business Development Center at Waubonsee Community College is here to serve your small business needs. We offer free business counseling to entrepreneurs and business owners, as well as a variety of small business workshops.

 

Call us today at (630) 906-4143 to learn how we can help you start or grow your business.
Small Business Spotlight
The Coffeecake Connection 

If you like coffee cake, meet the Coffeecake Lady, Christine Welch, owner of The Coffeecake Connection Company.  Christine hales from the Midwest, and got her love for buttermilk coffee cake from her mother and grandmother.  Christine baked for friends and family, who urged her to turn her product into a business.  So she contracted with Chicago Pastry, perfected the recipes, and launched her online coffee cake business last November, selling over 1,000 coffee cakes through social media marketing in her first month. 

Fueled by her initial success, Christine broadened her target to include corporate gifting, fundraising and the wholesale/ready-to-serve market.  When these markets were slower to convert, she turned to the IL SBDC at Waubonsee for help fine tuning her target market and marketing strategy.  The SBDC helped her prepare for a forecast for each market, look at margins from each, and develop a more focused strategy for the markets that showed the most promise.

Christine talks about her experience working with the SBDC: "The Waubonsee SBDC has been truly a blessing. The expertise and guidance that Harriet Parker and the team of people she brought together, has helped me focus and measure my successes (or set-backs) more quickly. The tools and insights provided have helped me make adjustments quicker based on facts vs. my "gut". With every meeting, I learn more and am seeing the results that are needed to grow and make The Coffeecake Connection Company become a recognized brand for creating connections with the people that matter most to my customers".

SBDC partner, Nicole Reyhle, retail/wholesale consultant, and owner of RetailMinded.com and Retail Minded magazine, joined in the strategy session, and offered packaging and marketing tips.

Last month, Christine signed a deal with Oberweis.  Beginning October 1st, Christine's coffee cake will be delivered to the door of Oberweis' customers.  Other corporate customers are also signing on to offer Christine's coffee cake as a gift to their best customers.

The Coffeecake Connection offers a wide variety of flavors from the Signature flavor to  lemon blueberry, triple chocolate chip, raspberry white chocolate, pumpkin, and many others.  If you can't decide, the Cake of the Month Club allows you to try them all.

Coffeecake Connection also makes a great gift for family and friends near and far on special occasions.  Each coffee cake comes with How To Care For Your Cake instructions to make sure that you enjoy your coffee cake at its best.  If you've used Harry & David or other food gift products, try Coffeecake Connection for a change.

See the whole list of flavors and sizes available at The Coffeecake Connection website or call to order by phone at (888) 940-2253. 
Biz Buzz

Where's the Money?

 

The age old question of where to find financing for start-up and small business owners is one that the Small Business Development Center hears every day. With tightened credit markets, entrepreneurs and small business owners face a major challenge in this area.

 

While they don't fit every need, there are still financing avenues available. But first, a few financing FAQ's:

  • Despite what you find on the Internet, there are almost never grants for independent, for-profit businesses. No matter what is promised, if you are paying money to someone who tells you they can help get you a grant, you are likely to lose that money.
  • The SBA does not lend money directly to the business owner. They provide guaranteed loan programs to support commercial lending by the bank. If you are seeking an SBA loan, you must obtain approval from a bank.
  • Commercial lenders require good credit, collateral to back up the loan, an existing source of cash flow, and a strong business plan with a detailed financial forecast. Be prepared before you approach your lender.

Now, let's explore some financing alternatives:

 

Microloans. Micro-lending is alive, well and growing as an accessible source of business financing, even for start-ups. ACCION Chicago works closely with the SBDC network to offer loans of up to $20,000 to start-ups and up to $50,000 to established businesses. ACCION also offers smaller credit-builder loans for owners who have poor credit. Another microlender, Duman Entrepreneurship Center and Loan Fund offers loans up to $15,000. Just last week, Inland Bank announced a small business microloan program offering $5,000 loans to small businesses.

 

Crowdfunding. Crowdfunders like Indiegogo and Kickstarter made a splash by merging social media with the small business financing arena. Due to SEC regulations, most crowdfunding has taken the form of product or services in exchange for donations. Indiegogo recently executed a $1 million plus fundraiser with an average donation of $41. The SEC is set to rule on whether crowdfunding can become an investment vehicle offering equity to investors.

 

More recently crowdfunding has become available in the form of a loan.  LendSquare, a Chicago-based crowdfunder, allows businesses to rally their customers and community fans who support their business.  LendSquare aggregates the loans and lenders get paid back with interest. LendSquare was recently featured in the Daily Herald.

 

While it is likely that access to credit for small businesses will continue to be challenging, the spotlight is on this issue, so keep up with lending news, build a relationship with your business banker, and watch for new financing avenues to open up. For more information about any of the programs mentioned above, contact the IL SBDC at Waubonsee at (630) 906-4143 or [email protected].

 

Biz Bitz

Drought Assistance Now Available for Illinois Businesses Other than Farms 

GENEVA, IL - U.S. Representative Randy Hultgran (IL-14) today announced that Economic Injury Disaster Loans from the Small Business Adminstration (SBA) are now available for businesses other than farms in Boone, Bureau, Cook, DeKalb, Henry, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Montgomery and Whiteside counties that suffered financial losses as a direct result of this year's drought.

"When the Secretary of Agriculture issues a disaster declaration to help farmers recover from damages and losses to crops, the Small Business Administration issues a declaration to eligible entities affected by the same disaster," said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA's Field Operations Center East in Atlanta.

According to the SBA, the loans are only for farm-related or nonfarm-related entities such as small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, and private non-profit organizations.  Producers, farmers and ranchers are not eligible for the SBA loans, but may be eligible for assistance through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and should visit www.fsa.usda.gov. for more information.

SBA loan amounts will vary based on the size of the applicant, type of activity and financial resources, but may go up to $2 million.  They may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that entities were unable to pay because of the disaster. They are not intended to replace lost sales or profits.

"The effects of the 2012 drought have been far-reaching and devastating for businesses other than farms," said Rep. Hultgran.  "While these loans can't make up for lost profit, they can help a business or nonprofit maintain stable operations, saving many jobs in the process."

Applicants may apply eitherby mail or online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA's secure website: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/login.aspx.  Completed applications are due by April 1, 2013.  For more information please click here.

 

USDA Value Added Producer Grant (VAPG) Program

2012 Value Added Producer Grant (VAPG) program - USDA published the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) in the 8/15/12 Federal Register inviting VAPG applications. Approximately $14 million is available for this nationally competitive program. The maximum individual grant amounts are the same as the last VAPG funding cycle: $100,000 for a planning grant or $300,000 for a working capital grant.

 

The deadline for submitting VAPG applications is October 15, 2012 for ALL applications.

 

To assist you in preparing your application, our National Office has developed an application package that can be downloaded from the main VAPG website shown below.  This package has not yet been posted to the website, but will hopefully be up soon.  According to our National Office, improvements have been made to last year's application package to make it much more user-friendly.  Please note the use of this application package/template is not required.

 

Here are helpful websites for this program including websites that can be visited to find the NOFA and Program Regulation. The main VAPG website, link to VAPG regulation

link to 8/15/2012 NOFA, or feel free to contact [email protected] for any questions. 

Get Smart: Small Business Workshops at Waubonsee

Starting Your Business in Illinois ($30)     

Tue., Aug. 21, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)             

Thur., Sep. 20, 6-9 p.m. (Plano)             

Tue., Oct. 16, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

Thur., Nov. 15, 6-9 p.m. (Sugar Grove)

Wed., Dec. 5, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

 

Marketing for Small Business ($30)

Tue., Sep 11, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

Thur., Nov. 1, 6-9 p.m. (Sugar Grove)

 

Is Franchising Right for You? ($30)

Wed., Oct. 24, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

 

Social Media Marketing for Small Business ($30)

Wed., Aug. 29, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

Thur., Oct. 11, 6-9 p.m. (Sugar Grove)

 

Google for Business ($30)

Wed., Oct. 3, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

 

Facebook for Business ($30)

Thur., Sep. 6, 6-9 p.m. (Online)

Wed., Nov. 28, 7-8 p.m. (Online)

 

Step Into Retail ($30)

Tue., Nov. 6, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)

 

Small Business Tax Workshop ($30)

Tue., Nov. 13, 6-9 p.m. (Aurora)   

Register at Waubonsee Tickets 

 

Power Networking ($30)

Tue., Sep. 25, 6-8 p.m. (Aurora)  

Register at Waubonsee Tickets  

 

QuickBooks Test Drive (FREE) 

Tuesday, Sep. 4, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Aurora)

Thursday, Sep. 27, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Sugar Grove)

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Aurora)

Thursday, Oct. 25, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Plano)

Tuesday, Nov. 6, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Aurora)

Thursday, Nov. 29, 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Aurora)

Please call (630) 906-4143 to register 

   

QuickBooks and Excel

A variety of QuickBooks and Excel classes are available to meet your small business accounting needs. Click here for complete class descriptions, locations, dates, times and costs. 

Illinois SBDC at Waubonsee Community College

Funded  in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.  All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA or DCEO.

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