Must-Use Resources for Small Business Owners
If you’re thinking about starting a small business, you’re likely aware of some of the greatest challenges involved from government regulations and healthcare to hiring employees and maintaining cashflow. If you already operate a small business, then you’ve lived these challenges, and you’re aware that you need every advantage you can get. This is especially true when you consider that over 99% of businesses in the United States are considered small businesses, often with fewer than 20 employees.
Naturally, the boom of eCommerce stores makes the competition even greater, since these businesses can generally be started with much less capital than a brick and mortar storefront. If you want your business to stand out and outdo your competitors, you’ll need the right tools and resources on your side. Fortunately, there are plenty of great ones to choose from.
Small Business Administration
The Small Business Administration (SBA) is a fantastic resource for small business owners with information to guide you through planning and launching a business as well as continuing to grow it. They provide business plan worksheets to help you seek funding, and they provide details on government regulations and tax codes. They even provide grants and loans, so it’s worth checking to see if your business qualifies. Even if you’re an experienced entrepreneur, the SBA can offer business counseling for those at any level.
The majority of people use Google as a search tool on a daily basis, but its uses can go far beyond that, especially for business owners. First, if you have a physical storefront, you’ll want to customize your Google Maps page. You can edit your business page through Google to include things like pictures of your business, contact information, and you can even add a click-to-call feature that’s great for mobile users.
Speaking of mobile users, you’ll also want a Google My Business page. Having this page ensures all users searching for your business get up to date information, and you can add things like your store hours and products. It also helps you appear higher in local search rankings, so you can draw in more customers from your area.
Dropshipping
Managing inventory can be a huge challenge for small business owners, especially if you’re running a business out of your home or if you have a small location. You won’t have to worry about this if you use dropshipping suppliers. A dropshipping supplier is basically a supplier that lets you display their products in your eCommerce store while keeping the inventory in their own warehouse. Once an order is made in your store, the drop ship company will send the item from their inventory directly to your customer. This is a great way to find a legitimate wholesaler who sells worldwide brands and can provide your necessary products.
GoLookUp
While a background check service might not seem like the most obvious tool that would benefit a small business, GoLookUp has several useful applications. Likely one of the most interesting to a small business owner is the ability to look up unclaimed money. Unclaimed assets and unclaimed money are held by the state when the owner of the funds or assets can’t be found. This could be because they moved states without updating an address for example. Unclaimed money can come from anywhere. It could be a missing paycheck, money owed from estates or unclaimed tax returns. Every year, people in the U.S. discover they were owed a large sum of money in unclaimed funds, so it’s worth looking into.
Of course, GoLookUp is also known for providing information like arrest records, mugshots, and other public records. It’s important to note that this information isn’t meant to be used for hiring purposes. Still, you may be interested to know what people could find out about you on this site, and any business owner should seek to correct inaccurate information.