The Placer County Office of Economic Development has added a new, versatile electronic business service to its website. The service, “Tools for Business Success” is an innovative program that offers a central website of small business resources.
“Tools” offers both entrepreneurs and established companies a one-stop website for information on government regulations, business planning, funding and financial assistance, selling to government and more. The site was developed in cooperation with the California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED).
“The Office of Economic Development is pleased to be able to offer this wealth of information on our website,” said David Snyder, OED director. “The ‘Tools’ site contains a wealth of information for businesses, including business planning and assistance, funding and financing information, classes and training and marketing. The more assistance that this office can make available to established and prospective businesses will translate into more successful businesses and better economic health for the region.”
There is a treasure trove of information and services available for business owners. “Tools” has done a lot of the work for business owners by combining the information and offering it in one place. For example, in the Funding section of the “Tools” site, there is information about the steps one need to take before applying for a loan. The Funding section also contains links and information for available lending programs. These include Small Business Administration programs, micro-loan programs, California loans, United States Department of Agriculture loan programs, and others. The site also contains a listing of sources of capital.
Employees are one of the most important resources for a business. Hiring, training and retaining is one of the more important – and often time consuming – activities for a business owner. “Tools” has many resources to address this issue. Topic include: an employment training program, customer service academy, restaurant safety, advanced training and others.
To access the “Tools” site, visit the Placer County Office of Economic Development website at: http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/CEO/EconDev.aspx, then click on the “Tools For Business” in the right hand links section.