Southern lends a helping hand to small business

The Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Centers (SBTDC) offers training, consulting and more to Missouri Southern students and the community of Joplin.

Today from 1:15 to 4:30 p.m. in Plaster Hall room 102, the SBTDC will offer a free workshop, Starting a Small Business: The First Steps.

“We have some basic start-up workshops that are really important for all small business owners, but especially those who are getting ready to start,” said Research Associate at the SBTDC Sherry Noller.

“’The Starting a Small Business: The First Steps’ is one of those core workshops.”

This workshop is an introduction to the first steps of starting a business. Attendants of the workshop will be given the chance to discover their strengths and weaknesses and become well informed on planning, legal information and financing.

The “Starting a Small Business: The First Steps” is offered once a month along with other workshops such as “Create Your Own Small Business Website,”

“Making Better Decisions Using Your Financial Statements,” “How to Write a Successful Business Plan” and more. These workshops are not just for business majors or future business owners.

“With the way the economy is and the way people want to be in control of their future and their finances, I think a lot of people consider starting a small business,” said Noller.

“There are small business applications in just about every field you look into, if you can identify that need in a certain area, you can meet that need, you can start up a small business in that area, and you never know what it could bring.”

The workshops offered by the SBTDC could give students the basic understandings of a business even if the students do not plan to own a business themselves.

The basic core workshops are free of charge but a fee may be added soon.