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In 2008, our country experienced a crippling recession that shut down thousands of small businesses. This helpful toolkit will guide you through the difficult decisions you must make for a small business to survive an economic recession.

Every decision you make in your business—whether it’s creating a website, investing in classified ads, or hiring an employee—has a financial impact. And each business decision affects your cash flow— the amount of money that comes in and goes out of your business. We’ll help you with your decision-making with this online primer. Throughout this guide, you’ll find case studies, examples, and expert guidance on every aspect of small business finances. You’ll see that our goal is the same as yours—to make your business financially successful.

What is a business plan and why do I need one?

A business plan defines the nature and scope of your business, quantifies your product mix/volume and/or service type/scope goals, and serves as your company’s resume. It describes the marketing, sales, operational, and financial aspects of a business. It is the roadmap annotated with the course you will pursue to achieve your goals. Because it provides specific and organized information about your business and how invested/borrowed money will be returned/repaid, a good business plan is a crucial part of any investment prospectus or loan package

The Shenandoah Valley Small Business Development Center has created a Valley Business Resource Directory to provide answers for those seeking information about local, state, and federal agencies and programs serving the business community. You can either browse the listings or search by keyword. You can also submit an inquiry directly from the site to many of the listed resources.

Local Templates & Tools

• Census Data By ZIP Code
• Business Plan Overview
• Counseling Session Questions - Prepare in Advance
• The Business Plan Process - Brief SBA Presentation
• Starting Your Business in Illinois Handbook

Financial Projection Model contains a set of input data sheets to list startup costs and sources of funds, salaries & wages, fixed operating costs, and sales forecasts for various products or services over a 3-year period.   The output data sheets are a set of useful projected financial statements (income statement, cashflow statement, balance sheet) for each of these 3 years.   The Financial Projection Model is very usefull to determine your break-even point and the net profit for your business.  

31-page multi-color companion document parallelling the two-hour webinar summarizing the key features and benefits of modern technology tools for small businesses.  This PDF version is crammed with hotlinks to online references making it easy to investigate further.