4 Places to Call Today for Free Small Business Advice

This is a kick-ass tip on where to find free small business advice in celebration of Small Business Week 2013.

Tired of the rat race of Corporate America? Free small business advice may be the push you need to leave that job you hate and start your own venture. Before turning in your two weeks’ notice, it’s important that commit to learning the ins and outs of starting a business. After all, we don’t want you to turn in your resignation only to beg for your job back in a few months.

Here are four places you can call right now (of course, during normal business hours) for free small business advice.

1. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) – Call 800.827.5722, SBA.org
The SBA offers free advice for small businesses at more than 1,800 U.S. locations. These courses cover the basics of starting, owning and financing a small business.

No time to sit in a classroom? SBA.gov hosts a wide range of free online business courses covering topics such as crowdfunding, government contracting, business technology and financing. Online training classes are available 24/7.

2. SCORE – Call 800.634.0245, Score.org
This nonprofit organization holds more than 100 free online webinars at Score.org and offers local business seminars and workshops for entrepreneurs.

Coming up: A June 27 live webinar hosted by SCORE on how to use search engine optimization to help customers find you online.

3. Free Business Courses – Go online www.ocwconsortium.org, www.coursera.org
Many of the country’s top universities offer free non-credit online business courses. Check out OpenCourseWare Consortium and Coursera to browse course offerings. Between these two sites, you find more than 7,000 course offerings covering a variety of topics including business strategy and entrepreneurship on OpenCourseWare Consortium.

Coming Up: A Sept. 2 course on how to analyze your organization’s strategy and improve your company’s value creation by building your strategist’s toolkit. This is a free online business course offered by the University of Virginia.

4. Experienced Entrepreneurs – Go online www.amyporterfield.com
One of the best places to get business advice is from other small business owners who can share real life experiences about their challenges and successes. For example, we recently hosted a workshop that featured tips on how to write a business plan the easy way. Contact us now to sign up to receive notification for our next Writing Business Plans Workshop.

What’s the Word: In celebration of Small Business Week 2013, we promised to share actionable business tips – those that can be easily acted upon without a lengthy decision-making process. So what are you waiting for … go act.

What other places can you recommend for free small business advice?