Success story: Artist, INC
KC artists add business skills to their creative palette
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Elaine McMilian's artistic entrepreneurship is flourishing underneath the star of the Czar Bar in Kansas City. McMilian's star shines brightly with the help of an MU Extension program in the Small Business & Technology Development Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The program — Artist, INC — gives artists the business chops to hone their art into a career. It has helped McMilian, a singer/songwriter, expand her repertoire beyond being onstage herself and move into the art scene full time.
"Society tells us that an artist can't possibly be successful on a financial level, that you have to cut off your ear, live in a one-room flat on a mattress on the floor, and that's not at all the truth," said Diane Scott, the professional development program manager at the UMKC SBTDC. "We're doing things differently than anywhere else in the country by using local artists to teach local artists about how to succeed on the business end of art."
McMilian experienced that difference. After participating in Artist, INC this year, she started Elaine McMilian Enterprises, a booking agency. The business helps find venues for budding singer/songwriters in Kansas City.
"I'm a musician, so what I really want to be doing is writing music, playing my guitar, singing and having band practice. That's what I love doing," she said. "But it's a fact of life that we have to support ourselves and be wise about that for our families, and it helps to have the tools and resources to do that."
By the end of 2010, more than 125 artists will have completed the eight-week course, which is coupled with a mentoring program with established artists in Kansas City. The program allows artists in a variety of fields — from singing and curating to filmmaking and painting — to bolster their confidence in the business side of art.
Read this complete story with video.
Federal Jobs Act will result in more direct assistance for small businesses through national network of SBDCs
BURKE, Va. - America's leading network for fostering small business job creation and retention — the Association of Small Business Development Centers — hails the recent passage of the Small Business Jobs Act, and its prompt signing by President Obama.
Besides providing tax incentives to small business, the initiative will also provide $30 billion in capital for community banks to help spur lending to small businesses. During the recent recession and current sluggish economic recovery, financial institutions have been much more constrained in their lending and small businesses have faced difficulties in obtaining capital.
"It has been extremely difficult for small business to access financing during this recession," said Tee Rowe, ASBDC president and CEO. "We hope that financial institutions will avail themselves of this legislation and increase financing opportunities for America's small businesses. When they do, our national network will be there to help them reach our small business clients, who are ready and qualified to obtain this new financing."
The legislation also provides $50 million in funding for the more than 1,000 state SBDCs throughout the nation. These funds can be immediately invested in providing comprehensive technical assistance for small business owners and entrepreneurs. The federal funds will be distributed through the US Small Business Administration (SBA) on the basis of population and will be used to increase counseling and training for small businesses in communities across the country.
"Small businesses create the majority of employment in America and our state SBDC networks have the infrastructure and expertise to provide comprehensive counseling and training services for small business. This investment will have a strong rate of return for America's taxpayers," said Rowe.
Congress makes annual appropriations for the SBDC national program through the SBA. The Small Business Jobs bill provides an additional injection of funding for the 50 states' SBDC networks to further provide ‘boots on the ground assistance' for America's small businesses.
"The Congress recognizes the strong track record of our national network in helping start and grow businesses and create and retain jobs," says Al Salgado, ASBDC chairman and director of the South-West Texas SBDC Network based in San Antonio, Texas. "Our national network will do everything it can to bolster existing counseling and training services to support small businesses so that they can further develop and grow during one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression."
Established 30 years ago through federal statute, the national network of state-based SBDCs provides comprehensive counseling and training and other forms of technical assistance like helping small businesses obtain capital financing for business development and growth.
The program is funded through annual congressional appropriations, which are distributed by the U.S. Small Business Administration to state SBDC networks based on population. Federal dollars to state SBDCs must be matched with other sources of funding, including state investments, non-federal grants, and other private funds.
Small businesses that receive in-depth SBDC assistance (a minimum of five hours of counseling) experience much higher rates of job growth and higher sales growth when compared to other businesses not receiving such services. The national network helped create and retain more than 120,600 jobs in 2009 as a result of its in-depth counseling to clients around the nation. The national SBDC network also helped facilitate $3 billion in financing for its small business clients.
State Treasurer announces $100 million partnership with Commerce Bank impacting an estimated 2,800 jobs
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Commerce Bank, the largest Missouri-based bank, has committed to a goal of lending $100 million in low-interest loans to small businesses through the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, according to Missouri State Treasurer Clint Zweifel. The investment in the low-interest loan program managed by Zweifel is estimated to impact 2,800 Missouri jobs during the next 12 months. Zweifel joined Commerce Bank executives to announce the recent agreement, which potentially makes the bank the loan program's largest user.
"I hear two things consistently from Missourians — we need jobs and we need capital to create those jobs. Commerce's commitment does just that and is the reason I worked to improve the Missouri Linked Deposit Program — to invest in small business owners and create jobs on Main Street," Zweifel said. "We are talking about the difference between buying equipment now and waiting until next year. It is the difference between hiring more employees and expanding operations or standing still. These low-interest loans keep jobs in our hometowns."
The $100 million commitment in small business loans will boost statewide low-interest lending by 41 percent. That is on top of the more than $392 million Zweifel has approved for Missouri small business owners and farmers since January 2009. Those loans have impacted 4,600 jobs and 1,600 farmers.
"Commerce Bank is proud to support the Missouri Linked Deposit Program, and we feel it is one way we can contribute to getting the economy back on track in Missouri," said Kevin Barth, Kansas City Region President and COO for Commerce Bank. "The loan program offers new ways to help small and mid-sized businesses in our communities. During these difficult economic times we have worked to help local businesses stay in the communities that need them. Our goal of lending $100 million throughout the state will help us provide low-interest loans that keep money and jobs where we need them most."
Commerce Bank has 128 branches in Missouri. It has approximately $12 million in loans through the Missouri Linked Deposit Program currently. The loan program, expanded in 2009 as part of Treasurer Zweifel's jobs and economic development package, has $720 million in lending power. Borrowers will generally save 30 percent on the cost of a loan through the low-interest loan program.
Missouri-based small businesses with up to 99 employees and farmers are eligible to receive a loan through the Missouri Linked Deposit Program based on lender underwriting standards. Additionally, local governments, housing developments and alternative-energy focused projects may qualify for the low-interest loans. About 112 lenders with 300 branches throughout Missouri use the Missouri Linked Deposit Program. Information can be found at www.treasurer.mo.gov/LinkedDeposit.
SBA awards new $100,000 grant to promote small business technology efforts in Missouri
The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded $100,000 to the University of Missouri Extension's Missouri Small Business & Technology Development Center to promote small business technology research around the state. The stipend — one of only 20 grants the SBA awarded nationally through its Federal and State Technology (FAST) program — covers a 12-month period that began Oct. 1.
The MO SBTDC will use the award to expand its FAST technology-development efforts. The program helps small high-tech businesses secure early-stage capital through federal SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTR (Small Business Technology Transfer) grants to fund research and development efforts. Such research and development work is aimed at expanding small businesses, commercializing technology of interest to federal agencies, and increasing the number of high-paying jobs in Missouri.
"With this grant the Missouri SBTDC will seek to increase our state's number of SBIR/STTR grant applications and awards," says Francis Chmelir, state director of MO SBTDC's technology commercialization program.
From April 2008 to June 2010, with funding from the state of Missouri through the Missouri Technology Corp., the MO SBTDC helped 21 businesses in the state collectively win 32 SBIR research awards totaling $4.6 million, reports Chmelir. Those companies added 48 jobs as a result of their grant successes.
"During the past three years the MO SBTDC has made significant strides in helping entrepreneurial high-tech firms secure the early-stage capital they need to grow and create high-paying Missouri jobs," says Jason Hall, director of the Missouri Technology Corp. "MTC is proud to have supported this effort to secure new funding, which combined with continued support from MTC, will help the Missouri SBTDC reach a wider population of technology entrepreneurs in the state through the MoFAST program."
With the new SBA funds, the MO SBTDC plans to offer a series of training sessions around the state for technology-oriented researchers, according to Chmelir. An initial schedule of seminars and SBIR/STTR offerings is available at www.missouribusiness.net/fast. MoFAST and MO SBTDC are programs of MU Extension's Business Development Program.
MTC is a public-private partnership created by the Missouri General Assembly to provide leadership and make strategic investments that help entrepreneurs create and grow technology-based Missouri businesses. MTC places its focus on 21st century bioscience industries building on Missouri's rich history in agriculture. Visit www.missouritechnology.com for additional information.
Ask a specialist: Opening a business in Missouri
Question: What are the basic steps to follow to open a Missouri business?
Answer: When registering your business to operate in Missouri, Alan Hauff, business specialist at UMSL suggests following these six basic steps.
- To search the name availability for your business, go to this website: sos.mo.gov/businessentity/soskb/csearch.asp.
- After selecting a business name and form of organization (for a sole proprietorship), go to this website (sos.mo.gov) and follow this path (Businesses > Starting a Business > Register Fictitious Name) to register online. Or, go to this website (sos.mo.gov/forms.asp) to download the appropriate form [Registration of Fictitious Name (Corp. 56)] to register your business by mail with the Missouri Secretary of State. Complete the form and mail it with the required fee of $7 to the address listed on the form. If you would like the form mailed to you, call 1-573-751-3827.
Read the rest of this answer about the steps to follow to open a business.
Sprint, ASBDC to sponsor social media marketing webinar Oct. 25
Sprint and the Association of Small Business Development Centers will offer a one-hour social media marketing webinar Oct. 25, at 1 p.m. CDT. The national event features Starr Hall, a social media strategist.
According to Hall, the presentation will help participants:
- Learn the latest cutting edge information on social media strategy
- Discover the most effective way to convert contacts into sales
- Walk away with social media strategies business owners can apply immediately to outpace the competition.
Following the presentation there will be an interactive Q&A session where you can get answers to many your social media questions, Hall says.
Download this flyer with details and registration (pdf).
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