Rondo's Small Business Resource Center

Small Business Resource Center at Rondo
Presented by Mary Ann Berglund
June 2011

Rondo’s Small Business Resource Center is geared towards the small business owner or micro-entrepreneur, defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as:

• Independently owned and operated


• For profit


• Not dominant in its field


• 5 or fewer employees

Funding a small business - Are there grants?
According to Mary Ann, grants for businesses are very hard to come by, and may be very specifically targeted. Loans are much more common.

The SBA has a section on their website devoted to Loans & Grants. This includes a section on government grants and a Search for Business Loans, Grants and Financing tool where you enter your information and they tell you what you’re eligible for. They also present loan seminars, but you need to go to a SBA district office. Ours is in Minneapolis.

The Neighborhood Development Center (NDC) and WomenVenture are also sources of loans, up to $35,000.

Classes and other expert help
The Resource Center hosts a lot of classes and presentations at Rondo. Many are through the Neighborhood Development Center (NDC), with whom they partner. This includes a 16 week entrepreneur class. To get into the class you need to interview, and there is a fee based on a sliding scale; at least $75.00. It consists of 8 classes and 8 one-on-one sessions. The NDC is also available for consulting, for instance on finances and marketing. They have interns at Rondo, and possibly other locations that entrepreneurs can come in and see for help.

SCORE offers one-on-one help free, even if their help would otherwise cost a lot of money. They do insist on a business plan.

Suggestions for small business materials for your collection

• A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota New ed. every year from the Minnesota Dept. of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Available electronically or in print through SPPL's catalog


• Legal forms for small business


• Materials on how to start a business in general, how to start a specific type of business, and home-based businesses


• Materials on financing a business


• Materials on business plans, basic accounting, marketing, and social networking for businesses

Referrals and Resources

• SPPL Event Calendar listing of entrepreneurial workshops and classes


• Neighborhood Development Center (NDC)


• SCORE – Bills itself as “Counselors to America’s Small Business”


• NDC intern at Rondo


• NDC intern at Lutheran Social Services, Eastside Financial Services, 965 Payne Ave, St. Paul (tentative Fall 2011)


• WomenVenture - Provides “one-on-one consulting, access to capital, and a variety of classes and workshops to help you build and grow your own business.”


• Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED)


• James J. Hill Business Reference Library


• District Councils – The districts are basically St. Paul neighborhoods and the councils are their planning and administrative bodies


• Local community development organizations




• Aurora St. Anthony Development Corporation (ASANDC)


• East Side Neighborhood Development Company (ESNDC)


• Greater Frogtown Community Development Corporation


• North East Neighborhoods Development Corporation


• Riverview Economic Development Association (REDA)


• Selby Area Community Development Corporation


• Sparc (serves Hamline Midway, North End, South Como)


• Databases and Websites – These are resources linked to from the SPPL website


• North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (good for use with ReferenceUSA)

Rondo Resources

• Circulating books, periodicals & DVDs


• Reference books including the Financial Ratio Benchmarks – how should the money be distributed in your business?


• Two dedicated business computers – One hour limit (Envisionware won’t let them extend the time)


• Business PlanPro (Rondo only) Takes you step-by-step through the process of building a business plan, and has sample business plans. You can’t save a business plan in progress on Rondo’s computers, but you can save it to a flash drive and open it up again w/Business PlanPro. Also at the J. J. Hill library.


• DemographicsNow (Rondo) Good for answering demographic question such as population, ethnic make-up of a neighborhood, etc.


• SRDS Media Solutions (Rondo only) – Marketing software

Melissa.

Library Journal Fall Announcements webinar, August 23, 2011

Today I watched the Library Journal Fall Announcements webinar. (The webinar will be archived in about a week and I will add the link to this post for those who want to view it.) In the meantime, the titles I think we will be getting requests for at the information desk include nonfiction titles Susan Orlean's Rin Tin Tin and Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron. The fiction titles that sounded the most readable to me were Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks, The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman, and The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margo Livesey.


--Barb P.@HI

Lino Lakes Transitions Fair Tuesday August 16, 2011

I (along with Lora B., AR) participated in the Lino Lakes Transitions Fair on August 16^th. The purpose of the fair is to provide a wealth of resources to incarcerated individuals who are near their release date. The organizations represented at the fair ranged from housing and medical assistance to addiction support and library services. Lora and I informed participants on how to obtain library cards and the library services they can take advantage of at their neighborhood library. Our most popular inquiries included computer class needs and employment help. We also shared early literacy information with inmates who have children. Nearly 300 inmates attended the fair and approximately 270 of them visited our table. I truly enjoyed this outreach opportunity and found it to be a rewarding experience.

--Regina

Morningstar

Hello!

I attended a Morninstar Webinar on Thursday 8/4/11, and here's what I learned.

Morningstar is an investment database. They offer information on Companies (Stocks), Funds (Mutual Funds), ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), and Markets. Information includes (where relevant): price – current and historic, analysis, comparison, ranking, bond ratings, etc. I love that you can check out executive compensation under the Insiders tab on Companies, and you can get SEC filings. All the information you’d expect to see on an investment site, plus the value added feature of Morningstar analysis and opinion.

To find historic stock prices, after the upgrade on 8/9/11, go to the Performance tab, and then click on “Price History.” Fill in the requested information, and away you go.

The “Screen for” option under Companies, Funds, and ETFs leads to screening tools to help you narrow down your options from thousands of possibilities. First “Select Data to Screen on” (you can select “General” and then click the Morningstar Screens button to the right. Answer the resulting questions and Morningstar will help you find options that meet your criteria.

This database will also help you with your portfolio. There’s a Portfolio X-Ray that, when you enter all your portfolio information and what your goal is, will analyze your portfolio and tell you where you might want to make amendments. There are also calculators for college and retirement to help you figure out a figure to use as a goal.

One of the real strengths of this database is all of the educational opportunities. Under the Portfolio section, you can learn about asset allocation and there are a series of Goal Primers to teach you the “ins and outs of goal-based investing.” There’s also an Investing 101 video here that the instructor highly recommended.

The “Help and Education” tab offers many more learning opportunities, including guides for using the database, a second set of Goal Primers, a glossary of investment terms, and information on “Morningstar’s proprietary ratings and measures.” They’ll soon be launching a Tutorial Center with 3-5 minute videos. There’s also an Investment Classroom which includes Stocks, Funds, and Portfolio curriculums, each including a number of 10 minute lessons at different levels, each of which ends with a quiz. So Morningstar is a great alternative to books for patrons who want to learn about investing.

Under the Newsletters tab, Morningstar offers “PDFs of the most-popular newsletters from our mutual fund, stock, and ETF strategists.” This includes the basic Mutual Fund paper that we get in print.

You need to have the pop-up blocker disabled on your browser.

Current news is not part of the database. The Market Overviews in the Market tab will include financial news of the past quarter or year – whichever time period you pick. That would include things like the Debt Ceiling issue. Morningstar.com offers the current financial news, and you can get a market news feed. You do have to register for Morningstar.com to get the good stuff, but you can do it for free.

Melissa.