Debt Free

One way the American landscape has changed in the last few decades is the drastic growth in the number of Americans who own small or home based businesses. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), 671,800 new small businesses were started in the country in 2005. In the decade between 1995 and 2004, .3% of Americans per month became primarily self employed, with the income of self employed individuals up 7.5% in 2005 over the figures for 2004. Needless to say, many people are following the self employment or small business path to success. Hopefully the success will be financial, familial and spiritual.

1 - Although it's possible for you to end your journey through self employment / home-based business debt free and happy, there are countless pitfalls along the way that make the journey somewhat harrowing. A little personal risk aversion assessment is in order for you and any members of your family directly connected to your little (hopefully one day not so little?) venture. With that in mind, here are some free resources you can turn to for advice to make your journey to debt freedom a little easier if you've chosen to follow the home or small business route.

There is a group of old soldiers, well, retired executives actually, that got tired of puttering around the house or playing golf everyday. They want to have others benefit from their considerable expertise and benefit the economy by helping out small business owners at the same time. They are the Service Corps Of Retired Executives (SCORE). They have offices in many U.S. cities and are a great resource you can call on for business guidance. It's like having a high priced consulting firm at your disposal, except they aren't high priced. They actually don't charge for their services.
They can be reached here: http://www.score.org/

2 – A wealth of information can be found pertaining to many facets of business at the Free Management Library. It's a large repository of business related information with sections on many subjects including financing, interviewing, business planning, resource allocation, publicity and media relations, advertising and promotions, and much more for both for-profit and non-profit businesses. It can be found here: http://www.managementhelp.org/

3 – The Achilles heel of many small and single person businesses is business planning. Although many experts continue to insist on the importance of proper business planning, and everyone with a business school background had it pounded into their heads in college, the fact is that many business owners get started with insufficient planning. In many cases the if business plan exists at all, it's only in the owner's (overwhelmed) mind. BusinessPlans.org is a resource where you can get sample plans you can adapt to your specific business needs, in addition to countless other business planning resources. Find them here:
http://www.businessplans.org/index.asp

4 – One other resource that can provide you with valuable information to help start, grow, or maintain your small business is your state or local Small Business Development Center. They and many, many other business resources can be reached through http://www.buzgate.org/ . Buzgate has business resources relating to planning, marketing, consulting and much more. They do sell things on the site, but the amount of free information is really substantial. You can search for resources by state.

Hopefully these resources can give you an insight on avoiding the pitfalls, of which there are many, encountered by many small business owners.