Apr 3, 2011

Help For Small Business Owners Throughout Lake CountyBy Cassandra DowellBarrington-IL.Patch.com

For more than 25 years, the College of Lake County’s Illinois Small Business Development Center has been helping small businesses reach their full potential. The number of business it has supported is on the rise.

Jan Bauer, Illinois Small Business Development Center director, said the grant-funded center provides confidential business advising and counsel in both English and Spanish, access to their resource library, interactive workshops and referrals and support in securing loans. The majority of people who seek out the center’s support are already in business.

“Many are looking to grow their business,” Bauer said. “We help with strategic planning, look at their marketing objectives, understanding the financial picture and how to make that work for them.”

Any business that has less than 500 employees in Lake County is eligible for the center’s services.

Leslie Lipps, owner of Artografi, a photography studio in downtown Grayslake, is one of the many business owners who have benefited by using the free services offered at the center.

“The whole experience was extremely helpful,” Lipps said. “It teaches you to look at every aspect of the business that is needed to succeed, even the ones you have not thought of or have not made time for. Small business owners or individuals often do the best they can with what information they have or tend to look for what they want to see, but that does not translate into success.”

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