Services

Our business consulting services are offered to clients at no charge, thanks to our funding partners, which include Blue Earth County, Martin County, Watonwan County, and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

Starting and operating a small business is a challenging endeavor that requires hard work, dedication, and a huge dose of perseverance.  We’ll help guide you, and make sure you understand what needs to be done. But to be clear on expectations – we won’t do the hard work for you.

How we can help:

  • Show you how to establish your new business
  • Help identify potential customers
  • Help identify start-up costs
  • Assist with break-even analysis
  • Assist with business plan development
  • Assist with marketing plan development
  • Assist with financial analysis and/or cash flow analysis
  • Assist with market research
  • Assist with feasibility studies
  • Help research zoning and regulations
  • Help with intellectual property protection (patents, copyrights, trademarks)
  • Help with in-store merchandising
  • Help with an HR manual or hiring/firing issues
  • Help with launching a new product
  • Help with expanding into a new marketplace
  • Assist with buying or selling a business
  • Assist with succession planning

Starting the process is easy. Just click onREQUEST SERVICES and sign up online. You’ll need to provide your email address and answer a few short questions, and then we’ll contact you to arrange a meeting.

Usually, this first visit takes place at our office in Mankato and lasts about one hour. No need to bring anything, but if you have materials that explain your business we’d love to see them. This is an opportunity for you to talk and explain your needs. We’ll listen, help prioritize issues, maybe ask some tough questions, and probably give you some homework. But it’s all designed to determine a path towards a set of solutions that will ultimately help you achieve your goals.