Small businesses make up the heart of America and collectively employ the greatest number of Americans. They need help now and can't afford the money or the time to find help. Our idea is to encourage business management consultants, lawyers, and CPAs to help them for free, by providing them one free hour of consulting on a first come, first serve basis, at their place of business, to help stimulate the economy. We are based out of Sacramento and offer to help our small businesses by providing them a free hour of consulting at their place of business (or by videoconferencing) and we call on the good nature of CPAs and lawyers in our area to do the same. In 2006, prior to the current economic crisis, there were 671,800 new businesses opened across the U.S., and 544,800 business closures. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, roughly 50% of small businesses failed within the first five years for the following reasons, grouped into three major categories. Finance • Insufficient capital – We can help you apply for government contracts, grants, and loans. • Poor inventory management – We can help you establish sound inventory management practices. • Over-investment in fixed assets – We can help you select which assets to own and which to lease. • Poor credit arrangements – We can help you with your current credit arrangements or bad credit. • Personal use of business funds – We can help you develop better financial management practices. Marketing • Competition – We can help you compete against small and large corporations, by identifying your competitive advantage and then positioning your brand as the best brand the market has to offer. • Poor location – We can help you understand how to market your place, product, price, and promotions. • Low sales – We can help you establish valuable marketing, sales, and customer service goals and programs. We can help you develop an e-commerce program to sell online, and we can show you how to select products and services that customers actually want. • Unexpected growth – We can show you how to handle unexpected growth using project management tools, and by maximizing both your tangible and intangible resources. Operations • Lack of experience – We can teach you how to run effective and lean operations using automation, project and risk management tools, strategic partnerships, and by engaging in business case development and opportunity cost decision-making. Make the best use of your tangible and intangible resources! www.sacmanagement.info