Small-business group offers startup help
MORRIS – For anyone thinking of starting their own small business, help is here in Grundy County. The Illinois Small Business Development Center at Starved Rock Country Alliance is beginning to hold sessions in Morris.
Amy Lambert, executive director of the center, said the project is new to Morris.
“I travel throughout the region to meet with clients,” she said. “I come to Morris one day a week.”
The Illinois Small Business Development Center at the Starved Rock Country Alliance provides free tools, resources, and confidential services to entrepreneurs and small businesses across Grundy, Bureau, La Salle and Livingston counties.
People interested in starting their own business can work with Lambert and other experts to discuss the steps necessary to begin and successfully operate their own business – business plans, marketing, accounting and more. Lambert said the service also provides feedback on the feasibility of ideas.
Sometimes, it just isn’t a good idea, she said, and she’ll tell them and help make it a better one.
Although the SBDC began operating under the auspices of the Starved Rock Country Alliance in the summer of 2017, it just began coming to Morris in October.
“We’re very honored to be in Morris,” Lambert said.
She said that the business ideas she sees coming through, and the ones that are the most successful, are what she termed “Main Street” businesses – shops and retailers that exist in the downtowns of small communities or health-related businesses.
