Counseling Services Counseling Benefits Working w/Counselors Technology - SBTDC Women - WBC	Business Counseling Services The Maine SBDC, at no cost to potential and existing business owners and managers, provides one-on-one counseling - business management assistance to Maine's small business community. Maine SBDC Business Counselors are qualified small business professionals, who have diverse educational and business experience. Many hold MBA's and/or have owned and operated their own businesses. Often they bring diverse corporate experience to bear on seeking solutions for small business, especially in the areas of marketing, management and operations. Each counselor is required to participate in the New England Professional Development (NEPD) program, which administers core competency standards, personal professional development plans and counselor certification for Maine SBDC personnel under a grant from Staples Inc. Useful assistance is provided in such areas as: Business start-up/acquisition Business/marketing plan development Financial and business analysis Market research Sources of credit and financing Loan packaging, raising capital Cash flow analysis Accounting, recordkeeping Job creation Operations, personnel management Marketing and sales Government procurement International trade Business liquidation/sale Networking, linkages, technology transfer COUNSELING APPOINTMENTS Counseling appointments can easily be arranged by contacting the Maine SBDC Service Center nearest you. Often before meeting, Maine SBDC staff may ask some preliminary questions to ascertain your business stage, suggest preliminary training and/or reading, and/or send you various materials generic to your situation. Your first appointment, usually scheduled at a Maine SBDC Service Center or Outreach Office, will last an hour to an hour and a half. After that initial session you and your Maine SBDC Business Counselor will determine the appropriate course of action for future assistance. Your progress however will ultimately be up to you.   Kathleen Shedlarski, owner of Scissors and Seams in Gray, works with Maine SBDC certified business counselor Greg Gould. "I can't tell you how helpful Greg has been," says Kathleen, a seamstress whose fast-growing business is designing and sewing window treatments for clients throughout the country. "He is helping me prepare financials and sales projections to help us decide what's possible," says Kathy of her work with Greg, adding, "He's there for me!"