The Facts About ... The U.S. Business Advisor

SBA
U.S. Small Business Administration
Championing America's Entrepreneurs

The Facts About ...
The U.S. Business Advisor
www.business.gov
                              
The One-Stop Electronic Link to the Federal Government for Business

Today's entrepreneurs are demanding better, faster, and more timely service
from the federal government. Our small business customers have informed us
that insufficient capital, burdensome laws and regulations, and difficulties
in dealing with government are some of their largest hurdles to success. In
response, the SBA is increasing access to credit, using new and creative
financial and business assistance tools, and working to eliminate burdensome
regulations and unnecessary paperwork.

The SBA also is taking the lead to change the way government and businesses
interact. In cooperation with other federal agencies and the private sector,
we are developing the U.S. Business Advisor, a single World Wide Web site
that makes government accessible to the public electronically anytime,
anywhere. Available through the Internet, the Advisor provides a one-stop
electronic link for all the information and services that the federal govern-
ment offers to help businesses grow and prosper. 
 
How to Access the U.S. Business Advisor
The World Wide Web address for the Advisor is: http://www.business.gov

What You Can Do with the Advisor 

Access Information
This single site provides businesses with access to a full range of plain-
language regulatory guidance and compliance assistance, as well as to govern-
ment forms, business-development software and topic-specific information.
You can access information under the following five headings:

* Common Questions - answers questions that small businesses frequently ask
  the government.
 
* How To... - provides expert tools, step-by-step tax and business guides,
  and transactions (such as downloading forms or setting up an appointment
  with a counselor from the SBA's Service Corps of Retired Executives). It
  helps small businesses find solutions to specific issues or problems,
  e.g., how to start a business, finance a business, get a passport, obtain
  forms, find Commerce Business Daily contract solicitations, and access the
  Employer's Reference Guide to the Social Security Administration.
 
* Search - locates information from more than 106,000 government web sites
  and searches material from the Code of Federal Regulations, the Government
  Printing Office's databases of congressional and executive branch docu-
  ments, budget and financial information from FinanceNet, and federal regu-
  latory material in development.
 
* Browse - includes information and services arranged by category, such as -

  - general business,
  - international trade,
  - finance,
  - labor and employment, and
  - doing business with the government.
 
It focuses on a wide range of assistance offered by the SBA, other federal
agencies and a number of outside resources. 
 
* News - notifies the business community of newsworthy events, such as ad-
  vances in regulatory reform and the availability of a new type of business
  loan.
 
Find Topic-Specific Information
You can access topic-specific information useful to particular segments of
the business community. The many topics include --
 
* women business owners,
* small business innovation and research awards,
* exporting (including financing),
* minority enterprise development,
* disaster support, 
* financial assistance (including a list of lenders),
* social security and tax guides,
* regulatory compliance,
* buying from and selling to the federal government, and
* management and technical assistance.

Obtain Sources of Financing and Credit Tools
The Advisor includes a myriad of information on SBA financing and credit
tools, such as --

* LowDoc loans, export financing, and the Defense Loan and Technical
  Assistance (DELTA) Program, to name a few, and
 
* a directory of banks by state, ranked by their small business lending
  activity.
     
Download Documents
Both the amount and the variety of information you can acquire from the
Advisor keep growing. Today you can download the following:

* SBA applications/forms for -
  - a LowDoc loan
  - an export working-capital loan
  - a minority prequalification loan
  - a women's prequalification loan
  - a SCORE counseling appointment
  - the 8(a) Business Development Program

* Software and information to -
  - prepare a business plan
  - create a financial statement
  - develop a marketing strategy

* Federal income tax forms

Link to Other Federal Agencies
The U.S. Business Advisor has been designed to connect businesses electron-
ically to databases of federal agencies all across government. Currently,
the Advisor can link customers to 60 organizations, provide access to over
200 distinct government Internet addresses, and allow the user to search
more than 106,000 government electronic sites. In addition to the SBA, the
principal contributing federal organizations include the National Perfor-
mance Review, National Technical Information Service/ Fedworld, Environ-
mental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service. Technical de-
velopment is provided by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the
University of Massachusetts Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval.

On the Horizon
Information and transactions on the Advisor are evolving even as you read
this brochure. It is an exciting and dynamic process, and you are welcome to
participate in it through a feedback mechanism at the web site. To be fully
successful, the Advisor needs the input of small business. So please log-in,
look around and give us your ideas. Together we can create an electronic
link responsive to the specific needs of America's business community. Ulti-
mately the Advisor will be unparalleled in its ability to provide informa-
tion and services that help small businesses to start, grow and succeed.

For additional information on the U.S. Business Advisor, contact the SBA at
(202) 205-6605 or the Vice President's National Performance Review office at
(202) 632-0150. We will be pleased to follow up with you as we develop this
product.

For More Information
Information is power. Make it your business to know what is available, where
to get it and, most importantly, how to use it. Sources of information in-
clude:

U.S. Small Business Administration
* SBA District Offices
* SBA OnLine (electronic bulletin board)
* Business Information Centers (BICs)
* One-Stop Capital Shops  (OSCSs)**
* Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
* Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)
* U.S. Export Assistance Centers (USEACs)**
* Women's Business Centers (WBCs)**
    ** Inquire at your local SBA office as to availability.

The SBA has offices located throughout the United States. For the one
nearest you, look under "U.S. Government" in your telephone directory, or
call the SBA Answer Desk at (800) U-ASK-SBA or (800) 827-5722. To send a
fax to the SBA, dial (202) 205-7064. For the hearing impaired, the TDD
number is (704) 344-6640.

To access the agency's electronic public information services, you may call:

SBA OnLine:
electronic bulletin board (modem and computer required)
* (800) 697-4636 (limited access)
* (900) 463-4636 (full access)
* (202) 401-9600 (D.C. metro area)

Internet:
using uniform resource locators (URLs)
* SBA home page: www.sba.gov
* SBA gopher: gopher.sba.gov
* File transfer protocol: ftp.sba.gov
* Telnet: telnet.sba.gov
* U.S. Business Advisor: www.business.gov

You may also request a free copy of The Resource Directory for Small
Business Management, a listing of for-sale publications and videotapes,
from your local SBA office or the SBA Answer Desk. 

Other Sources of Information
* State economic development agencies
* Chambers of commerce
* Local colleges and universities
* Libraries
* Manufacturers and suppliers of small business products and services
* Small business or industry trade associations

All of the SBA's programs and services are provided to the public on a
nondiscriminatory basis.

FS0014 (07/97)

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