Washington SBDC: The assistance you need at a price you can afford

The Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offers confidential advising, group training and diverse tools and resources to help you achieve your goals. One-to-one, confidential technical assistance, and nearly all SBDC services are provided at no cost to the business owner.

Typical areas of advising include assisting with cashflow management, applying for a loan, improving profits, setting up business systems, creating and understanding spreadsheets, government contracting, and export readiness. The SBDC also offers no-cost classes on how to start a business.

Steve McCaslin, the SBDC business advisor serving Skagit County, has more than 45 years of demonstrated leadership in public, private and nonprofit sectors and was a small business owner for more than a decade.

In addition to meeting one-on-one with small business owners to help them reach their goals, McCaslin also works with the Mount Vernon Chamber of Commerce to present monthly webinars on a variety of business issues, including how to hire employees, how to get funding for your business and why succession planning matters.

EDASC is pleased to welcome SBDC advisors as subject matter experts during Startup School, EDASC's entreprenurial training program. Startup School participants ready to take the next step in growing their business are paired with SBDC advisors.

The Washington SBDC is a network of more than 40 business advisors located in communities around the state. SBDC advisors have been providing expert, no-cost, confidential business advising to small business owners in Washington state since 1980.

When a business owner works with one SBDC advisor, they have access to the expertise and experiences of the entire network. Several of our advisors are bilingual in English and Spanish, and we are committed to finding translation services or interpreters so that language is not a barrier to service.

The program is hosted by Washington State University (WSU) and is administered through a cooperative agreement between WSU and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Funding is provided by WSU, other institutions of higher education, economic development associations and civic and business groups. These state and local funds are then matched on a one-to-one basis with federal money from the SBA.

You are the expert on your business, but we are business experts. We look forward to helping you build your business, make more money, and contribute to your community.

To find out more, you can go to our website at wsbdc.org or call 833-492-7232.