By Matthew Artz, Argus STAFF WRITER
Aspiring business owners have a new place to turn for learning the tricks of the trade: Union City's home page. On Wednesday, the city unveiled its Small Business Growth Center: a collection of preformatted templates, spreadsheets and databases geared toward helping beginners do everything from writing a business plan to making a sales presentation.
"My goal (with this) is business retention and business growth," Economic Development Coordinator Christine Friday told city business leaders. Friday has been developing the site for seven months, and to her knowledge, it is the first of its kind to grace a city home page.
A template for a human resources employee handbook caught the eye of Prasad Adavikolanu, vice president of a startup medicinal herb distributor in Union City. "I'm still paying consultants for our handbook," he said. "I wish that was available four months ago." The tools are open to anyone, and a few of them could even benefit consumers. One spreadsheet allows people to log their credit-card usage.
The sole feature that is available only to business owners is a Union City Business Blog. Since all postings must go through Friday, visitors to the Web page can't expect to find any major complaints, although Friday said she'll post relevant business news even if it's bad. "If there's a mass layoff, I'll post that," she said. "People really want to know what's going on with the businesses here." The small business center is part of Union City's Economic and Community Development Department's new site on the city's home page.
The site also includes a new list of opportunity sites and amenities for developers and business owners. Visit http://www.ci.union-city.ca.us/ED/edHOME.htm Visit The small business tools are at the bottom left of the screen. |
