Many people who start businesses do not have prior business experience. This is often a worry to people who fit this description. They know that people with experience in accounting, finance, and management generally have a leg up on those who are tackling these challenges for the first time.
There are several techniques and/or approaches to starting a business that people can take to compensate for a lack of business experience.

Get Business Assistance and Advice
There are many places for business founders to get business assistance and advice. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC), for example, is a government agency that provides free management assistance and coaching to business owners. You can find your local SBDC at www.sba.gov/sbdc. Another good choice is the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), which is a nonprofit organization that provides free consulting services to small businesses. You can find your local SCORE chapter at www.score.org. There are also organizations that provide coaching, advice, and support to specific groups of business owners and tailor their offerings to fit the groups. An example is Ladies Who Launch (www.ladieswho-launch.com), an organization that sponsors workshops and provides materials that encourage and support female business owners.
If you’re looking for a support group in your area and can’t find one, check the Meetup Web site. Meetup (www.meetup.com) is an online platform that allows individuals to organize local groups via the Internet. Once a group is formed, its members “meet up” on a regular basis off-line. Simply follow the directions on Meetup’s homepage to discover if there is a small business or entrepreneurship Meetup group in your area. The following is a sample of small business Meetup groups that were meeting when this textbook went to press:

Providence Entrepreneur Meetup Group Twin Cities Small Business Meetup Small Business Owners of South Florida Dallas Software Startup Meetup Ann Arbor New Tech Meetup Participate in Online Forums and Q&A Sites
There are a growing number of online forums that have been developed to provide business owners support and advice.
An example is StartupNation (www.startupnation. com), which sponsors online forums that cover topics such as selecting a business, successful business planning, startup funding, and accounting and financial management.

This site also features open-ended forums such as “coffee talk,” where small business owners can chat with one another about any topic that is on their minds. The general tone of the forums tends to be supportive and upbeat, which is exactly what business owners with limited experience need. There are also a growing number of Q&A sites for entrepreneurs that can be helpful. An example is Quora.
Quora is a forum where in-depth business questions can be posted and answered. Users can also “follow” topics that interest them, such as cloud computing or franchising. A similar Q&A site is OnStartup (http://answers.onstartups.
com). There are also industry-specific Q&A sites that are quite good. An example is StackOverflow (http://stackoverflow.
com) which is for software engineers and computer programmers.

Pick a Type of Business That Minimizes the Need for Prior Experience
There are also alternatives for starting a business that minimize the need for prior business experience. These alternatives allow people to pursue an opportunity in which the fundamentals of the business have already been thought out. Franchising, for example, provides an individual the opportunity to own a business using a tested and refined business system. Another option is direct sales.
While most people cringe when they hear the words direct sales (or multilevel marketing), there are legitimate direct sales opportunities. A third option is to start a business in an area where the business’s business model is well documented and well understood. A bed and breakfast is an example of a business with a well-established business model. Dozens of books, Web sites, and video programs are available that provide advice about how to open and run a successful bed and breakfast.

Questions for Critical Thinking
1. Identify the sources of business assistance and advice that are available in your area free of charge. Is the list longer than you thought it would be?
2. Identify three sources of business assistance or advice (that are not mentioned in this feature) that would be particularly useful to someone who’s starting a business without prior business experience. Briefly describe each source you identified.
3. How valuable do you believe that online forums and Q&A sites, such as those mentioned in this feature, can be to someone who’s trying to learn the “business” aspect of starting a business?
4. What other techniques, not mentioned previously, can people who don’t have prior business experience utilize to compensate for their lack of experience?