Austin small businesses thriving

From KXAN, January 13, 2009...

A City of Austin program is offering free help for would be small business owners. The Small Business Development Program helps small business owners apply for loans, create business and marketing plans, and even access the internet.

"Almost all of our services are free of charge," said Michelle Frith. "The only thing that isn't is our classes and those are very low cost. 94 percent of Austin business is small business and we want to support our small business, because that is the backbone of our economy."

The growing recession is hitting small businesses hard, but Michelle Frith with the Small Business Development Program said Austin has been spared.

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Explore local, discover Austin at www.explorelocalaustin.org

From Austin City Connection...

Austin residents and visitors looking for small, locally owned businesses and services have a new resource on the Web to find these unique enterprises – www.explorelocalaustin.org.

The City of Austin’s Small Business Development Program, a division of the Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office, this week launched the new Web resource that highlights small, locally-owned Austin businesses using an online interactive map.

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