A few people have asked me lately for a list of organizations and places to go to for FREE professional support. It is because of all of the support (free and otherwise) that I have had success and I am certainly grateful. Some of the organizations are industry specific. If you are using this as a reference, look for similar groups in your industry.
The River Falls Chamber of Commerce– 
The CEO, Rosanne, of our local Chamber of Commerce has been a great resource. I interviewed her for many details on River Falls and the rising popularity of public Chamber events for my business plan. She also added me to their email list of events. I have attended many Chamber networking events and WeatherVane even had our Ice Cream Float A Go Go there. And I have to admit to stealing all of her connections on LinkedIn.
Small Business Development Center (both here in River Falls and in MN)–
The local Small Business Development Center is housed on the UW-River Falls campus. The director there, Steve, helped me early on with the business plan and introduced me to NAICS and SIC codes. His area of expertise is accounting so he helped me with templates for my financial projections. He is also the one who turned me on to the James J. Hill Reference Library in St Paul to get my demographics, industry trends, and even copies of other business plans that I saved on a USB stick and combed through as templates. The library is only open two days a week and the librarians LOVE to help. Just tell them what you are working on and they will supply the rest.
Also, a friend of mine, Lyle, works at the MN Small Business Development Center and he sent me a fat, free book called “Starting a Business in Minnesota”. I paged through that and found a lot of good info.
Pierce and St Croix County Economic Development Corporations– Both Corporations have revolving loan funds with a lot more flexibility and lower interest rates than banks. Bill at the Pierce County EDC also helped me on the early stages of the business plan and helped me brainstorm for funding. He also had traffic count studies and UW- River Falls student surveys that I included in the business plan.
UW-River Falls Career Center (available to alumni)– McKenna, a career counselor at UW- River Falls gave me awesome suggestions for my résumé. It was great working with her. She also told me about prezi.com to jazz up any presentation that you would normally use Powerpoint for. No more Powerpoint for me!
UW Extension– 
They somehow found me and asked me to participate as both an individual and business in the 2012 Agritourism Survey. Once they compiled the results, they sent them to me. This was extremely valuable information for the business plan. I also see they have an Entrepreneurship and Economic Development division. I will have to dive into that deeper.
River Falls Rotary Club– Years ago I was a guest speaker at one of the River Falls Rotary Club’s weekly meetings. I asked a Rotary member if I could speak again and they connected me with the person in charge of their meetings. So, sure enough, back last December I spoke about WeatherVane Creamery and provided cheese samples for their breakfast. As Empowering Taste got closer, I asked to be a guest of some of my colleagues who are members so I could introduce myself again and let everyone know about the event.
Various networking groups– Get business cards and go out and introduce yourself and what you are up to. You never know who you are going to meet. They could be the person you need. I have met potential investors, people who connect me to other people that I need to meet, and have gotten free consultations from people that I have met at networking meetings. Also, don’t forget to add everyone on LinkedIn!
University Professors– Pretty much any university professor that I have ever talked with has resources, whether it be an intern or an obscure financial grant. These are valuable people to know.
American Cheese Society– 
It was through winning the essay contest that the American Cheese Society had that I got a full scholarship to their annual convention in Raleigh, NC and a year’s membership. At the conference, I had a list given to me by the Dairy Business Innovation Center of people to meet and introduce myself to of about ten people. I also went to the workshops and networked with people sitting around me, people who had good questions or contributions to the workshop, and even the workshop presenters.
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board–
Ever seen this logo before? This is from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, an organization that is paid for by Wisconsin dairy farmers. They offer free marketing materials and have wonderful resources of their own. They publish a directory of Wisconsin cheesemakers and you can be sure that I emailed each and every one of them at one time to introduce myself. The WMMB has also sent me support materials for public events like cheese cutting boards, slicers, cookbooks, napkins, bags, pens, etc for FREE. They also subsidize any advertising that I use their logo on. Pretty awesome.
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)– 
I learned about these guys from Starbucks’ Create Jobs for USA campaign. These banks were created by the US Department of the Treasury to provide credit and financial services to underserved markets. They are more likely to lend to more risky ventures. We have at least two in Wisconsin that work with businesses- Impact 7 in Almena and the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation in Milwaukee. I am currently working with Impact 7.
The Foster Community Foundation– I include this one because, through this nonprofit alliance, I have gotten opportunities to partner in broader community events than if I wasn’t involved. Originally, for Town ‘N Country Day, we were going to do a joint fund raiser together. Nonprofits and for-profits make for great partners. Don’t underestimate it, especially if you have a shared vision like making the community a better place.
SCORE– While I haven’t used SCORE this time around, I have used their services in the past. The acronym used to stand for something _ _ _ Retired Executives. Here is from the SBA.gov website: “The SCORE Association “Counselors to America’s Small Business” is a nonprofit association comprised of 11,500 volunteer business counselors throughout the U.S. and its territories. SCORE members are trained to serve as counselors advisors and mentors to aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners. These services are offered at no fee, as a community service.”
Small Business Administration– 
I know I’ve used this website countless times for various things. Check it out.
WomenVenture– 
This is an organization in St Paul that consults with women in business on a sliding scale fee. I haven’t used them, but they are probably worth looking into.
All in all, not a bad collection. I am now reminded of all the work and all of the places that I looked into that weren’t useful. Quite a journey indeed.