Good news, entrepreneurs. Colleges and universities in the Heart of Texas want to help you.

The McLennan Community College Small Business Development Center offers free-of-charge business consulting and affordable training seminars. Those services are designed to help entrepreneurs and new business owners improve operations by learning how to attract customers, increase sales and access capital.

The center's services also extend to entrepreneurs and new companies in six other counties – Bell, Bosque, Coryell, Falls, Hill, Johnson. All of the services are free thanks to funding from MCC, the state of Texas and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

More Tools for Entrepreneurs

Several other higher education institutions in the Heart of Texas are providing resources and tools to empower entrepreneurs and small-business owners. Baylor University's John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship specializes in evaluating new products and ideas to help determine the likelihood for commercial success.

Navarro College recently opened a branch of its Navarro College Small Business Development Center in the city of Mexia at the Mexia Business Park.

“We have welcomed a satellite campus of Navarro College to Mexia, with the campus and its on-site Small Business Development Center specifically headquartered in Mexia Business Park so that employees in the business park can just walk to the college for classes or training,” says Tommy Tucker, president/CEO of Mexia Economic Development Corporation.

Counselors at the Small Business Development Center assist with business and marketing plans, business start-ups and expansions, loan proposals, business research and management issues.

“If you are an entrepreneur or own a new company, the Small Business Center does whatever it can to assist in your success,” Tucker says.