Business Tip of the Week

Roughly 30% of family businesses survive into the second generation. About 12% reach the third. Around 3% make it to the fourth. Those numbers are usually quoted as a warning about family dysfunction. They are not. Research on family business transitions points consistently to something much more ordinary: the absence of a written plan. Deloitte's 2026 family business report found that while 82% of family businesses have some form of succession plan, only 46% describe it as b

Most business owners find out what a lender wanted only after being declined — and often not even then, because business lending is not covered by the same disclosure rules as consumer lending. You can be turned down without ever learning why. The good news is that the criteria are not a secret. Lenders look at a short, consistent list, and four of the five items on it can be improved in ninety days if you know what they are. This guide covers what lenders actually check in 2

Chicago has one of the deepest small business support networks in the country, and most of it costs nothing. Free one-on-one advising, free training, free certificate programs, free legal clinics. The problem is not scarcity — it is that the programs are scattered across city departments, state agencies, universities, and nonprofits, and nobody hands you a map. This is that map. Everything here is genuinely free, currently running, and open to business owners in the Chicago a

Most business owners have one story and tell it everywhere. It usually starts with how they got the idea, moves through how hard the early days were, and ends with what they sell. It is a sincere story, and it rarely works — because customers and investors are listening for completely different things, and neither of them is listening for your origin. This article covers what each audience actually needs to hear, a structure that adapts to both, and where to use it. If you wa

How to Get Certified as a Woman-Owned Business in Illinois If you own a business in Illinois and more than half of it belongs to you and other women, you are probably eligible for a certification you are not using. Woman-owned business certification opens doors to government contracts, corporate supplier programs, and bid preferences that uncertified competitors cannot reach. The problem is that “getting certified” is not one thing. There are at least five separate programs i

Search for small business grants in Chicago, and you will find dozens of listicles. Most of them are wrong. They recycle programs that closed years ago, quote dollar figures from expired funding rounds, and send you to application pages that no longer exist. The pandemic-era programs that made headlines are finished. Illinois's Back to Business grants and the earlier Business Interruption Grant program are both closed. Several corporate grants that still appear at the top of