Chicago City Hall, where the city's business affairs department holds its workshops. Photo: Related names: Holabird and Roche Holabird and Root / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Chicago small business owners who want a refresher on running a company can get one free this winter. The city’s Department of Business Affairs and Licensing has started a new series of business education workshops.
The sessions are held twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, at the department’s City Hall office at 121 N. LaSalle St., on the eighth floor. They are open to both new and established owners.
A wide range of topics
The department says the workshops cover a broad set of subjects meant to help businesses start, operate and grow. Past city programs of this kind have dealt with licensing, financing, marketing, taxes and doing business with government agencies. The full schedule is posted on the city’s business affairs website.
The workshops come as the city prepares to switch to a two-year business license, a change meant to cut down on paperwork and renewal visits. Owners who want to understand how the new system will affect them may find the sessions useful.
Why owners go
For a small shop with one or two employees, a free class downtown is a modest investment of time. The sessions also give owners face-to-face access to city staff, which can help with questions that are hard to resolve by phone.
Neighborhood groups have also been promoting other free training. The Hull House Small Business Development Center has offered evening workshops on business basics and loan options, and local chambers often bring in speakers on topics such as property tax appeals.
Uptown owners can reach City Hall on the Red Line from the Lawrence or Wilson stations, getting off downtown at Lake or Monroe.
Marcus Hadley covers business, transit and real estate in Uptown.
