GILBERT, ARIZONA – In response to the coronavirus pandemic, governments around the country are making the difficult decision to ask certain businesses to shut their doors for what could be an extended period of time and requiring residents to remain at home except for essential needs.  This will leave business owners at home thinking about how they can improve business and gain back lost revenues once things get back to normal.  With no ability to go and sit down with any business advice experts because of travel restrictions, online resources will be the only option for most local business owners.

At the same time, workers who have been temporarily out of work or have been laid off due to companies closing because of the coronavirus will also be home thinking about what they can do one the crisis has passed. For some of the more entrepreneurially minded workers, they may want to begin planning to start their new business out of necessity, because they have become unemployed, or because opening a business is something they’ve always dreamed of. These entrepreneurs will also need online resources for them to research and plan for their new business. The coronavirus forcing people to stay home has simply heightened the need for economic development organizations to provide online services.

“The Town of Gilbert, Arizona recognizes that the small businesses and entrepreneurs in our community benefit from online business assistance in good times and bad. We are committed to the success of our local businesses and an important way we can assist them is by delivering industry-specific and hyper-local market research and business intelligence on our website using SizeUp LBI software technology,” said Dan Henderson, Director of Economic Development for the Town of Gilbert. “For the business owners stranded at home, we provide them with free access to powerful research that can help them make smarter decisions about their business based on high-quality data. Entrepreneurs that are planning to open a business can use SizeUp LBI to prepare a business plan and use the data to validate if their assumptions are in line with industry benchmarks. We want our local businesspeople and future entrepreneurs to be able to use this time at home to strategize, research, and equip themselves to emerge from this crisis prepared.”

Explore Gilbert’s Office of Economic Development SizeUp, LBI online resource.

Listen to Gilbert Economic Development Deputy Director, Jennifer Graves, discuss SizeUp, LBI and how it can assist businesses and entrepreneurs below.

Do you have questions on how the Gilbert Office of Economic Development team can assist you? Contact our team today to discuss business assistance programs, workforce, and more.