Business Advisor

Are you passionate about making a positive difference in your community? Do you have excellent communication and multi tasking skills? Do you enjoy working with small business owners and empowering them to expand their business?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you might be the perfect fit for our Business Advisor position!

Who are we:

We are a team of passionate advocates, activists, and social champions. Our staff members are former business owners, individuals with decades of economic development experience, parents, children and residents of the South and Southwest Side.

We work in service of a multicultural, prosperous and economically vibrant Southwest Chicago, one rooted in social justice and racial equity. Together with the community, we strive to build generational, inclusive and sustainable wealth on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

Check out our website to learn more about GSDC and the team at www.greatersouthwest.org

About the Role:

Under the supervision of the Director of Industrial & Business Services , the Business Advisorwill work with entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses. The primery goal of the Business Advisor is to empower, support, guide local entrepreneaurs in achieving their business objectives. This position will be the first point of contact for many clients seeking consultation services and will be part of the intake process to help execute program deliverables pursuant to State, City, County and Federal grants. This position requires strong interpersonal skills to make connections and build relationships with a variety of business owners, community leaders and other stakeholders.

Schedule: Hybrid up to 2 days remote. Monday to Friday, weekends as needed.

Principal Job Duties and Responsibilities

Responsibilities may include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provide one-on-one business counseling and advisory services to aspiring and established entrepreneurs.
• Assist with local, county, state, and federal grant program delivery.
• Assist entrepreneurs in developing comprehensive business plans, financial projections, and marketing strategies.
• Conduct in-depth assessments of clients' business needs, challenges, and opportunities to provide customized solutions.
• Deliver business training, workshops, and seminars to enhance the entrepreneurial skills of clients.
• Facilitate and lead business incubation programs to foster the growth of small businesses.
• Collaborate with the Director of Industrial & Business Services to manage and oversee grant funded small business development programs.
• Engage with diverse populations within the community to understand their unique needs and provide tailored support.
• Use strong interpersonal skills to build rapport and maintain positive relationships with clients and stakeholders.
• Make timely and informed decisions to effectively address clients' business challenges and opportunities.
• Prioritize multiple tasks and manage time efficiently to meet project goals and deadlines.
• Participate in assigned programmatic duties and contracts, ensuring compliance with relevant regulations and requirements.
• Utilize computer skills for word processing, data entry, and spreadsheet tasks, and adapt to new software as needed.
• Organize and present information effectively in both formal and informal group settings.
• Work collaboratively with GSDC team members and external consultants, program evaluators, and trainers to enhance program effectiveness.
• Utilize reliable transportation to visit clients and conduct business site visits as required.
• Assist in marketing programs and events.
• Support with administrative tasks such as preparing reports, invoices, etc, working as an integral part of the Program Services Team. This includes attending regular team meetings, cross-training on programs and offerings, and supporting other team members as needed.
• Other duties as assigned

Data Entry

• Responsible for updating relevant program databases to meet program and grantor deliverable requirements including assistance in the creation of relevant KPIs, tracking statistics and analysis for planning purposes.
• Perform data entry and quality checks on our CRM system and update client and business records and information.
• Support with compliance reporting, such as extracting data and reports as needed.

Outreach

• Assist Outreach and in-person/virtual meetings of existing and potential industrial program clients for the Industrial Development Program with targeted concentration in Manufacturing, Transportation Distribution and Logistics(TDL) and construction clients as well as other clients within the business advisory program and program services department.
• Utilize reliable transportation to visit clients, conduct business site visits as required.

GSDC Team Support

• Contribute to all organizational events, helping as necessary with set up/take down, management, networking, various tasks, etc.
• Responsible for ensuring that all work performed is in compliance with the company’s mission, vision and values. This includes participation in company events and other community-facing activities as required
• Other duties as assigned.

Core Competencies

• Vision-focused - Resonates with vision and understands all are part of a broader goal of putting the community first and serving them well.
• Communication - Communicates well both verbally and in writing, creates accurate and punctual reports, delivers presentations, shares information and ideas with others, has strong, empathetic listening skills.
• Client Focus - Builds customer confidence, is committed to increasing customer satisfaction, sets achievable customer expectations, assumes responsibility for solving customer problems, ensures commitments to customers are met, solicits opinions and ideas from customers, responds to internal customers.
• Decision Making/Judgment - Recognizes problems and responds, systematically gathers information, sorts through complex issues, seeks input from others, addresses root cause of issues, makes timely decisions, can make difficult decisions, uses consensus when possible, communicates decisions to others. Knows how to prioritize multiple tasks.

About You

To be successful in this role, you will need:

• Bachelor’s degree in business, marketing or relevant field or 3 years of equivalent work experience is required.
• Strong Bilingual/Spanish verbal and written skills is a plus
• 3 years of working with small business owners in a consultative environment preferred
• Previous Small Business Owner experience preferred.
• Experience leading business training or incubation programs preferred.
• Experience with City of Chicago contract execution is preferred.
• Experience with creating marketing documents and Canva is a plus
• Experience with non-profit is a plus
• Able to effectively organize and present information in group settings, both formal and informal is a plus.
• Intermediate knowledge and experience working with computers, including word processing and data entry programs; spreadsheet experience and client management software/ Salesforce is a plus.
• Excellent organizational and time management abilities.
• Able to work effectively both independently and collaboratively. Self-starter.
• Flexibility and adaptability to changing priorities and deadlines.
• Comfortable with community-based work (visiting business owners onsite, attending meetings/functions, etc) and office/administrative work.
• Must be sensitive to the diverse community needs and be able to engage with diverse populations, while using excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work with external consultants including program evaluators and trainers.
• Reliable transportation available to interact with clients/business owners at their business site.
• Strong connection to the southwest side of Chicago is preferred.
• References are required

Physical Requirements

• Prolong periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
• Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
• Position requires travel between locations of the organization, business sites and or events.
• Variable outdoor exposure to noise, weather, and elements and manufacture/factory settings
• Constant interactions with the public and employees.
• Flexible working hours: some evening and weekend availability required.

Position Classification

Salary Exempt.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $50,000.00 - $55,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Professional development assistance
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 8 hour shift
• Monday to Friday
• Weekends as needed

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Chicago, IL 60629

Salary : $50,000 - $55,000