Whether it’s developing a business plan, training employees or figuring out how to get a government contract, there’s no end to the challenges facing small business owners.

That’s why the BEAR is there.

The Northwest Montana Business Expansion and Retention Program — the BEAR — is in its fifth year of helping businesses connect with professional advisers and resources that can catapult their companies upward.

While more and more business owners are taking advantage of the help, there are still a great many Flathead Valley businesses that haven’t yet tapped into the program, said Mike Jackson, a business resource consultant with the Flathead Job Service whose position is devoted to BEAR.

“I can’t figure out why there aren’t 20 people standing in front of the Chamber of Commerce every morning” asking for help, Jackson said. “This is a sweet deal.”

DeAnn Thomas, director of the Northwest BEAR Partnership, is equally zealous about the assistance the program can offer businesses of any size.

“People have no idea,” she said. “There’s so much help available. They’re bowled over.”

Perhaps the biggest bonus of BEAR is that most of the assistance is free or costs very little, she said.

“We have a pretty good pulse on funding coming down the pike,” Thomas said, explaining the challenges business owners face in keeping up with new programs or funding that can help them.

There are 13 resource organizations under the umbrella of the Northwest BEAR Partnership, ranging from the Small Business Development Center to the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center.

One of the most popular resources has become the Incumbent Worker Training Program, which offers up to $2,000 to train each full-time employee. Offered through the state Department of Labor and Industry via the Flathead Job Service, the training is geared to businesses with 20 or fewer workers in one location or no more than 50 employees statewide.

As Jackson visits employers in his BEAR role, he often simply asks them: “Have you gotten your $2,000?” It’s an immediate conversation-starter.

Jackson, who spent 31 years in banking, has a stellar track record in getting Incumbent Worker Training dollars for local businesses. All the Flathead County applications passed by the local BEAR committee to the state have been funded, to the tune of $275,000 in the last two years.

Jackson has visited more than 200 area businesses in the past two years, helping business owners determine which of the BEAR partners will benefit them. Each business completes a company profile questionnaire as a baseline for assistance.

Bob Upton, owner of Corporate Image Outfitters in Whitefish, has used several of the BEAR programs, to the point where Jackson and Thomas call him the “poster boy” for BEAR. But Upton said he was skeptical when he first heard about the program a year and a half ago. He had started a business in Seattle 25 years ago and remembered trying to tap into resources there without much success.

“But I’m completely impressed now,” Upton said. “I’d encourage any business to contact the BEAR group. If I have a problem I can’t solve, I’ll call them.”

Jackson guided Upton to the Small Business Development Center, where director Chris Parson helped him with business planning and got him involved with programs such as Peerspectives, a group of professionals that meets to talk about their businesses’ next steps and goals.

Bill Nicholson with the Montana Manufacturing Extension Center, another BEAR partner, helped Upton identify new products and services to increase profit for his business, an in-house embroidery service that provides name-brand outerwear and corporate apparel to businesses nationwide.

Upton was on a tour of the Bakken oil fields last week to scope out potential clients, thanks to connections made through BEAR.

“I’ve had tremendous business growth the last two years, and while I can’t credit any one agency, their help is invaluable,” Upton said. “They want to help, and they can help.”

Jackson said the beauty of BEAR is that when a business calls any one of the partners, it starts the ball rolling for involvement with any number of applicable partners.

“BEAR is the big picture,” he said. “We’re a matchmaker.”

Melanie Nelson, owner of 5 Sparrows gourmet cocoa, chai and frappe powders, is another BEAR fan.

She worked with Parson on a business plan, then met with Nicholson to develop a 5 Sparrows “capacity calculator” to forecast how her business will grow as she implements various options.

Montana West Economic Development was another BEAR partner that stepped in to help Nelson.

Since opening two years ago, she has grown her business beyond the Flathead to Missoula, the Bitterroot Valley and into Washington state.

“I know I am in this successful position because of the expertise, individual help and support I have received from the BEAR partners,” Nelson said in a testimonial.

Jackson pointed out that 75 percent of businesses don’t have a business plan or safety plan.

“Just by having a safety plan they can reduce work-comp rates,” he said. “We can help get those plans done.”

Employee handbooks are another weak spot for many businesses, Jackson said. BEAR can help business owners update or write handbooks.

Part of Thomas’ job is keeping track of the data to quantify how BEAR partners are helping businesses. The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce pays Thomas’ position for 10 hours per month and she volunteers another 20 hours or so each month; she retired last year from her job as director of the career center and Flathead and Glacier high schools.

For the fiscal year ending in July 2011, Northwest Montana BEAR helped 62 companies and secured $116,000 worth of training for 150 employees. This year the partnership is on track to spend all of its $160,000 in Incumbent Worker Training money.

Funding for much of the assistance relies on continued support from the state Legislature, so having tangible numbers for the business assistance can help BEAR supporters persuade lawmakers to continue funding programs such as Incumbent Worker Training.

More often than not, business owners are astounded at the level of assistance offered through the BEAR partnership, Jackson said.

“We shock ’em every time,” he said. “Most of them say, ‘I thought I was all alone in this.”

For information about BEAR, contact Thomas at 250-8077 or email deannthomas5@gmail.com.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.