I have a friend, Eric Talner, who a year-and-a-half ago heard the entrepreneurial call. He decided to leave behind a very comfortable career as a school teacher, and start his own bus-transportation business. His business -- Nevertardy Transit -- is off to a strong start. Business has been so good that he was recently able to afford to buy his own bus, after leasing one since Day One. As we chatted yesterday about his business, Eric handed me one of his new business cards. "Wow," I told him, "this looks GREAT!" And his card does look great. He's got a new logo that looks totally pro (in graphic above), and the card is well-designed and distinctive. Then Eric mentioned how the logo and business card came about: he met a student at a local university business school who took on developing his company branding as a project for her MBA degree.

The cost? Not a lot. In fact, it was free.

This reminded me that there is a vast resource available to businesspeople everywhere for little or no money: business schools. There are hundreds of business schools throughout the United States, and the thousands of students they serve (and the professors who teach them) are often on the lookout for real-world business projects they can accomplish while working on their degrees.

This is where you come in.

Do you need a business plan for a new venture you're thinking of starting up? There's probably a business student who can help you out. Need a social networking strategy for a new product you're rolling out in a few months? That might be the perfect project for a team of MBA candidates near you. Need to brand your company? Again, a business student might provide results that are just as good as a $10,000+ contract with a consulting firm -- perhaps even better..

The MBA student in Eric's case goes to San Diego State University (SDSU) here in San Diego. Says Eric about her work, "I couldn't be happier with the design." I took a quick look around the SDSU website and found that they actively solicit businesses to engage their students for MBA consulting projects and internships, both paid and unpaid.

Every large city has several business schools, and there are business schools within a couple hours drive of most small towns as well. In the San Diego area alone, there are at least five major schools of business -- offering local businesspeople a lot of potential help. However, this is a resource overlooked by many businesspeople -- especially those in start-ups or new ventures.

In these tough economic times -- actually, anytime -- it's essential that businesspeople get the biggest bang for their buck. And what better way to do that than to leverage the power of your local business school? You get a great result for little or no money, and the students get the real-world experience they need to succeed in the future. That's a win-win if ever I've seen one.