21. Know When to Hire Help

Use free and low-cost help first. Lake Wales has more of it than people realize.

• Florida SBDC at USF. Free, confidential consulting on planning, market research and financing. Its Lake Wales office is inside City Hall, by appointment, so the free consultant sits in the same building as the permit counter. The City lists consultant Greg Manning at 813-396-2719, gmanning@usf.edu. You can also request a consultant online.
• SCORE Central Florida. Free mentoring from experienced operators. Request a mentor.
• Lake Wales Area Chamber of Commerce and EDC. 340 W. Central Avenue, 863-676-3445.
• Lake Wales Main Street. For anything downtown. 863-249-7936.

One correction to old information: BizLINC, the business incubator the City funded on Lincoln Avenue, has closed, according to LakeWalesNews.net reporting in spring 2026. Do not plan around it.

Do not confuse avoiding waste with refusing expertise. Hire an attorney when you have co-founders, meaningful contracts, intellectual property, employees, investors, significant liability or unusual regulation. Hire a CPA when entity taxation, payroll, sales tax treatment or multi-state activity becomes material.

Pay for judgment. Do not pay heavily for form filling disguised as expertise.