A familiar face to the Humboldt business community was back in the city Wednesday making a presentation during another Humboldt and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

Former Chamber Director DonnaLyn Thorsteinson was the keynote speaker, she's now the ED at Square One: Saskatchewan's Business Resource Centre in Saskatoon.

She explained the basis of her address following the event.

"The biggest thing is that there are resources and tools out there to help you, you don't have to be doing it alone. If you are looking to find information you can always ask somebody and Square One can find those people that can help you if we don't have the information ourselves."

When asked about the biggest hurdle facing potential business owners she quickly responded that financing is hard to come by as grants are not as readily available as perhaps once were.

"There aren't a lot of grants available, grants are basically money that you don't have to pay back. There are lots of financing options available so being able to understand your financing. Get a few people whether it's friends or family behind you or partners to help you start with some capital and then you have access to that financing. That is the barrier people find."

She also urged potential business owners to have an outline and keep it up to date.

"A business plan is needed to get started, it's needed to get your financing but it's not something that should be put on a shelf and left and not used again. You need to bring that out and refresh it and change it and update it to meet the current market and that's how you are going to be successful."

Thorsteinson was the Director of the HDCC for five years from 2009 to 2014 and admittedly was happy to be back for the day.

"It was so nice to see so many familiar faces in the crowd today, things haven't changed much and that's awesome. I loved driving out here this morning, I love coming back to Humboldt any chance I get, it was great to be back."

You can hear more from Thorsteinson below as she spoke to Bolt FM's Sarah Miller and the Humboldt Journal's Rebecca Zimmer.