Wallsburg » It's not that Jose Ascua can work any harder running his tiny convenience store in this rural hamlet, off the main highway to Deer Creek Reservoir in Wasatch County.

Ascua opens the town's only retail outlet, In Solo Town, every day at 6 a.m. and closes around 9 p.m. or so, whenever the last customer leaves. He has a hot breakfast and dinner menu and stocks groceries and dry goods that residents might need to avoid a last-minute drive to Heber City, 15 miles north along a mountainous highway with no services between the scattered towns.

When Ascua started falling behind on his bills, he asked the town to grant him a license to sell six packs of beer, one of the few items customers repeatedly ask for. But by a unanimous vote in early January, Wallsburg council members turned down a beer permit, a decision that Ascua says could put him out of business.

"I don't know what else I can do," Ascua said, while unlocking his store to cook up chicken fajitas for two diners after the Thursday night town meeting.

The 55-year-old Ascua has no employees, he works more than 100 hours each week and he closes only on Christmas and New Year's Day.

Even in the best of times, it's never a good idea for small-business owners to go it alone, experts say. In this extremely difficult economy, both neophytes and seasoned business owners cannot afford to pass up low-and no-cost counseling programs and workshops offered by government sponsored organizations. Among the most recommended is SCORE, a nonprofit association of executives who counsel small business owners -- for free.

"Yes, beer sales are a money maker," said Salt Lake City SCORE volunteer Stanley Ellington. "But it's important to do an overall assessment of the business. There has to be an analysis before steps can be taken to fix whatever isn't working."

Another resource for entrepreneurs are the Small Business Administration's Small Business Development Centers. Utah has 12 centers on college and university campuses from Logan to St. George. The Governor's Office of Economic Development helps fund classes, workshops and other services at the centers.

"We offer free classes and scholarships for our longer-term courses," said Greg Panichello, state director of the business centers. "We also have free, one-on-one counseling. Just call ahead for an appointment."

In outlying areas, rural business owners may qualify for programs that are not available to their city counterparts.

Rural Development, an agency with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, can provide low-interest loans and in some instances outright grants. Last year, loans totaling nearly $28 million through the agency's Business and Industry program went toward retail sales, tourism, health, manufacturing, energy development and other rural consumer needs. The loans assisted more than 17,000 business and created or saved about 500 jobs.

"It's typical for small-business owners to operate on a shoestring, so when trouble comes, they're hit hard," said Roger Coon, a business and cooperative specialist with the Rural Development office in Salt Lake City. But before asking for a loan, business owners must do their homework, he said, preferably with the help of SCORE or business center counselors who can act as a one-stop service for an array of programs.

One little known program is the state's Rural Fast Track program, which can provide incentives for businesses that can create high paying jobs. The program is intended for companies in communities with a county population less than 30,000 and with an average county household income of less than $60,000. Although funds are limited, incentives are available each year.

Another relatively unknown program is the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund. Loans from $1,000 to $25,000 are made to small companies with five or fewer employes that typically are too small to qualify for commercial banking services. Over the past fourteen years, the fund has helped launch or expand more than 550 small businesses across the state.

For his part, Ascua is reluctant to take off work for a counseling session or workshop. His wife, who had helped out at the store, is recovering from surgery on her shoulder and no family members are available to fill in. Ascua has hired a lawyer to determine if the town vote denying him a beer license was proper.

Although the town was evenly split on Ascua getting a beer license, it's unlikely the council will reverse its unanimous vote in an area where many of the residents are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which views drinking alcohol as a sin. The largest buildings in Wallsburg are its town hall, a converted Mormon ward, and the LDS Church down the road.

"I have never seen alcohol make a community a better place," said Wallsburg Mayor Roger Keller. "There's a lot of people who want the store to stay but at the same time, virtually all of us work elsewhere so if someone forgets something, we can pick it up on the way home."