Excerpts taken from “Small Business 101: How to Get Started” in the New York Times Small Business section. For full article and hyperlinks, scroll below the article.
Success comes with education, careful planning and adequate cash flow, specialists say. And it has never been easier to lay the groundwork for starting a small business. Many tools are available on the Internet and at libraries to aid aspiring entrepreneurs. Whole magazines are devoted to the subject.
But where to start? The Small Business Administration Web site is an excellent place to obtain information easily. It provides everything from details on characteristics important to run a business to information on writing a business plan to links to local centers offering assistance to start-ups.
A number of online resources have also grown up in recent years geared to providing small-business owners with a wide range of information. They include sites likeWork.com, which has more than 1,700 how-to segments covering a multitude of issues confronting small businesses; E-venturing, run by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation; and About.com’s small business and entrepreneur sites. (The New York Times Company owns About.com.)
StartupNation, a Web site founded by Rich and Jeff Sloan, offers advice through video segments augmented by written information and provides forums and groups where entrepreneurs can share information.
Other sites, like Bplans, owned and operated by Palo Alto Software, publisher of Business Plan Pro, have taken a more focused approach. Bplans offers more than 100 free sample business plans (more can be purchased) and they offer advice and other planning tools. When it comes to sorting through financial information, CCH Business Owner’s Toolkithas templates to help examine financial issues as well as other model business documents, checklists and government forms.
Still, any business or financial plan is only as good as the information it is built on. Finding that information may seem like a daunting task, but there are many free resources to turn to. A good first stop is the Census Bureau, which has detailed information in many areas including population, income and economic indicators for business. If the breadth of the Census Bureau’s information seems overwhelming, check out CensusScope, an Internet site that breaks demographic information down into manageable segments.
Another source of free statistical information online is FedStats, a site that provides a range of information produced by the federal government. And don’t forget you can still do your research the old-fashioned way by visiting a public library where a librarian will be able to provide a range of information, including industry publications.
The Library of Congress has compiled The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Small Business Information, a listing of books and directories helpful in establishing and running a business.
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