InfoPeople Core2: Business Resources: Starting a Business

How many times did I have people come into the library interested in resources for starting a small business!? Okay, maybe only 4-5 from the first of the year to the present, but they ranged from florist, to auto shop, to spa services. As in the notes, interests ranged from financing, to internet resources, business plans to just getting started. Before I take any more notes from the lesson, I do want to point out that my library system has a great online resources titled The Business Plans Handbook volumes 1-26 from the Gale Virtual Reference Library. They are digital files dating from the 1990s, so while the projections on the numbers of the older plans are over 20 years old, the types of things to plan for may still apply or will at least get a beginner going.

The notes make certain that you understand two "important" defintions:

1. definition of Small Business- set by the Small Business Administration, usually based on numbers and annual earnings and will vary by industry.
2. US Small Business Administration- usually your first stop when you really want to be confused. The notes are much more positive in their review of what the SBA can do for you, but when I was going about creating a business plan a million years ago, all I was was confused by the website and by the local office. It looks as though they've streamlined the page since then to revolve around what a person wants to achieve (write a plan, qualify for contracts, etc) rather than a list of departments and publications. The SBA has various publications, so if you already know what you are looking for, you can just submit a title in the search box. Otherwise, there is the site map. Other links from the SBA portal:
• Business Law and Regulations
• Office of Women's Business Ownership
• Regional Small Business Development Centers
• also look for links for veterans and faith-based entrepreneuers 

Other titles:

• Small Business Sourcebook: the entrepreneur's resource- I tried searching Gale/Cengage for this title, but I didn't retrieve any results. According to WorldCat the most recent print edition is the 29th published in 2012.$600+ on Amazon. I gotta get my hands on this thing to see what it is about!
• Legal Guide for Starting and Running a Small Business, Fred S. Steingold. Nolo Press (latest edition, 2013 346.7306 LEG 2013)
• Small Business Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed in Your Small Business, Steven D. Strauss (John Wiley & Sons, 2008) 658.022 STR 2012 We also have this as a downloadable audio.
• The For Dummies series (Wiley) - Includes a number of small-business-related titles. 

Other Online Sites to consider:

• Small Business Advisor - isquare.com
• SCORE: Counselors to America's Small Business - score.org
• Entrepreneur.com
• Nolo.com Self Help Law Center - nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia - I quickly looked at this site and for a dotcom, I'm happy to see it is a self-contained that doesn't have external commercial ads. I know that Nolo has their own line of books, and so there probably isn't a ton of info under the individual articles, but it will answer preliminary questions and then point you to the correct resources. And this site was extremely easy to browse or search.

Franchises- try these resources to learn more about them before getting into one.

• Bond's Franchise Guide - the 2013 is out, but we only have the 2009: 381.13 BON 2009 
• Franchising for Dummies - 658.8708 SEI 2006 
• Association of Small Business Development Centers:  asbdc-us.org - Lots of information geared toward real small business entrepreneurs, such as how to web productivity tools and using interns legally. But this site works more like a blog than a systematic collection of browse-able information, which if you have a specific thing you want, would be difficult to find, especially as the site does not have a search bar.
• Franchise Solutions - franchisesolutions.com -site allows for searching by amount of investment, industry (retail, food, lodging, education, real estate, etc) and location. There are also lists for the most popular searches and the top franchises, dependent on industry.

Financing the great plunge into small business ownership:

• SBA's Financing page: sba.gov/financing - the page for the SBA loan program, including the microloan, real estate and equipment, and general small business. Tips on how to prepare for the loan application process and looking at venture capital are among the articles written.
• Financing Guide Table of Contents: morebusiness.com/finance 

Assignment: a quick look at the levels of information the .gov, .org, .com web resources provide. I think based on their goals for displaying the info, the three that I found were equally informative. I know that most people are looking for free money when that inquire at the desk about funding for small businesses, so the SBA finance site is confusing. It should state clearly whether the government provides free money assistance. However, it does have plenty of info on getting a loan. I liked the interface for the Association of Small Business DC site. It is good for serendipitous discovery.