Business Plans

Writing a business plan is often deemed essential, not only for seeking out financing, but as a road map for the future success of your small business. Please utilize the following links to gain insight into the necessary steps for creating your plan:

• Business Plan Primer: A tutorial about business plans.
• Business Plans: Yahoo Small Business Resources provides guidelines on developing business plans and marketing plans, and offers samples of each.
• Start-Up Checklist: A business plan checklist to guide you through the creation process.
• VFinance.Com: Information on Venture Capital, also a free business template.
• http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/plan/writeabusinessplan/index.html

Legal Assistance

While seeking professional assistance for legal advice is preferred, a number of resources exist to assist small businesses:

• American Arbitration Association
• American Bar Association
• American Law Institute
• Association of Federal Defense Attorneys
• Association of Trial Lawyers of America
• BusinessLaw.Gov: Information on business law for small businesses.
• Inter-American Bar Association
• IRS Small Business: Information on IRS laws for small businesses and information on starting a business.
• Law & Legal Aid Resources: Resinets.com information on law and legal aids.
• National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Inc.
• Practising Law Institute

Employment Information and Regulations

As your business grows, so does your need for human capital. The following resources serve as guidance on key issues facing potential employers:

• Business Owners Toolkit: A good general discussion on employee issues can be found here.
• Department of Labor Elaws Advisors: Interactive tools that provide information about Federal employment laws.
• HR-Guide.com: Information and web links on Company Human Resources – Personnel
• Department of Labor Small Business Resource Center: Information on Web page designed to assist small businesses in complying with rules, regulations and laws enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): Information on Human Resources topics.
• U.S. Department of Labor: Information on current federal employment statutes.

Funding and Grants

Depending on the needs of your small business, acquiring funding can be a painful process. The following resources will assist you in sorting through the necessities of funding your business.

• Business Finance: Information on business funding resources and has a database of over 4,000 sources of business capital.
• Finance a Business (SBA): Information on several SBA financing programs.
• Garage Technology Ventures: Information on venture capital for emerging technology companies.
• Startup Journal: Information on deducting home office expenses on your income tax.
• Startup Venture Toolbox: The Toolbox is organized in the order that most entrepreneurs follow in taking their ventures from idea to IPO.
• The Money Tree Survey: The definitive source of information on emerging companies that receive financing and the venture capital firms that provide it.
• Turbo Tax: A link to one of the most widely used tax preparation software packages for homes and small businesses, produced by Quicken.
• VFinance.Com: Information on Venture Capital, also a free business template.

General Entrepreneurial Resources

• About.com’s Entrepreneur Link: Information from an on line resource pool for small business owners.
• Center for Veterans Enterprise: Information for Veterans and business.
• Entrepreneur.com: Information on a number of useful forms you can use in your business.
• Kauffman Foundation: A search engine specifically targeted at entrepreneurs like you.
• Finding Distributors: Entrepreneur.com article on distribution and marketing.
• Getting out of your business: Entrepreneurs Toolkit article on how to get out of your business if/when you wish to exit.
• Home Business: Information on Home Business, including both opportunities and challenges.
• Idea Cafe: Information on the basics of getting your idea off the ground, from e-commerce design to logo-embroidered apparel.
• Jim Blassingame, Small Business Advocate: Information on small business, both opportunities and challenges.
• National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE): Information for small businesses and the self-employed. Has discount programs and general information.
• SBC Business Solutions: Communications services products for business users.
• Small Business Administration (SBA): Home page for the US Small Business Administration site, which contains a range of useful links, tips, courses and advice.
• Small Business Development Centers: General coaching (from SBDC and SCORE) as well as advice on funding options.
• Start-Up EPA: Creating a Business Plan: Guidelines on how to create a business plan, why you need one, and what it can do for you.
• Start-Up Journal: Published by the Wall Street Journal – information of interest to those starting a business.
• Welcome Business USA: Information on business checklists to help you make sure you are not missing important steps in starting and running your business. Has wealth of resources, how-to articles for business.
• Yahoo! Small Business – Start-Up Basics: Current info on hot start-up areas and more.

Government Resources

• Business Law www.business.gov/
• Franchise Registry www.franchiseregistry.com
• Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov
• Federal Government Portal www.firstgov.gov
• Federal Government Grants www.grants.gov
• US Census www.census.gov
• Federal Acquistion Regulations www.arnet.gov/far
• Small Business Innovative Research www.sba.gov/sbir
• U.S. Government Export Portal www.export.gov
• Federal/DOD Contractor Central Registration www.ccr.gov
• Federal Contracting Opportunities www.fedbizopps.gov
• Veterans Small Business Research www.sba.gov/advo/research/#veterans
• SBA Economic Research www.sba.gov/advo/research/
• U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services www.dhhs.gov
• Faith-Based & Community Initiatives www.dhhs.gov/fbci/
• Dunn & BradStreet DUNS Number www.dnb.com/us/duns_update/index.html
• U.S. Dept. of Labor www.dol.gov
• SBA Online Training www.sba.gov/training/
• Getting a D-U-N-S Number www.dnb.com/us
• Department of Homeland Security (Customs/Inmigration/ect) www.dhs.gov

Online Databases

The following databases offer free components to assist you with a variety of research needs. Please note that some sites may require registration and are in no way associated with the Disney Entrepreneur Center.

• http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/: A great free resource offering database search capabilities for demographics and statistics. Highly recommended.
• http://www.quirks.com/: Resources to help small businesses complete market research projects.

Marketing Resources

• AAAAgencySearch.com is a database of members of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. Search the database by agency name, brand or client name, by billings, number of employees, industry experience and category specialties (e.g. African American market, or Business-to-Business marketing. The search engine returns a list of matching agencies and provides the above information for each agency.
• Ad-Resource contains a list of links to various websites describing web advertising rates, guides to interactive advertising, and other resources related to advertising. (NOTE: MarketMatch and SRDS are two fee-based web ad rate guides which provide useful data. The free ad rate guides are typically far less comprehensive and current.)
• Advertising Age publishes the full-text of recent top stories from it’s print publication. It has an Interactive Daily, which contains articles about web marketing and critiques of web marketers. It contains rankings of global marketers. Marketing and web marketing conference and event calendars are posted.
• Advertising World is a service that links to marketing web sites. Come here for directories of agents, associations, market research firms, and PR firms. Find sites dealing with consumer psychology, coupons, web marketing and more.
• Adweek provides free article excerpts as well as the full-text of one feature story from each of its three major print publications: Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek. The site also posts daily internet marketing newswires and spotlights various brand marketing campaigns.
• Agency ComPile is a database of advertising, public relations, direct marketing, design, sales promotion, interactive, yellow pages, recruitment, and media buying agencies. It provides profiles at the agency level which include a brief overview, client lists, and specialties. Searchable by a variety of criteria.
• Dentsu Online Gateway provides data on Japanese advertising expenditures. Click on Dentsu Data to retrieve data.
• GreenBook is a directory of marketing research companies and services. It features a comprehensive (over 1400 listings) searchable directory of marketing research firms and focus group facilities. Visitors can search for companies by research services (400+ service categories), location, name, or a combination of the above.
• MarketScope provides historical quarterly newspaper advertising expenditures and ad volume. It also provides readership information, average newspaper prices, and circulation data.
• Marketing Resource Center is a site that focuses on marketing and the internet.
• STAT-USA is the Internet source for business and economic information produced by the Federal Government. STAT-USA gathers information from over 50 Federal agencies and distributes from a central source. STAT-USA includes U.S. economic data & release calendars, exchange rates, industrial data, and consumer credit reports. Its international side includes trade opportunity leads, international industry reports, market analysis, imports, exports, and guides for U.S. companies doing business in different countries.

Annual Reports and Corporate Filings

• Annual Report Gallery lists Annual Reports published on the internet. The database currently links to the reports of over 2000 companies, including most of the Fortune 500. Also includes links to services that compile international Annual Reports.
• Annual Report Service will mail (postal mail) copies of annual reports of a large group of companeis free of charge.
• Carol is service which provides financial statements and excerpts from annual reports for major European companies. In some cases, Carol links users directly to corporate home pages. Files may be saved as html.
• GuideStar provides financial data on non-profit organizations in the U.S. The database contains information on 850,000 IRS-recognized non-profit organizations. Search by organization name or use an advanced search to identify non-profits in certain geographic locations and categories, and of certain types and sizes.
• Multex Investor provides company snapshots, free real-time stock (and major U.S. index) quotes, price charts, and articles from PRN and BW newswire services. It also provides user with stockscreening tools and industry, sector, and company rankings (biggest movers) on over 10,000 equities trading on the NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX, and OTC Bulletin Board. Detailed financials & ratios are available. Contains First Call earnings estimates and surprises.
• PRARS provides a free mailing service. Hard copies of including annual reports, prospectuses or 10k’s on over 3,600 public companies will be mailed by this service without charge to the investing public. Includes “Security Traders Handbook” designed to give investors the information needed to make intelligent financial decisions. Ranks common stocks by popularity.
• SEDAR WEB SITE provides annual reports for Canadian companies in English & French. Most reports are in .pdf format, although some are in Microsoft Word or Word Perfect.

Banking and Financial Resources

• Bank Rate Monitor provides current average rates on: loans, mortgages, and savings deposits, as well as the discount rate, prime rate, and some treasury rates. Also contains a loan payment calculator.
• Banking studies small business lending in the U.S. The Office of Advocacy annually analyses call report data collected by the Federal Reserve on the lending activity of about 9,000 individually reporting commercial banks. Banks are ranked based on their small business lending on a state-by-state basis.
• FRED provides historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily and monthly U.S. interest rates, T-bill rates, monetary and business indicators, historical exchange rates for over 30 currencies, and regional economic data for Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Also includes online publications: U.S. Financial Data & National Economics Trends.
• U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation provides information on the U.S. banking industry, consumer information, and press releases. Includes full text of a variety of FDIC research reports.

Corporate Databases

• American Hospital Directory contains information on U.S. hospitals. Search the “Free Services” database by geographic location, name, area code, etc. for a list of hospitals that meet your criteria. Information on hospitals includes type of ownership, number of beds (total and by service), financial data, utilization statistics, and charges for specific services.
• Europages-European Business Directory Contains contact information on Western and Eastern European companies. Search by company name or product/service.
• Hoover’s Online provides profiles for over 10,000 companies. Search company by name, ticker symbol, keyword search, or industry. Full Access is subscription based. More limited company reports are available for free.
• JobWeb: Employer Profiles is published by The National Association of Colleges and Employers which describes various employers and provide links to their home pages.
• Thomas Register allows users to search by product name for U.S. public and private manufacturers. Includes over 60,000 product heading categories and over 5500 on-line supply catalogs.
• Vault Reports provides 2-3 page employer snapshots for 1000 U.S. companies. Reports are sent to users via e-mail. Free information is also available in a career advice column and a diversity forum. 50-70 page reports on employers are available for a fee. Information in these reports is provided by current and former employees, and covers areas such as corporate culture, salaries, career ladders, the recruiting process, and more. Free previews to these reports are available.
• Websense Company Locator provides a Company Site Locator which allows users to find private and public companies’ websites worldwide. When using search engine, type a complete, partial, or specific domain name under Company Name.
• WetFeet Press provides free online profiles of major consulting and finance companies. Profiles created by the companies themselves include recruiting, company, career, and corporate culture information. More in depth reports, with anecdotes and comments from insiders, are available for a fee; for companies in the finance, consulting, high tech, and brand management industries.

Management

• A Business Researcher’s Interests is a searchable knowledge map of Contemporary Business, Management and Information Technology issues. It provides access to hundreds of full-text papers, magazines & journals, case studies and tools, and thousands of online resources on some of the current issues of interest to Business, Technology & Information professionals.
• The web site of the Conference Board provides a searchable database of management and economic research and forecasts.
• The catalog to Harvard Business School’s case studies is now available online. Search by company name or management concept to find appropriate cases. Catalog access is free; cases cost an average of $5 each. Ordering can be done online.

Statistics

• Bureau of Labor Statistics provides data and information on consumer and producer prices, employment and unemployment, occupational compensation, workplace injuries and illness, employee benefits, and productivity.
• FedStats provides statistical data generated by many different U.S. Government agencies. Statistics on interest rates, inflation rates, and wages are available as are those on breastfeeding, education, consumer credit, and many more. Key agencies included are BEA, BLS, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bureau of Transportation, Bureau of the Census, EIA, OMB, and more.
• FRED provides historical U.S. economic and financial data, including daily and monthly U.S. interest rates, T-bill rates, monetary and business indicators, historical exchange rates for over 30 currencies, and regional economic data for Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. Also includes online publications: U.S. Financial Data & National Economics Trends.
• Governments on the WWW is a meta site linking to official government web sites for over 200 countries. Many of the sites it links to are in local languages.
• IMF Staff Country Reports in Full-Text are statistical reports covering IMF member countries. Coverage is 1997 – present. Data is extensive in fiscal and economic areas and textual analysis of country economic developments is sometimes available. The IMF main site also provides access to quarterly and weekly reports, as well as working papers, on the IMF’s efforts and the status of the global economy.
• Infonation is a statistical service provided by the UN. Includes about 50 demographic, economic, and social indicators for member nations. Does not include time series data, but rather the most recent data published by the UN.
• NAA.org, the web site of the Newspaper Association of America, provides historical quarterly newspaper advertising expenditures and ad volume. It also provides readership information, average newspaper prices, and circulation data. Click a category for links to data in that category.
• The Securities Industry Association (SIA), established in 1972, brings together more that 600 securities firms to accomplish common goals. Their website includes several of the association’s publications, including securities industry trends, statistics, financial results and free newsletters. This website also includes SIA’s job bank and career resource center.
• Statistics Canada includes recent economic statistics, data highlights of news releases, and census data. Statistics Canada is mandated under the Statistics Act to produce and publish statistical information on the economic, social, and general conditions of Canada and its population. Available in English and French.
• Statistics Norway contains press releases, monthly statistics on external trade, the index of production, and CPI monthly (1930-present).
• STAT-USA is the Internet source for business and economic information produced by the Federal Government. STAT-USA gathers information from over 50 Federal agencies and distributes from a central source. STAT-USA includes U.S. economic data & release calendars, exchange rates, industrial data, and consumer credit reports. Its international side includes trade opportunity leads, international industry, market analysis, imports, exports, and guides for U.S. companies doing business in different countries.
• UN Statistics Division provides a variety of types of demographic data for all of the countries in the U.N. Some parts of the site are fee-based, but several are free.
• United Nations has news, publications information resources, and documents. It offers information on peace and security, economic and social development, international law, human rights, and humanitarian affairs worldwide.
• World Bank includes a compendium of socioeconomic and environmental data. It contains press releases, speeches, and media contacts on various topics ranging from HIV/AIDS to business products and services.

Telephone Directories

• ATT 800# Look up toll-free numbers anywhere in the U.S. Search by category, state, city, business name–or any combination–to get to the listings you need. Updated twice each month. Reverse phone number search available.
• InfoSpace allows you to search for people, businesses, e-mail, government offices, fax numbers, toll-free, reverse lookup, and more.
• Super Pages is a directory of businesses. Contains links to web sites, where applicable and links to street maps of areas surrounding businesses. Search by company name or business category. Super Pages also contains listings for 100 million U.S. residences. It also contains a Canadian yellow page directory.
• Switchboard is a free nationwide residential and business directory. Look up people by last name, first name, city, state, or any combination of these. It provides addresses and telephone numbers of individuals listed.
• Infobel World provides links to online telephone, fax, and business directories from around the world.
• Yahoo People Search! is an online directory which allows users to search for people and companies via White Pages, Yellow Pages, and an AT&T Toll Free listing. Users can also perform advanced E-mail searches here. Maps/Directions available.

Demographics

• Access to U.S. Demographic Data provides links to a variety of demographic analysis tools.
• American Demographics publishes its print edition on the web in full-text access. Users are asked to browse the site and to subscribe to the print edition if they want to continue using it. Also contains access to Marketing Tools articles, recent demographic reports, and a bookstore of American Demographics’ publications.
• Asian Demographics provides socio-economic data for 14 Asian countries. Most data is for paid subscribers, however summary data is available under the Country data section. It also contains information on the population, consumer expenditures, education, labor, GDP, tourism, transportation, and communications data of Asian countries.
• FedStats provides statistical data generated by many different U.S. Government agencies. Statistics on interest rates, inflation rates, and wages are available as are those on breastfeeding, education, and consumer credit. Key agencies included are BEA, BLS, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bureau of Transportation, Bureau of the Census, EIA, OMB, and more.
• Infonation is a statistical service provided by the UN. Includes about 50 demographic, economic, and social indicators for member nations. Does not include time series data, but rather the most recent data published by the UN.
• MABLE/Geocorr engine provides cross reference information for researchers converting data from one geographic area to another (e.g. counties to zip codes, congressional districts to metropolitan areas, etc.)
• Penn World Tables provides data on all countries on a variety of government finance, consumption/production, and investment indicators. Data is annual in most cases. Penn World Tables are provided by Computing for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) at the University of Toronto.
• Statistics Norway contains press releases, monthly statistics on external trade, the index of production, and CPI monthly (1930-present). Also includes a variety of demographic data. Pages are available in Norwegian and English.
• UN Statistics Division provides a variety of types of demographic data for all of the countries in the U.N. Some parts of the site are free-based, but several are free.
• U.S. Census Bureau: Official Statistics is the most authoritative site for economic and demographic data on the population of the United States.

Internet and E-Commerce Resources

• Business 2.0 is a magazine that examines the changing landscape for commerce in the digital world. It puts its magazine on its web site in full-text format and supplements content with articles from other sources. The in-depth “case” studies of internet and high-tech businesses are particularly valuable tools for entrepreneurs.
• Catherwood Library Guide to E-Commerce is a guide that provides links to e-commerce resources on international commerce, technology, and legal issues. It also links to online journals and newspapers, industry and association guides, and government policy pages. It is maintained by Cornell’s own Catherwood Library in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
• E-Commerce Times publishes current news for the internet industry. Known for its regular industry news updates (every 15 minutes).
• e-lab: The Electronics Commerce Research Laboratory is a corporate-sponsored research center at Vanderbilt University devoted to the study of strategic, consumer behavior, and policy issues related to electronic commerce. Recent report topics include the digital divide, online advertising pricing models, and consumer contro in the online environment. E-lab publishes its research findings full text on this site.
• ebusinessforum.com is the EIU’s center for information on E-commerce worldwide. It provides news and reports on the state of e-commerce in many countries as well as best practices reports and “thought leadership” articles, which provide analysis of the industry.
• Epaynews – ePayment Resource Center publishes articles, white papers, and statistics on the electronic payment industry, which has been spurred by the growth in e-commerce.
• Nua Internet Surveys provide articles on the demographics of internet use. Click on a category (e.g. seniors, teens) in the left margin to find information on the trends in that group’s internet usage patterns. Users can also search the archives for articles on a specific topic about internet use.

Entrepreneurship

• America’s Business Funding Directory provides information about methods of seeking different forms of capital in order to operate a business. It also provides lenders/investors with information on how they could get in contact with those who are seeking money. In addition, it contains a library resource on foreign trade, government information, business education, etc.
• Entrepreneur Magazine provides an online site featuring many articles from the print magazine as well as other resources for entrepreneurs. Users can searched archived full-text articles from 1991 – present using keywords. . The site ranks the hottest 100 new businesses, 100 best banks for small business, and best cities for small business. It provides entrepreneurship tips, and features a Franchise Opportunity guide, which includes 500 franchises & rankings of the best new, fastest growth, and low investment franchises). The site also discusses trends in entrepreneurship, , and provides EASI geographic economic reports. 75 entrepreneurs (now millionairs) tell their stories at this site. A library of free business forms is also available. It also contains information on legal help such as, assistance with searching for lawyers, help with documents, previous court cases, etc. Membership is FREE.
• Smart Online provides free online software for creating business plans, marketing plans, etc. Users can also download HR documents, accounting forms, and a variety of legal forms. Registration is required, but is free.

Industry & Market Research

• Industry Research Desk contains an index of links to industry home pages. Content of the pages vary, but may include the following: descriptions of industry trends, industry-related articles, rankings, statistics, and directories of buyers, sellers, and industry members.
• Industry information: industrial and service center resources from ITA. is a U.S. International Trade Administration site which provides descriptions of and statistics on U.S. and international industries. It encompasses a broad range of industries that include basic industries, consumer goods, environmental technologies, service industries and finance, tourism, technology and aerospace industries, and textiles and apparel.
• Thomas Register is a directory of manufacturers. Users can search by product type for a list of manufacturers in the industry (includes brief descriptions). Users may also search by company or brand name.
• The Gallup Organization freely provides much of their polling results online. Includes public opinion on social issues, business, politics, and technology. Contains survey results on respondent’s health habits, recreation and leisure time, and attendance at arts and cultural events.
• J.D. Power and Associates provides free access to part of its market research online. Contains annual award reports for the automotive, telecommunications, credit card, and travel industries, and provides access to a searchable database of statistical and descriptive excerpts from its annual studies.
• Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) is a triennial survey of the balance sheet, pension, income, and other demographic characteristics of U.S. families. The survey also gathers information on the use of financial institutions. The links to the surveys provide summary results of the surveys, codebooks and related documentation, and the publicly available data.

Journals and Newspapers

• Advertising Age publishes the full-text of recent top stories from it’s print publication. It has an Interactive Daily, which contains articles about web marketing and critiques of web marketers. It contains rankings of global marketers. Marketing and web marketing conference and event calendars are posted.
• Adweek provides free article excerpts as well as the full-text of one feature story from each of its three major print publications: Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek. The site also posts daily internet marketing newswires and spotlights various brand marketing campaigns.
• American Demographics publishes it’s print edition on the web in full-text access. Users are asked to browse the site and to subscribe to the print edition if they want to continue using it. Also contains access to Marketing Tools articles, recent demographic reports, and a bookstore of American Demographics’ publications.
• Business 2.0 is a magazine that examines the changing landscape for commerce in the digital world. It puts its magazine on its web site in full-text format and supplements content with articles from other sources. The in-depth “case” studies of internet and high-tech businesses are particularly valuable tools for entrepreneurs.
• Business Week gives you the current issue of Business Week including stories that only appear in Business Week International editions.
• CIO On-Line is a website for senior level IT and business professionals. It provides in-depth articles and research reports on IT issues, including year 2000, web-related issues, electronic commerce, data warehousing, outsourcing, etc. It includes the full-text of CIO’s articles from 1994 to the present.
• The Economist web site offers many full text articles from the current issue and selected articles from recent issues. Registered users (registration is free) may search the site’s index of archived articles. The site posts Emerging Markets Indicators, Economic Indicators, and Financial Indicators on a weekly basis. Users can have the Business & Politics This Week summaries sent to them via E-mail.
• Elsevier’s Econbase is a searchable database of articles from many of Elsevier’s publications, including the Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial Markets, European Economic Review, and about 35 others. Select full-text is available to the Cornell Community only.
• Entrepreneur Magazine provides an online site featuring many articles from the print magazine as well as other resources for entrepreneurs. Users can searched archived full-text articles from 1991 – present using keywords. The site ranks the hottest 100 new businesses, 100 best banks for small business, and best cities for small business. It provides entrepreneurship tips, and features a Franchise Opportunity guide, which includes 500 franchises & rankings of the best new, fastest growth, and low investment franchises). The site also discusses trends in entrepreneurship, and provides EASI geographic economic reports. 75 entrepreneurs (now millionairs) tell their stories at this site. A library of free business forms is also available.
• Euromoney provides full-text articles from recent issues of Euromoney, Euroweek, Corporate Finance, Global Investor, Project & Trade Finance Newsletter. It also contains a data section which contains bondware tables, country risk surveys, and emerging markets bank ratings. Search for articles by keyword or category. Access to some parts of the site is restricted to registered users; registration is free.
• Far Eastern Economic Review includes significant portions of the journal online in full-text format. It also provides a searchable archive of past issues.
• FT.com provides the full-text of about 1/3 of the current day’s issue of Financial Times. It contains a searchable archive of 30 days. It also provides exchange rates, share prices, equity index prices, company briefings, and leading economic indicator data for several countries. Free registration is required.
• Forbes covers the current issue plus older ones in their archives. Also includes the 500 Largest Private Companies and The 200 Best Small Companies in America.
• Fortune covers the current issue plus older ones in their archives. Also includes the Fortune 500 List, Gloabl 500 List, Pacific Rim Special, and Investor’s Guide 1997.
• Globe & Mail provides users with various topics of information including news, sports, classifieds, mutual funds, advertising information, births and deaths, etc. It also includes daily closing markets data. Allows users to generate stock reports, produce charts, search for articles, learn about mutual funds, and how to set up a fundlist.
• Harvard Business Review provides free abstracts and ordering information for recent articles.
• INC Online is a journal which contains articles on-line. It covers areas including advertising, marketing, products, and consulting. It also includes The INC 500 which provides users with information on American’s fastest-growing private companies. It contains the latest news, product announcements, employment opportunities, and more.
• International Business & Technology is a meta-index that links to U.S. and international e-journals & newspapers, T.V. and radio sites, technology-related sites, banks, currency sites, and market information.
• Investor’s Business Daily covers business, financial, economic, and national news.
• Kiplinger Online provides users with information on business forecast, personal finance, stock quotes, top funds, yields and rates, and retirement advice. It also includes information on savings and investing, fund-raisings, and allowances for kids.
• MarketScope provides historical quarterly newspaper advertising expenditures and ad volume. It also provides readership information, average newspaper prices, and circulation data.
• New York Times on the Web provides subscribers with the latest news online. News is broken down into various categories including International, Metro, Sciences, Business, etc. Includes weather forecasts, up-to-minute sports scores and summaries, and market quotes for stocks, options, and mutual funds.
• Red Herring provides business information for the technology and entertainment industries.
• USA Today provides general news as well as Wall Street market summaries, global market news, mutual fund reports, economic reports, bank rates, and IPO’s.
• Washington Post provides feature articles from its print edition, as well as additional online features.

Things were going great, readership on Startup Students has really picked up, school was going well, and all my clients were at bay.   I took Sunday off, then Monday rolled around.  That’s when things started spinning out of control.  I had two finals this week and needed to complete my 45 page business plan in addition to putting together a 20 minute presentation.  On top of that I was hit with two rush order projects that absolutely had to be completed according to their schedule.

I managed to survive, but was forced to neglect this blog in the process.  In fact, I think things worked out okay because I’m still getting great responses to last Friday’s post.  At any rate, today I’d like to talk about geting your priorities in order – including  saving time to accomodate for urgent or surprise issues.  Below are a few points to thing about.

• Maintain a calendar.  You can use Outlook, an online equivalent, or regular old paper.  I use a combination of Mozilla Sunbird and Notepad.  Before I go to bed I scribble down the next day’s priorities.  No particular order, I just try and get everything down.  In the morning I’ll take a look at my list and prioritize based on a couple of factors, namely urgency and value.

Keeping a schedule and not just going at things blindly is really the only advice I should need to offer, but here’s a few more…

• Ignore time wasting activities.  Stay away from your inbox, or instant messenger.  Turn off the tv and iTunes, focus on the task at hand.  It’s really amazing how much time this will save you, enough time in fact to actually enjoy those time wasters at a later point.
• Don’t bite off more than you can chew – unless you can handle keeping it down and not letting it spew all over the floor.  Don’t get me wrong, have a full plate is great – in fact I think I get more done because of it.  But there comes a point of diminishing returns where it simply doesn’t make since to take on any more assignments.
  • One option here is outsourcing.  It’s a technique I employ and it’s highly recommended.  In the coming weeks I’ll be talking about it more.
• I’m betting a good portion of you are perfectionists in at least one aspect of your life.  It’s appropriate to be a perfectionist at some things, spelling and grammar come to mind, but in general it’s a complete waste of time.   I picked up one of my clients because their previous developer was too caught up in assuring his code was 100% perfect and in turn neglected what the clients really wanted – fast and reliable service.
• Remember to resist the temptation to do small and tedious tasks extremely well, it’s the big picture that counts.  This goes hand in hand with the above point.
• Nobody ever said you have to please everybody, and in fact nobody expects you to (other than your professors maybe).

I’ve got a few more pointers tucked away, but I’ll save them for another day.  Don’t forget to share this post with others if you enjoyed it and I look forward to everyone’s comments.  Class dismissed.

You really want to identify the market niche you intend to serve. It’s always better to be too specific at this point, you can broaden your target in the future. Take a look at what benefits you bring to the table.

• What problems are you solving for your customers and the market in general?
• What specific needs to you fulfill?

When looking at the benefits you bring to the table, keep in mind there are two generally accepted types of benefits.

• Emotional
  • You convey hope, you massage fear, you instill love, or merely provide convenience.
• Financial
  • You assure increased profits, offer lowend pricing, save customers money, or offer extended payback periods.

Remember, the above are just examples and aren’t meant to be the only benefits.

Once you’ve defined your niche, you need to get out there and talk to your customers, similar to what I talked about Friday.

• Take part in casual conversation
• Conduct interviews and surveys
• Enlist the services of focus groups

They key point here is to just LISTEN and identify their needs. That’s all for now, enjoy the rest of your day and I’ll see everyone tomorrow. Class dismissed.

Primary research is a vital tool for today’s young entrepreneur as often times you’ll find the data you need simply isn’t accessible. Let’s look at a quick example. Say for instance you are interested in opening a fast service restaurant catering to the after hours crowd. You’ve developed the idea, know what you want to serve, and even have a location in mind. But without actually going downtown at 2am, how are you going to know if your target market is interested? You need to interview the individuals leaving the clubs and get a feel for whether or not your idea meshes with their specific needs.

I’ve outlined a few pointers below that I picked up today, and I think you’ll find them useful in the future. These can be applied to all types of primary research including interviews, surveys, observations (like secret shopping), and analysis.

• Determine what you want to know and how you are going to get that information.
• Identify your target market and approach them.
• Have a questionnaire in mind, with follow up questions based on the answers provided.
• Be honest about your reason for conducting this research.
• Exude the passion you have for your idea, and your interviewees will pick up on this leading to more positive responses.
• Be aware of any biases you might have going into the assesment and try not to let them play a role in receiving the information.

And since this is the first installation of Field Trip Friday’s, I’ve got a special treat for you – Show and Tell!

I’d like to introduce to you my new pet turtle, Larry David. He’s very small and still pretty nervous about his new home. In fact, he hasn’t been eating very much and I’m a bit worried. If any of you startup students have some pointers, please pass them along!

If any of you would like to showcase one of your “field trips” or participate in Show and Tell in the future, please let me know! Class dismissed.

• Succesful young entrepreneurs see commercial opportunities everywhere they look
  • And the key here is they don’t just leave it at that – they capitalize on them.
• They tend to be extremely optimistic
  • Some might see this as a fault, but it’s my opinion that a pessimist walks around with their eyes shut and won’t have a chance to find those opportunities.

I think Mark Twain put it best years ago,

“I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one”

We can break down the characteristics even further into four distinct attributes. You’ll find some overlap from yesterday’s discussion here:

1. A sincere need for achievement
2. A desire to take risks (and I don’t mean you should to be a gambler)
3. Extreme self confidence
4. An finally passion along with a healthy dose of enthusiasm

That’s all for now, tomorrow we’ll examine the differences between two types of entrepreneurs. Class dismissed!