Resource Page
Below are links and resources for North Bennet students enrolled in the VLA's Business Program.
Business Owner's Resources/Services/Info:
American Express Small Business Exchange: www.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/
AOL Small Business: smallbusiness.aol.com
Business Owner's Toolkit: http://www.toolkit.com/
Digital Work-one stop small business services- http://www.digitalwork.com/
Entrepreneurial Edge- http://www.edgemastery.com/edge.html
Idea Café- Here small business is fun!- http://www.businessownersideacafe.com/
MetLife- www.metlife.com/individual/life-advice/life-transitions/being-an-entrepreneur
Microsoft Small Business Website- www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness
Mining Company- We dig the web so you don't have to!- www.miningco.com
MoreBusiness.com- sample business & marketing plans, sample contracts-
www.morebusiness.com
National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB): www.nfib.com
National Association of the Self-Employed (NASE): www.nase.org
National Business Incubation Association: www.nbia.org
SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executives): www.score.org
Self Help Credit Union: www.self-help.org
Small Business Administration: www.sbaonline.sba.gov
Smartbiz- thousands of free how-to resources- www.smartbiz.com
Visa USA: usa.visa.com/business
Business Plans:
Quicken- http://quicken.intuit.com/small-business-finance/home-business.jsp
Palo Alto Software, free samples and links: www.bplans.com
Buying/Selling a Business:
Empire Business Brokers: www.empirebusinessbrokers.com
Search engine for buyers: www.bizbuysell.com
Selling a business by MetLife: www.metlife.com/individual/life-advice/life-transitions/being-an-entrepreneur
VR Business Brokers: www.vrbusinessbrokers.com
Demographics:
Advertising Age Magazine: http://adage.com/
Census: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/
Easi Demographics: www.easidemographics.com/
Federal Interagency Council-statistics provided by federal agencies: www.fedstats.gov
State if NC demographics
Massachusetts Demographic Information: http://maps.massgis.state.ma.us/censustown/pages/main.jsp
Discussion Groups/Search Engines:
Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/
Let's Talk Business Network: www.ltbn.com
Electronic Commerce:
Netmar: http://netmar.com
Disaster Relief
US Small Business Administration: http://www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance/index.html
Domain Name
Register a domain name: www.networksolutions.com
Employee Info
Employee Benefits Research Institute: www.ebri.org
Employment Laws- interactive advice & info on the latest regulatory laws: www.dol.gov/elaws and www.dol.gov
Equal Employment Opportunity, Office of: www.gsa.gov/eeo
National Employee Benefits: www.benefitslink.com
Family Business
Families & Work Institute (NYC): http://familiesandwork.org
Family Business Network-Int’l Institute for Management Dev.- enter Family in search: www.imd.ch
The Family Firm Institute membership listing: www.ffi.org
Federal Agencies
Census Department-www.census.gov
Consumer Information Center-www.pueblo.gsa.gov
Environmental Protection Agency: www.epa.gov
Federal Trade Commission-www.ftc.gov
International Trade Admin.: www.ita.doc.gov
National Climatic Data Center: www.ncdc.noaa.gov
Occupational Safety & Health Admin.(OSHA): www.osha.gov
Small Business Administration: www.sbaonline.sba.gov/
Women’s Business support programs: www.sbaonline.sba.gov/womeninbusiness
US Dept. of Commerce: www.doc.gov
US Government Online Gateway: www.fedworld.gov
Financial/Stock Market
Bloomberg Business News-www.bloomberg.com
Corporate Financials Online- financials on mostly smaller companies: www.cfonews.com
Daily Market Reports-www.stockgroup.com
Quote.Com-www.quote.com
NETworth- mutual fund data: http://networthdirect.com/
New York Stock Exchange: www.nyse.com
StockMaster- www.stockmaster.com
Financing/Loans
Access to Captial Electronic Network (Ace-Net)- search secure database for venture cap.: www.ace-net.org
Bank of America: http://www.bankofamerica.com/small_business/business_financing/
BusinessFinance.com: www.businessfinance.com free search engine for all forms of funds
Capital.com: www.capital.com
Citizens Bank – Small Business: http://www.citizensbank.com/tools/regionalgateway.aspx?url=%2fbb%2fdefault.aspx
Forbes Small Business Center: http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/
D&B - Small Business Credit Solutions: http://smallbusiness.dnb.com
CNNMoney: http://money.cnn.com/
Self Help Credit Union: www.self-help.org
Small Business Administration: www.sba.gov
Small Business Development Center: www.businessfinance.com/sbdc.asp
Small Business Innovation Research Program(SBIR): www.acq.osd.mil/sadbu/sbir
Visa USA: www.visa.com/smallbiz
Wells Fargo-the nation’s #1 small business lender: https://www.wellsfargo.com/biz/
US Small Business Association: http://www.sba.gov/services/index.html
Franchises
American Assoc. of Franchise and Dealers: www.aafd.org
Franchise Times: www.franchisetimes.com
Franchise UPDATE publication: www.Franchise-Update.com
Francorp, Inc.: www.francorp.com
Global info for franchises: www.franchise-conxions.com
International Franchise Assoc.: www.franchise.org
Info about individual franchises: www.franchisesolutions.com
Home-based Businesses
Working Solo free newsletter: www.workingsolo.com
Incorporating
Corporate Agents: www.corporate.com
Nolo Self-Help Law Center-www.nolo.com
IRS/Taxes
IRS: Small Business Products online ordering http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=101169,00.html
IRS: Recommended Reading for Small Businesses
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99083,00.html
Deloitte Global- Auditing, Tax and Financial Advice: www.deloitte.com
IRS Tax Forms & Publications-www.irs.ustreas.gov
H&R Block TaxCut-www.taxcut.com
Nolo Self-Help Law Center-www.nolo.com
MA Department of Revenue – “for Businesses”: www.mass.gov/dor
Small Business Taxes & Management (online magazine): www.smbiz.com
TaxSites-www.taxsites.com
TurboTax- http://turbotax.intuit.com/
Universal Tax Systems-www.securetax.com
Law & Legal Resources
FindLaw-www.findlaw.com
West Legal Information: west.thomson.com/home.aspx
Legal forms, free and low cost: www.legaldocs.com
Nolo Self-Help Law Center-www.nolo.com
To find a lawyer for your business- American Bar Association-www.abanet.org or www.lawyers.com
Market/Company Research
American Business Information Lookup USA: www.lookupusa.com
Bankruptcy Management Solutions: www.bankruptcy.com
Dow Jones Business Information Service: www.dowjones.com
Dun & Bradstreet: www.dnb.com
US Securities & Exchange Commission: www.sec.gov
Hoovers- info on individual companies: www.hoovers.com
Industry Research Desk: www.virtualpet.com/industry
Insight Research, Inc (fee-based): www.insightresearchinc.com
InterNet Bankruptcy Library: www.bankrupt.com
InterNIC - domain name registration: www.internic.net
Thomas Net: www.thomasnet.com
Wall Street Journal Company Reasearch: online.wsj.com/public/page/companyresearch.html
Database to look for Bus.-www.businesseek.com
Marketing/Sales
BarterNews Magazine: www.barternews.com
Guerilla Marketing: www.gmarketing.com/tactics
IRTA- International Reciprocal Trade Assoc.: www.irta.com
National Assoc. of Trade Exchanges (barter)-www.nate.org/
SellingPower.com: www.sellingpower.com
Concept Marketing Group-www.marketingsource.com
Smart Biz: www.smartbiz.com
Patent/Trademark Information
IBM Patent Server: www.ibm.com/ibm/licensing/
Free patent search site-www.patents.com
Index of Manual of Classification of patents: www.ibiblio.org/patents/
US Patent & Trademark Office: www.uspto.gov
Publications/Communication/Magazines/News/Newspapers
Advertising News: www.adage.com
Bloomberg-www.bloomberg.com/
CNN interactive: www.cnn.com
Business Wire: www.businesswire.com
Reuters: www.reuters.com
Drudge Report (headlines of all major print media): www.Drudgereport.com
Entrepreneur Magazine: http://www.entrepreneur.com/
Inc. Magazine: www.inc.com
New York Times: www.nytimes.com
Boston Globe Online: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/
Boston Business Journal: http://boston.bizjournals.com
Pathfinder- massive Time-Warner site: www.pathfinder.com
Science Magazine: www.sciencemag.org
Selling Power: www.sellingpower.com
USA Today latest news edition: www.usatoday.com
Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com
Newsletters
Working Solo: www.workingsolo.com
Books
Guerrilla Marketing- Jay Conrad www.gmarketing.com
Library of Congress Catalog- can locate obscure books and other text- www.loc.gov
Phone Directories
Big Book-includes customer reviews of businesses: www.bigbook.com
Four11: www.four11.com
Switchboard: www.switchboard.com
Selling to the Government
Acquisition Reform Network- govn't procurement regulations & requirements: www.arnet.gov
The Federal Market Place: www.fedmarket.com
US Small Business Administration (SBA) Financial Assistance: http://www.sba.gov/services/financialassistance/index.html
SBA's government contracting Web page- www.sba.gov/aboutsba/sbaprograms/gc/index.html
SBA's Web page for PRO-Net- http://web.sba.gov/pro-net/search/dsp_dsbs.cfm
Summary of bids from Dept of Defense- http://www.acq.osd.mil/
Federal Computer Week Magazine: http://fcw.com/Home.aspx
Official Business Link to US Gov.: www.business.gov
U.S. General Service Administration: www.gsa.gov
FedBizOpps Daily: www.fbodaily.com
USPS details & regulations: www.usps.gov
Email Marketing
Tapioca: www.liszt.com
Small Business Training/Courses/Seminars
Good Works- non-profit-www.goodwork.org
North Carolina REAL Enterprises- for NC businesses: www.ncreeal.org
MA Small Business Development Center: www.msbdc.org/training/
State Resources
Starting a business in MA: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/resources/starting-business-massachusetts.htm
State by state, starting a business: http://www.powerhomebiz.com/resources/state-by-state.htm
Suppliers & Wholesalers for Small Business
Thomas Register-identify suppliers and competitors: www.thomasregister.com/index
Eco Mall Business to Business: www.ecomall.com/business/menu.htm
Surveys
Survey Pro: www.apian.com
Survey Solutions: www.surveysolution.com/
Survey Systems: www.surveysystem.com
Insight Research, Inc (fee-based): www.insightresearchinc.com
Trade Shows/Conferences
CyberEXPO: www.cyberexpo3d.com/
Expoweb- official site for Expo magazine: www.expoweb.com
Trade Show News Network: www.tsnn.com
Trend Watching
Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve: http://www.faithpopcorn.com/
Trendwatching.com: http://www.trendwatching.com/
Website Design/Hosts
Wilson Internet Services-web marketing & e-commerce: www.wilsonweb.com
Women
Free networking: www.BizWomen.com
Home-based Working Moms (TX) free membership: www.hbwm.com
National Association of Women Business Owners-www.nawbo.org
National Foundation for Women Business Owners-www.nfwbo.org/
National Women's Business Council- http://www.nwbc.gov/
Online Women's Business Center-www.onlinewbc.org
SBA support programs for women in business: www.sbaonline.sba.gov/womeninbusiness
Women's Resource Business Directory: http://www.womensresourcedirectory.com/
Women's Work site for business women: www.wwork.com
Miscellaneous
Books about American consumers-www.newstrategist.com
CitySearch: http://boston.citysearch.com/
National Mail Order Association- features products in newsletter to wholesale buyers-www.nmoa.org
National Fraud Information Center-www.fraud.org
Insure.com - all kinds of insurance- http://www.insure.com/
Scams- Better Business Bureau: www.bbb.org
US Postal Service Zip Code Info.: www.usps.gov
Massachusetts Agencies
State agencies, branches of government, constitutional offices and departments under them: www.mass.gov
Office of the Secretary of Transportation and Construction: www.state.ma.us/eotc/
State Transportation Library: http://www.eot.state.ma.us/transportationlibrary/
Massachusetts Office of travel and Tourism: www.mass-vacation.com
State Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance: www.somwba.state.ma.us/
Secretary of the Commonwealth: www.state.ma.us/sec
Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation: www.cedac.org
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge: www.mitforumcambridge.org
MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Associations and Organizations: ww.mitforumcambridge.org/knowledge/res_assorg.html
Massachusetts Small Business Development Center: wwwlmsbdc.som.umass.edu
Attorney General: www.ago.state.ma.us
Young Entrepreneur Organization: www.yeo.og
Massachusetts Small Business Government Resources: www.buzgate.com
Massachusetts Community Colleges: www.masscc.org
Western Massachusetts Economic Development Council: www.westernmassedc.com
