Micro and Home-Based Business Sites Tour
1. Alice and Tom have long considered working for themselves. In fact they have been saving money for the last several years for that purpose. However they are not sure what business to start. Someone suggests that they look at the various trends occurring and what other new businesses are starting. They decide to go to:
American Demographics
http://www.marketingtools.com/Entrepreneur Magazine
http://www.entrepreneurmag.com/Small and Home-Based Businesses
http://www.bizoffice.com/Bureau of Labor Statistics
http://stats.bls.gov/
2. They have also heard of two organizations they believe might help.
Edward Lowe Foundation
http://www.lowe.org/Kaufmann Foundation
http://www.entreworld.com/
3. After having done a great deal of research they want to discuss some of their ideas with others. They decide to try on-line.
BizPro Web
http://www.entrepreneur.com
4. After all of their research they come up with a great idea. However it involves developing a new product and they are interested in getting it patented in order to protect themselves.
U. S. Patent and Trademark Office
http://www.uspto.gov/
5. Everything is working out well, but Alice and Tom know that they need to do some planning to set out what they have in mind. They look for some help.
U. S. Small Business Adminstration
http://www.sba.gov/
http://www.sbaonline.sba.gov/U. S. Chamber of Commerce
http://www.uschamber.com/Small+Business/default.htm
6. Since they live in Oklahoma but have family in Mississippi and Montana and so they contact:
Montana State University Extension
http://extn.msu.montana.edu/
Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service
http://fcs.okstate.edu/microbizOklahoma Small Business Development Center
http://www.osbdc.org/Mississippi State University Extension Service
- Home-Based and Micro Business Program
http://msucares.com
7. In continuing their research they find information about business plans on-line.
8. They know they need to register their company and contact both states they are considering.
Montana Secretary of State
http://www.state.mt.us/sos/index.htmOklahoma Secretary of State
http://www.sos.state.ok.us
9. Much to their surprise they are approached one day by someone offering them some much needed financing. The deal sounds great but they are a little skeptical. They contact:
Better Business Bureau
http://www.bbb.org
10. As they suspected it was took good to be true. Now they still need financing if they are going to get their company started. They have their business plan and start to look.
U. S. Small Business Administration - Office of Advocacy
https://ace-net.sr.unh.edu/pub/America's Business Funding Directory
http://www.businessfinance.com
11. Everything is going well but they realize that they will need someone to produce some of their parts and also they need to find help to package the product.
Thomas Register of American Manufacturers
http://www.thomasregister.com/
12. They realize what they are producing is something the government may be interested in buying. To look at government contracting options, they get:
Commerce Business Daily
http://www.ld.com/cbd.html
13. Alice and Ted knew that things were proceeding too well. They have forgotten all about the tax issues. In order to get that information they go to:
Internal Revenue Service
http://www.irs.gov/IRS Business Information
http://www.irs.gov/prod/bus_info/
14. In looking over some of the information, they begin to think they have a problem. Before hiring a lawyer though they decide to do some research.
U. S. Code
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/Federal Register
http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/NC State Univ. Small Business Legal Primer
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/business/welcome.htmlFindLaw
http://www.findlaw.com/
15. They find they are not in trouble and proceed to contact the two states for information about state tax issues.
Montana Department of Revenue
http://www.state.mt.us/revenue/rev.htmOklahoma Tax Commission
http://www.oktax.state.ok.us/oktax/
16. The business is started and everything is going well. From staying in touch with the news they know there is some new laws being discussed that will affect small business owners. They turn to:
Library of Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html
17. Business keeps growing and they need to get a UPC Bar Code.
Uniform Code Council
http://www.uc-council.org/
18. They also decide to start a Web page for marketing.
InterNic
http://msucares.com/business_assistance/homebusiness/ecommerce.html
19. Tradeshows also seem like a likely marketing tool for them.
Trade Show Convention Guide
http://qualitylogoporducts.com/lib/tradeshow-convention-guide.htm
Congratulations!!! You have successfully explored a variety of the sites you can find on the Web. All of these sites and more can be found in the Links page found also at this site. We hope you found this an interesting and educational experience. Please give us your feedback regarding the tour and the site in general.
The selection of sites is
not an endorsement of that company's product or services. Sites have
been selected because they offer useful information. MSU and OSU do
not take responsibility that sites may change.