Starting a Business

Entrepreneurial Resources Muncie Public Library

Starting a Business Introduction

• Welcome to the Starting a Business resources list from MPL.

• Our list is organized into five sections:• Section One will provide resources for ideas,

legal structure, planning and intellectual property.

• Section Two will have links for starting, buying, and financing a business.

Starting a BusinessIntroduction

• Section Three continues by adding resources for networking, sales & marketing, and the day-to-day running of the business

• Section Four lists links to case studies and interviews of interest.

• Section Five has two parts, famous entrepreneurs and a general set of resources for sites pertaining to starting a business in Indiana.

Starting a BusinessSection 1-1 Business Ideas

• The two resources offered here deal directly with ideas for a start-up business.

• www.entrepreneur.com/businessideas/index• This site lists 969 business that you could

“start today”. You may browse by nine different categories. As part of the Entrepreneur Magazine site it is well worth getting to know. MPL subscribes to the magazine.

Starting a BusinessSection 1-1 Business Ideas Contd.

• Another good resource that you should look at is www.youngentrepreneur.com

• This site has and eclectic selection of ideas for starting a business in the starting up ideas page and down to earth advice and dialog in the Forum area under starting up.

Starting a Business1-2 Legal Structure

• If you are going to start a business then you will need to become a legal entity. There are several choices to make. To help you decide, please look at these resources.

• www.about.com find other source

Starting a BusinessSection 1-3 Business Plans

• These two sites have good instructions for pre paring a good business plan.

• www.startupnation• Look for the link “10 Steps to open for

business” click on it an then click on step three, and start working on your business plan.

Starting a Business1-3 Business Plans Contd.

• The business data base that is available from the Inspire has a lot of business plans.

• It can be reached by going to Inspire at http://www.in.gov/library/inspire

• We will be looking at the business database called the Small Business Resource Center.

Starting a Business1-3 Business Plans Contd.

• Using Inspire data base contd.• Starting from the Basic Search page, we will

look for the link called ‘Search by data base’ which is near the search entry box. When we click on this link, it will take us to all the databases that are a part of Inspire. We will scroll down the list and click on the ‘Small Business Resource Center’ link.

Starting a Business1-3 Business Plans

• Small Business Resource Center contd.• For our example we will search for information

about Pet Grooming salons. If we type this into the search bar we will get several different kinds of information.

• Notice that the business resources are divided into five different areas. These include business plans, articles, overviews, directories and websites.

Starting a Business1.4 Intellectual Property

• Intellectual Property is defined as ‘property from original thought protected by law,..that can be legally protected by patent, trademark or copyright. (Bing dictionary)

• A good beginning to learn about how this works for the small business is to go to the following site and read its contents on intellectual property.

Starting a Business1.4 Intellectual Property

• One we have chosen is www.entrepreneurs.about.com We will go to the site and look for the ‘Browse Topic’ list. On this list we will choose ‘Intellectual Property’.

• Another equally useful site is: www.gaebler.com This entire site is about the issues of running a small business. We want to go to the menu at the top of the page called ‘Operations’ click on it and select ‘intellectual property’ from the list.

Starting a Business3.1 Business Networking

• There are lots of different social networking sites. The following url is just for one that focuses on social networks for entrepreneurs.

• Its address is www.mashable.com To get to the article, choose Mashable Business and when the site comes up, type ‘Top 10 Social Networks for Entrepreneurs’ in the search box.

Starting a Business3.2 Sales And Marketing

• As you begin to think about putting a business plan together, selling and marketing your product or service should be on your mind. Now is the time to start thinking about how you will make it work.

• We start with this site, www.forentrepreneurs.com

Starting a Business3.3 Running a Business

• The day-to-day running of the business is another area that the entrepreneur needs to be aware of and prepare for.

• Two sites to help with the learning curve are:• www.entrepreneur.com/article/250234 Your

Entrepreneurial To-Do List• www.inc.com 10 Secrets of becoming a successful

entrepreneur Please enter ‘10 Secrets of Becoming a Successful Entrepreneur’ in the search box.