Your latest idea is keeping you up at night.
You toss and turn, running through the millions of things you’d need to do to bring your business to life. Marketing, produciton, sales, setting up a corporation, getting a logo, hiring people. The list is endless and you’re fired up to get started. The US Small Business Association just released four new tools to help you find customers, find your niche, find help and even find out if the idea will fly.
1. SizeUp – Free Market Analysis
Knowing your competition is almost as important as knowing yourself. With SizeUp you can find out how many other people are selling similar products or services in your area, help you find advertising opportunities and benchmark yourself against the competition. It then provides tailored suggestions to help you grow.
It’s got a slick and easy to use interface: http://www.sba.gov/sizeup
2. Event Calendar
It’s dangerous to go alone. You can search events based on dates, location and distance from your zip code.
A quick search in the Portland area brings up three pages of results. The results are easy to read and provide as much information as you’d need.
3. Business Plan Creator
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the business plan can be a useful way to organize your thoughts on why you think your business will succeed and can help you find blind spots where your assumptions might not pan out.
http://www.sba.gov/business-plan/1
4. Small Business Size Standard Tool
A lot of federal contracts are designated to be filled by small businesses. Does your business fit the bill?
The best part however is that you can then start searching for government contracts designed specifically for businesses like your own!
http://www.sba.gov/content/am-i-small-business-concern
Have you used any of these online resources? Which ones have been helpful? What other online resources would you suggest?
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