Concho Valley Business Resources

Texas Secretary of the State: Website for Business Startup information, permits, patents and other questions.

Internal Revenue Service: Website designed to provide startup information and links to essential items for business owners including: Employer Identification Number application, employment taxes, starting a business and compliance.

Job Accommodation Network provides information regarding accommodations for employees with disabilities.

Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts provides information about sales tax, franchise tax, local property tax, local sales tax, forms and regulations.

Texas Workforce Commission provides information regarding employees, labor market, employee taxes and links to TWC centers.

Public Utilities Commission provides link to electric rate comparisons for home and business usage.

Dun &Bradstreet DUNS Numbers provides access to DUNS numbers for US government contractors & grantees enabling contracting with government agencies and military divisions.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality provides links to permits, regulations, emergency response, reporting and other tips for public, businesses and government.

Texas Governor’s Office provides assistance in exporting, starting a new business, research and travel to Texas.

Texas One: The Governor’s “Texas-Wide Open for Business” economic development website for industry cluster information and resources.

AllBusiness offers a number of short articles on all aspects of running a small business.

Business Week Online – Small Biz offers news and advice for entrepreneurs on topics such as marketing, sales, leadership, and technology.

Entrepreneur.com has a vast array of resources on starting a business, buying a franchise, growing a home-based business, business opportunities, money and finance, sales and marketing, management, e-business, technology, and other topics.

EntrepreneurialConnection.com, powered by the National Association of the Self-Employed, offers free learning modules on topics vital to the success of the self-employed and micro-entrepreneurs (with less than 10 employees).

eVenturing is designed for entrepreneurial growth companies—those that innovate and create jobs and wealth. “The site provides original articles, written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, and aggregates ‘the best of the best’ content on the Web related to starting and running high-impact companies.”

My Entre.Net , provided by the University of Northern Iowa Regional Business Center, is designed for small business owners. It offers specialized resources tailored to the profile of the business (provided as part of the required site registration process).

My Own Business is a free Internet course for anyone starting a business. It provides 12 lessons covering topics such as business communications, e-commerce and online marketing, and small business marketing.

SCORE offers a host of resources for people starting, growing, financing or managing their business. One of the most valuable services offered is “Ask SCORE,” a database of retired business people who will provide free business advice.

Small Business Administration (SBA) has sections on starting a business, financing a business, managing a business, business opportunities, and disaster recovery.

Small Business Advancement National Center (SBANC) provides databases of local SBA offices, the Small Business Institute network, and a research archive of publications from 18 organizations such as the Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and the Marketing Management Association.

WSJ Startup Journal is part of the journal’s Center for Entrepreneurs. It includes how-to advice, news, and articles on topics such as marketing and sales, franchising, financing, running a business, and e-commerce.

Open Forum American Express’s small business site. Contains expert videos, articles and more to help grow your business.

Texas C-Bar provides free legal assistance to Texas nonprofits working to improve the quality of life in low-income neighborhoods. We recruit experienced transactional attorneys, who volunteer to help these organizations with their real estate, tax, corporate, and employment law needs.

BPlans.com – The Business Planning Expert, offers more than 60 free sample business plans that you can view online. It also features interactive calculators to determine cash flow, starting costs, conversion rate, and other figures to use in a business plan, and includes feature articles on topics such as starting a business, marketing and advertising, growing a business, and managing your e-business.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Business Plans and Profile Index, lists types of small businesses and a corresponding sample business plan, profile or book about each type with sources provided after each entry.

Center for Business Planning – Sample business plans, planning guidelines, directories and other tools for planning.

Small Business Readiness Assessment Tool – This assessment tool is designed to help you better understand your readiness for starting a small business.  It will prompt you with questions and assist you in evaluating skills, characteristics and experience – as they relate to your preparedness for starting a business.

 

United States

Texas EDGE Date Center: Website for economic data for growth and expansion purposes. Provides geographic and economic data on Texas counties.

Business and Industry Data Center: Business Research provides support with economic and demographic data, analyses and information on industries and communities. The extensive databases and research tools provide accurate and timely information on doing business in Texas - strengthening the state's ability to recruit and attract business.

Texas A&M Real Estate Center provides economic background on Texas cities.

Texas Industry Profiles provides Industry-based information and regional analysis tools to better understand, clearly describe, Texas regional industry structure and workforce dynamics.

Texas Work Explorer Portal: Designed to bring together the workforce services offered by Texas state agencies and local partners so customers can easily access information and assistance. It offers information for employers, job seekers, career exploration, and workforce system professionals.

Texas LMCI TRACER provides statistics and analysis on the dynamics of the Texas labor market and informational products designed to support informed educational and career decisions.

City Data provides collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities such as housing, satellite photos, stats about residents, geographical data, businesses, and more.

Work In Texas is Texas’ most comprehensive online job resource for employers and for those looking for employment

EconData.Net “aims to be a convenient, comprehensive first stop for anyone searching among the vast, disparate array of public and private [socioeconomic] data sources on the Web.”

Economic Indicators is a monthly compilation of economic information on prices, wages, production, business activity, purchasing power, credit, money and Federal finance.

Economic Statistics Briefing Room provides links to economic information produced by a number of Federal agencies on employment, income, international trade, money, output, prices, production, transportation, and social statistics.

Federal Communications Commission has a vast array of data and statistics on wireless and wireline communication services.

Federal Reserve Board Economic Research and Data includes a section on current interest rate statistics, some of which are released almost daily, others monthly or quarterly.

FedStats is a “gateway to statistics from over 100 U.S. Federal agencies.” Links to statistics are organized by topic, by geography, and through a general search.

FreeDemographics.com offers a free subscription option to access U.S. Census data from 1980, 1990 and 2000. Users can create custom market analysis reports based on a number of selected demographic variables for any geography.

The Gallup Poll contains links to various polls, reports, trends and audits of public opinion conducted by The Gallup Organization.

National Center for Health Statistics is the Federal Government’s principal vital and health statistics agency. It includes healthcare industry trends as well as information about vital statistics and topics such as health insurance coverage.

National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Research Foundation is the research arm of the nonprofit small business advocacy organization with more than 600,000 members. NFIB produces the National Small Business Poll, a series of regularly published business survey reports based on data collected from national samples of small business employers.

North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) contains a searchable list of 2002 NAICS codes (with links to definitions), as well as tables showing correspondence between NAICS 97 and SIC, and tables showing correspondence between NAICS 97 and NAICS 02.

nSpend offers information on U.S. household spending for more than 600 different products and services.

Salary.com contains all kinds of information relating to compensation. While most of the content is available for a fee, there are several free “wizards.”

U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) offers information on such key issues as U.S. economic growth, regional economic development, and the position of the United States in the world economy.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data includes time-series data covering employment and unemployment, prices and living conditions, compensation and living conditions, productivity and technology, employment projections and regional resources.

U.S. Census Bureau Economic Programs provides economic statistics by geography, sector (e.g., construction, retail trade, and transportation), and frequency.

International

FAOSTAT from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, provides access to over 3 million time-series and cross sectional data relating to food and agriculture.

International Telecommunication Union offers free statistics such as telephone lines by country, broadband penetration by country, and telecommunications indicators.

NationMaster.com allows you to graphically compare economic and demographic statistics among nations.

National Statistics contains the latest comprehensive range of official U.K. statistics.

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development issues demographic and economic reports on an ongoing basis for their 30 OECD member countries, as well as occasional reports for an additional 70 non-member countries.

Statistical Sites on the World Wide Web provides links to government statistical agencies in the United States and in several dozen countries around the world.

United Nations Cyberschoolbus has statistics about member states of the United Nations. The site’s InfoNation section offers the ability to view and compare statistical data for the member states.

United Nations – Economic and Social Development publishes a Statistical Yearbook, World Economic Situation and Prospects, and numerous other studies on issues such as population, international trade, human rights, and sustainable development.

Doing Business in... is a set of around 60 booklets prepared by accounting giant HLB International for their staff and clients. Covering countries from Argentina to Vietnam, each booklet is designed to provide some general information to those contemplating doing business in that country.

Export.gov brings together resources from across the U.S. Government “to assist American businesses in planning their international sales strategies and succeeding in today’s global marketplace.”

globalEDGE™ created by the Center for International Business Education and Research at Michigan State University, offers information on global business activities. A section of Country Insights provides current information on the business climate, news, history, political structure, economic landscape, and relevant statistical data for around 200 countries.

U.S. International Trade Statistics provides a broad and comprehensive range of foreign trade statistics that are available on a monthly, annual, and historical basis.

Business Finance.com allows you to search the funding criteria of over 4,000 sources for business loans, venture capital, equipment leasing, and commercial real estate financing.

Fintel Scorecard is a free online tool that allows businesses to benchmark their financial performance against similar-sized firms in their industry.

Advertising Age provides articles regarding advertising, sales ratios, and expenditures by industry and businesses.

Feedthebot.com provides helpful tips for optimizing websites for search engines.

Association for Progressive Communications offers the Mission-Driven Business Planning Toolkit, a free web-based resource that includes a forms-driven market analysis approach, a method for ascertaining client satisfaction with a company’s products and services, and a description of how to develop a marketing plan.

CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit: Marketing Your Product is a free web-based resource designed to introduce the small business owner to some of the concepts and strategies that professional marketing experts in large companies use.

Duct Tape Marketing offers a number of free small business marketing resources on topics such as developing a marketing plan, website marketing strategies, small business marketing blunders, and great referral strategies.

Mplans.com contains a collection of free sample marketing plans. It also offers articles and advice for managing a business. “Mplans.com includes practical advice on planning, interactive tools, and a panel of experts who have answered more than 1,400 questions from people like you.”

AllBusiness - Secondary vs. Primary Market Research explains the difference between secondary and primary research, and links to several short articles that provide information on conducting market research.

Condensed Guide to Market Research from Informa Research Services, provides an overview of market research, including data collection techniques, available research methodologies, and when to conduct research.

Inc.com – Market Research has a collection of articles about market research, including low-budget suggestions for conducting your own market research.

Conducting Focus Groups is part of a set of tools for community development. This section provides information about when and how to use focus groups, including real world examples and a checklist that summarizes the key points.

Focus Group offers a complete explanation of what focus groups are and when they are used. The article links to additional resources, including a handbook on focus group principles from the American Marketing Association.

Gathering Evidence – A Guide for Using Focus Groups is a British government site that explains clearly what a focus group is and how to conduct an effective focus group.

The Seven Stages of Effective Survey Research from the American Marketing Association, offers insights and tips on how to create effective and useable surveys. In addition to an introductory section, it covers survey planning and design, data collection and organization, analysis and reporting, and completing the survey.

SurveyMonkey.com allows you to create professional online surveys, collect responses, and analyze results via the web.

AnnualReports.com is a free directory of company annual reports. You can look for a company through five search criteria: alphabetically, by company name, by ticker symbol, by sector, or by industry. Once a company is found, the annual report can be viewed in either HTML or PDF format.

BizJournals.com offers recent news from more than 40 local business journals. You can search and view articles by topic, industry, or market location.

High Beam is a low-cost search engine that allows you to search both its library of articles from leading business, industry, and general interest publications (more than 3,000 sources), or free sources on the Web, including search engines, news, discussion lists, business information and research Web sites.

Hoovers.com offers free brief information about companies, as well as news and industry information.

LLRX.com – Business Filings Databases is a helpful compendium of annotated links by state to corporate and business filings available online.

New York Public Library – Searching for Company Information includes a free online course, “Prospecting for Business Information.”

SEC Filings and Forms (EDGAR) provides free access to U.S. corporate filings. All companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements,periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR.

Thomas.net is an industrial search engine that provides information on more than 650,000 manufacturers, suppliers, and service providers.

Identity Theft and Your Tax Records

 

Census NAICS Codes provides North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Codes for business owners.

Alacra Industry Spotlights provides a good starting place to gather industry information for more than 70 industries. The entry for each industry lists trade and industry associations, government websites, and other major sources of information about that industry.

Valuation Resources has a section called Industry Information Resources. It provides links to industry resources for over 250 industries.