In addition to the SBDC, these resources can help educate you and steer you in the right direction during your business venture. To start, here are various resources that can help along the way:
- Registering your business/securing a business license
- Fort Lewis College School of Business Administration
- BizOffice
The site helps you along the way as you delve into the exciting world of home based business
- Colorado Occupational/Industry License Database
Database maintained by the Colorado Office of Economic Development and has been made to create an all-inclusive database for regulated industries
- Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE)
The site consists of two surveys, the Quarterly Interview Survey and the Diary Survey, that provide information on the buying habits of American consumers, including data on their expenditures, income, and consumer unit (families and single consumers) characteristics. The survey data are collected for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau
1020 Cherokee Street, Denver, CO 80204
(303) 758-2100
- Southern Colorado Region Better Business Bureau
25 N. Wahsatch, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
P: 719-636-1155
Toll free: 866-206-1800
F: 719-636-5078
- Mountain States Better Business Bureau
1730 South College Ave, Suite 303, Fort Collins, CO 80525
800-564-0370
- HubZone Program
The HUBZone Empowerment Contracting Program is administered by a staff in Washington, D.C. in cooperation with field staff located in SBA District Offices around the country. This allows for Federal contracting opportunities for small businesses in distressed areas.
- National Federation of Independent Business/ Colorado
Vickie Agler, NFIB/Colorado State Director
1410 Grant Ave., C107, Denver, CO 80203
(303) 860-1778
- U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The site is to an agency of the United States Department of Commerce for granting U.S. patents and registering trademarks. The USPTO advises the President of the United States, the Secretary of Commerce, and U.S. Government agencies on intellectual property (IP) policy, protection, and enforcement; and promotes the stronger and more effective IP protection around the world.
- U.S. Small Business Administration
An independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation
Market Research
- American FactFinder
United States Census Bureau site: population, housing, economic and geographic information
- BizMiner
Offers moderately priced subscriptions ($720/year + $10/report) for access to more than 2.5 million online industry reports. These include marketing 9 research profiles for 16,000 industries in 300 US market areas; financial analysis profiles; area demographic profiles; and business vitality measures for any US county, metro area or state.
- Bizjournals.com
The site features local business & industry news from 41 different markets around the nation along with a full menu of tools to help business owners and operators manage their businesses more successfully
- CBS MarketWatch
The site provides up to date information in regards to the Stock market news and information
- CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit
Ready-to-use business tools to get the job done faster: Sample letters, contracts, forms, etc., Financial Spreadsheet Templates, Checklists, and Official Government Forms
- Direct Public Offerings in the business.com Directory
Companies that facilitate or provide support services for direct public offerings
- EdgarScan
Interface to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis and Retrieval (SEC EDGAR) Filings. Find key financial tables and normalize financials to a common format that is comparable across companies.
- Entrepreneur.com Starting a Business News and Articles
- Esri Business Analyst Online
A Web-based solution that applies GIS technology to extensive demographic, consumer spending, and business data to deliver on-demand analysis, presentation-ready reports, and maps. Select from a wide variety of existing reports or create custom reports to meet your marketing needs.
- Federal Reserve Board: Beige Book
Each Federal Reserve Bank gathers anecdotal information on current economic conditions in its District through reports from Bank and Branch directors and interviews with key business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources
- FFIEC Geocoding System: Look up geocodes by address
- FreeEDGAR
Stock Exchange/Investment information
- Free Management Library
The site provides free, easy-to-access, online articles to develop (whether the organization is for-profit or nonprofit). Over the past 15 years, the Library has grown to be one of the world’s largest well-organized collections of these types of articles and resources. The Library has been averaging 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 visitors per month. Many of its topics consistently rank in the top ten results from Google searches.
- Google Alerts
News Alerts sent by email when news articles online match the topics you specify
- HR Forms and Templates (Download for Free) from Halogen Software
- Hoover’s
The site delivers comprehensive insight and analysis about the companies, industries and people that drive the economy, along with the powerful tools to find and connect to the right people to get business done
- InfoSpace
Internet business directory (yellow & white pages)
- Kauffman Business EKG
Financial benchmarking service that provides comprehensive assessments of a company’s financial vital signs
- NAICS 2007
Allows you to look up codes in the North American Industry Classification System
- SBDCNET
Small Business Development Center National Information Clearinghouse
- Small Business Plan Guide
Information on writing a business plan. Links to sites to help you with business plan components: accounting, financial planning, demographics, market research, etc.
