Startup Journal

At the Startupjournal.com you can do a trademark search for Federal trademarks and Canadian trademarks and a domain name search at the same time. The two searches should go hand in hand before you ever name your business OR choose a domain name.

Choosing a domain name or naming your business before you do either can be costly in the long run if you find out you the have the domain name of someone who owns that trademark. The US courts are awarding up to 100,000 per trademark infringement! Do your homework.

You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.startupjournal.com/partners/tmsearch.html

SalesToolz

HOW TO GET YOUR PROJECT FUNDEDâ„¢ is a comprehensive system that provides you with the knowledge, understanding, practical examples and the cost-benefit analysis software to deliver analyses that get your projects funded whether you are a manager, entrepreneur or a sales professional.

The system enables you to create cost-benefit analyses faster, easier and more powerfully than ever before. HOW TO GET YOUR PROJECT FUNDEDâ„¢ uses the latest multimedia technology to deliver a working knowledge of a proven methodology that financially justifies requests for funding. It demonstrates the potential value and returns of your proposed solutions. You will learn how top-level managers make purchasing decisions, the criteria they use to justify capital expenditures, and a proven cost-benefit methodology to calculate payback, cash flows, return on investment, and net present value using real-world case studies.

Learning Objectives

You will learn the capital investment process that upper management uses to measure the potential returns on your proposed project. They will teach you the categories of capital investment along with the criteria used by top-level management in making purchase decisions. Next, you will learn how to calculate and build a cost justification or cost-benefit analysis. When completed you will understand and be able to calculate:
Payback
Return On Investment (ROI)
Internal Rate of Return (IRR)
Net Present Value (NPV)
Cash Flows

There is much more at this web site. You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.salestoolz.com

SCORE

The SCORE Association is a national nonprofit organization with a public service mission. SCORE stands for Service Corps of Retired Executives. SCORE’s 10,500 volunteers provide small business counseling and training through a network of 389 chapters, 800 branches and its Web site www.score.org. SCORE is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE has served more than 7 million entrepreneurs since 1964. In fiscal year 2004, SCORE volunteers spent 1.42 million hours helping entrepreneurs.

SCORE’s mission statement says that SCORE provides professional guidance and information, accessible to all, to maximize the success of America’s existing and emerging small businesses.”

SCORE’s Outreach
From its inception, SCORE’s mission has been focused on the American dream of small business ownership. SCORE’s unique service is based upon the idea of giving back to the community—in this case the local business community. Businessmen and businesswomen with successful careers and entrepreneurial ventures join SCORE to volunteer their time and expertise to help new businesses start and existing businesses grow and succeed.

SCORE mentors entrepreneurs through one-to-one business advising sessions on a full range of business topics. In the 1970s, when SCORE chapters were formed, SCORE expanded its services to offer workshops and seminars on a variety of business issues. In 1996, SCORE ventured online and began providing small business advice via email to meet the entrepreneur’s need to have service on an around-the-clock basis.

You can visit this great business resource here:
http://www.score.org

Spider Food

If you use the Internet to run or promote a business, nothing is more important to your success than being listed with the search engines. They are your customer’s tool of choice for locating products and services on the Internet – outranking banner advertising and all other forms of media.

Search engines are also an invaluable tool for reaching your target market. Just think about it. The customers who visit your web site as a result of a search engine query are already interested in the products or services you provide.

Moreover, studies show that consumers who find your product as a result of a search engine query are 5 times more likely to actually make a purchase than if they had found your business through some other form of advertising.

Teaching you how to gain top ranking with the major search engines and directories is what this site is all about. Spider Food covers the techniques that professional search optimization specialists use to get professional results – all ethically.

They have lots of forums to post questions and lots of material at your fingertips.

You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.spider-food.net

National Technical Information Service

The National Technical Information Service serves our nation as the largest central resource for government-funded scientific, technical, engineering, and business related information available today. For more than 50 years NTIS has assured businesses, universities, and the public timely access to well over 3 million publications covering over 350 subject areas. Our mission supports the nation’s economic growth by providing access to information that stimulates innovation and discovery.

* Approximately 3 million government information products
* More than 600,000 searchable on this web site

NTIS is the federal government’s central source for the sale of scientific, technical, engineering, and related business information by or for the U.S. government and complementary materials from international sources. Three-million products are available in a variety of formats including online, electronic, multimedia, CD-ROM , paper, and microfiche.

You can access information on more than 600,000 of these products from this web site. Thousands of new products are added each week. Additionally, many records now include free links to the full-text publication on an agency’s web site, or can be downloaded directly from the NTIS archival copy for a nominal charge.

You can find more information about this business resource here:
http://www.ntis.gov

National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161
webmaster@ntis.gov

Bacons.com

Bacons is a complete solution for all of your media needs. Bacon’s Information helps corporate communications and public relations professionals improve their ability to access, understand, and use information and knowledge as key components for communicating more effectively and making informed business decisions.

The Communication Cycleâ„¢
Bacon’s developed the Communication Cycle in order to accommodate the increasing demand among PR practitioners to use integrated services to streamline both day-to-day tasks of generating press coverage and to achieve the strategic goals of influencing an audience to a preferred course of action.
The Communication Cycle model maximizes PR workflow through the four stages of the media relations communication cycle:

1. Research the media
Maximize your media placement opportunities with the most comprehensive media database in the industry. Updated daily, it sets the standard for accuracy.

2. Contact the media
Save time and money by sending your emails and faxes directly from your desktop to your target media contacts. With MediaSource, you can even send your emails for free!

3. Monitor coverage
Manage, search and distribute all of your print, broadcast and Internet exposure online. With MediaSource, it has never been easier and faster!

4. Evaluate results
Analyze the effectiveness of your PR campaigns and objectives with a range of evaluation reports sent directly to your desktop in the format you prefer.

They offer free trials, demos and resources for you. They also offer an extensive white paper section. You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.bacons.com

Internet Press Guild

The Internet Press Guild is a nonprofit organization promoting excellence in journalism about the Internet, online services, and bulletin board systems. The Guild’s Web site is an information clearinghouse for reporters who wish to know more about aspects of the online world, such as the World Wide Web.

It also provides a forum for people to interact directly with members of the organization, all of whom are recognized writers, editors, and/or analysts in the Internet press community. The IPG enables this small but significant population to network the old-fashioned way, with an emphasis on connecting people rather than computers. A private mailing list gives members the opportunity to discuss issues of importance among their peers.

The Guild also establishes ethical and stylistic standards for online media coverage that have been left unsettled by the media at large.

They also sport a directory:

Directory

FAQs & Usenet
Internet Providers
Internet Advertising
Journalism Resources on the Net
Mailing Lists
Online Publications
Other Journalist Organizations
Writers’ Resources
Along with a guide for feeding the press with lots tips and useful information like:

# If you must use Powerpoint to get across your message, you limit it to five slides.

# You never follow up an e-mail to a reporter with a phone call asking if she received the e-mail.

# You know your reporter and what he has published — before you make the first contact.

# You get the facts fast to the right people, especially when asked directly for them…

You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.netpress.org/

Marketing Software Company (MSC)

Marketing Software Company (MSC) provides data processing services to meet the needs of direct marketing organizations that choose to have a professionally managed information system. MSC specializes in custom system design and programming, and will design, program and maintain a data processing system to meet any need.

They know how to program systems that process millions of records, maintain complex inventories and build accuracy.

They offer:

List Processing
Customized Systems
National Databases
Demographic Data

Every custom job is handled by a programmer, not a clerk or operator. Therefore, every custom job receives expert, individual analysis. Attention is paid to the nuances that make every job unique. Programmer supervision plus tough quality control procedures ensure quality output.

You can visit this business resource here:
http://www.mscnet.com/

Marketing Software Company
6200 Canoga Ave Suite 102
Woodland Hills, CA 91367
(818) 346-1600
(818) 712-0122 Fax
info@mscnet.com

Kompass

The Kompass web site contains a wealth of information related to
companies and manufacturers of various products from around the world.
Their database contains 1.9 million companies in 75 different countries.
They have over 750,000 trade names for you to search.

One section I found as an example:

Costume jewellery, diamanté [73 companies]
Costume jewellery, imitation pearl [183 companies]
Costume jewellery, seashell [64 companies]
Costume jewellery, metal [241 companies]
Costume jewellery, wooden [65 companies]
Costume jewellery, paste [80 companies]
Costume jewellery, plastic [224 companies]
Costume jewellery, magnetic [25 companies]
Costume jewellery, cast [85 companies]
Costume jewellery, anodised [83 companies]
Bracelets and bangles, costume jewellery [431 companies]
Earrings, costume jewellery [432 companies]
Medals, costume jewellery [119 companies]
Necklaces and chains, costume jewellery [469 companies]

There is a wealth of information if you are looking for anything
wholesale or retail. With a search you can find:
Company name and address
Company web site
List of products
List of executives
Financial
and much more.

You can visit this business resource here:
http://www1.kompass.com/kinl/index.php

Business.gov guides you through the maze of government rules and
regulations … and provides access to services and resources to help you
start, grow, and succeed in business.

Before launching your small business, you can check on specific laws and
regulations for your area.

• Hiring A Lawyer
• Franchising
• Legal Structures
• Copyright, Patent, And Trademark
• Employment Law
• eCommerce
• Environment
• Bankruptcy
• Regulations

Employees are the foundation of a successful business. Know the legal
details, including: hiring procedures, equal employment opportunity,
wages, benefits, taxes, minors, privacy issues, and termination.

• Hiring Procedures
• Equal Employment Opportunity
• Wages
• Benefits
• Taxes And Withholding
• Employing Minors
• Privacy Issues
• Termination
• Employment Law

There is much more provided at theis business resource. To visit go here:
http://www.business.gov/index.html
They even provide the opportunity to find a business mentor.

Rebecca