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Austin Public Library, Research Guides

Small Business

A Faulk Central Library Research Guide

Identify your Target Market

  • Community Sourcebook of ZIP Code Demographics, R 304.60973 CO
  • Demographics USA: County Edition, R 339.410973 DE
  • Demographics of the U.S: Trends and Projections, R 304.620973 RU)
  • American Marketplace: Demographics and Spending Patterns, R 317.3 AM
  • Lifestyle Market Analyst, R 658.8340973 LI
  • ReferenceUSA - U.S. residential listings searchable by name, address, phone number, industry, geography, and other selections.

Identify Your Competitors

  • ReferenceUSA - U.S. business listings searchable by name, address, phone number, industry, geography, and other selections.
  • Regional Business News - Comprehensive full-text coverage for regional business publications including newspapers and newswires.

Gather Information about Your Industry

  • Financial Studies of the Small Business, R 658.15904 FI
  • Industry Norms and Key Business Ratios, R 338.740973 IN
  • Standard & Poor's Industry Surveys, R 338.0973 ST
  • Directory of United States Importers, R 382.502573 DI
  • Directory of United States Exporters, R 382.602573 DI
  • Thomas Register - Search for wholesale products for your company's needs.
  • Mergent - Search for industry profile reports including information on the current environment as well as market trends and forecasts.
  • Factiva - Access academic and trade publications, industry newsletters, international and regional newspapers, business magazines, and business newswires to gather company and industry information.

Identify Opportunities in the Marketplace

  • Market Share Reporter, R 381.021 MA
  • Factiva - Find intelligent, authoritative data on markets, companies, industries, and regional affairs.

Market Your Product

SRDS Media Services (online version of SRDS) - Locate advertising rates and contact data for business and consumer magazines, radio, direct mailing lists and newspapers.

Locate Legal Forms

  • Texas Legal Forms - Contains over 1,000 legal forms specific to Texas in MS Word and PDF formats. Most forms can be completed online before being printed.

Write Your Business Plan

  • Business Plans Handbook. Vol. 1-12: A Compilation of Actual Business Plans Developed by Small Businesses throughout North America, R 658.4012 BU
  • Anatomy of a Business Plan: A Step-By-Step Guide to Building a Business and Securing your Company's Future, R 658.4012 PI
  • Building Better Business Plans

    Search for articles about writing effective business plans

    • Business & Company Resource Center - Company profiles and histories, mergers and acquisitions, news and magazine articles, financials, rankings, and market share data.
    • Business Source Complete - Covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, economics, econometrics, finance, accounting, banking, international business, and more.
    • Factiva - Company comparisons, financial snapshots, small business profiles, and industry trends.
    • Regional Business News - Provides comprehensive full text for regional business publications, including titles from Crain Communications.

Find Financing

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