The Wall Street Journal Online:
Where can entrepreneurs find office space, a research assistant, mentors and access to reams of market research — all free of charge?
Try your local library.
In an age where Google has become a verb and entrepreneurs have easy access to information from their home computers, libraries have been trying to evolve as well.
Some have seemingly become small-business incubators in their own right: places where cash-strapped start-ups and established business owners alike can gather sophisticated information on a target market, draw up a business plan, bounce an idea off a seasoned executive, or perhaps, even find funding or build a Web site.
While resources will vary across institutions, most libraries subscribe to a number of commercial databases, which can cost thousands of dollars a year.
For instance, ReferenceUSA, a database with information on millions of businesses and households, coupled with census data and a lifestyle database, can make a powerful market-research tool.
Entrepreneurs can find, for example, how many pet stores are in Brooklyn, N.Y., where they’re located, residents’ income levels, and whether they tend to own dogs.
Library patrons also have remote access to materials — including a limited number of databases — from their library Web sites. In fact, many list links to other sites and directories they have vetted and found particularly useful.
Photo by EricGjerde.
Brian McLaughlin on August 31st, 2006 at 4:09 pm
In places where there is economic development financial support for companies hiring new employees, I have thought many libraries would qualify, by
providing the baseline data to help fledgling business avoid or minimize their mistakes with time being the primary investment-
Dyna Moriga on February 25th, 2007 at 11:22 am
I can’t speak on behalf of other cities, but in Minneapolis we have a kick-*** resource, especially for networking called the Minnesota Entrepreneurs Club.
Here is a link: http://www.mn-entrepreneurs.org/