In Search of the Small-Business Bible

 

Let's.

Sometimes even the equations didn't help. For instance, take Cohen's suggestion that an entrepreneur with a new product in 2,000 stores might want to check a few randomly chosen stores to gauge sales. A good idea -- until we got to the five-step process accompanying it:

" The first step is to look at a few samples of the stores and calculate an average [number of products sold]....The second step is to decide how much accuracy we want....The third step is to calculate an acceptable limit based on an accuracy that we calculated in the previous step....The fourth step is to estimate the standard deviation of our sample....For the fifth step, we calculate the required sample size using the following formula, which will provide the answer at a 95% confidence level:

n = ( S)2 + 1

I/1.96

where: n = Sample size

S = Standard deviation of sample I = Acceptable limits"

And the sixth step is...turn the page -- quickly. Or buy a new business book.

ON-LINE RESOURCES FOR START-UPS

To: Martha Mangelsdorf

From: Phaedra Hise, reporter

Just reporting back after about four hours of exploring on-line resources for start-ups. Thinking a neophyte entrepreneur would probably start with basic reading material, I first headed for America Online's Microsoft Small Business Center. Under topics like Finance, Starting a Business, and Women in Business are files of stories -- from magazines, videotape transcripts, and organizations' literature. Under Finance, I found "Alternative Ways to Find Capital," defining techniques like factoring and barter. Under Women in Business, I found an "Alternative Financing" article, which included lists of possible funding sources for woman-owned businesses.

Next, I browsed the bulletin boards, where members post messages to one another. The one titled Partnerships was mostly messages about business opportunities -- if your friend Jennifer decides to take on a partner, it would be a good place to advertise. A few days ago, posing as Jennifer, I posted a message here asking for general information on partners. It provoked a few responses, mostly warning me to get a good lawyer to structure partnership deals.

On the Venture Capitalists bulletin board, I had posted another message asking where to search for investors for Jennifer's idea. One response advised checking with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for grant and investor information. Still no response to the message I had posted in the Classifieds section, seeking land in Pennsylvania.

Thinking a direct conversation with some company owners might turn up some good information, I headed for the Entrepreneur's Forum meeting, at which members chat on-line with one another. About 15 attendees were all typing in comments -- in "real time" -- about using newsletters. I asked how a newsletter could help a farm stand at the start-up stage and was immediately overwhelmed with questions and suggestions: start handing newsletters out to area residents and health-food stores to build interest for the farm stand; send one to ecologically conscious groups to prospect for investors; keep it short; and include recipes. Several people typed in addresses of organizations that provide mailing lists.

After the meeting, I left America Online and logged on to Compu-Serve's Entrepreneurial/Small Business area. In the Working from Home forum, there were lists and lists of files on topics such as getting new business. Using the forum's "listing" option turned up titles such as "PLNO_S.EXE/BIN," giving no hint of the content. But "browsing" the section revealed business plans that can be downloaded free of charge and articles on varied topics.

After leaving CompuServe, I dialed up the SBA bulletin board. There I found detailed, easy-to-read material explaining what a business plan is and how to write each section. After printing that out for later, I moved over to financing. The information was primarily on loans, including a section on very small "microloans" in Pennsylvania. Jennifer might want to explore that kind of funding.

For your information, the cost of the search was less than $20.

THE BOOKS

Listed below are the 40 books yielded by my shopping and book-borrowing spree. This is not a recommended reading list. I tried to purchase any general guide to start-ups that wasn't obviously awful or out-of-date, but some losers did slip in. To keep things manageable, I generally excluded industry-specific books and books strictly on specialized topics, such as developing a marketing program. (I made exceptions for areas that are specialized yet still cover much of the start-up process. For example, I included some books on writing business plans or starting a home-based business; however, I held such books to a higher standard, since they are relevant to fewer people.)

Abrams, Rhonda M. The Successful Business Plan: Secrets and Strategies.

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