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Touched by a Teen Angel
What can a kid teach you? Plenty. To see for myself, I went to Columbia University's Institute for Learning Technologies, in New York City, to see Angel Colon, a shy 13-year-old from East Harlem. He couldn't imagine why using the Internet wasn't the most natural thing in the world, but I made him take me through the motions.
I learned how to find the Netscape browser and go to the Web page of the publication he helps put out, HarlemLive. There we learned how to get all kinds of information about Harlem. I clicked on "staff" and then on Angel's picture for a bio. Then I asked him about some practical business applications: how, say, we'd get information about distributing salsa. We called up the Yahoo! search engine and got a raft of choices. The best-sounding one, High Mesa Chili Salsa, located outside Alamogordo, N. Mex., declared itself "home to the famous Hazardous Hot Burning Coals Salsa." So we checked out its site, where we could even place an order.
Then we imagined we were pet-supply distributors looking for pet shops in Harlem. We typed in "Harlem" and "pet shop," and somehow our catch included sites about Harlem but not pets. Then we typed in "Harlem AND pet store." Finally, starting at www.urbanaccess.com/search/stores, we turned up a list of pet stores throughout the city, although not one of Harlem's many pet stores came up in the search. Angel seemed disappointed, so I asked him if maybe there wasn't a business opportunity there, to get the pet stores' sites up and running. Business isn't really for him, he'd decided. He is, he said, a writer. And I knew better than to trifle with an artist. --R.B.
Web Sites
If you're just starting to surf the Internet, your best bet is to get right out there. But exactly where is "out there"? Here are some Web sites that, in addition to those referenced in the main text, will give you a taste of what's available and how it might be useful in starting or growing your company.
PEOPLE AND BUSINESS FINDERS
If you're trying to locate phone numbers, street addresses, or E-mail addresses for people or businesses throughout the country, there are several free sites that will do the trick. For phone numbers and street addresses, consider www.5551212.com, lookupusa.com, and www.four11.com, and www.switchboard.com. To look up E-mail addresses, try www.four11.com and www.iaf.net. Each site works essentially the same way, but if you strike out on one, you might find what you're looking for with another. You can also look up zip codes on-line at www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_ctystzip.html.
SEARCH ENGINES
Ask any five people which search engine is the best for finding what you're looking for when you don't know a specific site's URL, and you'll get five different answers. Everyone has his or her favorite and can tell you why it's best, hands down. Don't believe what you hear. Try out various search engines until you find the one you're most comfortable with. Today's most popular search engines are www.hotbot.com, www.altavista.digital.com, www.excite.com, www.infoseek.com, www.yahoo.com, and www.lycos.com. There are also sites that let you search using more than one of these search engines at a time: www.dogpile.com, for example, lets you search using more than a dozen engines at once; www.all4one.com lets you search on AltaVista, HotBot, Lycos, and Excite simultaneously.
BASIC INFORMATION FOR START-UPS
Of course, there's Inc. Online (www.inc.com), Inc.'s own Web site, designed to be an all-around resource for a growing company. But there's also a surprisingly good source of basic information for start-up businesses at the Small Business Administration's Web site. It includes a section called "Starting Your Business," which features a sample business plan as well as information about and links to sources of financing, marketing expertise, and resources. There is also a plethora of sites that contain links to other sites that have valuable management information. The Institute of Management and Administration maintains a collection of links, organized by management discipline, that are particularly useful if you're starting or running a business.
GOVERNMENT INFORMATION
There's a surprising amount of good data available over the Internet free from the federal government. The best starting point for seeing what's available and accessing it is to visit www.fedworld.gov. It's a great centralized source for information ranging from taxes to environmental-cleanup standards. Before going to a search engine or picking up a phone, start there.
