Overview
National Organizations
The associations and organizations listed here, offer broad information that affect all businesses, no matter what their size. These organizations provide support, education and resources for running your business.
Ashoka
Ashoka identifies and supports the world's leading social entrepreneurs, learns from the patterns in their innovations, and mobilizes a global community that embraces these new frameworks to build an "everyone a changemaker world."
Business Network International, or BNI
The mission of BNI is to help BNI Members increase their business through a structured, positive and professional referral marketing program that enables them to develop long-term, meaningful relationships with quality business professionals.
eWomenNetwork
With over 500,000 entrepreneurs connected through 118 chapters. Each year, we host over 2000 networking and training events – both ONLINE and In-Person – including the #1 annual women’s entrepreneur conference in North America, our International Conference.
EO - Entrepreneurs' Organization
The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) is a Global business network of 14,000+ leading entrepreneurs in 196 chapters and 62 countries. Founded in 1987 by a group of young entrepreneurs, EO enables business owners to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life.
Minority Business Development Agency
The U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is the only federal agency solely dedicated to the growth and global competitiveness of minority business enterprises.
MBDA programs, services, and initiatives focus on helping MBEs grow today, while preparing them to meet the industry needs of tomorrow. Economic prosperity for all American business enterprises.
National Association for the Self-Employed
The NASE provides its self-employed members with support, education and training. The organization conducts surveys relevant to the needs of the self-employed and posts articles business owners can use.
National Veteran Owned Business Association NaVOBA
The Office of Veterans Business Development's mission is to maximize the availability, applicability and usability of all administration small business programs for Veterans, Service-Disabled Veterans, Reserve Component Members, and their Dependents or Survivors.
National Association of Women Business Owners
Founded in 1975, the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO) is the unified voice of over 10 million women-owned businesses in the United States representing the fastest growing segment of the economy.
National Restaurant Association
A thriving restaurant and foodservice community, providing America with nourishment, opportunity and joy, working to enhance quality of life for all. To serve our industry and impact its success, we: Strengthen operations, mitigate risk and develop talent; Advance and protect business vitality through national, state and local advocacy; and Drive knowledge and collaboration.
National Small Business Association
Celebrating more than 80 years representing America’s small-business owners, NSBA is a staunchly nonpartisan organization with 65,000 members in every state and every industry in the U.S. We are proud to be the nation’s first small-business advocacy organization.
SBA Office of Veterans Business Development
The Office of Veterans Business Development’s (OVBD) mission is to maximize the availability, applicability and usability of small business programs for Veterans, Service-Disabled Veterans, Reserve Component Members, and their dependents or survivors. OVBD is SBA’s liaison with the veterans business community; provides policy analysis and reporting; and is as an Ombudsman for veteran entrepreneurs. OVBD has a number of programs and services to assist aspiring and existing veteran entrepreneurs such as training, counseling and mentorship, and oversight of Federal procurement programs for Veteran-Owned and Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses.
SCORE
SCORE is part of the SBA. Its mission is to foster vibrant small business communities through mentoring and education. It's a free nation-wide service available to small businesses to help them grow and sustain their business.
Small Business Administration
Here you can learn how to start your own business and finance it. The site also provides information on business opportunities, local SBA offices, laws and regulations, and much more.
NFIB -
Exclusive Focus on Small Business:
NFIB stands for America’s small and independent businesses. This sole focus distinguishes us from other business organizations in the country.
StartUp Nation
StartupNation provides access to experts in a variety of business disciplines through its various media channels and fosters peer-to-peer interaction in its vibrant online community forums. The breadth and range of businesses StartupNation serves include sole proprietorships, home-based businesses and part-time businesses, all the way to the most esoteric and sophisticated ventures.
Women’s Business Development Center
he WBDC’s mission is to support and accelerate business development and growth, targeting women and serving all diverse business owners, in order to strengthen their participation in, and impact on, the economy.
Your Local Chamber of Commerce
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Associations/Organizations
There are an immense amount of small business associations and organizations for both general and specific businesses and industries. The ones listed here, offer broad information that affect all businesses, no matter what their size. These organizations provide support, education and resources for running your business.
I can think of no reason not to join any or all small business associations that are relevant to your business. Most charge a membership fee, but if you get one, two or even a dozen ideas that impact your bottom line for the positive, then it will be well worth the cost. Having an invaluable business partner—or maybe even a loyal customer down the line—is priceless for your business.
Think about what your goals are, where your customers are and what they need, and investigate how the association can connect you to the partners, networks, and customers you need to grow your business.
General Business Publications
The information contained here are broad and generalized information that affect all businesses.
Bloomberg Business Week
Entrepreneur Magazine
Fast Company
Forbes Magazine
Inc. Magazine
Wired
General Business Books
Starting A Business
From the very first steps conceptualizing your venture to winning your first customers, delivering value, and turning a profit, this book acts as an invaluable blueprint for your path to entrepreneurial success. Colwell’s clear voice, extensive experience, and easy-to-understand presentation come together to make this book a must-have resource in the library of every budding entrepreneur!
The Young Entrepreneur's Guide to Starting A Business
Through stories of young entrepreneurs who have started businesses, this book illustrates how to turn hobbies, skills, and interests into profit-making ventures. Mariotti describes the characteristics of the successful entrepreneur and covers the nuts and bolts of getting a business up, running and successful.
Mind Your Business
With the right knowledge and resources, you can take action to start the online business you’ve been dreaming of. This comprehensive guide provides tips and tricks for turning your dream into a reality.
Starting an Online Business
From developing your brand to designing products to identifying your legal and tax needs, this comprehensive guide will take you through every step of the process and help you create a unique and customized roadmap for your business. Mind Your Business is for aspiring entrepreneurs who are driven, ambitious, creative, and determined to build a business and life they love.
Books/Magazines/Periodicals
General Business
Small Business Administration Learning Center
SBA's online learning programs are designed to empower and educate small business owners every step of the way. Whether you're looking to start a small business or expand your current one, SBA's digital learning platform has everything you need to educate yourself on entrepreneurial best practices and available financing options.
Harvard University Free Business Courses
Business Online Innovating in Health Care Find innovation opportunities in health care technology, management, consulting, or investing by examining health care cost,... Free* Available now Business Online Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies Explore how entrepreneurship and innovation tackle complex social problems in emerging economies. Free*
Small Business Administration Online Learning
SBA's online learning programs are designed to empower and educate small business owners every step of the way.
Education/Courses/Training/Videos
General Business
Entrepreneur.com / WomenEntrepreneur.com
Published by the same people who bring you Entrepreneur magazine, this is an excellent site for entrepreneurs, featuring a solid collection of articles and tips from experts, plus hundreds of links to other entrepreneurial resources on the web. WomenEntrepreneur.com offers additional articles, blogs and resources specific to women for starting and growing their businesses.
Better Business Bureau
Browse or search for a business or charity's reputation. Included are instructions for how to file a consumer or B2B complaint.
Business Owner's Tool Kit
With an emphasis on problem solving, this site features more than 5,000 pages of free cost-cutting tips, step-by-step checklists, real-life case studies, startup advice, and business templates to small-business owners and entrepreneurs.
Forbes: Entrepreneurs
Forbes describes itself as "a leading source for reliable business news and financial information" and Forbes' Entrepreneurs section is a leading source for reliable business news and financial information for – you guessed it – entrepreneurs and small business owners. Once you get past the annoying pop-up screens, their blog has some top-quality content.
National Association for the Self-Employed
The NASE provides its self-employed members with support, education and training. The organization conducts surveys relevant to the needs of the self-employed and posts articles business owners can use.
Websites
Blogs/Forums
All Business
Bloggers Passion
Both Sides of the Table
Brian Solis’ Blog
Cloudways Blog
Copy Blogger
Failory
A content site for startups founders. We publish weekly interviews and short and long-form articles to help you become a better founder.
Fast Company
Not only is Fast Company's blog incredibly visually appealing, it's also mentally appealing. Its creative, compelling articles and case studies are wonderful ways to learn about entrepreneurship, design, technology trends, industry influencers, and so much more.
Mashable
With a mix of breaking news, thought-provoking opinion pieces and a small dose of memes and internet humor, Mashable (particularly Mashable Business) is a one-stop shop for any online entrepreneur. We check it every morning to get our daily dose of what's trending in the digital world. Just try not to let yourself get distracted by all the fun "watercooler" type pieces in the sidebar - stick to the business portion of the blog.
Mixergy
Mixergy is where the ambitious learn from a mix of experienced mentors through interviews and courses.
Seth’s Blog
Women on Business
Small Business Trends
Cloudways Blog
The Entrepreneurial Mind
Social Media
Not every social media company has industry specific links. Where I could find them I have tried to give you the best, otherwise I have provided links to general business social media accounts. Not all of these will meet your criteria, but things on the internet change on a daily basis and I will keep researching. If anyone accessing this site knows of a industry specific social media company please email me the information at
Business Manager Overview - Facebook
Business Manager is a Facebook tool that helps organize and manage your business. When you join Business Manager, coworkers can't view your personal ...
Flickr
Home to billions of photos and millions of groups of passionate photographers. Browse with ease, select and organize hundreds of photos with one gesture, and share in seconds. Unleash your creativity. Edit your photos, add filters, crop images, and more!
An American photo and video sharing social networking service owned by Facebook, The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can be shared publicly or with pre-approved followers. Users can browse other users' content by tags and locations and view trending content.
KIK
Kik Messenger, commonly called Kik, is a freeware instant messaging mobile app from the Canadian company Kik Interactive, available free of charge on iOS and Android operating systems. It uses a smartphone's data plan or Wi-Fi to transmit and receive messages, photos, videos, sketches, mobile web pages, and other content after users register a username. Kik is known for its features preserving users' anonymity, such as allowing users to register without the need to provide a telephone number or valid email address. However, the application does not employ end-to-end encryption, and the company also logs user IP addresses, which could be used to determine the user's ISP and approximate location. This information, as well as "reported" conversations are regularly surrendered upon request by law enforcement organizations, sometimes without the need for a court order.
LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. It's been around since 2003 and is mainly used for professional networking, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs. Currently, LinkedIn has 740 million registered members from 150 countries.
Medium
Medium is an American online publishing platform and is an example of social journalism, having a hybrid collection of amateur and professional people and publications, or exclusive blogs or publishers on Medium, and is regularly regarded as a blog host.
Periscope
Periscope is an American live video streaming app for Android and iOS developed by Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein and acquired by Twitter before launch in 2015.
Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information on the internet using images and, on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboards. The site was created by Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp and had over 400 million monthly active users as of August 2020. It is operated by Pinterest, Inc., based in San Francisco.
Reddit is a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website, recently including livestream content through Reddit Public Access Network. Registered members submit content to the site such as links, text posts, and images, which are then voted up or down by other members. Posts are organized by subject into user-created boards called "communities" or "subreddits", which cover a variety of topics such as news, politics, science, movies, video games, music, books, sports, fitness, cooking, pets, and image-sharing. Submissions with more up-votes appear towards the top of their subreddit and, if they receive enough up-votes, ultimately on the site's front page. Despite strict rules prohibiting harassment, Reddit's administrators spend considerable resources on moderating the site.
Snapchat
Snapchat is an American multimedia messaging app developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before they become inaccessible to their recipients. The app has evolved from originally focusing on person-to-person photo sharing to presently featuring users' "Stories" of 24 hours of chronological content, along with "Discover," letting brands show ad-supported short-form content. It also allows users to keep photos in the "my eyes only" which lets them keep their photos in a password-protected space. It has also reportedly incorporated limited use of end-to-end encryption, with plans to broaden its use in the future.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website based in Berlin, Germany, that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio, as well as a DSP enabling listeners to stream audio. Started in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud has grown to be one of the largest music streaming services reaching over 175 million monthly users worldwide. SoundCloud offers both free and paid membership on the platform, available for desktop and mobile devices.
Swam by Foursquare
Foursquare Swarm is a mobile app that allows users to share their locations with their friends and create a record of their experiences in their personal lifelog. Swarm for iOS and Android devices launched on May 15, 2014. A spin-off from and companion app to Foursquare City Guide, Swarm allows users to check-in to a given location, and see who is nearby. These check-ins are chronologically listed to create a personal lifelog for each user, which serves as a digital library for all the places they’ve been, in a searchable database that can be revisited and shared.
Tumblr
A feature rich and free blog posting platform that offers customizable templates, photos, apps and more. Make a blog and put whatever you want on it. Stories, photos, GIFs, mp3s, videos, fashion, art, deep stuff. Tumblr is 500 million different blogs.
Twitter is an American microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like and retweet tweets, but unregistered users can only read them. Users access Twitter through its website interface or its mobile-device application software, though the service could also be accessed via SMS before April 2020. Twitter, Inc. is based in San Francisco, California, and has more than 25 offices around the world. Tweets were originally restricted to 140 characters, but was doubled to 280 for non-CJK languages in November 2017. Audio and video tweets remain limited to 140 seconds for most accounts.
YouTube
YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service, created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—was bought by Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of the company's subsidiaries. YouTube is the second most-visited website after Google Search, according to Alexa Internet rankings.
WhatsApp Messenger, or simply WhatsApp, is an American freeware, cross-platform centralized messaging and voice-over-IP service owned by Facebook, Inc. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, make voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp's client application runs on mobile devices but is also accessible from desktop computers, as long as the user's mobile device remains connected to the Internet while they use the desktop app. The service requires each user to provide a standard cellular mobile telephone number for registering with the service. In January 2018, WhatsApp released a standalone business app targeted at small business owners, called WhatsApp Business, to allow companies to communicate with customers who use the standard WhatsApp client.
Words to Know
Business Plan
Here is your tool for demonstrating how you want to establish your small business and how you plan to grow it into good financial health. When writing a business plan, it should include financial, operational, and marketing goals as well as how you plan to get there. The more specific you are with your business plan, the better prepared you will be in the long run.
B2B
abbreviation for business-to-business: describing or involving business arrangements or trade between different businesses, rather than between businesses and the general public
B2C
abbreviation for business-to-consumer: describing or involving the sale of goods or services directly to customers for their own use, rather than to businesses
e-business
the business of buying and selling goods and services on the internet, or a particular company that does this
Bootstrapping
Using your own money to finance the start-up and growth of your small business. Think of it as being your own investor. Once the business is up and running successfully, the business finance term and definition bootstrapping refers to the use of profits earned to reinvest in the business.
Employer Identification Number (EIN) Certificate
In order to be more easily identified by the Internal Revenue Service, every business entity is assigned a unique number called an EIN. When you start your small business, an EIN will be assigned and mailed to the business address. This number never changes, and you will be asked to furnish it for many reasons.
Articles of Incorporation
This is legal documentation of the business’s creation, including name, type of business, and type of business structure or incorporation. This paperwork is one of the first tasks you will complete when you officially start your business. Once submitted, your articles of incorporation are kept on file with the appropriate governmental agencies.
Income Statement
Here is one of the four most important reports lenders and investors want to see when evaluating the viability of your small business. It is also called a profit and loss statement, and it addresses the business’s bottom line, reporting how much the business has earned and spent over a given period of time. The result will be either a net gain or a net loss.
Statement of Cash Flow
One of the important documents required by lenders and investors that shows a summary of the actual collection of revenue and payment of expenses for your business. The statement of cash blow should reflect activity in the areas of operating, investing, and financing and should be an integral part of your financial statement package.
Bootstrapping
Using your own money to finance the start-up and growth of your small business. Think of it as being your own investor. Once the business is up and running successfully, the business finance term and definition bootstrapping refers to the use of profits earned to reinvest in the business.
Financial Statements
An integral part of the loan application process is furnishing information that shows your business is a good credit risk. The standard financial statemen packet includes four main reports: the income statement, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flow, and the statement of shareholders equity, if you have shareholders.
Lenders and investors want to see that your business is well-balanced with assets and liabilities, has positive cash flow, and will have capital to make expected repayments.
Net Worth
This business finance term and definition is an expression of your business’s total value, as determined by your total current assets less the total liabilities currently owed by the business. With your business’s most recent balance sheet in hand, you can calculate the net worth using a simple formula: Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth.