Business Resources to Help You Grow

Business Planning and Financial Tools

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Twenty years of service!

The Brooklyn Women's Business Center celebrates 20 years of service in East Brooklyn. We've helped thousands of businesses and helped start hundreds more. Let us help you grow your business!

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Business Planning

Download these resources to help you write a business plan. 

This awesome tool provides a simple, easy to follow format for writing a business plan. 

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The Business Model Canvas is a great tool to analyze your business in a few easy steps.

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Understanding your financials is very important for entrepreneurs and it’s easy with this simple guide.

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Download the Business Plan Outline

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Online Resources for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs

Click on any of the topics below to learn more about these online resources. 

** The BWBC is not responsible for the content of the links, its validity, or the respective websites. **

Analytics APR Calculator Art Tools Crowdfunding & Investors Business Plan Tools Communication Domains Email Marketing Legal Matters Online Learning Online Payments Print-on-demand Taxes Team Collaboration Website Builder Website Tools

ANALYTICS

Google Analytics – free and good enough for all your analytics needs

Google Keyword Planner – see how many people are searching relevant terms 

Facebook Ads – use the targeting options to compare the approximate size and location of various interests and demographics


APR Calculator

APR calculators help you find the effective annual percentage rate (APR) for loans such as a mortgage, auto, or any fixed-rate type of loan. Typically, the APR is the stated interest rate of the loan averaged over 12 months. To use this APR Calculator, simply input your loan amount, interest rate, loan term, and financing fees and the calculator will do the rest!

https://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/financial/apr-calculator-basic.php

ART

Glyphicons – icon set 

500px – non-cheesy stock photography

Flickr Creative commons – search for photos with the appropriate usage rights 

Subtle Patterns – pretty much what it says on the tin; for backgrounds and textures

CROWDFUNDING

Crowdfund Better

Kickstarter – crowd-fund via pre-selling your products

Indiegogo – crowd-fund via donations with a focus on arts and creative projects, including some which aren’t allowed on KickStarter​

INVESTORS

f6s – listing of all accelerator programs (and lots of other info) and a social network for startups and angels

AngelList – social network and funding platform for startups and angels

The Funded – reviews and testimonials of investors from the founders’ perspective; do your investor due diligence here

BPlans

This site has a lot of information on how to write a business plan, develop your elevator pitch and much more! Great resource for entrepreneurs of all backgrounds and knowledge levels.

https://www.bplans.com

Association for Enterprise Opportunity

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity or better known as AEO, has been helping entrepreneurs since 1991. AEO has over 1,700 members and and provide capital and services to assist undeserved entrepreneurs in starting, growing and managing their businesses.

https://aeoworks.org

SBA Business Tools

SBA’s suite of tools helps entrepreneurs at any stage of their business venture. They offer business counseling, business planning, contracting opportunities with the government, and seminars to grow your business. In short, there’s something here for everyone!

https://www.sba.gov/tools

TALKING TO CUSTOMERS

Intercom – tasteful chat and help widgets for your site, plus good automated email triggers

Drip–email courses and signup widgets for your site

Mailchimp–newsletters and decent signup widgets

Buffer–easier way to run your Twitter and Facebook accounts 

DOMAINS 

Lean Domain Search – suggests all available .com with a given keyword somewhere in the name

Instant Domain Search – quickly check specific domain availability

Namecheap – register your domains

Domains.com

GoDaddy.com

1and1.com

PEOPLE

Fiverr – pay $5 (or a bit more) for tasks ranging from logo design to copywriting 

99designs – crowdsource design tasks (especially logos) for a few hundred dollars 

elance – various freelancers (assume you’ll hire several for trial projects before finding good ones)

Clarity.fm – pay-by-the-minute advice from various startup specialists

Dribbble – browse designer portfolios, many of whom also freelance

PHONES

TextIt – create SMS applications without programming (e.g. for the developing world)

Twilio – makes phone calls and SMS as easy to program as websites

LEGALS

Docracy – open source legal documents

LEARNING

Paul Graham’s Essays – read the whole archive

Tropical MBA – 250 podcast episodes comprising the best source of knowledge on location independence and manufacturing businesses

Seth Godin’s Startup School – 15 audio episodes covering a Seth’s take on getting entrepreneurial

Moz Learn – solid knowledge base on inbound marketing

PAYMENTS 

Square (US) or  iZettle (elsewhere) – accept credit card payments with your phone, e.g. for market stalls and contractors

Stripe – best payment processing online

GoCardless (UK) – accept direct debit payments

Gumroad – easily sell digital files like PDFs, videos, and links

Top 10 Merchant Account Services Online:

https://www.best10merchantservices.com/?utm_source=google&kw=%2Bmerchant%20%2Baccount%20%2Bservices&c=428687972285&t=search&p=&m=b&adpos=&dev=c&devmod=&mobval=0&network=g&campaignid=9754880060&adgroupid=94961754450&targetid=kwd-19528029084&interest=&physical=9012108&feedid=&a=2613&ts=UnificationMS&topic=&fbrem=&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuP5BRCoARIsAPtX_wE–9ni7ln81fsisb1IjVJbUbVVSCV4gJUSzlYaEOzLH8q0SmDSN4AaAq-fEALw_wcB

PHYSICAL PRODUCTS & PRINT-ON-DEMAND

Createspace – upload a PDF, sell a printed book via Amazon

Newspaper Club – ever wanted your own newspaper?

The Game Crafter – prototype and sell your board and card games

Shapeways – high quality 3D printing in a wide range of materials including gold and silver (for jewelry) and ceramics (for household goods); great for prototyping and market-testing physical products

Alibaba – cut out the middle man and buy anything you want directly from the manufacturer; if you’ve ever wanted a 40′ shipping container full of go karts, this is the place for you

TEAM COLLABORATION 

Slack – chat and messaging to reduce internal email load, with one room per major project

Github – repository for your source code plus task lists and collaboration with your developers

Dropbox – all company files should be here, not on email attachments or personal folders

Streak – simple CRM plugin for Gmail to manage and share your sales leads 

Trello – digital kanban board for project management

Basecamp – use it for project management with external teams who don’t know Trello workflow

Stormboard – digital sticky notes for remote brainstorming and workshops 

Meldium – team password sharing and management

BUILDING WEBSITES

Squarespace – visual site builder with good themes and integrations with stores, payments, newsletters, etc. 

Strikingly – easy site builder for nice single-page sites like manifestos, personal/company pages, or landing pages

Shopify – for e-commerce and online stores

Themeforest – if you need something custom, start by buying a $30 theme and editing it

Best Website Builders:

https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-website-builders