Thursday, July 9, 2009

On-Line Small Business Tools

With summer here, you may find that you have a spare hour here and there to get caught up on your business reading or surfing. While you are browsing the Internet, you may find some great sites that other small business owners would benefit from knowing about.

I would like to hear from you all on what you think are the best on-line small business tools (worksheets, software etc.). If they happen to be free or low-cost, I would love it if you indicate that as well. Here are a few of my favs to get you started:

www.surveymonkey.com >> a great way to do FREE market research with your database of clients; $120 a year gives you a membership with extra analyis tools and even easier distribution.

www.canadabusiness.ca/ipb >> the Interactive Business Plannner is a free template that helps you prepare or update your business plan; do the whole thing or tweak a section. The financials add themselves up and automatically transfer from cash flow to income statement. Run pessimistic/optimistic/realistic scenarios quickly and easily!

www.strategis.ic.gc.ca/steps >> information on competitiveness issues and gaps facing small and medium sized service firms, presented in a modular format. Tackle one step a week for 9 weeks to hone your marketing plan

http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ic1.nsf/eng/h_00070.html >> NAICS directory - listing of Canadian companies, sortable by keyword, industry sector and more; search for suppliers and competitors

http://www.whatspossible.com/fax/ >> a summary of various fax-to-email services, starting at $19.95/year

Send me yours so I can beef up this list!

Cheers
CB