qprev_HBB Manual 2.qxd - Small Business BC

Understand What InformationYou’ll NeedThe information you’ll need will depend uponthe kind of business you intend to operate.Starting-up a trucking company requires quitedifferent data than for a dried-flower craftbusiness. But the types of information areroughly the same for all businesses. They fallinto the following four main categories:• Business Concept: What will you be selling?• Marketing: How will you reach buyers?• Operations: How will you run your business?• Finance: How much do you need to makea profit?When collected together into these fourcategories, the information you obtain becomes a“business plan” for your firm. For easyreference,the remaining parts of this manual areorganized into these same categories.Keep a Research FileAs your research progresses, you’ll need ways torecord and store information. A good system touse is called a research file, divided into sections.Use the names of the four categories mentionedabove as divider labels in your research file.Your research file can be one of the following or,more likely, a combination of them:• Hand held – Use palm pilots or mobileinformation storage devices. Use deviceswhich have Internet communication and caneasily transfer data. This method is the mostconvenient and portable.• Desktop – Use database or word-processingsoftware for your personal computer that has aspreadsheet capability. Use voice-activation ifyour keyboarding speed is slow.• Paper-based – The traditional 3-ring binder isstill versatile and functional. A good size to useis a 7” x 11” sized binder with a 1 or 1.5 inchwidth.Don’t carry around all of your information withyou – the risk of losing everything at once is toogreat. Make back-up copies of information storedin mobile communications devices.Some information will come in the form ofbrochures and leaflets which can be holepunchedand placed “as is” into the binder. Thesame is true for information downloaded to aprinter off the Internet or photocopied frombooks, magazines, directories, etc. Small scrapsof paper can be glued onto full-sized pages sothey’ll fit into your binder easily.This research file becomes a reference manualabout your business and the foundation for theinformation you’ll include in your business planlater.Find it on the WebIn their book Small Business Online: A StrategicGuide for Canadian Entrepreneurs (1998),Jim Carroll and Rick Broadhead show howto navigate the Internet to find a wealth ofinformation on topics such as:• Market and industry data• Financial and tax information• Media contacts• Small business support services• Government programs• New technologies• The competition• Products and services20solutions for small business home-based business