Are you one of those inventors who has exhausted all your energy by developing your idea into a concrete form and searching to be sure no one else has beaten you to the punch? Are you totally lost when it comes to developing a business plan, getting a loan, or formulating a marketing strategy? The Mississippi Small Business Development Center has created downloadable videos covering the following topics: Total Quality Service; Marketing I, II, and III; Understanding and Using Financial Ratios; Home Based Business; Idea to Market - Guidance for Inventors; Legal Structure; First Steps; Developing a Business Plan; Developing Cash Flow Statements; What the Banker Wants; Accounting by the Numbers; Basics of Exporting; Basics of Importing; Getting the Most for Your Advertising Dollars; and Secrets to Saving Your Business.
Other agencies also provide helpful resources. SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) has online resources linked by subject and by categories of entrepreneurs: 50-plus, women, veterans, minority, young, and manufacturers. The Houston branch of the SBA (Small Business Administration) offers Webinars, newsletters, electronic applications, and a Houston Resource Guide 2008. The University of Houston's Small Business Development Center offers complimentary professional business consulting and reasonably priced seminars and workshops. The City of Houston's One Stop Business Center offers free "Starting a Small Business" seminars at local libraries, multi-service centers, and schools in addition to their online materials. Last but not least, the Houston Inventors Association has meetings on Wednesday evenings twice a month featuring a whole host of topics of interest to inventors/manufacturers/product scouts, etc. Check their Web site also for helpful online resources such as the Online Tradeshow for Buyers of New Inventions.
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