SCL Biz: Everything Business in Sonoma County

Most of you are probably familiar with TESS (Trademark Electronic Search System) from the US Patent and Trademark Office – now there is a website offering free searching (and also for fee services): Trademarkia.com. Search by company name, trademark, category, filing date, or status. You can also search by Logo Themes (handy if you’re looking for inspiration) or look for a patent/trademark attorney.

SCL Biz has mentioned the excellent Entrepreneur Magazine and its website – now they have a website for women with articles, blogs, videos, and more geared toward helping make women successful. Check it out – lots of great information here and it is free.

Womenentrepreneur.com

No one likes them, but they are a necessary part of doing business. If you need a Federal form, either regulatory or voluntary, try Forms.gov, for over 5,000 citizen and business forms. You can do a keyword search or browse by agency or the name of the form.

Entrepreneur Magazine has a Vehicle Center website with articles to help you choose and buy the perfect set of wheels for your business, as well as links to manufacturer and fleet websites.

Entrepreneur Commercial Vehicle Center

Every business traveler knows that traveling for business is different than vacationing with the family. TripAdvisor.com, long a help to regular travelers has turned its attention to business trips with a new Business Travel Center. Read hotel reviews with the business traveler in mind, post questions in a discussion forum, check the weather and map meeting locations and nearby services in 750 cities around the world.

TripAdvisor.com Business Travel Center 

The County of Sonoma has a comprehensive webpage describing “how funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is impacting the County of Sonoma.” There is information about both formula and competitive grant funding in different areas (e.g, Transportation, Employment Services, Housing & Community Development, Public Safety, etc.). Details of how the money is being allocated include the Community Impacts for each area, down to the “wearing surface seal coating on approximately 60 miles of arterial & collector highways.”

Economic Recovery | County of Sonoma

SCL Biz recently posted about Reuters Small Business News site – they also have a raft of Green Business resources, including articles on green business technology, building, energy, innovation & design, investing, corporate responsibility, and SCL Biz’s favorite: Green Gadgets.

Reuters Green Business News

The prestigious Reuters News Service is offering news and articles for small businesses on their Small Business News site. There is also a FindLaw Small Business Resources Center with a series of questions and answers on the basics of starting a business, naming it, business plans, financing, buying an existing business, incorporating, employment law, insurance, and more.

Looking at the annual report of potential customers or suppliers is a great way to get information about the company. Use AnnualReportService.com and search by company name, ticker symbol, or browse by industry to discover new clients. The database claims thousands of annual reports or 10-K presentations, with both US and Canadian companies, and you can get also get a free printed copy. You will have to create a free account.

“This year’s HBR List includes ideas that we think are more useful than fanciful, more immediately practicable than speculative. Although we began compiling and winnowing contenders many months ago, we nonetheless did our best to anticipate the context in which you now read them. Thus some of the articles you’ll find here comment directly on the economic crisis, but most of them address other matters that business leaders must contend with: strategic decision making, tapping new markets, finding and keeping top talent, harnessing network effects, dealing with disruptive technologies and business models.”

Harvard Business Review 2009 List of 20 Breakthrough Business Ideas

If you’re contemplating becoming an entrepreneur this article will help you evaluate your chances of success:

10 Things to Be Clear About Before You Start a Company

Here’s an excellent list of online tools for freelancers – SCL Biz’s favorite: Monkey On Your Back : Allows you to create a to-do-list that you want other people to do.

35 Online Tools That Make Your Freelance Career Easier

The eagerly awaited annual Reader’s Poll Best of  list has been published in the July 2009 issue of NorthBaybiz and is also available online:

2009 North Bay’s Best

Congratulations to the Winners!

Here are three programs to helps vets:

• Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative: Up to $500,000 low interest loan for vets, active vets approaching retirement, Reservists, National Guard members, and spouses.
• Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan program (MREIDL):  If you, or an employee, get called up you can get a loan of up to $2 million to help your business survive while you’re gone.
• Veterans Transition Franchise Initiative (VetFran): Interested in a Franchise? This program offers discounts on the initial fees of more than 400 franchises.