Great Resources

At our seminar last Thursday Craig reminded everyone that research is a key component of the business plan. In my mind, if you do not do research on your business, market opportunity, or target market, you are unprepared. If you are struggling with research the Chinook Entrepreneur Challenge (CEC) website has some great resources at http://www.chinookchallenge.com/Resources.html. There is everything there from sample plans to assistance in financial planning to government research pages (stats can). I have not had the opportunity to browse all 70 websites, but I will direct you to some that encompass what we talked about this week.

I would like to draw your attention to the Business Development Bank of Canada (www.bdc.ca). If you browse it you will find:
You can customize the site to your industry sector
Step by step how to guide to start your small business
Sample Plans
Financial templates (very in depth)
but also....
A self Entrepreneur assessment.

All these things will give you a great understanding of what you are up for.

Also, for research purposes, the government has some excellent statistics. On the CEC Resources site there are over a dozen sites that would help. I hope this gets you started in the right direction. See you at the next seminar on Thursday, June 14.