Business Research Directory

Covers 49 counties across the North Texas region and offers free online training. The Virtual Advisor Interactive provides modules to help you develop your business plan, manage your finances and market your business.

Find a Small Business Development Center near you anywhere in the United States and its territories — search by ZIP code or state.

Learn about SBA financing options and the truth about getting free money from the government.

Learn the ins and outs of small business finance and access free templates for finance.

The mission of ACCION Texas is to provide credit and service to small businesses that do not have access to loans from commercial sources, and to provide leadership and service to the micro-lending field on a national level. ACCION Texas provides individual business loans from $500 to 50,000 for startups and up to $250,000 for established businesses. All loan funds repaid to ACCION are reinvested in the community.

The primary objective of Business & Community Lenders of Texas is to increase employment and economic development by stimulating the flow of capital and modernization of small businesses in the BCL of Texas region. We believe that financing for your business should be custom-build to fit the needs and goals of your business, not the other way around. As a non-profit lender, every loan that we make must meet a public purpose test.

Free business statistics and financial ratios.

Gust provides the global platform for the sourcing and management of early-stage investments. Gust enables skilled entrepreneurs to collaborate with the smartest investors by virtually supporting all aspects of the investment relationship, from initial pitch to successful exit.

PeopleFund is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that provides loans and financial and technical assistance to people who are left out of the financial mainstream. PeopleFund administers small business and non-profit loans, business consulting, and technical assistance as well as a variety of other programs

The Texas Comptroller’s office serves the state by collecting more than 60 separate taxes, fees and assessments, including local sales taxes collected on behalf of more than 1,400 cities, counties and other local governments around the state. State Sales and Use Tax is imposed on all retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods, as well as taxable services. The Texas Franchise Tax is a privilege tax imposed on each taxable entity chartered/organized in Texas or doing business in Texas.

Promoting a dynamic business environment in rural America is the goal of Rural Development, Business and Cooperative Programs (BCP), Business Programs (BP). BP works in partnership with the private sector and the community-based organizations to provide financial assistance and business planning. BP helps fund projects that create or preserve quality jobs and/or promote a clean rural environment

Since 1988, the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has helped advance farmingsystems that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities through a nationwide research and education grants program. Select the Learning Center tab, you will find a complete catalog of Books , which includes Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses. These publications can be downloaded as PDF document at no charge.

The mission of the TDA is to partner with all Texans to make Texas the nation’s leader in agriculture, fortify our economy, empower rural communities, promote healthy lifestyles, and cultivate winning strategies for rural, suburban and urban Texas through exceptional service and the common threads of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Food and Drug Licensing Group issues licenses, permits and certificates, and is responsible for the collection of the appropriate fees. Access applications and forms for Food and Drug Licensing.

The Center for Rural Affairs works to establish strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities.

Looking for the latest in sustainable agriculture and organic farming news, events and funding opportunities? We feature all that, plus in-depth publications on production practices, alternative crop and livestock enterprises, innovative marketing, organic certification, and highlights of local, regional, USDA and other federal sustainable ag activities.

Business-to-business publication for the organic food, fiber and personal care industries that provides expert insights and shares practical, proven strategies to help the industry successfully manage operations and systems to meet the challenges of this expanding market.

Southwest Farm Press offers in-depth coverage of the varied, highly productive agriculture of the southwestern states. Editorial encompasses production, management, research and legislative/regulatory issues affecting growers of key cotton, wheat, grain sorghum, rice, peanuts, pecans, soybeans, corn and vegetable/citrus crops and includes features on the region’s producers and agribusiness news.

The USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development and related issues based on sound public policy, the best available science, and efficient management.

The Economic Research Service is a primary source of economic information and research in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With over 350 employees, ERS conducts a research program to inform public and private decision making on economic and policy issues involving food, farming, natural resources, and rural development.

Results of the 2007 Census of Agriculture were released February 2009 and include Fact Sheets, data comparison by major crops, state and county profiles, the Organic Production Survey and more. The Census of Agriculture is the leading source of facts and figures about American agriculture. Conducted every five years, the Census provides a detailed picture of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them. It is the only source of uniform, comprehensive agricultural data for every state and county in the United States.

Search for an association by name, interest area, or geographic location.

Check out a business or charity from a comprehensive database of BBB Reviews.

The National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE) is the nation’s leading resource for the self-employed and micro-businesses, bringing a broad range of benefits to help entrepreneurs succeed and to drive the continued growth of this vital segment of the American economy.

NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. NFIB also gives its members a power in the marketplace. By pooling the purchasing power of its members, the National Federation of Independent Business gives members access to many business products and services at discounted costs. NFIB also provides timely information designed to help small businesses succeed.

Choose from over 500 example business plans.

Get practical ideas and good models with dozens of examples of successful marketing plans.

A business plan is an essential roadmap for business success. This living, breathing document generally projects 3-5 years ahead and outlines the route a company intends to take to reach, maintain and grow revenues.

Find free, downloadable templates to help you with small business plans, start-up expenses, cash flow and more.

One of the many tools provided by the US Census Bureau , the American FactFinder provides users with the capability to find facts and data for a state, county, city or zip code.

In addition to detailed demographic, workforce, and consumer profiles for every city, county or customizable location in Texas, find businesses that may be your competitors, customers or suppliers. Using Google Maps, you’ll be able to visualize data related to community profiles, industries, and even consumer expenditures.

Based on socioeconomic and demographic factors, lifestyle segmentation helps you better understand where your best customers live, what they buy, how you can find more of them and design an effective marketing strategy to reach them.

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council provides demographic information by MSA, state, county, and census tract/BNA codes for street addresses that is useful for obtaining population and income data.

Discover the information you need to get the job done right. Look up ZIP® Codes, verify addresses, get location geographics and demographics, view maps, and more.

The Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project studies behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure. The project explores these topics by combining original public opinion survey research with social, economic and demographic data analysis. Search for social and demographic trends by reports, charts, topic index, and datasets.

Businesses define the community and property characteristics that are important to them. ZoomProspector speeds up and simplifies the process of site selection analysis so that companies can quickly identify the optimal location for their business start-up, expansion or relocation.

Guide to buying a franchise

SBA eligible franchise programs.

National non-profit trade association representing the rights and interests of franchisees and independent dealers throughout the United States

The International Franchise Association, founded in 1960, is a membership organization of franchisors, franchisees, and suppliers. Our Web site is dedicated to providing our members and guests with a one-stop shopping experience for franchise information.

The Economic Census profiles the US economy every 5 years, from the national to the local level

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is the standard used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying business establishments for the purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. NAICS was adopted in 1997 to replace the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system . Both provide a keyword search option for finding your industry code and description.

The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.

ation on government regulations regarding the sale of securities by smaller companies and financial and other reporting for publicly traded smaller companies.

Search by company name, file number or tax ID number for a corporation or LLC operating in Texas.

The Texas Comptroller’s office serves the state by collecting more than 60 separate taxes, fees and assessments, including local sales taxes collected on behalf of more than 1,400 cities, counties and other local governments around the state. State Sales and Use Tax is imposed on all retail sales, leases and rentals of most goods, as well as taxable services. The Texas Franchise Tax is a privilege tax imposed on each taxable entity chartered/organized in Texas or doing business in Texas.

Find resources on starting and managing a business, selling to and buying from the government, exporting, importing, and much more.

Provides users with the capability to browse, search, and map data from many Census Bureau sources

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy

This website provides access to several EPA databases to provide you with information about environmental activities that may affect air, water, and land anywhere in the United States. With Envirofacts, you can learn more about these environmental activities in your area or you can generate maps of environmental information.

Search EPA databases to learn more about environmental conditions in your community.

FedBizOpps.gov is the single government point-of-entry (GPE) for Federal government procurement opportunities over $25,000. Government buyers are able to publicize their business opportunities by posting information directly to FedBizOpps via the Internet. Through one portal – FedBizOpps (FBO) – commercial vendors seeking Federal markets for their products and services can search, monitor and retrieve opportunities solicited by the entire Federal contracting community.

Promotes a better understanding of the U.S. economy by providing the most timely, relevant, and accurate economic accounts data in an objective and cost-effective manner. BEA is one of the world’s leading statistical agencies.

As a consumer or business person, you may be more familiar with the work of the Federal Trade Commission than you think. The FTC deals with issues that touch the economic life of every American. It is the only federal agency with both consumer protection and competition jurisdiction in broad sectors of the economy.

Small business and self-employed one-stop resource

Our homepage has been created with the desire to serve the copyright community of creators and users, as well as the general public. Here you will find information about our online registration option, key publications and application forms for copyright registration.

By disseminating both patent and trademark information, the USPTO promotes an understanding of intellectual property protection and facilitates the development and sharing of new technologies worldwide.

USPS online services and information

BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal Government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, the U.S. Congress, other Federal agencies, State and local governments, business, and labor.

The Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program produces employment and wage estimates for over 700 occupations. These are estimates of the number of people employed in certain occupations, and estimates of the wages paid to them.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, OSHA’s role is to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women.

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is the state government agency charged with overseeing and providing workforce development services to employers and job seekers of Texas. For employers, TWC offers recruiting, retention, training and retraining, and outplacement services as well as valuable information on labor law and labor market statistics. For job seekers, TWC offers career development information, job search resources, training programs, and, as appropriate, unemployment benefits.

Browse by topic, audience or location for your specific information needs. The Department of Labor (DOL) fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements.

Identify trends in an industry located in your county or metro area related to national, state and local employment and wage data.

Hoover’s is a subscription service that provides detailed information on public and private companies. A free but limited profile of companies and industries is available. You can search by keyword or browse the companies and industries directories.

A free resource guide to industry resources and data for over 400 industries, individual pages for each industry list resources and data available from trade associations, publications, and research firms which address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook, financial information and financial ratios, compensation and salary surveys, and business valuation resources

Manta offers all site visitors free access to contact information, location, and other details for more than 45 million companies. Visitors who register with Manta gain access to more detailed profiles of 13 million companies, also free of charge.

The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) identifies specific industries using a numeric coding system. If you don’t know the six digit code for your industry, you can search by keyword.

Search by company name, file number or tax ID number for a corporation or LLC operating in Texas.

One page profiles of selected industries in Texas.

Search ThomasNet to find manufacturers, distributors and service providers – from Actuators to Zirconium and everything in between.

A unique summarization search engine, ZoomInfo finds, understands and extracts the latest online information about people and companies and instantly delivers it in concise and useful summaries.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) presents Insure U for Small Business to provide helpful information, tips and considerations about insurance for owners of small companies and home-based businesses.

At Avvo, our mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry. Choosing a lawyer is an incredibly important decision—yet most people have no idea how to go about doing it, and resources to guide them are scarce.

Search for occupational licensing requirements by state, occupation or agency. Find information on licenses that may be required by law in order for you to practice a particular occupation. Information for all states, agencies, and licenses may not be included.

Find lawyers, attorneys, in-house counsel and law firms by practice area and location.

Insurance Information & Advice for the Business Community.

Since 1989, the International SBDC has specialized in helping North Texas companies achieve and maintain global competitiveness by providing consulting, training and market research services focused on international trade.

The World Factbook provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities. Our Reference tab includes: maps of the major world regions, as well as Flags of the World, a Physical Map of the World, a Political Map of the World, and a Standard Time Zones of the World map.

Commercial News USA, produced in partnership with the U.S. Commercial Service, helps American companies find buyers and distributors for their products and services. The print version of the magazine reaches an estimated 400,000 readers in 176 countries.

This resource provides information on each of the embassies in Washington D.C., with links to Web-based resources where available.

A staple resource of the export community for over a decade, the Export Yellow Pages™ provides online details about the products and services offered by over 27,000 U.S. companies and, in many instances, access to U.S. company executives and product catalogs.

Export.gov brings together resources from across the U.S. Government to assist American businesses in planning their international sales strategies and succeed in today’s global marketplace.

FITA provides a business directory of over 400,000 overseas export/import related companies in all business sectors. This is an ideal tool for finding overseas partners.

The Small Business Exporters Association (SBEA) of the United States is the largest and oldest nonprofit association dedicated exclusively to small and mid-size business exporters in the United States. SBEA encourages the promotion and growth of exporting U.S. goods and services produced by U.S. based small and mid-size businesses. Through advocacy and education SBEA seeks to make this goal a wide-spread reality.

The Trade Information Center (TIC) is the first stop for companies seeking export assistance from the U.S. Government.

Access free resources that include eBooks, data, and a collection of upcoming and archived internet marketing webinars on a variety of topics, from blogging, to search engine marketing, to press releases.

There are over 900 million people on Facebook. Learn how to reach the right audience for your business and turn them into customers.

The folks at Constant Contact have created a simple collection of guides to get you building online social connections fast, in a way that’s super easy.

Anyone can create an advertising plan, but only a few can create a cost-effective media plan that produces a good number of higher quality leads that convert into sales.

Founded in 1996, New York-based eMarketer is the leading independent source for statistics, trend data and original analysis covering every aspect of the Internet, e-business and emerging technologies.

Comprehensive Social Media Marketing Resources-Social media can be used for more than just connecting with friends. Use the resources on this page to learn how to use social media as a tool to help achieve your business and marketing goals. For specific resources on individual channels, check out our Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Marketing Hubs.

Free marketing calculators that include cash flow, starting costs, break even, and website ROI and conversion rates.

In addition to Sample Plans, you’ll find a list of resources arranged by categories that include How Tos, Resources, and Blogs.

A strong marketing plan will ensure you’re not only sticking to your schedule, but that you’re spending your marketing funds wisely and appropriately.

Done well, marketing is a great way to promote your small business. It requires an integrated approach to a variety of activities that goes beyond advertising your product. For example, the way you describe your product or service is also a form of marketing. This section is a brief overview of concepts and topics to make your marketing efforts more effective.