Helpful Links

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About the D-U-N-S Number

Created in 1962, the Data Universal Numbering System or D-U-N-S® Number is D&B's copyrighted, proprietary means of identifying business entities on a location-specific basis.

About.Com - Inventors- Selling and Marketing Your Invention

About.com has usefuol information for inventors. What do I do to make money from my invention ideas? The different paths an inventor could follow. Is selling an invention outright best? Can you handle manufacturing, selling, or marketing your own invention?

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Basic Terms and Concepts

There are a few (and only a few) things you need to understand in order to make setting up your accounting system easier.

Bioentrepreneur

This site is designed specifically for biotech entrepreneurs. It contains useful information, business tips and articles specifically designed for biotech start-ups.

BPlans.com

BPlans.com - Your business plan starts here. Sample plans, How-to articles, planning tools, software, and other resources for preparing a business plan

Building your first business Web site

Advance planning will help you ensure that your tech investments pay off. You have a couple hundred million good reasons to take your business online.

Business Forms for the State of Wisconsin

If you are starting or operating a business in Wisconsin, this page links you to all the State of Wisconsin forms you will need to fill out. They include organization, taxes, unemployment insurance and workers compensation forms

Business Owner's Toolkit

Guidance and tools for all aspects of starting and growing a business

Buying and Selling a Business

How to Find a Business Owner Who Wants to Sell. Ways to Cash Out of Your Business. How to Sell a Professional Practice

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Catering to a few vexing workers can backfire

Have you volunteered to serve as therapist to some of your most troubled employees?

Components of the Accounting System

Think of the accounting system as a wheel whose hub is the general ledger.

Conducting Employee Reviews

Employee assessments should be an ongoing process, not something that happens once a year. Implementing an Appraisal Process

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Doing Business with the state of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Municipalities

VendorNet provides easy access to a wide variety of information of interest to vendors who wish to provide goods and services to the state as well as state agencies and municipalities.

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Entrepreneur Magazine

Entrepreneur Magazine provides online resources for business startup and growth

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Financial Excel Spreadsheets

Matt H. Evans, CPA, compiled a list of 90+ Excel spreadsheets to assist in preparing financial statements and other financial analyses

Find a Microsoft qualified small business technology specialist in your area

Microsoft Small Business Specialists offer technology advice, support and service, specific to your small business.

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General Ledger

The general ledger is the core of your company’s financial records.

Get a D&B D-U-N-S Number

D-U-N-S Number assignment is FREE for all businesses required to register with the US Federal government for contracts or grants. Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) provides a D-U-N-S Number, a unique nine digit identification number, for each physical location of your business.

Guide to Getting an Invention to Market

Tips to take your invention from the idea stage to the real world. Get your invention from the brainstorming stage to the store shelves.

Guide to Launching a New Product

A successful rollout can mean increased profits and growth. More than half of all new products fail in the first year.

Guide to Licensing Your Product to Bigger Companies

So you've developed a brilliant new product. Now what? Sometimes, the best option is to hand over the reins to a bigger company. Collect royalties without the production and marketing headaches. Never try to license a product for which you don't hold a patent.

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HR and employee benefits

The power of positive thinking . Companies are concerned with how the economic meltdown is affecting employees, their stress levels and their financial well-being, and it is absolutely necessary for employers to focus in on how to manage this effectively

Human Resource Issues for Start Ups - Salaries

Check what the current wages are for job titles in your area. Find job descriptions, Calculate benefits.

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IdeaCrossing Networking online

Idea Crossing allows entrepreneurs, business owners, service providers, investors, mentors to network and make connections

IRS Resources

Information online for small businesses from the IRS

IRS Resources

Information online for small businesses from the IRS

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Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurship

Kauffman Foundation online resources for entrepreneurs

KnowThis Online Marketing Resource

KnowThis.com's FREE textbook quality Principles of Marketing series of 27 Tutorials offers the Web's most detailed coverage of marketing. Our database contains links to over 2,500 carefully selected marketing stories from leading publications and Internet news sites.

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Leasing, Renting or Buying Office Equipment?

Do you lease or rent office equipment?

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Microsoft Product Center

Isn’t it time your small business had software that helps increase productivity—and your bottom line? Server technology can simplify your daily activities while saving you time and money. Get accounting and financial management software that offers important business insight so you can make better informed decisions. Save time by managing your accounts, business contacts and sales opportunities all through the familiar Microsoft Office OutlookFor single-store retailers, here’s an affordable, easy-to-use application to streamlines inventory management, transactions and customer service.

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Nolo.com: Legal information resource

Nolopedia provides free legal information on a wide range of topics. Lega forms are available from the site.

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Onecle Business Contracts

onecle.com has 1000s of sample business contracts covering most business situations

Online Library: Biz Info Library

an online library offering the world’s best information on starting and growing a business. BIL provides users instant access to relevant, credible, and objective information authored and vetted by the world’s top business information experts.

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SBA Small Business Planner

Resources from the US Small Business Adminstration to assist business startups

SCORE online resources

read How-To articles to help you make decisions for success throughout every stage of your business from SCORE

Second Stage Entrepreneur Resource Center from Lowe Foundation

Hundreds of articles and briefs — solutions gleaned from CEOs, presidents and business owners like you.

Security Guide for Small Business

Security guide developed by the Microsoft Small Business Team . Computer and online security is a growing concern for businesses of all sizes

Startup Nation

Startup Nation is an online resource for business starup and growth

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Templates

Templates to help you organize your business.

The Best Way to Build a Business Website on a Budget

While there are plenty of companies that are happy to build your site for you, we suggest that if you're planning a simple business website, you do it yourself.

The Language of Accounting

ACCOUNTING: A NECESSARY EVIL. The purpose of the accounting system is to communicate. WHAT YOU WANT FROM YOUR ACCOUNTING SYSTEM. Your accounting system should not require a CPA to operate it or to interpret the output.

The Two Faces of Entrepreneurship

W. P. Carey Deputy Dean Phil Regier describes two types of entrepreneurs: those who are replicative and those who are innovative. "The Phoenix metropolitan area ranks relatively high in terms of measures of replicative entrepreneurship, but relatively low on measures of innovative entrepreneurship," Regier said. In contrast, Silicon Valley would rank very high on measures of innovative entrepreneurship.

ThomasGlobal

Thomas Global is the most complete, up-to-date directory of global industrial suppliers and product information. Find importers, inventory, equipment, suppliers for your business. .

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U.S. Census Bureau Data Highlight Importance of Business Startups to Job Creation

Kauffman Foundation-funded U.S. Census Bureau study reports that startup companies are a major contributor to job creation. The study indicates that while business startups decline slightly in most of the cyclical downturns, startups remain robust even in the most severe recession.

US Census Statistical Abstract

The Statistical Abstract of the United States, published since 1878, is the authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Use the Abstract as a convenient volume for statistical reference, and as a guide to sources of more information both in print and on the Web.

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What to Do When an Employee Leaves

Use these steps to achieve a smooth transition during employee turnover. For the entrepreneur, employee turnover always raises challenges, questions and issues.

Wisconsin Licenses, Permits and Registration Services

Do you need to apply for a business license, permit, registration or certification in Wisconsin? Search this site by keyword or category to find useful information such as requirements, fees, how to apply and more.

Writing a New Product or Service Press Release

Press releases are an important part of the marketing/communications effort. Press releases are also good search engine optimization tools. A press release adds content to your site as well as provide rich keywords and phrases used by search engines

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Your Business and the Web

A web presence is an important part of your overall promotional plan. For extensive information on domain names, IP addresses, domain-name dispute resolution and much more, resort to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, Website Business Practices. Avoid Domain Name Registration Scams.