Grow Your Business

When you're ready to expand your business, that might mean offering your product or service to a larger market. Some of areas will repeat -- does the new market different from your current one? Do you need to hire more employees? Find a second physical location? Source additional material?

Separate pages for international and franchising topics are located within this area.

Tips

Starting points:

Find differences between your current market and new market in terms of consumer preferences
Research costs of doing business in a larger or new market

Suggested strategies:

You might have a geographic market in mind: In that case, use geographic limiters to find information on consumers and business costs.
You might have a category of consumer: Use that category to find the appropriate geographic market (for example, if you are starting a childcare business, you may want to find locations with high number of households with children).

The following materials link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to additional online content are provided when available.

Plunkett's Outsourcing & Offshoring Industry Almanac by Plunkett Research
Call Number: HD2365 .P58
Published/Created: Annually, 2007 to present

These are freely available online sources provided by government agencies, trade publications, and organizations.

eLaws
The Department of Labor created eLaws, a website that contains a number of tools called "advisors." The advisor asks questions about your business scenario and determines the applicable employment laws.
Employer.gov
Organized in a frequently-asked-questions format, this federal government portal has information for employers on laws, compensation, and benefits.
HUBZone Program
This is a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) program for small business that operate and employ individuals in Historically Under-utilized Business Zones (HUBZones). This link provides information on how to get certified as a HUBZone business.
Small Business Profiles by State, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy
The state profiles provide information on the number of small business by state, how many jobs they create, how many establishments opened and closed, the industries with the most and least small businesses, and which counties have the most small business employment.
State Government Websites
This IRS website provides state by state links on doing business in each state, with information on doing business in the state, taxation, employer links, and general information.
State Minimum Wage Laws
Use the legend to highlight different minimum wage categories, and click on any state to learn about applicable minimum wage laws.
WAND External
Directory of suppliers and traders of a large range of products and services in 172 countries.
Alibaba.com External
Alibaba is one of the largest e-commerce companies, where buyers can purchase products from suppliers at wholesale prices from over 190 countries. Like other trading platforms, there may be scammers, so research companies before doing business with them.

Small Business Hub: A Research Guide for Entrepreneurs

Business Reference: Ask a Librarian

Grow Your Business

Tips

Starting points:

Suggested strategies:

Select Resources