THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 4, 1995 TAG: 9508040449
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SEAN SAVAGE, KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
The Internet, once the exclusive realm of techie academics and computer programmers, is drawing more and more people from the business world - particularly entrepreneurs.
Hundreds of businesses have already been born on-line, and some of the most successful products, services and ``places'' on the Net were carved out by hungry, independent entrepreneurs.
Not only does the Internet offer a fertile environment for incubating new ideas and enterprises - it also provides a vast array of free information resources to help budding business people plan a successful enterprise and get it under way.
For example, the quarterly Edge Magazine Online - The Entrepreneurs' Journal offers dozens of well-written, insightful articles about everything from multimedia marketing to culling new business contacts from your customers to bypassing telephone receptionists.
Edge Magazine's Internet site includes a section called ``Business Builders,'' a library of 48 in-depth instructional modules designed to train users about the entire process of developing, marketing and managing a business. Best of all, Internet users can obtain all of this without paying a cent.
The ``Small Business Help Center'' provides generalized but helpful articles about getting started in small business, marketing, management and choosing prices for services, among other things. The ``Cyberpreneur's Guide to the Internet on the Internet'' offers reviews of other entrepreneurial sites on the Internet, along with links to the sites. And the U.S. Small Business Administration provides plenty of its own information and instructional articles, as well as Internet links and telephone numbers for its own officials.
So you've come up with a brilliant idea, researched what it takes to start a business and worked out a detailed plan - but you need serious financial support to make the business of your dreams a reality. Before hiring a consultant or taking out expensive advertisements, check out the Internet.
A handful of venture capital groups, including Capital Express and the Capital Network, have established home pages on the World Wide Web, where you can learn more about the groups and contact them with your business plan. Other groups such as Universal Business Services act as matchmakers, hooking up aspiring entrepreneurs with like-minded investors.
Internet entrepreneurs with specific problems or questions not addressed elsewhere on-line often turn to ``misc.entrepreneurs.moderated,'' a free worldwide Internet discussion group for all kinds of entrepreneurs. MEMO: For the addresses of these services and more information about online
resources for entrepreneurs, send e-mail to savage(at)gate.net with the
words ``send success'' as the SUBJECT of the message. If you have
questions, suggestions or tips, contact Sean Savage by e-mail at
savage(at)gate.net, or phone 941-745-7080, ext. 2035.
by CNB