Small Business Development

Developing a Small Business

Developing Marketing and Business Plans

Funding Resources

*Each resource within the Four Corners region will be marked with an asterisk

See also:

Four Corners Marketing Programs & Services listings of regional resources applicable to a variety of topics.

Arizona Resources

*Arizona Department of Commerce: Small Business Services

Small Business Services provides information and resources for every stage of your business development. Small Business Services collaborates with state agencies and numerous business organizations to promote entrepreneurship among small, minority-, women-owned, and disadvantaged business enterprises.

http://www.azcommerce.com/BusAsst/SmallBiz/

*Arizona Small Business Development Center

Arizona’s Small Business Development Center Network is an innovative partnership between the state’s ten community college districts and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

http://www.maricopa.edu/sbdc/

*Assessing Risks and Financing Requirements

This section gives some tips and tools that can help assess understanding your market and the associated risks and finances required. The section of Business Planning has related discussion on risk and finance requirements.

http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/dmkt/AssessingRisks.pdf

*Business Plans are More Important Now than Ever

This article from the University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension stresses the importance of developing a business plan to help ensure success of a new business.

http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/dmkt/BusinessPlans.pdf

*A Business Plan is Important When Working with a Lender

You don’t have to borrow money to expand a business and make your dreams come true, but borrowing money can make those dreams come true sooner than if you wait to save all the necessary cash. This resource explains the process of working with a bank lender to help with small business development.

http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/dmkt/ABusinessPlan.pdf

*Sources of Small Business Assistance

This is a resource list for the state of Arizona to help with small business development. Listed are college courses, non-profits and other organizations that help with the development of business and marketing plans as well as other business resources.

http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/dmkt/SourcesSBus.pdf

Colorado Resources

*Colorado Business Resource Guide

This guide provides general information to assist you in starting and maintaining a business in Colorado. This Guide references most city, state and federal forms needed to establish a business in Colorado.

http://www.state.co.us/oed/business-resource-guide/index.cfm

*Colorado Department of Agriculture: Business Development Tools

There are numerous publications on this page to help with small business development. Resources include information on getting started, developing marketing plans, and financing information.

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1167928163382&pagename=Agriculture-Main%2FCDAGLayout#Business%20Development%20Tools

*Colorado Small Business Development Center Network

The Colorado Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network is dedicated to helping small businesses throughout Colorado achieve their goals of growth, expansion, innovation, increased productivity, management improvement and success.

http://www.state.co.us/oed/small-business/index.cfm

*Licenses Required for Colorado Businesses: Agricultural Products

This resource page explains all of the various licenses necessary to sell agricultural products in the state of Colorado.

http://www.state.co.us/oed/industry-license/IndDetail.cfm?id=5

*Micro Business Development

Micro Business Development (MBD), a Colorado non-profit organization, was founded in 1993 to eliminate barriers to economic independence for community entrepreneurs, both youth and adult, through access to markets, resources, and business capital. MBD specializes in providing nontraditional loans for Colorado’s microentrepreneurs at a fair rate of interest to support emerging businesses.

http://www.microbusiness.org/gui/content.asp?lang=en

New Mexico Resources

*Arrowhead Center: New Mexico State University

Arrowhead Center is the economic and business development leader for New Mexico State University, helping to create an environment for small businesses to grow and thrive.

http://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/index.php

*New Mexico Department of Agriculture: Marketing and Economic Development

This department of the NMDA helps with marketing resources as well as licenses necessary for small food business in Mew Mexico.

http://nmdaweb.nmsu.edu/marketing-and-economic-development

*New Mexico Small Business Development Center Network

The NMSBDC is a partnership of the US Small Business Administration, the state of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Association of Community Colleges. The network helps with small business planning such as developing marketing and business plans.

http://www.nmsbdc.org/

Utah Resources

*State of Utah Department of Agriculture and Food: Marketing & Development

The mission of the Division of Marketing and Development is to raise the awareness of Utah agriculture and food products and enhance local, domestic and international marketing opportunities.

http://ag.utah.gov/marketing/promotion.html

*Utah Small Business Development Center

The USBDC helps current and prospective business owners, entrepreneurs, and others identify opportunities, develop business plans, refine strategies, overcome challenges, and connect with resources as they advance their business ventures.

http://www.uvsc.edu/sbdc/

*Utah State University Cooperative Extension: Development Centers

This page has information about the small business planning resources available through the Utah State University.

http://extension.usu.edu/agribusiness/htm/smallbusiness/centers

Developing a Small Business

Agricultural Business Planning Templates and Resources

This resource list contains sources of business planning templates and further resources for agricultural enterprises. These resources include Internet and print resources as well as training courses and workshops.

http://www.attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/agriculture_planning.html

Agricultural Marketing Resource Center: Business Development Information

This resource website has information to help with business development and operation.

http://www.agmrc.org/agmrc/business/

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses

Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses, was conceived in 1996 by a planning team for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) to address the evolving business planning needs of beginning and experienced rural entrepreneurs.

http://www.misa.umn.edu/vd/bizplan.html

Business Planning and Management: ATTRA Articles

This is a list of several articles about beginning agricultural business.

http://attra.ncat.org/marketing.html#business

Evaluating a Rural Enterprise

This publication is for people who already live in rural areas and want to add new enterprises to their operations. Its sections guide the reader in evaluating resources, assessing finances, gathering information, and marketing. It also discusses choosing an "alternative" enterprise and offers further resources.

http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/evalrural.html

Small Business Start Up Guide

Careful planning is fundamental to success. The Small Business Planner includes information and resources that will help you at any stage of the business lifecycle.

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html

Starting an Ag-Business? A Pre-Planning Guide

This book is intended to help agricultural business operators (and future business operators) decide which enterprise is best for them to pursue with a full fledged business plan.

http://agviability.cornell.edu/pdf/Pre-businessPlanWorkbook.pdf

Starting or Diversifying an Agricultural Business

An existing farming operation considering diversification must carefully evaluate how adopting a new enterprise will impact existing land, labor, capital, and management resources. This guide will help walk you through the business planning process.

http://agalternatives.aers.psu.edu/farmmanagement/startbusiness/StartingAgBusiness%20PM7.pdf

Developing Marketing and Business Plans

Alternative Marketing and Business Practices

This is a resources guide that has been compiled by the National Agricultural Library’s Alternative Farming Systems Information Center. Included are resources for developing business plans.

http://afsic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=2&tax_level=1&tax_subject=299

*Build a Business Plan

This is an online business planning tutorial developed by the Purdue University.

https://www.agecon.purdue.edu/planner/

*Business Plans are More Important Now than Ever

This article from the University of Arizona’s Cooperative Extension stresses the importance of developing a business plan to help ensure success of a new business.

http://cals.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/dmkt/BusinessPlans.pdf

Developing a Business Plan

This publication will help you create your own business plan. It includes a discussion of the makeup of the plan and the information needed to develop a business plan.

http://agalternatives.aers.psu.edu/farmmanagement/startbusiness/newDevelopBusPlanPM7.pdf

Developing a Sensible and Successful Marketing Attitude
Helps farmer producers analyze their risk-taking attitude, understand the relationship between attitude toward risk and marketing attitude, and familiarize themselves with basic marketing concepts and terms.

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/EC-673.html

Developing and Implementing a Successful Marketing Plan
This publication serves to help producers increase market profitability and marketing skills. Addresses marketing plans, alternative pricing methods, and basic marketing principles

http://www.ces.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/EC-674.html

Feasibility Study Information

Starting a Small Business: The Feasibility Analysis

Whether you plan to expand an existing business, acquire an existing business or start your own new business, this guide will show you how to perform a basic economic feasibility analysis: a preliminary evaluation of your business idea to see if it’s worth pursuing.

http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/pubs/mt9510.pdf

For more information on conducting a Feasibility Study visit the page: Evaluating a New Market

Funding Resources

*Micro Business Development

http://www.microbusiness.org/gui/content.asp?lang=en

Small Farm Funding Resources

Find tools to develop a business plan, write a grant proposal, and locate funding.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/small_farm_funding.htm

See also:

Financing for general resources to help fund agricultural marketing ventures.