Business News: Business Resources & Help from Your Library

Welcome to the Deschutes Public Library’s business newsletter. As our region has grown, so has the business community, with more business start-ups per capita than anywhere else in Oregon. This quarterly newsletter features business resources and services available at your library and beyond. Discover new books and online resources from the library, plus other information about library partners and featured websites. If you know of anyone who might be interested, please share and encourage them to subscribe.

Visit Our Business Resources Page

Business Plans

Two of the most common business questions we hear at the library are: how do I write a business plan? and where do I find the data to support it? Fortunately, the library offers several resources to help with both.

A great place to begin is with a practical guide. How to Write a Business Plan by Mike P. McKeever walks readers step by step through the process, with clear instructions and helpful worksheets covering financial projections, marketing strategies, and business goals. Another helpful title is Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies by Rhonda Abrams, a straightforward guide for launching or expanding a business. You can find these and other titles by searching the library catalog with the keywords business planning, and several e-books are also available through Libby.

When you’re ready to do some research or look at examples, try Gale Business: Entrepreneurship, an online resource available through the library. It covers many business topics and includes more than 1,000 sample business plans from real companies. A quick search for “business plan” will bring them up, and you can narrow results by adding a specific industry or the word “template” to find outlines that can help guide your own plan.

Another great resource is SCORE. The SCORE Central Oregon chapter offers business plan templates and tools covering finance, marketing, sales, and management. They also provide free mentoring, which many entrepreneurs find invaluable.

If you’d like a more structured learning experience, consider an online course. Gale Courses offers six-week classes that start each month, including Creating a Successful Business Plan. For a quicker introduction, LinkedIn Learning offers a one-hour course on creating a business plan.

Whether you prefer books, online tools, mentoring, or classes, the library can help you turn a business idea into a solid, well-researched plan.

Gale Business Insights

Gale Business Insights provides international business information and offers a comprehensive, convenient way to find case studies, in-depth statistical data, and detailed research. Users can also compare global economies, countries, and industries. The resource includes more than 450,000 company profiles, MarketLine industry profiles, Thomson Reuters financial data, Plunkett reports, and more. You can try it today from home or the office using your library card.

Best of Biz Booklist

Looking for inspiration as you plan and grow your business? Check out these business and leadership books from your local business librarian Liisa Sjoblom. Follow the list and check back monthly for new recommendations. This month’s featured title is Building a StoryBrand 2.0 by Donald Miller.

Around the Web

Startup Business Grants: Best Free Funding Options Startup business grants offer free funding without repayment but are competitive and limited; sources include governments, nonprofits and corporations, with strict eligibility, making this article useful for finding opportunities.

Outside Resource

Thomasnet is an online platform connecting buyers with industrial suppliers and manufacturers, offering product sourcing tools and data, making it useful for efficiently finding reliable business partners and comparing sourcing options.

About the Author

Have you ever considered starting your own business but aren't sure where to begin? Community Librarian Liisa has 25 years of experience serving businesses and nonprofits through research and referrals. She entered library-land through a library assistant position at an academic library. After six years, she went off to graduate school and later found her place at Deschutes Public Library. Her working days are devoted to helping nonprofits with grant research and assisting entrepreneurs in fulfilling their dreams of business ownership, providing excellent customer service along the way. “The best part of working with both communities is attending their meetings and networking opportunities to listen and learn what is affecting their work, both short-term and long-term,” says Liisa. She helps with DPL programs like Book-a-Librarian, which is tailored to meet the customer’s needs. “I am one of the rare librarians who is an extrovert. Give me time to network with others and I thrive.”

Thanks for reading and, again, please share with anyone else who you think would benefit from this information. If you have questions or suggestions about the business resources at your library, feel free to email liisas@deschuteslibrary.org.