Also included in that material is a recommendation that you consider getting help from your local Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The SBDCs are funded by federal, state, and university funds and they tend to be very good information and help at very economic costs, frequently entirely free. For where to find the closest one, there is a list of them linked to a map on our website at www.bplans.com, on the front page near the bottom.

Aside from the SBDCs, the manual talks about industry associations, trade magazines, and, most important, what I call "shoe leather" research. One tip is find somebody else who has had a similar business problem, who doesn't compete. Find a business like yours in a far-away town, for example, or one with your same warehouse problem but non competitive, and ask them.

Its hard to summarize 30 pages, so I need to refer back to the manual.

Thanks for asking,

-- Tim Berry