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Gathering InformationA great deal of business information and small business or entrepreneurial help is readily available on the Internet. Market research firms and industry experts publish much of their information on websites, and in trade and business magazines. Reference sites index these magazines, many offer the texts online, and if not, then libraries stock them. Trade associations publish many listings and statistics on their websites as well as in hard-copy publications. Public stock laws require detailed reporting of financial results, and stock market information sources compile industry statistics from financial reports. I'm old enough to remember when gathering information was a problem. Business consultants could make money just collecting the kind of information you need for a good business plan market analysis. These days, however, the problem is much more about sorting through all the information than it is gathering information. The Internet has completely changed research, especially practical business research. This is far too large a topic to cover here, but it is still vital to modern business. By the time you're looking at developing a business plan, I think you should know how to use the Internet to gather information. At the very least, know how to search at Google and how to find Yahoo! and sort through its catalog of business information. As an example, the illustrations on the next page show the main pages of Google and Yahoo! Of course, they will have changed by the time you read this.
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