Search for Business Licenses and Permits

Every business needs one or more federal, state or local licenses or permits to operate. Licenses can range from a basic operating license to very specific permits.

Regulations vary by industry, state and locality, so it's very important to understand the licensing rules where your business is located. Not complying with licensing and permitting regulations can lead to expensive fines and put your business at serious risk.

How to Get Licenses and Permits

SBA.gov's Business Licenses and Permits Search Tool allows you to get a listing of federal, state and local permits, licenses, and registrations you'll need to run a business.

In the search box below, type in the location of your business, and choose from a list of common small business types. Click "Search" and you'll get a results page showing federal, state and local licenses you'll need along with links to web pages, application forms and instructions. For local permits, links to local government websites and contact information are provided.

If your type of business is not listed, select "General Licensing" and follow the links to your state and local licensing agencies to find licensing requirements for your specific businesses.

For more information go to SBA

Developing a Marketing Plan

Marketing takes time, money, and lots of preparation. One of the best ways to prepare yourself is to develop a solid marketing plan. A strong marketing plan will ensure you’re not only sticking to your schedule, but that you’re spending your marketing funds wisely and appropriately.

What can a Marketing Plan do for Your Small Business?

A marketing plan includes everything from understanding your target market and your competitive position in that market, to how you intend to reach that market (your tactics) and differentiate yourself from your competition in order to make a sale.

Your small business marketing budget should be a component of your marketing plan. Essentially, it will outline the costs of how you are going to achieve your marketing goals within a certain timeframe.

If you don't have the funds to hire a marketing firm or even staff a position in-house, there are resources available to guide you through the process of writing a marketing plan and developing a market budget.

Bend Your Budget When Necessary and Keep an Eye on ROI

Once you have developed your marketing budget, it doesn’t mean that it’s set in stone. There may be times when you need to throw in another unplanned marketing tactic -- such as hosting an event or creating a newspaper ad -- to help you reach your market more effectively.

Ultimately, it’s more important to determine whether sticking to your budget is helping you achieve your marketing goals and bringing you a return on investment (ROI) than to adhere to a rigid and fixed budget.

That's why it's important to include a plan for measuring your spend. Consider what impact certain marketing activities have had on your revenues during a fixed period, such as a business quarter, compared to another time period when you focused your efforts on other tactics. Consider the tactics that worked as well as those that didn’t work. You don't have to cut the tactics that didn't work, but you should assess whether you need to give them more time to work or whether the funds are best redirected elsewhere.

Granted, some tactics are hard to measure -- such as the efficacy of print collateral (brochures, sales sheets, etc.), but you need to consider the impact of not having these branding staples in your market tool kit before you reign in your graphic design and print funds.

Marketing plans should be maintained on an annual basis, at a minimum. But if you launch a new product or service, take time to revisit your original plan or develop a separate campaign plan that you can add to your main plan as an addendum.

At the end of the day, the time spent developing your marketing plan, is time well spent because it defines how you connect with your customers. And that's an investment worth making.

Making Your Website Mobile Friendly

As more consumers use their smartphones and other mobile devices to search for places to eat and shop, small businesses without a mobile version of their website could be losing potential customers and revenue.

Just having a website isn’t enough, said Alex Kutsishin, chief executive of FiddleFly, which helps companies tweak their websites for the mobile Internet.  “Searching a website that’s not optimized for mobile is like having to stop and pull out cash in the E-ZPass line,” said Kutsishin. “It’s all about convenience right now.”

According to a mobile Internet report issued by Morgan Stanley, more users will connect to the Internet from mobile devices than desktop PCs within five years. As the popularity of mobile search continues to grow, Kutsishin predicts Internet search providers like Google (GOOG: 579.28, -12.40, -2.10%) and Yahoo (YHOO: 15.79, -0.12, -0.75%) will rank websites without a mobile site lower in search queries.  The search engines are going to “make sure they feed customers the most credible information on the most convenient platform, which is why being mobile is important,” says Kutsishin.

Because they are viewed on much smaller screens, mobile websites need to designed specifically for use with the “mobile thumb.”  That means people need to be able to reach any part of the mobile website with their thumb while holding the phone in one hand.

“A sign that it’s a good mobile site is if you don’t have to turn the phone sideways or zoom in,” said Kutsishin. He also advised the buttons on a mobile site be bigger, the fonts larger and zooming shouldn’t be necessary to click on a link or feature. The site also has to be quick to upload information, images and videos—users need to be able to find the most important information as fast as possible.

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If you need some help with your website we can help you.

Small Business Innovation Research Program

SBIR is a highly competitive program that encourages small business to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs.

Competitive Opportunity for Small Business:

SBIR targets the entrepreneurial sector because that is where most innovation and innovators thrive. However, the risk and expense of conducting serious R&D efforts are often beyond the means of many small businesses. By reserving a specific percentage of federal R&D funds for small business, SBIR protects the small business and enables it to compete on the same level as larger businesses. SBIR funds the critical startup and development stages and it encourages the commercialization of the technology, product, or service, which, in turn, stimulates the U.S. economy.

Since its enactment in 1982, as part of the Small Business Innovation Development Act, SBIR has helped thousands of small businesses to compete for federal research and development awards. Their contributions have enhanced the nation's defense, protected our environment, advanced health care, and improved our ability to manage information and manipulate data.

SBIR Qualifications:

Small businesses must meet certain eligibility criteria to participate in the SBIR program.

• American-owned and independently operated
• For-profit
• Principal researcher employed by business
• Company size limited to 500 employees

The SBIR System:

Each year, eleven federal departments and agencies are required by SBIR to reserve a portion of their R&D funds for award to small business.

• Department of Agriculture
• Department of Commerce
• Department of Defense
• Department of Education
• Department of Energy
• Department of Health and Human Services
• Department of Homeland Security
• Department of Transportation
• Environmental Protection Agency
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• National Science Foundation

These agencies designate R&D topics and accept proposals.

Three-Phase Program:

Following submission of proposals, agencies make SBIR awards based on small business qualification, degree of innovation, technical merit, and future market potential. Small businesses that receive awards then begin a three-phase program.

• Phase I is the startup phase. Awards of up to $100,000 for approximately 6 months support exploration of the technical merit or feasibility of an idea or technology.
• Phase II awards of up to $750,000, for as many as 2 years, expand Phase I results. During this time, the R&D work is performed and the developer evaluates commercialization potential. Only Phase I award winners are considered for Phase II.
• Phase III is the period during which Phase II innovation moves from the laboratory into the marketplace. No SBIR funds support this phase. The small business must find funding in the private sector or other non-SBIR federal agency funding.

SBA Role:

The US Small Business Administration plays an important role as the coordinating agency for the SBIR program. It directs the 11 agencies' implementation of SBIR, reviews their progress, and reports annually to Congress on its operation. SBA is also the information link to SBIR. SBA collects solicitation information from all participating agencies and publishes it quarterly in a Pre-Solicitation Announcement (PSA). The PSA is a single source for the topics and anticipated release and closing dates for each agency's solicitations.

For more information go to www.sba.gov