Small Business Dreams Begin At The Library

What do a food vendor, an architectural consultant and a rap artist have in common? They all started their small businesses with the help of Hennepin County Library’s small business resources.

Hennepin County Library’s knowledgeable staff welcomes your business questions. Staff can help you navigate resources available in the libraries and online— on small business start-up and management, researching your product and competition, finding marketing information, creating client lists, buying a franchise, writing a business plan and other topics.

Hennepin County Library’s print resources are plentiful “and our databases are powerful,” said librarian Jim Magnuson in the Business, Science, and Government Documents department of Hennepin County Library – Minneapolis Central.

Databases at www.hclib.org, plus selected websites, are organized into more than 30 subject guides, such as Business & Investments, Jobs & Careers, Patents & Trademarks and Small Business.

ReferenceUSA, D & B (Dun & Bradstreet) Million Dollar Directory and Small Business Resource Center are among the databases that staff and patrons frequently rely on.

Recently, a patron used ReferenceUSA to locate manufacturers of railroad ties in the U.S., said Kim Poole, a librarian at Hennepin County Library–Southdale in Edina.  

“We were able to use the NAICS code (a classification system set up by the U.S. government to describe what a business does) for railroad ties and came up with a list of 40+ manufacturers of this product in the U.S., including contact information and a summary of each company,” she said.

Poole also recalled an entrepreneur who wanted to start a home health care business. The patron accessed the Small Business Resource Center database, selected the link to Business Types and chose “Home Care Services.” 

It provided her with sample business plans, information on available franchises in this field, and articles on the economic outlook for this type of business. 

“The Small Business Resource Center database helped the patron determine whether she wanted to go into this business and also [offered] some tools to get her started on the process,” Poole said.

Jobs and Small Business Centers at the Ridgedale, Southdale, Brookdale, East Lake, Minneapolis Central and North Regional libraries are a good place to start. 

“Most Jobs and Small Business Centers have free copies of the Minnesota state publication, ‘A Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota,’ to give away,” Poole said.

This guide is a great introduction with particularly useful sections on Minnesota-specific topics such as business entity filings, sales tax, worker’s compensation, and the Patent and Trademark Depository library located at Minneapolis Central Library.

Some Hennepin County libraries regularly offer free, confidential, one-to-one small business consultations with experts from the nonprofits SCORE and LegalCORPS. For example, recently a patron sought feedback from a SCORE consultant on an advertising flyer that he was creating.

Libraries also offer free business programs, such as “Traps and Pitfalls in Intellectual Property,” “Patent Workshop for Investors, Entrepreneurs, and Small Business Owners,” and “Small Business Start-Up Guidelines.” For the schedule, go to http://www.hclib.org/pub/events/ and click on Business & Careers.

“The library was a lifeline for us,” says Bryce Williams, half of a dynamic brother-sister duo and successful entrepreneurs of their unique Sister Chris’s Fruit-Flavored BBQ Sauce. Vicie Williams, also known as Sister Chris, overcame personal adversity and created their delicious sauces, which are available in five flavors — coconut, mango, kiwi, banana, and pineapple — at 22 local Byerly’s and Lunds grocery stores. With strong faith and a lot of effort, Vicie and Bryce’s positive thoughts of achieving their dreams and goals are becoming a reality — they’re now in discussion with distributors to sell their barbecue sauce at 17,000 stores in 40 states.

How did library resources help a rap artist get started in the music business?  Antoine Jones, a Chicago transplant, used free Internet access and business databases at Minneapolis Central Library to research record companies and trademarks, write and email news releases, obtain a UPC code and learn about other aspects of the music business. His diligence paid off. Jones’ CD was released in December 2011 and is in local music stores.