Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum

SCORE offers free and confidential face -to-face mentoring and email counseling at https://score.org. Local workshops are conducted to meet the needs of both start -up and existing businesses.

SCORE Austin

5524 Bee Cave Road, Building M

Austin, TX 78746

512-928-2425

h t t p s : / / a u s t i n . s c o r e . o r g

s c o r e . a u s t i n @ s c o r e v o l u n t e e r . o r g

//facebo o k. com / SCO RE Au stin

**************

San Antonio SCORE

615 E. Houston St., Suite 298

San Antonio, TX 78205

h t t p s://sanant o n io.scor e. o rg

inf o .0164 @sco rev o lun t ee r.org

210-403-5931

Copies of this publication shall not be made without the express

permission of the Austin-San Antonio SCORE Forum. For further

information, contact SCORE Austin, 5524 Bee Cave Road, Bldg. M,

Austin, TX 78746.

A Quick Reference Guide for Start-up

and Existing Small Businesses

in Austin & San Antonio

Personal Preparation

Research and Focus

Business Structure

Personnel/Hiring

Business Plan

Federal/State/Local Contracting

Opportunities

Marketing Strategies

Funding Opportunities

Additional Resources

June 2018

Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum

Before committing to starting a business, review your credit history, cash flow, collateral, and character references as well as your business manage- ment experience. The links below are guides to assist you in determining

your ability to siness. The websites contain small business guides which are intended to serve as roadmaps for starting a business. They are both comprehensive and easy to use. They also contain numerous electronic links for additional information. These links contain business plan formats, financial plan formats and marketing plan formats.

https://austin.score.org (Browse our library}

h t t p s : / / i r s . g o v

h t t p s : / / a n n u a l c r e d i t r e p o r t . c o m

Check this website for information on how to conduct market analysis,

with prepara- tion of cash flow, breakeven, and collateral estimates. Online training is also available for conducting a marketing analysis, targeting markets, and protect- ing your business with patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Other useful sites include:

Local libraries also have a wealth of information: htt ps :// a us tin tex a s .go v/l ib rar y, htt ps :// m ys a pl .o rg/ ,

https://roundrock texa s.gov/rese arch

To do research on public library websites you will need a library card number to enter some of the research sections.

St art ing a Bu sine ss inT ex as

Starting a business in Texas requires you to begin with a business plan and then follow the four steps outlined in this comprehensive document: h t t p : / / b u s i n e s s i n t e x a s . c o m

https://license.state.tx.us/LicenseSearch/ Ques

tions related to Austin zoning and licensing call Danny Brewer at Small Business Program, 512.974.7772

For liability, assets, vehicles, business disruption information go to this

A list of franchise businesses is available at the following site: h t t p s : / / f r a n c h i s e r e g i s t r y . c o m Consultants to give you free assistance in buying a franchise: htt ps :/ / fra nne t. com

If you are interested in opening your own restaurant go to this

All businesses and nonprofits must file a listing of their personal property as of January 1st of each year. The form is due on or be fore the 15th. The form may be acquired from your county appraisal department or at:

Buyers/suppliers Doing business with Dell:

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Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum

Online Score Counselors provide business advice to the military community: This SBA site provides resources to help veterans with business

development.

The IRS website provides information on starting, operating or a business, what taxes each form of business is required to pay and how to pay them. It also provides information on how to apply for Form SS-4:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/

d/1xmypUmUXprFVeM7yUCUEtG2V-04nECqC8ud2LEo6EBY/edit?usp=sharing

Census data on a variety of demographics: https://census.gov/ compendia/statab/

This site talks about not only patents and trademarks, but also talks about copyrights

For obtaining information about NAICS. h t t p : / / c e n s u s . g o v / n a i c s

Generates Profit and Loss statements for selected businesses ’, based on sales:

A quick reference to assist Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) http s:/ / c o. tra v is. t x. us/ purch a sin g/ hu b. a sp

- Every sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation or other organization going into business should call the office of the State Comptroller to deter- mine if a Sales Tax Permit is required for the product you sell, rent, lease or for the service you render. There is no fee for this permit. https:// window.state.tx.us/taxpermit/

All businesses must have a legal identity. Many factors must be con- sidered when choosing the best form of business ownership. This SBA website provides an overview of your options: https://sba.gov

If you choose to register as a sole proprietor your business name must be on file with each county clerk ’s office. Register at:

County Clerk websites surrounding Austin:

Travis: https://co.travis.tx.us/ -

W illiamson: https://wilco.org

Hays: https://co.hays.tx.us/

Burnet: https://burnetcountytexas.org

Bell: https://bellcountytx.com

Bexar https://co.bexar.tx.us/

Comal: https://co.comal.tx.us/

Guadalupe: https://co.guadalupe.tx.us/

/ Phone: 512-463-5555

/ Phone: 512-472-8303

Also, to apply for an EIN (Employment Identification Number) go to https://irs.gov

https://txsea.org/

https://cpascount.org

Should I use credit cards to fund my business?

Payroll/Hiring Services: PayChex, Just works, Goodwill Staffing,

TriNet

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Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum Austin—San Antonio SCORE Forum

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ice of Women s Ownership and Entrepreneurial Development is a of Entrepreneurial Development s network of training and counseling services:

State

Local

City of Austin Certif ication

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The Score website has templates for marketing plans and other use- ful tools. Click on Templates at.

Using Social Media for Marketing your Business. The most used:

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin

For beginners check out these sites

h t t p : / / f a c e b o o k . c o m / b l u e p r i n t

h t t p : / / l e a r n . l i n k e d i n . c o m /

h t t p : / / m o z . c o m / b e g i n n e r s -g u i d e -to- seo

h t t p : / / m o z . c o m / b e g i n n e r s -g u i d e -to- s o c i a l - m

e d i a

h t t p : / / d r e w b e d a r d . c o m / h o w - to - m a k e -a - y o u t

u b e -c u s t o m - t h u m b n a i l

Using your Website for Marketing

A free tool for listing your website on Google, Bing and other lo- cal search engines easily: h t t p : / / m o z . c o m / l o c a l

Small Business Trends https://smallbiztrends.com

https://sqquarespace.com - Easy reliable make your own website

https://firstsiteguide.com

We recommend W ord Press and plug in Yoast to build your web- site or blog

https://problogger.net/how-to- write-great-blog-content/

Check out the rates for logo designs: https://freelancer.com

For ecommerce sites use: https://shopify.com https://godaddy.com , https://bigcommerce.com

: https://us.accion.org ,

https://liftfund.org https://peoplefund.org

https://bigaustin.org https://bcloftexas.org

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