Useful Websites

Business Planning:

Bplans.com
The Bplans.com web site provides you with dozens of free, sample business plans.

Center for Business Planning
This web site offers dozens of sample plans and a very in depth series of articles to assist you with all sections of your plan.

How to Research a Business Plan
This document from BC Stats' web site shows you what should be included in a plan, where to find the information, and how to properly interpret it.

Interactive Business Planner
The Interactive Business Planner (IBP) assists you with creating formal business plan. You can develop all sections sections of a business plan, including complete financials. The IBP also provides you with examples of completed business plans.

Online Business Advisor
The Online Business Advisor provides you with an abundance of excellent articles on small business management, marketing, and training.

Planning your Business
Business Tools - Small Business Handbook offers a large series of downloadable business tools. The series includes financial spreadsheet templates, sample letters, contracts, forms, and policies. Downloads are excel spreadsheet and rich text files.

Market Research:

Small Business BC Market Research
Small Business BC Resource Center offers helpful business service officers, international directories, customized reports, workshops and seminars, a business library, and business reports.

BC Stats
BC Stats is the central statistical agency of the Province of British Columbia. They have the provincial government's largest concentration of statistical products, services and expertise. 

Canadian Company Capabilities
Use Canadian Company Capabilities to find comprehensive contact information, sales, SIC code, year established, export information, company profile, and more.

Performance Plus!
With Small Business Profiles, you can estimate expenses for hundreds of different kinds businesses. The data provide performance benchmarks for the financial planning of start-up and established small and medium sized businesses.

Statistics Canada
Statistics Canada publishes a wide variety of information on economic and social condition in Canada.

Strategis
Strategis is probably the most comprehensive source of Canadian market and business information. There are several hundred thousand documents available.

Strategis: Economic Analysis and Statistics
Economic Analysis and Statistics provides you with newsletters and analysis of economic topics, including trade, investment, and indicators of the Canadian economy.

Marketing:

Ways to Promote Your Product or Service This document describes brief examples of ways to promote your product or service from the various print and electronic media. 

Do You Know the Results of Your Advertising
This document gives pointers on planning ads and discusses several ways you can compare advertising and sales.

Internet Marketing
An eBusiness Connection guide to promoting your business online.

Marketing Guide
This handbook is intended to be a tool for entrepreneurs to assist them with their marketing efforts. It includes topics like Developing a Marketing Strategy; Market Research; Marketing Mix; Sales Forecasting; Marketing Services; Marketing on the Internet and more.

Marketing Plan Template
Learn the fundamentals of developing a Marketing Plan.

Plan Your Advertising Budget
This document describes various methods for establishing an advertising budget and suggests ways of applying budget amounts to get the effect you want.  

Mentoring:

Women’s Enterprise Centre’s mentoring program
The Women’s Enterprise Centre is pleased to offer a new three-part Mentoring Program that includes Peer Mentoring Groups, One-to-One Mentoring and Mentor Advisory Forums. Visit the website to determine if you are eligible for the mentoring program.

Peer Resources Mentors
Learn how you can join the Peer Resources Network where you can access to the best documents, manuals, training materials, and mentor program details.

FinAMentor.org
FindAMentor.org offers a database of mentors and apprentices—a safe community where people can find support for achieving their desires. There are over 1400 Categories of interest ranging from careers, to education, to life process, to spirituality, so people can seek out guidance or share experiences in a specific part of life where there is mutual genuine desire for growth.