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Kirstein Business Library

Concourse Level, Johnson Building, Central Library, 617-859-2142

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Let’s make writing your business plan less arduous.

Posted on January 4th, 2013 by Amber De Angelis in Kirstein Business Library

Writing a business plan can be frustrating. There is a lot of information to include which means there is a lot of information to forget.  We have assembled several resources to help you get started with your business plan, but sometimes you just need that extra leg up.

Enter Enloop — an online product to help you build a better business plan while assessing the viability of your idea.  Enloop’s product has been featured by Mashable,  CNNMoney,  and many others.

 

Some cool features

While there is a free option, some of the more advanced tools are available if you if you purchase a premium account.  Enloop asks you a series of questions about your business idea and analyzes the answers to compute your Enloop Performance Score or EPS. The FICO-like score updates as you or collaborators adjust the plan.  Higher scores indicate the likelihood of success.

Moreover,  Enloop calls attention to weaknesses in your plan and gives you suggestions on how to correct them.  Enloop will also generate cash flow and profit and loss forecasts based on the information you supply.   And depending on which account type you use, Enloop will calculate up to 15 ratios so you can see how your idea stacks up against others in your industry.

Another convenient feature is Autowrite.  It will take all of the information you have entered and insert it into a business plan template.  The template is pretty flexible so you can add sections, create charts and graphs, and download it as a pdf.  Again some features will be limited depending on price.

Overall, Enloop is nifty tool to create a draft, especially if you are not sure how to phrase the language of your business plan.  The free account is very useful, but if you chose to subscribe to the service you can always cancel it later.

One last note

Remember, we have several programs geared at helping small businesses get started.  On Tuesday, January 29 we will be holding our very popular Getting Started in Business program.

Also we host SCORE mentors every Friday.  To make an appointment please call 617-859-2142 or just ask a librarian at the reference desk.

Cheers!

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Get a boost with the SBA’s Learning Center and Youtube Channel

Posted on January 2nd, 2013 by Amber De Angelis in Internet Resources

Do you need extra guidance in starting and managing your small business?

The Small Business Administration has taken the time to create several tutorials and videos on a wide variety of topics.

 

SBA Learning Center

 

Tutorials

If you go the the SBA learning center page you can view a variety of courses for free on topics such as:

  • Disaster recovery
  • Government Contracting
  • Marketing
  • Business Technology
  • Introduction to Accounting
  • Loan preparation
  • And more

Each of the 29 courses is about a half hour long and is intended to give you the basics as well as to point out SBA programs that can help you. Users can toggle between the presentation outline and slide notes using the tabs in the pane on the left hand side. One note: they are presented using Flash so you can’t view them on any iOS devices, but you can view the text based versions as PDFs.

Videos

The Learning Center’s videos are also valuable.  Some videos are a great way of seeing how other small business owns came up with solutions to problems. If you go to the SBA’s Youtube account you can see more videos too. This video from their Youtube channel explains SBA issued  Loans:

Other videos include more niche topics such as:

  • Establishing an Online Presence
  • Team Building
  • Record Keeping
  • OSHA compliance

If you still need help please take advantage of our SCORE Business Fridays.  You can ask a librarian at the Kirstein reference desk or call 617-859-2142 to make an appointment.  Each appointment lasts an hour on Fridays between 10am and 1pm.

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Organize your job search with Careerleaf

Posted on December 14th, 2012 by Amber De Angelis in Internet Resources

With the holiday season upon us, it can be difficult to keep track of your job  hunt.  But luckily there is a tool that can help.

Careerleaf is a great portal for managing your job hunt.  Setup is easy. When you create your account you can import your resume or data from your LinkedIn  account. Your account includes a profile, an email account, and three powerful tools– the job search function, Application Manager, and the Tracklet.

Job Search

The job search function makes it simple to search across multiple job boards quickly. Career leaf pulls from multiple sources including SimplyHired, USA Jobs, Career Builder, Mashable and more. Just type in the job title and your zip code into the search bar and you’re in business.

The Tracklet

Once you find a job posting to your liking, Careerleaf makes it easy for you to apply to openings  and keep track of the postings.  All you have to do is install the Tracklet into your browser. Clicking on it will launch the app and you’re ready to rock.

You can use the tracklet to:

  • Autofill an application
  • Send emails via your Careerleaf account
  • Download your resume
  • Add jobs to the Application Mananger

Application Manager
Careerleaf’s Application Manager allows you to keep track opportunities and add notes. The notes can be especially helpful when you are prepping for an interview. Moreover, you can add contact infomation and set the stage you are in the hiring process.  It also makes it easy to add your correspondence to the Application Manager when you use your Careerleaf email.

Two more things…

Take the tour of the website and look at the FAQs   Here you can learn about privacy settings and a little bit more about the features CareerLeaf has to offer. Check out their blog too.

And two, if you next extra support, Neighbors Helping Neighbors is going to be meeting every Wednesday at 7pm here in the Kirstein Library.

Cheers and good luck!

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Get financially set for the new year

Posted on December 12th, 2012 by Amber De Angelis in Internet Resources

The page on the calendar is about to flip to 2013. Why don’t you get control of your finances for the new year and beyond!

Start plotting out your financial goals for next year by using  Planwise. Planwise is a tool to help you organize and manage your  finances. The best part about it is that it’s free. You don’t  have to include any personal information.

Planwise encourages you to really think about your monthly spending and saving. If you enter your basic financial information (monthly income, loan payments, bills, rent, etc), the tool plots your expenses on a graph. Then you can plan for one time expensive purchases, buying a home, job loss and more.  You can see how your savings or your debt to income ratio are affected.

It’s very easy to learn.

  • Go to www.planwise.com
  • Take the tour
  • Sign up with your email address
  • And start planning your future!

Just a note this is just a tool and not a substitute for actual financial advice. If your really need help managing your finances we suggest contacting a certified financial planner.

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Preparing for an Interview Tuesday, October 23, 2012, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m

Posted on October 17th, 2012 by Amber De Angelis in Kirstein Business Library, Programs

Have you been in the job market for awhile?

Do you have a job interview coming up?

Interview being conducted

Well this workshop may be for you! Get tips and advice on how to prepare for an interview so you can ace it and make an awesome impression on a potential employer.

Where:

Central Library in Copley Square
Training Lab
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116

Location: Central Library
Neighborhood: Back Bay
Type of Event: Workshops & Classes
Cost: Free
Audience : Young Adults (Ages 20-34), College Students, Adults

Don’t forget about our other career resources such as Career Transitions.

Look out for our other workshops coming up!

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