Business & Entrepreneurship

Learn the steps to starting a business, get help creating a business plan, and find data on your customers, competitors, and industry by accessing BPL's online resources for business.

Gale Business: Entrepreneurship

Learn how to start, finance, or manage your small business. Includes sample business plans, how to guides, articles, and more.

Free & accessible anywhere in NY state but requires a library card if outside of NY

Gale Business: Plan Builder

A step-by-step online planning tool for starting, managing and optimizing a business or nonprofit; the Gale Business: Plan Builder dashboard walks users through five areas of exploration to develop a business plan focused on long-term success.

Gale Business: Plan Builder requires each user to create a username and password. To set up your personal account, select “Visit the Resource” below, then “Get Started”, and then “First Time Here? Get Started." To learn more about using this resource, check out this video tutorial.

Library card required

Mergent Intellect

Access to public & private U.S. and international business data, executive contact information, First Research industry profiles, current D&B Key Business Ratios, job search, residential look-ups, and Census demographics. To learn more about using this resource, To learn more about using this resource, check out these video tutorials:

Library card required

Mintel Reports Academic

Market research reports with analysis of consumer markets, companies, and brands.

Unfortunately, the vendor restricts this resource to "view-only". You may not print or download from Mintel.

Only at Central Library

Plunkett Research Online

Market research, industry analysis and company profiles; Job seeker resources

To learn more about using this resource, check out this video tutorial.

Library card required

Reference Solutions (formerly ReferenceUSA)

Business, physician, dentist, and residential directory listings; job postings; data for entrepreneurs to research target customers, competitors and suppliers. To learn more about using this resource, check out this video tutorial.

Library card required

RKMA Consumer Market Research

Richard K. Miller & Associates publishes handbooks focused on marketing and the consumer marketplace. Each handbook includes market assessments and forecasts, sector trends, profiles of market leaders, and statistics. Industries include the internet & mobile web, entertainment, media & advertising, healthcare, restaurants, food & beverage, retail, sports, and travel.

Library card required

SimplyAnalytics

Demographic, business, and marketing data on a local level; users may create reports and maps with hundreds of demographic, business and marketing variables.

Remote access to SimplyAnalytics is available to anyone within Kings County (Brooklyn) with a Brooklyn Public Library card. Exceptions to remote access content are below:

PRIZM Premier behavioral marketing & audience segments and Nielsen Scarborough local market research are only available to users on-site at any Brooklyn Public Library location. PRIZM and Scarborough data is not available to remote users.
On-site users will sign in to SimplyAnalytics with their BPL card number and PIN. Remote users will sign in to SimplyAnalytics with an email address and password. First-time remote users must follow the "Create an Account" link. You may have on-site and remote SimplyAnalytics accounts but these accounts are NOT connected. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Library card required

Statista

Quantitative data categorized into 21 market sectors such as media, business, finance, and politics. To learn more about using this resource, check out this video tutorial.

Library card required

The Salesman's Guide

The Salesman's Guide Retail Buyers Database is for entrepreneurs and business owners seeking national buyers for their products in business categories like fashion, specialty foods, home furnishings, and more. Find and download contact information for store buyers.

Only in library branches