A variety of books and websites to help you choose a small business.

Books

• The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants
• Buying a Business to Secure Your Financial Freedom: Finding and Evaluating the Business That's Right for You
• Common Sense Business
• Encyclopedia of Small Business
• Home Office from Hell Cure: Transform Your Underperforming Time-Sucking Homebased Business Into a Runaway Success
• How to Incorporate and Start a Business in South Carolina
• How to Start a Business in South Carolina
• How to Start, Run and Stay in Business
• The One Minute Entrepreneur: the Secret to Creating and Sustaining a Successful Business
• Small Business, Big Life: Five Steps to Creating a Great Life with Your Own Small Business
• Small Business Sourcebook
• SmartStart Your South Carolina Business
• Start Small, Finish Big: Fifteen Key Lessons to Start-and Run-Your Own Successful Business
• Start Your Own Business: the Only Startup Book You'll Ever Need
• Straight Talk About Starting Your Own Business
• What's Stopping You?: Shatter the 9 Most Common Myths Keeping You from Starting Your Own Business

Web Sites

• Business Owner's Toolkit Click on "Starting Your Business" under CCH Small Business Guide for a discussion on finding the right type of business for you.
• Entrepreneur.com Produced by the publisher of Entrepreneur Magazine, this site covers many aspects of starting a small business including a special section on franchises. Click on "StartUps" to find help in choosing a type of business.
• Richland County Online Business Service Center contains helpful information on running a small business in Richland County. Visit this site to find out the facts about business licenses or to browse through the Business Handbook which lists the requirements for operating a business in Richland County.
• South Carolina Department of Commerce Scroll down the page and click on "Starting a Business in South Carolina". Topics such as marketing,legal structure, taxes, registration, and licensing are covered.
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Center The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Center(SBC) is a one-stop shop for small businesses, containing everything from practical business advice to the latest small business news from Washington, D.C. Click on the Small Business Toolkit to find information on starting your own business.
• U.S. Small Business Administration The SBA's web site is designed to aid the entrepreneur in the start-up of a small business. The site contains an online business startup kit that covers writing a business plan, the legal structure of your business, sources of financing, regulations and available SBA assistance.