Resources for growing a home business

September 8, 2008 1:09 PM

What are your best resources for growing an established home-based business?

I've got a couple of established home-based businesses. I'd like to do more reading about growing them to the next level. I have an MBA, but that focused more on growing high value ventures. I'm interested in turning small businesses into slightly bigger small businesses. I'm especially interested in the transition from "work in the business" to "working on the business" and from owning all the work to letting go and using leverage to grow the business.

Books, magazines, articles, websites, case studies, anecdotal advice -- anything is good. I should emphasize that these businesses are already established, so I'm not looking for help in starting a business. Thanks!

posted by acoutu to work & money (4 comments total)

I think this is exactly what SCORE and the SBA were designed to help with. SCORE may be able to match you up with a local mentor who could share experiences and help you formulate your ideas.
posted by boba at 1:42 PM on September 8, 2008

Your city should have a small business development center of some kind (ask at your local Chamber of Commerce). This is their bread'n'butter and can be a GREAT resource for businesses of all ages and stages.
posted by mynameisluka at 1:49 PM on September 8, 2008

I should add that I'm in Canada, so SBA and SCORE aren't a good fit. (But they'd be great for someone in the US.)
posted by acoutu at 1:54 PM on September 8, 2008

My store is home-based retail so this may not apply, but I find that trade shows are an excellent source of info. They often run a variety of workshops in addition to the floor show. I try to find something that I think is particularly good and then chat to the people running it - there's nothing like admiration and enthusiasm to get people to share tips and their life's story.
posted by ninazer0 at 3:56 PM on September 8, 2008