Finding lists of new businesses

[ndlandis]

Hi everybody!

I'm stuck. I am a virtual assistant and an looking for new clients. I'm concentrating my efforts toward new businesses, a "Do it right the first time" approach. Anyway, someone on the VA forum suggested sending mailings to newly filed LLC's. Great idea but how in the world do I get a list of those? I've tried the legal notices in the classifieds and a few state government agencies. Everything so far is a wash out. Any suggestions?:confused:

Thanks,
Norma

[cocoy]

I remember after I registered my LLC.

I got advertising material from banks and those credit card processing services.

I'm curious too.

[thx4yrtym]

Norma,

first , for the new LLC , check at your county government building where folks file permits etc. The new LLC probably registers there. The info is public record and they have to let you view the data. Not likely they have a list for you, but you could ask.

Second, check ( I would go in person ) at the local Small Business Development Center. Sometimes they purchase dvd's of businesses and will export to csv file exactly the business you are interested in by sic code. These won't be new businesses, however you will likely get full address , how long they have been in business and the size of the company.


Best of luck,

[vangogh]

This won't be all new LLCs, but maybe you could check with your local Chamber of Commerce and see if you can find businesses have recently joined. A good percentage will probably be new or relatively new businesses.

[KristineS]

If you have the cash, you can contact a company like InfoUSA and buy an address list. They can parse the data anyway you want, and could probably give you a list of businesses that have started in the last six months.

That would be a more expensive option, but I'm betting they could do what you need.

[Remipub]

I can't speak for every state, but the state of Oregon (and I'm sure many others) sell a list of new businesses very inexpensively. In Oregon they produce a list monthly of all new businesses registered the previous month and it goes for $50 - anywhere from 2 to 4 thousand names. Yeah, I was surprised how many new businesses are registered each month! The list includes all types of business registry - and you can import the list into your own database.

Contact the State's Corporate Division ... often part of the State Secretary's office - they may be able to help.

But also, consider that many newly registered businesses are just an idea someone has and not really ready to invest much into it, or they are just starting off with a shoe-string budget and are not willing to spend money on anything other than the bare essentials. With that in mind, newly registered businesses may not be the most productive source of leads.

[Harold Mansfield]

I'll chime in with the lazy way since I am always looking for the easy way out, any county municipality that is online will have a list of every business registered in that county, with addresses, contact person ( or business owner) either by type of business filing, type of business, and....DBA (all are public information) . You have to do the grunt work separating them, but they all have dates on them...either when the business was started or the last date that they registered or renewed.

Here in Vegas I think it's the county assessors office, and they even list new businesses, as well as the Chamber of Commerce website.

Many of the websites give you options to of course print, or download a .csv, .txt, or even sometimes import into MS Office applications.

County websites are also a good way to check peoples mailing address if they own a home or business, marital/divorce status, any property owned and the value, vehicles registered and value, tax status, and generally one piece of information can lead you to others. It's scary, but in about 5 minutes you can estimate someones income, how much their mortgage is and what school their kids go to.

Probably TMI :)

Last but not least, if you are near a major University, or any state University, they usually have Demographic statistics for the entire state separated by city or county (online), which usually includes businesses. The 2 together can help you narrow down businesses by estimated income level based on zip code, and income demographics of the area.

and Don't forget to scan all your local papers, including free ones...if you look closely many stories feature businesses especially those that are up and coming or brand new...new entertainment and restaurants are in the newspaper by the hundreds every month (depending on how big your area is). If you are actually looking...just about every story in the local section of the paper will give you information about a local business in some way or another, as well as the last part of the local news and morning shows.

Also, take notice of the marketing that new businesses do. Many of them are bright neon signs that they are new ...radio giveaways, open houses, grand openings, etc.

Businesses are screaming at you everyday, you just have look up and take notice. They are not hiding from you, they want to be found.

Hope that helps a little.

[SuzanneDIngram]

Hi ndlandis,

I must confess right away that I am a list broker so I can get you lists of new businesses. :) But the information provided above is great too; if you can do it yourself, inexpensively, why not got for it? Our typical clients are looking for someone to do it for them or they are looking for things they can't find by themselves.

I also wanted to let you know about elance.com, in case you don't already know about it. People post jobs on there and you can bid on the jobs you want to do. My husband is a copywriter (among his many specialties ;) ) and he has gotten some work from elance.

Another way of getting the word out in your community would be advertising in your local paper (usually it's quite cheap) or joining networking groups. I think a lot of people can benefit from a virtual assistant (I have one!).

Good luck to you - I hope you do well.

Suzanne

[vangogh]

Suzanne we've been waiting for you to drop by this thread. You're the perfect person to help here.

[SuzanneDIngram]

Thanks Vangogh!

I hope I can be of help. I know that I can learn a lot here too about all aspects of running a business.

Take care,
Suzanne

[ndlandis]

Thank you so much everybody! eborg9 was very informative. Suzanne, I'll try his suggestions and if I don't have any luck I may be contacting you! Thank you guys again for all your help!

Norma:D