| Step One: BUSINESS CATEGORY |
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Select the business category and subtype that best categorizes the type of business you are considering. Your selection will appear in the banner at the top of this page. |
| Click NEXT. |
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| Step Two: Expenditure criteria |
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Select the expenditure category that most closely corresponds to your proposed business. The final report will provide a summary of the annual average household expenditures for this category in your specified study area. |
| Click NEXT. |
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| Step Three: Success criteria |
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Select the demographic variables that you would like to have summarized for your study area in the final report. The drop-down menus under the TARGET column allow you to specify a certain component of the population (i.e. persons of a certain age, etc.).
Based on your independent research related to the optimum demographics for success of your business type, you may enter a minimum value for each of the demographic variables under the MINIMUM VALUE column. When specifying minimum values, bear in mind the size of the study area that you will specify in a later step. For instance, if your study area is only one mile in diameter, the minimum values would probably be lower than for a study area of five miles or larger. If you do not wish to enter minimum values, these fields may be left blank.
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| Click NEXT. |
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| Step Four: ENTER SEARCH RADIUS AND SELECT LOCATION ON THE MAP |
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From the RADIUS drop-down menu, select the size of your study area as a 1-, 3-, 5- or 10-mile radius from your business location. |
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Identify your proposed business location in one of two ways: |
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ADDRESS METHOD: |
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From the COUNTY drop-down menu, select the desired county.
Type in a street address. Click GO |
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POINT-N-CLICK METHOD: |
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From the COUNTY drop-down menu, select the desired county.
Use the  tool to zoom in to the general vicinity of your desired location
Click the GET BIZ LOCATION ON MAP button, then click the spot on the map that represents your desired location |
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When the screen regenerates, you will see a ring of your specified radius surrounding your specified business location. Data from the highlighted census block groups will be summarized in the final report. A message stating that “no block groups were selected” indicates that your specified radius does not encompass the center point (centroid) of any census block groups. You should either adjust your business location or enlarge the size of the study area. |
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C. |
To generate the suitability report - Click NEXT. |
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| Step Five: SUITABILITY REPORT |
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Please click NEXT to proceed to the brief user survey. This survey will help us develop Plan-A-Biz into an even better tool. Thanks for your feedback! |
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Printing & Exporting
You may print the Plan-A-Biz Business Suitability Report directly from the web window OR export the report to PDF format for later printing or emailing. To export, select Acrobat PDF File from the menu above the report banner and then click the Export link. Follow the window directions for saving the file (default named PlanABiz.pdf) on your computer. |
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Changing the Success Criteria
After reviewing the three-page report, you may quickly change the Success Criteria by clicking on the small nested arrows located at the top right of the report. Enter the new values for minimum criteria and click the View Report button. The new values will be reflected in the Demographic Characteristics section of the report. |
