Physical development is a result of economic activity. Buildings get built and rehabilitated when there are businesses that need space.

Michigan had a $337,000,000,000 state domestic product in 2006. The U.S. had a $13,246,000,000,000 gross domestic product in 2006. Michigan is a wealthy state and America is a wealthy country. People: let's start more businesses, sell more goods and services, and bring more of that money into Detroit.

Everyone has had a great idea for an invention or business. Don't let your anxiousness get the best of you. The following three resources are designed to make it easy to move past the "talk to action barrier."

First, here is a BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE (.doc). (Right mouse click on hyperlink, then "Save target as..") It has sections for all of the things you need to think about in order to start a business: market research - customers, market research - competition, company and product, president, board of advisors, income statement, executive summary, etc. You just type your information in the correct sections.

Second, here is an INCOME STATEMENT TEMPLATE (.xls). (Right mouse click on hyperlink, then "Save target as..") You need to sell your products or services and you will have expenses. An income statement or "profit and loss statement" is a spreadsheet that helps you keep track of your revenue and expenses. You just fill in the spreadsheet cells and it will add up the columns and rows.

Third, when you start a business, you need to do research to figure out all of the details. The Internet makes this research a lot easier than it used to be. Google is obviously great for doing research online. The US Census Bureau, and in particular its "Quickfacts," are great for demographic and population data. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis is good for income and economic data. You incorporate with the State of Michigan. Hoovers has detailed financial and contact information about corporations. And of course Comerica, Chase, Huntington, LaSalle Bank, etc. would all love for you to open a checking account and deposit your proceeds with them.

Did you find these things useful? Cityscape is a 501(c)3 that would appreciate a donation.