BUSINESS SERVICES & PROFESSIONALS

Running a small business often requires skills that the owner may not have—or simply does not have time to handle.

This directory can help business owners find professionals for legal services, accounting, bookkeeping, taxes, website development, marketing, graphic design, virtual assistance, writing, photography, cybersecurity and other specialized business needs.

Before hiring anyone, compare qualifications, experience, pricing, reviews, contracts and exactly what services will be provided.

⚖️ BUSINESS ATTORNEYS & LEGAL SERVICES

Business attorneys can help with:

Business Formation • Contracts • Partnerships • Employment Issues • Intellectual Property • Disputes • Compliance • Business Transactions

Start with:

American Bar Association — Find Legal Help — Useful starting point for finding legal-help resources and lawyer referral information.
LegalZoom — Provides business-formation, legal-document and related legal services.
Rocket Lawyer — Provides legal documents and access to legal-service options.

For significant legal matters, look for a licensed attorney with experience relevant to the business and jurisdiction.

™️ TRADEMARK & INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY HELP

Businesses may need assistance protecting:

Business Names • Logos • Trademarks • Original Written Content • Photography • Artwork • Software • Product Designs

Official starting resources:

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — USPTO — Official U.S. resource for federal trademarks and patents.
U.S. Copyright Office — Official U.S. resource for copyright registration and information.
USPTO Find Legal Assistance — Useful for information about finding qualified patent and trademark practitioners.

🧾 ACCOUNTANTS & CPAs

Accountants can help businesses with:

Financial Statements • Accounting Systems • Tax Planning • Business Finances • Financial Reporting • Business Structure Considerations

Places to start:

AICPA & CIMA — Professional organization and resource for accounting and CPA-related information.
QuickBooks ProAdvisor — Useful for finding professionals experienced with QuickBooks.
Xero Advisor Directory — Useful for finding accountants and bookkeepers familiar with Xero.

📚 BOOKKEEPERS

A bookkeeper may help with:

Recording Transactions • Categorizing Expenses • Reconciling Accounts • Maintaining Financial Records • Invoicing • Accounts Payable/Receivable

Places to research help include:

QuickBooks ProAdvisor — Find accounting and bookkeeping professionals familiar with QuickBooks.
Xero Advisor Directory — Find professionals working with Xero.
Upwork — Useful for researching independent bookkeeping professionals.

💵 TAX PROFESSIONALS

Tax professionals can help with:

Business Tax Returns • Estimated Taxes • Tax Planning • Recordkeeping • Payroll Taxes • Sales-Tax Questions

Official resources:

IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers — Official directory for researching federal tax-return preparers with selected credentials and qualifications.
IRS Tax Professionals — Official tax-professional information and resources.

For U.S. tax questions, the IRS should remain one of the primary official resources on your directory.

🌐 WEBSITE DESIGNERS & DEVELOPERS

Website professionals can help with:

Website Design • Online Stores • Landing Pages • Website Development • Website Redesign • Performance • Integrations • Maintenance

Places to find professionals:

Shopify Partner Directory — Great for businesses seeking Shopify-focused services.
Webflow Certified Partners — Useful for finding experienced Webflow professionals.
Codeable — Specializes in WordPress development services.
Upwork — Large marketplace for independent web designers and developers.
Fiverr — Useful for defined website and design projects at various price points.

🔍 SEO PROFESSIONALS

SEO specialists may help with:

Keyword Research • Technical SEO • Local SEO • Website Structure • Content SEO • Search Visibility • SEO Audits

Places to research providers:

Google Partners Directory — Useful for researching Google Partners for eligible advertising-related services.
Upwork — Useful for finding independent SEO specialists.
Fiverr — Provides access to freelancers offering specific SEO services.
LinkedIn Services — Useful for researching SEO professionals and their backgrounds.

Be cautious of anyone promising a guaranteed #1 Google ranking.

📣 MARKETING PROFESSIONALS

Marketing professionals can help with:

Marketing Strategy • Advertising • Social Media • Email Marketing • Content Marketing • Lead Generation • Campaign Management

Places to find providers:

HubSpot Solutions Directory — Useful for finding agencies and providers specializing in marketing, sales and related services.
LinkedIn Services — Useful for researching independent marketing professionals.
Upwork — Great for hiring specialists for defined marketing projects.
Fiverr — Useful for individual marketing tasks and projects.

📱 SOCIAL-MEDIA MANAGERS

A social-media professional may handle:

Content Planning • Posting • Community Management • Analytics • Social Advertising • Reels/Video • Content Calendars

Places to search:

LinkedIn Services
Upwork
Fiverr
Contra — Useful for discovering independent creative and digital professionals.

🎨 GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Graphic designers can create:

Logos • Brand Identity • Social Graphics • Packaging • Labels • Business Cards • Flyers • Advertising • Website Graphics

Places to find designers:

99designs — Design platform for logos, branding, packaging and other graphic-design projects.
DesignCrowd — Marketplace for graphic-design projects.
Behance — Great for discovering designers and reviewing creative portfolios.
Upwork
Fiverr

✍️ WRITERS & COPYWRITERS

Writers can help create:

Website Copy • Blog Articles • Product Descriptions • Emails • Advertising Copy • Sales Pages • Scripts • Newsletters

Places to find writers:

Ask for relevant writing samples before hiring.

📸 PHOTOGRAPHERS & VIDEOGRAPHERS

Professional visual content may be useful for:

Product Photography • Brand Photography • Headshots • Promotional Videos • Social-Media Content • Events

Places to research professionals:

Thumbtack — Useful for finding local professionals across many service categories.
Bark — Marketplace connecting customers with service professionals.
LinkedIn Services

For local creative work, referrals and local professional portfolios can also be especially useful.

🧑💻 VIRTUAL ASSISTANTS

Virtual assistants may help with:

Email • Scheduling • Customer Service • Research • Data Entry • Social Media • Product Listings • Administrative Tasks

Places to find help:

Upwork
Fiverr
Belay — Provides virtual-assistant and other remote business-support services.
Time etc — Provides virtual-assistant services for businesses and professionals.

📞 CUSTOMER-SERVICE SUPPORT

As a business grows, owners may need help handling:

Email Questions • Returns • Order Issues • Live Chat • Customer Follow-Up • Help Desk Tickets

Useful platforms and services include:

Zendesk — Customer-service and support software.
Freshdesk — Help-desk and customer-support software.
Upwork — Useful for finding independent customer-support professionals.

👥 HR & RECRUITING SERVICES

When a business begins hiring, it may need help with:

Job Listings • Recruiting • Payroll • Employee Administration • Benefits • HR Compliance

Useful resources:

Indeed for Employers — Useful for recruiting and posting jobs.
LinkedIn Talent Solutions — Recruiting and talent-search tools.
Gusto — Provides payroll, benefits and HR tools for businesses.
ADP — Provides payroll and human-capital-management services.

🛡️ CYBERSECURITY & IT PROFESSIONALS

Growing businesses may eventually need professional help protecting:

Websites • Computers • Customer Information • Accounts • Business Email • Cloud Systems • Backups

A strong official starting resource is:

CISA Small and Medium Businesses — U.S. government cybersecurity resources designed for small and medium-sized businesses.

Businesses can also research qualified IT and cybersecurity providers through professional referrals and established business-service marketplaces.

📦 FULFILLMENT & LOGISTICS SERVICES

Product businesses may eventually outsource:

Storage • Picking • Packing • Shipping • Returns • Order Fulfillment

Examples include:

ShipBob — Provides third-party logistics and e-commerce fulfillment services.
Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment — Provides fulfillment services for eligible orders across multiple sales channels.
ShipMonk — Provides e-commerce fulfillment services.

🔎 GENERAL FREELANCER & PROFESSIONAL MARKETPLACES

When you are not sure where to find someone, start with:

Upwork — Wide variety of professional and freelance services.
Fiverr — Good for defined individual projects and services.
Contra — Useful for independent creative and digital professionals.
LinkedIn Services — Great for researching professionals and their backgrounds.
Thumbtack — Useful for finding local service professionals.

⭐ WHO DO I NEED?

Business formation question? → Business attorney or SBA/SBDC first
Contract problem? → Attorney
Trademark? → USPTO + trademark attorney when needed
Taxes? → Qualified tax professional
Bookkeeping? → Bookkeeper
Accounting? → Accountant/CPA
Website? → Web designer/developer
Not appearing in search? → SEO specialist
Need customers? → Marketing professional
Need help converting leads? → Sales professional
Logo or packaging? → Graphic designer
Blog or website copy? → Writer/copywriter
Product photos? → Photographer
Administrative workload? → Virtual assistant
Hiring employees? → HR/payroll professional
Security concerns? → Qualified IT/cybersecurity professional
Too many orders to pack yourself? → Fulfillment/3PL provider

⚠️ BEFORE HIRING ANY BUSINESS PROFESSIONAL

Do not hire solely because someone has an impressive social-media profile.

Check:

Qualifications • Experience • Portfolio • References • Reviews • Pricing • Scope of Work • Deliverables • Timeline • Ownership Rights • Confidentiality • Cancellation Terms • Refund Terms

For regulated professions—particularly law, accounting, tax, financial services and certain licensed trades—verify applicable professional credentials and licensing independently.

💡 THIS WILL BECOME A MAJOR PART OF YOUR DIRECTORY

This category fits the future direction of your directory extremely well.

Today, you can send visitors to established professional directories and marketplaces.

Later, your Small-Business Directory could have its own searchable professional categories:

Eventually a professional could have a profile containing:

Business Name • Professional Name • Specialty • Location/Online • Services • Experience • Website • Contact Information • Social Links • Pricing Range • Portfolio • Credentials