Semistructured interviews were conducted with 58 female and 59 male small business owners or managers from Kansas City, Missouri, and Phoenix, Arizona. They discussed their businesses and ranked their 3 or 4 most important personal and impersonal sources of information. Between men and women, there was no difference in: 1. the degree of planning, 2. the importance of personal as compared to impersonal planning, and 3. the perceived turbulence of the business environment. No women respondents mentioned membership in a male-dominated (80% male) formal network. In many instances, women used other women as information sources when the sources were definite minorities within their profession. Women indicated that sources of information were based on professional qualifications. Personal assistance, encouragement, and moral support were frequently mentioned when women discussed their female sources of information. It was concluded qualitatively that females gained social and instrumental support from their female networkers. Men did not mention social support when discussing their information sources.