New York SBDC Research Network

One of you fine folks at a NYS SBDC center (I won't mention who, but the person has the same first name as my father AND my sister) sent me this nifty link to the New York Times Small Business page with news, tips, and the like. One of the stories, also sent separately by this SBDCer, is this story : "The Supreme Court, in its most important patent ruling in years, on Monday raised the bar for obtaining patents on new products that combine elements of pre-existing inventions." Interesting stuff. Please feel free to send us useful sites such as this one. *** New postage rates , as you probably know, started yesterday. But while the first ounce charge went up from 39 to 41 cents, the subsequent ounce rate went DOWN from 24 cents to 17 cents. So the cost of a two-ounce letter has gone from 63 cents to 58 cents. *** I thought those of you who attended last year's staff training would find this story rather intriguing.

A blog I read recently led me to an article on the SpecialtyFood.com website. It's called "Striving for Third Place," and, no, it's not an essay that is promoting mediocrity. While the article targets businesses in the food industry, the ideas it puts forth can be implemented in a variety of retail & service stores. The article posits that the "first place" in a person's life is home, while the "second place" is work. The "third place" is that public spot where people gather and interact with such regularity that they become part of the business' very fabric. There are several suggestions here on how entrepreneurs can help establish their businesses as a third place. These are ideas on how to generate repeat customers, but, in a larger sense, these are ways to better integrate the business as part of a larger social structure in a neighborhood. Right after college, when I was adrift in Albany, I found myself routinely visitin

One of our favorite sites for business start-up guidance is the Business Owner's Toolkit which covers all aspects of starting and running a business. One topic covered that I have referred to recently is the section on selling a business, something that comes up from time to time. I found that this site covers just about every step in the process. You can read the complete section on selling a business here . Here are the major issues you need to think about when it's time to sell your business: Initial issues in selling out : how should you time your decision and choose experts to help, and what legal/ethical pitfalls do you need to avoid? Valuations of small businesses : how does the market put a price on a small business, and what can you do to maximize your own business's value? Finding a buyer : what do you need to know about working with a business broker, creating a selling memorandum, and other marketing concerns? Structuring the deal : what are your o

I hope you all enjoyed staff training as much as I did. It was great to meet so many of you, and to put faces to email addresses! Prior to coming to our staff training, I went to the spring meeting of the Upstate New York Special Libraries Association. Our speaker was Stephen Abram, director of innovation at SirsiDynix, president-elect of SLA, and a library futurist. Like our futurist, Abram stressed the importance of continual learning, and the need for librarians to keep up with Web 2.0 and social web technologies. He cited a project conducted by the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County, where employees of the library were encourage to play with web and digital technologies for 15 minutes a day and blog about their experiences. This project supported camaraderie within the library and in a short period of time, taught everyone some great new skills. Read more about that project here : There are so many new technologies out there that could help us in the way we w

I recently came upon a listserv, ostensibly about a movie theater, which had a thread about the closure of a neighborhood video store, designated here as VS. There were a number of comments of sorrow: I saw a piece on the local news channel that VS is closing. They said they did not have enough business. I don't think we can persuade them to stay open. Even though I was a member, they somehow weren't on my radar screen and I would forget to go there. I bet the Internet video businesses took a bite of their profits, too. There were also comments about the competition from Netflix, Blockbuster, and video on demand. Then, there were more nuanced responses: I was in the store this past weekend returning 2 movies we rented and asked why VS was closing. The owner of the store mentioned his disappointment in our community, stating that there are over 10,000 households in our zip code alone and he had only 300 active memberships. He thanked me for being a member of his store, supportin

Thanks to those who came to our presentation last Tuesday. For those of you who couldn't attend, here are the PowerPoint slides: http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/2007_Staff_Training_RN_Presentation.ppt (And, for those of you who WERE there, you can now linger over Amelia's slides. Stupid laptop re-booting . . .) During our talk, Josee made reference to a few things you can do on your end to better manage the information that we send you. She created a quartet of tip sheets, which were available (with the cookies) at the back of the room. Again, for those of you who couldn't make it, here they are: http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/RN_Tip_Sheet_Outlook_Safe_Senders.pdf On how to better ensure that emails from the Research Network get to you. http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/RN_Tip_Sheet_Outlook_Journal.pdf Use Outlook's "Journal" function to track the history of your inquiry. http://www.nyssbdc.org/RNFiles/RN_Tip_Sheet_Outlook_Junk_Filters.pdf Another way to make sure

I know that Darrin is the signage guru around here, but this week of staff training reminded me of a sign that I saw at a restaurant in Lake Placid when I was there for a meeting a few years ago: "We cook your food to order. Not responsible for overcooked meat." Then there's the Lake Placid bakery that had THE most annoying sign on its wall - 35 "stupid" things that their customers have asked, and their "clever" responses: "Do you bake everything here?" "No, we have it flown in from Chicago. The plane lands right on Main Street to deliver daily." "Aren't you hot in here?" "Yes, but we can eat what we want and sweat it off." "What's a Snickerdoodle?" "There is a sign in the showcase. It is in front of a Snickerdoodle." "Is that ALL you have?" "No, we keep the really good stuff for ourselves to eat later." And my personal favorite: "Do you have any water?" &

Empty Net? Will snagging a government contract ever get easier? By Mark Henricks | Entrepreneur Magazine - May 2007 An article in the latest Entrepreneur Magazine talks about the state of small business government contracting and offers some statistics: What share of federal contracting dollars is small business getting? Here’s a closer look, broken down by the top 25 major producing agencies. Big Spenders Source: General Services Administration, Federal Procurement Data System and Global Computer Enterprises Inc.

Someone asked some interesting questions about sales tax on clothing items valued at under $110 when sold by mail, answered here . One of the examples that caught my attention was this, and it's not limited to the mail order aspect: If one is selling a shirt, cufflinks and a tie tack as a package for $50, then the whole thing is taxable because the accessories are taxable, even though the shirt would otherwise not be.

One of the reasons as to why the Research Network decided recently to go all-digital can be found in the results of this survey . Wells Fargo & Gallup frequently conduct surveys of small business, with a specific emphasis lately on the role technology plays in a small business owner's management style. As you can see, this is an attitudinal survey, asking business owners what they think might happen if Internet access went away, etc. Nonetheless, such attitudes are a driving force in how business owners conduct their operations. I've handled a few recent requests where the client didn't have an email address. Since addresses can be obtained freely, I'm not sure why neither of them had one. Perhaps it's a reflection of a personal philosophy, or a sign of discomfort with certain technologies. However, perception is key, and surveys like this serve as guides as to what small business owners see as the expected norm in the American economy. It's been said many

America and its guns * There are nearly 200 million privately owned firearms in the US * In 2004, there were nearly 11,000 homicides involving guns, according to the FBI * Total number of victims from firearm incidents was 477,000 in 2005 * A British citizen is 50 times less likely to be a victim of gun homicide than an American * One third of firearms are handguns * 16 children and teenagers are killed by gun accidents in the US each day * Guns that are kept for self defense are 43 times more likely to be used to kill a friend or family member * Possessing a household gun increases the chance of suicide by five times. * Guns are used five times more often for self defense than for crime * 24 per cent of people who draw their guns actually fire them * 5,000 gun shows are held per year across the United States * The number of gunshot wounds from assaults treated in hospital emergency departments in America fell from 64,100 in 1993 to 39,400 in 1997, a 39 per cent decline www.independen

What’s a ning you ask? It is an online platform that allows users to create and participate in their own social networks. Librarians love these sorts of things, and nings have been a recent topic of discussion on our favorite BusLib listserve. Like a listserve, a ning can facilitate communication between individuals with shared interests, and provide a forum for notices and discussion. Unlike a listerve, you have the opportunity to post a picture, and perhaps carry on a more casual discussion than you would want to post to a list of thousands. You can create your own, or participate in an existing ning. And librarians aren’t the only ones with nings. These are all related to business . Read more about Ning here.

"I have a patron who is looking for nonprofit organizations' IRS form 990" Foundation Center.org has a database. I looked for those in NYS in 2005 and discovered that 44991 documents matched, though only 100 documents are displayed, so narrowing by name will be necessary. Grantsmart.org showed 85844 Matches Found for New York, though it may cover more than one year. It claims to have over 620,000 tax returns filed by over 100,000 private foundations and charitable trusts. If you're looking for aggregate tax data about charities, or for that matters, businesses generally, go to the web page of our good friends at the IRS . Hurry up and file those taxes!

The Research Network has had a written policy of limiting our clients to 50 records for any business list we create. (It's right there on page 185 of the SBDC's current Standard Operations Policy document . . . what, you didn't have that memorized?) We've gotten away from that, mostly because it was not a great effort to generate lists that were a bit larger. A poll of the librarians here reveals that it's been pretty common to provide your clients with lists of 50 to 100 companies, mainly because there was no consequence to us. We'd pay once for the American Business Disc CD-ROM at the beginning of the year, and that would be that. ABD was produced by InfoUSA. Last fall, I learned that they wouldn't be making the CD product anymore. Now we're using their web-based database (called Reference USA). We paid a rate for four librarians, and then have unlimited usage for twelve months. The product is up for renewal at the end of the month. InfoUSA cha

"A BNET reader recently asked our Where's the Line? writer (aka "Your Conscience") what she should do after unexpectedly finding an office-wide salary list. Her dilemma? She's making less than her peers. In The Danger of Salary Secrets , the Conscience advises her not to abuse the power. Would you be tempted?" Of course, from the employers' point of view, one ought not to be leaving such information in the copier. Another recent article is The Great Workplace Wiki Divide? , where it discusses the effect of a "younger generation of workers who embrace Web-based tools in a way that often confounds older workers." I liked this recent intro: "No matter how much companies rely on technology to get to the job done faster, managers can't forget the human factor. How employees are managed, motivated, and led can make all the difference in the world about how they feel when they walk in the door and when they shut down their PCs at the end of t

This is a blog with a specific audience. We don't advertise it outside the program, so consequently we don't get a barrage of emails soliciting reviews of, or links to websites for, specific products and services. That's not the case in much of the blogosphere. Lately, I've been trying to persuade other small business blogs to mention the "What's Your Signage" website , as the right blogger can be a very valuable marketing ally. It's slow-going, and requires patience, and knowing that you're sending the right message to the right blog. I came across this article: " The Must-Know Do's & Don'ts of Marketing to Bloggers ". It's written by a woman who has been receiving unsolicited email pitches for years. If any of your more technically-literate clientele discuss the blogosphere as a potential marketing tool, have them keep these tips in mind. Otherwise, they'll just be wasting their time on an audience that likely will

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration will honor America’s top entrepreneurs – and name the National Small Business Person of the Year – at national ceremonies in Washington, D.C., during Small Business Week, April 23-24. The two-day celebration will honor the small business accomplishments of individuals and business owners at four major award events. “The SBA is proud to honor the entrepreneurial spirit of the men and women who have played such a key role in the success of the economy and the prosperity of our nation,” SBA Administrator Steven Preston said. “I am proud to represent an agency that touches so many people’s lives, not only helping them realize their dreams, but doing so in a way that provides jobs, expands our economy, and supports innovation in our country.” The 2007 Small Business Week will be at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, where more than 100 outstanding small business owners from across the nation will be recognized. A

Two things we love around here: trends and new food & beverage products. Put 'em together in a lovely online journal? You get the Stagnito's New Products Online , a daily journal for product developers. Besides access to the print New Products Magazine , the site offers frequently updated news about new products, packaging and wellness trends. There's also a calendar for goings-on in the food and beverage industry and commentary on the state of the market (today's is about the importance of company behavior on consumer choices). Pleasant browsing. Good for searching. I like it.

From BUSLIB: U.S. Census Bureau information from the Statistical Abstract (PDF) can be found here , especially pages 8, 10, 14, and 16. Summary from the American Bankers Asoociation (PDF) (2004) Article from MSN quoting data from Experian that 1 in 7 Americans carry 10 or more credit cards, with an expert calling that fact 'just plain nuts.'

As a librarian, I'm compelled to organize things by category. This includes emails, for which I have 90 categories in Outlook. Sheesh. I don't like having too many emails in the Inbox. Those that reside in this main category are those that require something from me. Last week, I got it down to four. That's some kind of record. Soon after, I read this story from the Online Wall Street Journal. Its subtitle spoke volumes to me: “Forget Spam -- It's Unnecessary Email That Makes Our Inboxes Runneth Over”. Amen to that. The author has his tongue planted firmly in cheek (I love the idea of a "Withdraw" button), but there's truth beneath his satire. Read it - I'm sure you'll recognize others (but hopefully not yourself) in some of the suggestions he puts forth.