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What Comes Next? - Post-recession Advice

Every business owner knows that during a recession, it is difficult for any business to maintain previous levels of income. But after a recession ends, how does a company bounce back? Below are some articles that offer tips and success stories that will help your business exit the recession prepared for the turn around. 9% of Companies Emerge from the Recession Stronger - Here's How (BNET - Harvard Business) How to Reach an Audience Forever Changed by the Recession (Chief Marketer)

Build a Better Facebook Page

It’s all well and good to talk about the best business uses of Facebook and the best strategies for creating Facebook Fan Pages. But pictures and examples are worth a thousand words. That’s why this piece from Mashable is particularly helpful: 5 Fantastic Facebook Fan Page Ideas to Learn From Some tips: You can have a great looking fan page, but your fans are still going to want to DO something. Good example: Gap’s Baby Gap tab encourages parents to post pictures of their Gap-clad tykes. Remember that fans want to get something useful from your Page. You can customize your landing page to spell out the reasons to become a fan (like prizes!), just like Walgreens. If you’re not sure how to build a custom landing page for your Fan page, just follow the links to this article, How to Build a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business .

Are You Cut Out to Be an Entrepreneur?

Take The Test . Twenty questions you need to ask yourself. Developed by Babson College professor Daniel Isenberg, this piece is from The View from Harvard Business . *** This is rather entrepreneurial: Caring for Pets Left Behind by the Rapture For a fee, this service will place your dog or cat in the home of a caring atheist on Judgment Day. By Mike Di Paola, Bloomburg Business Week Many people in the U.S.—perhaps 20 million to 40 million—believe there will be a Second Coming in their lifetimes, followed by the Rapture . In this event, they say, the righteous will be spirited away to a better place while the godless remain on Earth. But what will become of all the pets? Bart Centre, 61, a retired retail executive in New Hampshire, says many people are troubled by this question, and he wants to help. He started a service called Eternal Earth-Bound Pets that promises to rescue and care for animals left behind by the saved. (Hat tip to Steve Bissette .)

Source Guide for Renewable Energy

If you are a business in the renewable energy industry or your business has been looking for renewable energy company, then I suggest you bookmark The Source for Renewable Energy , "a comprehensive buyers guide and business directory to more than 16,000 renewable energy businesses and organizations worldwide". There are many different types of renewable energy businesses that have no clear NAICS or SIC code yet. With no clear classification code, it is difficult to create business lists using our business directory databases. The Source for Renewable Energy allows searchers to "locate renewable energy businesses by geographic location, by product type, by business type and by name, or search for renewable energy businesses using keywords". For example, I could create a list of US Electric Vehicle Battery Manufacturers, a list of US Renewable Energy Trade Associations by Business Name, or a list of Ocean Energy System Component Businesses in the World. As yet, I have

Beware Health Insurance Scams

I still get faxes, a technology that I'd given up for dead. Mind you, most of these are "blast" faxes, promoting fabulous six-day cruises, or great breaks on group health insurance. (In response to this sentence, we'll now likely get "blast" email comments.) Surely, I'm not alone, and this recent article from National Underwriter proves that. It quotes extensively from recent comments made by the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud , stating that small businesses, self-employed individuals, and recently-uninsured people are targeted by plans that prove to be ineffective or worthless. Periods of high unemployment are especially vulnerable times for those in need, making these scams even more reprehensible. A money quote: "Typically, the Coalition said, bogus plans promise full health coverage, affordable premiums, and easy signup regardless of preexisting conditions. Victims often must join a fake trade association or union. This ploy, it was exp

The Microbusiness Research Institute (MRI)

The Microbusiness Research Institute (MRI)is an organization dedicated to examining the realities and challenges facing the smallest businesses. "Over eighty percent of the growth in the number of businesses in the United States between 1992 and 2002 came from a surge in the number of microbusinesses (firms with fewer than five employees). Right now, more than nine in ten U.S. firms are microbusinesses." There are white papers available on the site including one called Microbusiness and the Human Economy There is also a Profile of Microbusiness .

Liquor licenses

Looking for licensed purveyors of alcohol in New York State? I found my Reference USA search for wholesalers surprisingly unsatisfactory. Then I went to the source, the New York State Liquor Authority's web page. Specifically, the Public Query System is quite useful. One can search by: premises name or the trade name. license serial number. location of the premises. name of the principal for the license. One can also use the Advance Search Find a license according to the City, County, Zip Code, Dates, License Category (on-premise, off-premise, wholesale) and License Status. You may also download the search results, though I had more luck with the Excel than the text, which formatted strangely. A peculiarity in the system, though, is that out-of-state registrants all show up in the records for Albany County. Thus, the 690 cureent wholesale records are not actually applicable to Albany County.

Appliance swap out - Save energy & money

My washing machine died around the holidays. Thanks to my procrastination and the laundromat around the corning, I managed to go hold out on buying a new one until this Saturday. Good timing, Amelia! Buying a new energy efficient machine this weekend made me eligible for New York's Great Appliance Swap Out , New York's energy-efficient appliance rebate program. If you're thinking about buying an ENERGY STAR refrigerator, freezer or washer there's still time to apply for the rebate. The program runs until February 21st, and according to the website, there's still more than $12,000,000 in remaining funds. If you're planning to recycle your older model, you could get $105 for a refrigerator, $75 for a freezer or $100 for a washer. If you need a refrigerator, washer and dishwasher you can get a bundled package and save $555.

Operation: Start Up and Grow 2010

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The SBDC at Onondaga, along with the Syracuse District SBA is presenting Operation: Start Up and Grow on Thursday, March 18 in Syracuse, NY. This is a resource day for veterans and has been a very successful event in the past. The SBDC and SBA have received a lot of good feedback from veterans who attended this event. This all day event, is at no-cost to veterans, and includes breakfast and lunch. Please feel free to pass the information on to any veteran that may be interested in attending.

Obama Outlines Latest in a Series of New Small Business Proposals

from the THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary, via the SBA Press Office President Obama Outlines Latest in a Series of New Small Business Proposals Successful SBA programs expanded to increase working capital, help businesses refinance WASHINGTON – Friday, February 5, in Lanham, Maryland, President Obama proposed the expansion of two critical Small Business Administration (SBA) lending programs, aimed at allowing small businesses to refinance and increasing limits for working capital. These are both legislative proposals designed to help small businesses through what continues to be a difficult period in credit markets. President Obama said, “The true engine of job creation will always be businesses. What government can do is fuel that engine: by giving entrepreneurs and companies the support to open their doors, expand, and hire more workers. Today, we're taking another step towards assisting small business owners get the capital they need to grow and hire.” SBA Administr

The Most Common Passwords of All Time

For some reason, I have always thought that a password should be super-secretive and only understood by a few select individuals. When I first heard in a movie that the four most common passwords were "God", "Love", "Sex, and "Power" (which the below articles do not list as the four most common), I thought that those 4 words were very poorly-chosen passwords. Later, I learned that weak passwords involve many elements, including a lack of variation in capitalization or not using numbers and/or symbols. The below articles let you know what the weakest passwords you could pick are and how to make sure your password isn't easy to figure out. Top 20 most common passwords of all time revealed: ‘123456,’ ‘princess,’ ‘qwerty’ The top 500 worst passwords of all time If you find your password on one of these lists, I highly recommend changing it.

Recalls

In view of recent news, here is a useful site sent to me by a friend: www.recalls.gov Here you can look up recalls by class of product and see if you have anything to worry about. You can also search by agency, as well as simply read about recent recalls. It's most useful if you have a product in mind, since there are about a million products say, in the medical category that would never apply to the lay person. So rather than wade through everything, you can type in the product to see what comes up.

Answering questions on the fly in Twitter

Next time you have a tax question, consider going to Twitter for the answer. TurboTax now has a group of folks on Twitter, prepared to answer tax questions on the fly. You can read more abou their set-up here: http://mashable.com/2010/02/01/turbotax-twitter/ Or just go straight to the source and their Twitter feed here: http://twitter.com/teamturbotax To see the questions they are answering, click on any of the @username links in the answers. Will they be able to keep up with the questions as the tax deadlines approach? It’s hard to tell. Still, it’s a good example of a useful service application for Twitter. Do you know any small businesses that might be able to create goodwill with their customers (or SBDC clients?) by answering their questions on Twitter?

Survey customers without invading their privacy

Though it may feel as though it is a losing battle, concerns about privacy permeate the national dialogue, from fears about identity theft to potential TSA full-body scans at airports. For many businesses, engaging in customer research can mean walking a fine line between gathering vital information for you and intruding on the customer's privacy. It's a tough nut. You need to know who your customers really are and the reasons behind their buying decisions. But crossing the line to find out too much can be downright perilous. Here are seven tips.

10 BRILLIANT Marketing Ideas!

I would like to point out that Entrepreneur Magazines did not capitalize the word "brilliant" in the title to this blog. Although the title of the article is 10 Brilliant Marketing Ideas , the magazine only capitalized the first letter. After reading the article, I felt that it was important for me to highlight how truly brilliant the 10 marketing ideas were for the world of business. I have highlighted a few below, but I highly recommend checking out all 10. #1 - A Diamond is Forever - The popular De Beers campaign in 1939 "brazenly promoted the idea that every marriage required the gift of bling...[and] invented the "two months' salary" spending rule." Another example - "Just Do It". #6 - Absolut Vodka - "The product was clear, flavorless and more or less indistinguishable from any of its competitors. But the agency TBWA's clever use of the bottle's shape and name made Absolut the first breakout premium vodka - and inspired bar

The William and Joan Schreyer Business Library at Penn State

Every now and then I like to write a blog post about general business resources that I use. A few months ago, I discovered a very useful resource that I recommend bookmarking for future use. The William and Joan Schreyer Business Library at Penn State has compiled Industry Guides for various industry. The guides are organized industry sector or alphabetically. Check out the guide for the Biotech Industry . Guides provide NAICS, scope of the industry, databases to use for further research, U.S. and World companies and resources that provide industry data, related reference titles in the library, trade associations and journals, and occupational information sources.

The Top 10 Gadgets of the 00s

A list from ABC News, reminding me of just how long ago 1999 really was: http://tinyurl.com/ycjabyb Nonetheless, I can't believe the Snuggie didn't make the cut.

Thrall Special Coverage Guide: Haiti Earthquake

Mary Climes, Head of Reference at the Middletown (NY) Thrall Library, and Thrall reference librarian Robert Tiess have created (and continue to update) a resource guide concerning the earthquake crisis in Haiti . They have done so, as they have done "in the past with other guides in our Special Coverage Center, for the dual benefit of our local library system members and the larger world of online users." Topics include: ◦About Haiti ◦About Earthquakes ◦Charity & Relief Organizations ◦Contact Information ◦Embassies & Consulate ◦Health Information & Issues ◦Photographs & Photojournalism ◦Maps of Haiti & Earthquake Zone ◦Missing Persons Searches ◦News & Special Coverage ◦U.S. Government Information ◦U.S. Military Support Missions ◦United Nations (UN) & International Information ◦Library Resources & Research Keywords *** IRS Notice 2010-16 designates the Haiti earthquake occurring in January 2010 as a qualified disaster for purposes of § 139 of t

Employment Law Guide

Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor released an updated version of its " Employment Law Guide ". Here's a description of it, from a DOL press release: "The Guide helps the public - workers and employers - understand many of the laws affecting the workplace. For instance, it helps small businesses develop wage, benefit, safety and health, and nondiscrimination policies . . . The updated version addresses recent and important changes in employment laws, including the increase in the federal minimum wage and an expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act . . ." They also stress how helpful this guide can be to those businesses that do not have a dedicated human resources person on staff. Keep this in mind for clients who fit that description, as they (obviously) are still beholden to labor law.

Branding Highs & Lows

It's getting a little late in January to be talking about bests and worsts of 2009, but here's a couple of lists that I enjoyed. Brand New, a division of UnderConsideration, provides commentary on brand identity work, and has a couple of interesting lists with logo and brand analyses. Check out: The Most Relevant Identity Work of the Decade and The Best and Worst Identities of 2009 Do you agree with their assessments? Give you any good ideas?