Kaye Stone-Gansz, Stone Goose Enterprises: NYS SBDC Woman Entrepreneur of the Year

Graduate of Monroe Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College, Kaye holds an A.S. degree in Computer Science, a B.S. degree in Computational Mathematics and an M.B.A. In 2011 Kaye retired from a 25-year career at Xerox Corporation where she spent several years as a senior executive in their North American Service organization.

In late 2011, she and her husband Ross formed Stone Goose Enterprises, Inc. and in February 2012, Stone Goose Enterprise, Inc. purchased Smith’s Gravel Pit in Sodus, New York. Kaye is currently the President / CEO of Stone Goose Enterprises, Inc. and President / Owner of Smith’s Gravel Pit. In her roles she runs the day-to-day operations of Smith’s Gravel Pit, an aggregate mining facility; which also provides trucking and excavation services and works strategic development / business expansion for Stone Goose Enterprises, Inc.

Kaye was one of the Rochester Business Journal 40 under Forty recipients in 2004 and in 2006 she was inducted into the Monroe Community College Hall of Fame. Kaye served as the March of Dimes Board Chair for the Genesee Valley Finger Lakes Region from 2004–2011. Currently Kaye resides on the Board of Directors for both the Wayne County Business Council and the Professional Women of Wayne County.

Married to Ross Gansz, General Manager for CGS Fabrication, a division of Calvary Automation in Webster, New York; they have a daughter Jacquelyn and son Jon Ross. They currently reside in Newark, New York.

Employers: ONLY use new Form I-9 for new employee verification

From US Citizenship and Immigration Services:

Form I-9 is used for verifying the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must ensure proper completion of Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This includes citizens and noncitizens. Both employees and employers (or authorized representatives of the employer) must complete the form. On the form, an employee must attest to his or her employment authorization. The employee must also present his or her employer with acceptable documents evidencing identity and employment authorization. The employer must examine the employment eligibility and identity document(s) an employee presents to determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the employee and record the document information on the Form I-9. The list of acceptable documents can be found on the last page of the form. Employers must retain Form I-9 for a designated period and make it available for inspection by authorized government officers. NOTE: State agencies may use Form I-9. Also, some agricultural recruiters and referrers for a fee may be required to use Form I-9.

On March 8, 2013, a new version of the Form I-9 was released. Beginning May 7, 2013, employers must only use the new Form I-9.

Download Form I-9 (447KB PDF)
Download M-274, Handbook for Employers, Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (1KB PDF)

Roger and Shelley Gray, Center Line Studios: NYS SBDC Phoenix Award winner

Founded in 1986 by Roger and Shelley Gray, Center Line Studios (CLS) builds scenery for Broadway shows, opera, and television.

After 9/11, the industry went into a recession. They downsized and moved to a smaller location. They were limited by physical space constraints and were unable to accept projects that would enable the company to grow. In March 2011, they purchased a large building. Vacant for many years, it needed substantial work.

They spent the summer cleaning and doing construction. In August 2011, with Hurricane Irene, the creek flooded by taking the most direct path, through the building, delaying their move.

In January 2012, their small shop caught on fire. They moved the office to their dining room table. The shop continued to function in the area where the fire damage wasn’t as bad.

In February 2012, they met with Mid-Hudson SBDC adviser Myriam Bouchard with the goal of securing a loan to finish the renovations. A few months later, they moved the office out of their living room, and the shop out of the burned facility and into their new headquarters.
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Weather Expert Offers 2013 Hurricane Season Forecast During SBA/Agility Webinar

WASHINGTON – A global climate expert from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will share the 2013 Atlantic Hurricane Season forecast during a free webinar Tuesday, May 28 hosted by SBA and Agility Recovery. After the weather discussion, disaster preparedness tips will be presented by Agility.

Dr. Gerry Bell has been the lead scientist of NOAA’s Long-Range Hurricane Outlook Team since 1998. He was instrumental in developing NOAA’s Atlantic and East Pacific hurricane activity outlook, and has done weather analysis on CNN and The Weather Channel.

The Atlantic Hurricane Season begins June 1. Last year’s season ended memorably when Hurricane Sandy pounded the Eastern Seaboard in late October. The storm caused billions of dollars in damages, and so far the SBA has approved about $370 million in disaster loans to more than 3,500 businesses affected by Sandy.

Now is a good time to protect your employees, customers and business from the devastating physical and economic toll of disasters by making a plan to be safe and stay in business. During the webinar, Agility Recovery President Bob Boyd will share practical business continuity tips.

SBA has partnered with Agility to offer disaster preparedness strategies through its “PrepareMyBusiness” website.

Visit www.preparemybusiness.org to access past webinars.

The SBA provides disaster recovery assistance in the form of low-interest loans to homeowners, renters, private nonprofits and businesses of all sizes. To learn more, visit www.sba.gov/disaster.

WHAT: “Protect Your Business This Hurricane Season” – A forecast from Dr. Gerry Bell, with preparedness tips from Bob Boyd, Agility Recovery President & CEO, followed by a question and answer session

WHEN: Tuesday, May 28 – 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. EDT
HOW: Space is limited. Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/327979008

Why I Love the National Internet Sales Tax Plan

From SLATE.


The Internet, in the popular imagination, is supposed to be free... But you don’t have to be a right-winger to recoil at the idea of an Internet sales tax. People who shop online have always gotten a free ride... Many states require you to pay that extra sales tax on your tax return, but who does that? Nobody, that’s who. The net effect is that shopping online earns you a big, permanent discount. If you’re buying anything big, it almost always makes sense to avoid physical stores.

At least, it did until recently. During the last two years, Amazon, which had long led the charge against efforts to collect sales tax on online purchases, suddenly began striking tax deals with states. This was a strategic capitulation—by agreeing to collect taxes, Amazon can now build huge warehouses across the country. (It had previously avoided setting up warehouses in many states in an effort to avoid creating a “tax nexus.”) The warehouses allow Amazon to significantly increase its shipping speed, approaching same-day shipping in many areas. Brilliantly, Amazon has turned the tax issue into an advantage.

Amazon’s reversal led the way for a national Internet sales tax plan. That’s how we got to the Marketplace Fairness Act, which seems likely to pass the Senate... (there are also encouraging signs in the House). If the bill does pass, a state like Illinois, which loses an estimated $169 million a year in tax to Internet sales, would be able to force out-of-state retailers (e.g., the Washington-based Amazon) to collect sales tax from any Illinois resident. In other words, your free ride would end—no more tax-free stuff from Amazon...

But don’t hate this bill just because you’ll end up paying more. The Marketplace Fairness Act does something that’s almost unheard of: It makes taxes fairer and simpler. There’s also a carve-out for small businesses—any online company with less than $1 million in annual revenue will be exempt from the law.

Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters.

Check out the Trade Finance Guide: A Quick Reference for U.S. Exporters. Spanish version now available! This guide is designed to help U.S. companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, learn the basics of trade finance so that they can turn their export opportunities into actual sales and achieve the ultimate goal of getting paid—especially on time—for those sales.

Visit this site to download your copy - in English or Spanish!

The Small Business Advocate – May 2013

Editor: Rebecca Krafft

The May edition (Vol: 32 , No: 4) of the Small Business Advocate spotlights the chief counsel’s recent visits to Regions II and VII to meet with small businesses, learn about their operations, and hear their concerns firsthand. The Chief Counsel’s message recaps Dr. Sargeant’s testimony on Advocacy’s FY 2014 budget request. The issue also summarizes Advocacy comments on proposed FCC Aviation Communications Rules. And finally, it bids a fond farewell to Jody Wharton, director of information, on her retirement from federal service.

Link to newsletter
More information about the Office of Advocacy

SBA shifting funding away from small business training programs, draws fire from Congress

The U.S. Small Business Administration plans to shift some funding away from basic counseling programs for new and small businesses to help finance advanced training for slightly larger companies, part of the agency’s efforts to nurture the economic recovery even as the government reins in spending...

“The existing programs, such as the Small Business Development Centers and SCORE, provide absolutely fantastic services, but they’re different,” Mills recently told the House Small Business Committee, referring to the agency’s network of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) and the Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) program, both of which provide inexpensive and often free business services. “We want to make sure we reach more entrepreneurs in more places who don’t have access to an intensive entrepreneurship experience.”

At a time when federal spending is being held in check, the SBA proposes to finance the new training course by pulling back on funding for some existing programs. The budget request, for instance, would reduce funding for SBDCs by more than $9.8 million next year and by nearly $500,000 for the SCORE program, both of which tend to target startups and very small businesses.

More from the Washington Post.

NYS SBDC Opens Sandy Help Center in Town of Babylon

New York State has opened two Sandy assistance centers in Babylon Town - one in Lindenhurst and one in North Babylon.

A New York State Small Business Development Center Disaster Recovery Center is now open at 19 West Hoffman Avenue in Lindenhurst for small business owners seeking assistance, according to information posted on the Town of Babylon website .

Meanwhile, the Babylon Town Hall Annex, located at 281 Phelps Lane in North Babylon, will serve as a Sandy Help Team Intake Center. It'll provide assistance to those homeowners applying for storm-related assistance.

More HERE.

SBA Finalizes Rule Adopting Changes to Contracting Program for Women-Owned Small Businesses

WASHINGTON –An interim final rule published in the Federal Register and effective immediately will amend regulations to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Women-Owned Small Business Federal Contract Program allowing for greater access to federal contracting opportunities for women-owned businesses as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2013 (NDAA) signed in January.

The interim final rule removes the anticipated award price of the contract thresholds for women-owned small businesses (WOSB) and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses (EDWOSB) to allow them greater access to federal contracting opportunities without limitations to the size of the contract. The rule can be accessed HERE and comments can be submitted on or before June 6, 2013, at www.regulations.gov, identified by the following RIN number: RIN 3245-AG55.

As a result of the rule change, contracting officers will be able to set aside specific contracts for certified WOSBs and EDWOSBs at any dollar level which will help federal agencies achieve the existing statutory goal of five percent of federal contracting dollars being awarded to WOSBs. The SBA is currently working on the changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations.

Prior to the rule change, the anticipated award price of the contract for women-owned and economically disadvantaged women-owned small businesses could not exceed $6.5 million for manufacturing contracts and $4 million for all other contracts.

Every firm that wishes to participate in the WOSB program must meet the eligibility requirements and either self-certify or obtain third party certification. There are four approved third-party certifiers that perform eligibility exams: El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Women Business Owners Corporation, U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, and the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Additional information and links about approved third-party certifiers are available at www.sba.gov/wosb.

To qualify as a WOSB, a firm must be at least fifty-one percent owned and controlled by one or more women, and primarily managed by one or more women. The women must be U.S. citizens and the firm must be considered small according to SBA size standards. To be deemed “economically disadvantaged,” a firm’s owners must meet specific financial requirements set forth in the program regulations.

The WOSB Program identifies eighty-three four-digit North American Industry Classification Systems (NAICS) codes where WOSBs are underrepresented or substantially underrepresented. Contracting officers may set aside contracts in these industries if the contract can be awarded at a fair and reasonable price and the contracting officer has a reasonable expectation that two or more WOSBs or EDWOSBs will submit offers for the contract.

For more information on the Women-Owned Federal Small Business Contract Program or to access the instructions, applications or database, please visit www.sba.gov/wosb.

U.S. Businesses Show First Rise in Employment Since 2008 Led by Mining Sector

In 2011, total employment from all U.S. business sectors was 113.4 million, an increase of 1.5 million employees from 2010, according to new statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector led the way with a 12.0 percent increase in employment from 2010 to 2011. This year is the first since 2008 in which U.S. businesses reported an increase in employment over the prior year.

There were 7.4 million U.S. businesses with paid employees for 2011, a loss of 42,585 establishments from 2010. This is the fourth consecutive year of decline for the number of U.S. businesses.

These new findings released today are from County Business Patterns: 2011, which provides the only detailed annual information on the number of establishments, employees, and quarterly and annual payroll for nearly 1,200 industries covered at the national, state and county levels. The statistics are broken down according to employment-size classes (for example, number of establishments with one to four employees) and legal form of organization (for example, corporations and partnerships).

State and County Highlights

North Dakota showed the largest percentage rise in the number of establishments, total number of employees and total payroll for any state in 2011. There were 22,370 establishments in North Dakota in 2011, an increase of 538 (2.5 percent) from 2010. There were 306,064 employees in North Dakota in 2011, an increase of 11,157 (3.8 percent) from 2010. Annual payroll was at $12.3 billion, up $1.7 billion (16.5 percent) from 2010.

Among the top 50 counties in the United States ranked by number of establishments, Kings County, N.Y. (Brooklyn) had the largest percent increase in establishments and employment, with a gain of 1,625 establishments (3.4 percent) to 49,837 establishments, and a gain of 24,368 employees (5.0 percent) to 513,746 employees for 2011.

Industry Sector Highlights

Other industry sectors that had an increase in employment included administrative and support and waste management and remediation services (4.6 percent), educational services (3.4 percent), management of companies and enterprises (3.1 percent), and transportation and warehousing (2.4 percent).

Health care and social assistance added the most establishments, with 5,866 in 2011 (up 0.7 percent). Construction showed the largest decline in establishments, losing 24,946 establishments (3.7 percent) in 2011, down to 657,738 overall.

The retail trade sector had the highest number of establishments (1.1 million). Next were professional, scientific and technical services (850,903); health care and social assistance (818,726); other services (except public administration) (722,398); construction (657,738); and accommodation and food services (649,011).

County Business Patterns Interactive Map

In conjunction with the release on the 2011 County Business Patterns, the Census Bureau has updated the Measuring America: County Business and Demographics Map. The map provides an interactive, easy-to-understand overview of how many types of businesses are in your community or anywhere else in the U.S. The map includes 2011 County Business Patterns statistics combined with demographic statistics from the 2010 Census.


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County Business Patterns excludes business owners who were self-employed, employees of private households, railroad employees, agriculture production workers and most government employees. Information on businesses without paid employees is released as part of the upcoming 2011 Nonemployer Statistics report. County Business Patterns data by five-digit ZIP codes will be released in May 2013.

NYS Tax Department Provides Guidance on Identity Theft

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has`announced that it published a new Web page regarding identity theft.

The new Web page spells out what to do next if you think you may be the victim of identity theft. It also provides several links to information, such as the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft, that help taxpayers make identity protection part of their regular routine.

Identity theft is one of the fastest growing economic crimes in the nation, but taxpayers often don't realize their information has been stolen until they receive an unexpected notice about their tax account from the Tax Department or the IRS.

Once identity theft is reported to the Tax Department, the agency can correct an account by removing any fraudulent returns from the record, and it can cancel bills issued that are related to the fraud. To head-off any additional suspicious activity, the Department will devote extra attention to future returns associated with the account.

SBA and W20 GROUP present BLOGGING 101 Webinar for Small Business

The U.S. Small Business Administration and the W20 Group, an entrepreneurial ecosystem of digital communications companies, will present Blogging 101, the second topic in the five-topic social media webinar series that will run through June. The webinar will help small business owners create content to connect with their customers and market their products.

Blogging is a beneficial tool for small business owners because it is a cost-effective way to communicate their expertise and message directly to a larger audience, expand the company’s web presence and build their brand.
The Blogging 101 social media webinar for small businesses will be held on May 8, 2013, at 1 p.m. EDT. To register for the webinar, visit https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/8214259306487899136. The webinar will highlight topics such as:
• What blogging can do for your business;
• What to blog about;
• What blogging tools are available to you;
• Managing your time; and
• Other best practices.

Topics for future webinars in the social media webinar series include: Creating Content for Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, Identifying and Connecting with your Influencers and Getting Started with Mobile and Location-based Marketing.

How to cut meeting times by 90 percent

From CBS News MoneyWatch:

What do people complain about most? Meetings. What do workers love about working from home? No meetings.

Meetings are the bane of the working day, and yet it's hard to do anything without them. These days, recognizing that collaboration tends to be more creative than assembly-line thinking, getting people together is how we make things happen.

But meetings are very expensive.

What Every Business Owner Needs To Know About Fear

From SmallBusinessNewz:

Fear is a major stumbling block for many business owners. It causes them to make decisions, which seriously sabotage their chances of success.

Thankfully, the fears that stand between where we are and what we want to achieve, can be overcome.

Access to Capital among Young, Minority-owned, Women-owned, and High-tech Firms

The availability of capital is crucial for small business startup, survival, and growth. This study investigates how the youngest small firms, especially high-tech firms and firms owned by women and minorities, were financed during the evolving financial environment of the Great Recession.

Get the full report or summary.

Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Victoria Williams at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

Advance GDP by Industry Statistics for 2012

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

Durable-goods manufacturing, finance and insurance, and wholesale trade were the leading contributors to U.S. economic growth in 2012, according to advance statistics on the breakout of real gross domestic product (GDP) by industry from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Overall, 19 of 22 industry groups contributed to the 2.2 percent increase in real GDP.

Manufacturing real value added—a measure of an industry’s contribution to GDP—rose 6.2 percent in 2012, after increasing 2.5 percent in 2011. Durable-goods manufacturing, the largest contributor to overall growth in the economy for the third consecutive year, increased 9.1 percent, after increasing 6.8 percent in 2011 and 13.3 percent in 2010.
The finance and insurance industry group increased 3.6 percent in 2012, after two consecutive years of negative real value added growth.
Wholesale trade increased 4.8 percent, after increasing 3.0 percent in 2011.

New Congressional Bill Would Ax Most of the Census

Terri Ann Lowenthal’s excellent Census Project Blog has a great post about the bill and its implications:

Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC-3) [has] just introduced a bill (H.R. 1638) to cancel the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), Economic Census, Census of Governments and every other survey the agency conducts, except the once-a-decade population count. Oh, and bye-bye Census of Agriculture (transferred from Census to the Agriculture Department in 1997). Sayonara, adios — no more data.

Easy Money Saving Tips for Merchant Processing

The first thing you should know is that there are a series of what are called interchange levels which affect the cost of a charge at every stage, depending on a number of factors—including the type of card presented, specific information contained in the transaction and how/when the transaction is processed.

Here are tips on how you can prevent being assessed higher processing fees.

New York Announces Its First Business Ombudswoman

Empire State Development and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance announced the appointment of Mwisa Chisunka as New York State Business Ombudswoman and Director of Business Tax Services and Education.

As New York's first Ombudswoman, Ms. Chisunka will work closely with the business community to provide education about tax law developments, answer questions, and help businesses navigate the issue resolution process. She will also launch pro-business programs as part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Open for Business initiative.

More HERE.