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Showing posts from January, 2008

Independent Contractor Marketing

I feel for small business owners - from my perspective, I hear their tales of woe and I am impressed with their initiative and drive. But every once in awhile I find myself on the other side of the equation as the small business customer and I really wonder how they function. I have been trying to find a contractor to do some work. It occured to me that I had already met a person refered to me by a local architectural planning non-profit- someone I trust and have faith would do a fine job. So I emailed him - via his web site. He replied promptly - to say that I should call for an appointment. And I thought, why? This is after all a form of communication. But I called, and left a message. Then he called me back and left a message. Then I called and left a message and then he called me at work on a national holiday and left a message and so on. And I thought, this is ridiculous. If he had emailed me back and said: "I have time here, here and here: choose one." I would have and

Ypulse knows young people (and might help you understand how they think)

Do you have clients interested in reaching the Generation Y crowd? You may want to recommend that they check out Ypulse: Media for the Next Generation - “Daily news and commentary about generation Y for media and marketing professionals…” Here’s a few highlights: “ College Student Love Their Video ” On any given day 19% of internet using adults download online video. 62 % percent of college students are watching, most often at their parents' houses . “ The Ypulse 2007 [Y]ear in Review ” Trends include changes in the gaming industry, celebrity gossip gone wild, and the expansion of virtual worlds. A link to “How Fashionistas Shop” is on this page (The short answer: they gather information online, but often make in-store purchases)

Researching a Company

Now that the Research Network has a membership with Hill Library , I decided to take some of the free classes they've offered. One dealt with finding information about companies. Here are a few tips, some of which you know about, I'm sure. PUBLIC COMPANIES Reference USA database (available from Hill on a trial basis, but also found at many public libraries) Dun & Bradstreet Hoovers SEC/EDGAR ; if you don't know the stock market ticker symbol, check the CIK, for there may be several companies with similar names Big Charts - US and Canadian stock market wsjie.com - articles Annual reports (lots of sources on the Internet, many of them free); I found the Financial Times site easy to use Company websites Periodicals PRIVATE COMPANIES D&B, Hoovers Secretary of State of the state in which the company is incorporated Secretary of State association site www.nass.org . (Incidentally, the NASS has 2008 Presidental primary information , as well as a regional Presidential

Another benchmarking tool - Business Performance Dashboard

Here's a new tool to help businesses see how they do in comparison to the rest of their industry. Entrepreneur.com and a research organization, CentrisPoint , have teamed up to create the Business Performance Dashboard . The Dashboard provides business performance data by industry, and covers quite a few. The data describes all businesses in that industry, as well as top performing companies (the top ten percent), including stats on average revenue, revenue per employee and years in business. Thanks to the J.J. Hill Library's " Business Web Site of the Week " for pointing out this resource.

Worthwhile Inventions

I sometimes get the impression that our advisors are less than inspired by some of the inventors they meet. It does seem that inventors are so taken with their idea they have not actually stopped to see if anyone else has done it. This always amazes us - but also we do see some odd but interesting ideas. It is hard to imagine them in the world. Today I was reading an article in the most recent issue of Inc. Magazine (Feb 2008) by Joel Spolsky called " Inspired Misfires: Why the most important innovations are often those that appear to be fatally flawed " which goes into some of the hallmarks of truly original idea. He says it's easy to buy into some ideas precisely because they exist already. The hard to imagine ones are - new. Time Magazine Invention of the Year 2007 A review of all the wacky and wonderful products that have come out in the past year. And then this morning, a friend sent me an email with this list of nifty products . I try to keep an open mind - and

SBDC Interview: House of Spices

The following appeared originally in the October 2007 "LaGuardia SBDC Quarterly Newsletter". It is an interview with an owner of a successful manufacturer & distributor of ethnic food items. I think that it could be of interest to any number of our clients. It is reproduced here with the permission of the LaGuardia SBDC. My thanks to them. *** House of Spices was started in 1970 with one store in Jackson Heights, New York by brothers G.L. Soni and Kumar Soni. In the following years they experienced extraordinary growth and opened up warehouses around the U.S. that import, store, manufacture, and distribute over 3,000 different food items from all over the world to the ethnic as well as mainstream markets. The following interview was conducted with Mr. G.L. Soni: Q: House of Spices has grown to be a large and successful wholesaler with exclusive distributorship of major food labels including several of its own. However, it all started as a small retail store. Lookin

Effects of Taxes and Transfers on Income and Poverty

How does the economic safety net really hold? See The Effects of Taxes and Transfers on Income and Poverty in the United States: 2006 from the US Census.

Yet Another Restaurant Post

Maybe it's because it's nearing Friday night, or maybe because restaurants are easily the top source of requests for our library. Or maybe it's because I'm hungry. Regardless, to continue from Josee's recent post, here's a story on this website which describes the results of a recent survey from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research. It's called "A Consumer’s View of Restaurant Reservations Policies," and it's an ideal read for clients with sit-down restaurants who want to get a better handle on what patrons expect from a reservations policy. (While reading it, I couldn't help but think of this "Seinfeld" episode. I know I'm not alone in doing so." There's a link link to the full report, but it requires (free) registration to get at it. If you're waiting for a table over the weekend, bring your laptop, log in, and give it a read.

Help us help you – tips for making your research requests

If you were at the directors’ meeting today, you know that in general the research requests you send us have gotten more complicated, and require more time to answer. There’s nothing wrong with that- we librarians love the “thrill of the chase” even for the most obscure types of information. That said, there are certain things you can do to help us do our jobs more efficiently and effectively, getting your clients better information faster. Here’s a few ideas: Looking for information to prove a point, or fill in a section of a business plan? Let us know how you plan to use what we give you. Sometimes your client is focused on a particular statistic that just might not be available, but if we know generally what that information will be used for, we can find something similar that could prove the same point. Have you done some of your own research? Did your client come in with information or articles related to their business idea? Give us the details of what you already know, so

Restaurant Success or Failure?

Special Report April 16, 2007, 2:14PM EST text size: TT The Restaurant-Failure Myth Research shows that some popular perceptions about the rate of failure in the restaurant industry are just not true by Kerry Miller The author investigates the much-quoted 90% failure rates of restaurants to see if there is any truth to it. This is interesting since for a long, long time we have had in our packet on restaurants an article that says as much. So, have a look at this one for a more encouraging view and to perhaps kill off an urban legend.

SBA Releases 2007 Year in Review

Marking Agency’s Accomplishments On December 20, 2007, the U.S. Small Business Administration released a 10-page report marking the agency’s accomplishments during that calendar year. The Year in Review document is posted on the SBA Web site here . According to the press release, the agency’s accomplishments during the year enabled it to more effectively foster small business ownership and help people quickly get back on their feet after natural disasters. Looking back on the year, it is clear the SBA has made substantial progress. Internal operations are more effective and efficient, with every SBA department taking on new challenges, goals and initiatives launched by Administrator Steve Preston, who took the reins at the agency in July 2006. Looking forward, the SBA has much to do in 2008 to achieve Administrator Preston’s reforms, but 2007 was a turning point indicating positive results to come.

SBDC Internal Website

Just a reminder to please update your information on the Internal Website. This is our directory. It is very frustrating to look up someone and to find no useful information or out-of-date information. Also, we, at Central have a (sometimes) advantage of having other sources for this information, but your colleagues in other centers do not. Tools are only as useful as the information that populates them and it would be a kindness to keep your information current.

Trends in eLearning

This summer the folks at Centre for Learning & Performance Technologies asked prominent learning professionals and visitors to their website, “What are your 10 favorite tools for your personal learning/working, or for creating learning for others?" Their answers are reported in eLearn magazine, here . Many of these tools will likely be familiar to you. The list includes Firefox, del.icio.us, Skype, Google search, and other much used and discussed Web 2.0 tools. As the author points out, what’s more interesting, perhaps, is that when asked about elearning, people don’t immediately start talking about online classes. Instead, there’s much more focus on the tools used in daily life for self-managed learning, information sharing and collaboration. Oh, and thanks to Darrin for pointing out this article. Learning from your colleagues is always popular around here...

Educational Attainment and Other Characteristics of the Self-Employed

It was once assumed that college graduates would go to work for a Fortune 500 firm and that is often true; what is also true is that more students see entrepreneurship as a viable option for their careers. This study examines the relationship between education and the choice to become an entrepreneur, building on previous research and using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to analyze the characteristics of the self-employed compared with individuals employed by others. The study finds that educational attainment is an important determinant of self-employment: individuals with more schooling are more likely to start their own business, particularly in certain industries. A full copy of this report is available here (PDF) , and the research summary can be found here (PDF) .

International Trade Statistics

The World Trade Organization has recently published " International Trade Statistics 2007 " on its website. For SBDC clients engaged in importing and/or exporting , Section II ("Merchandise trade by product") and Section III ("Trade in Commercial Services by Category") would seem to be the most useful. Keep it handy.

Wise Guy

I like Entrepreneur magazine and I especially like Guy Kawasaki's column which I have mentioned here before. If you are a dabbler like myself, you will appreciate his succinct and friendly style. I am so behind in my reading that I was reading an older column and then a more recent one came to my attention, so they are both listed here: Garnering Angels "Sure, you may have ventured for VC, but raising angel capital takes a different kind of skill." By Guy Kawasaki Entrepreneur Magazine - January 2008 Explains about angel investors - what motivates them and how seeking an angel is different from looking for venture capital. Another angel investor article on Entrepreneur's site, focuses in particular on an angel network that helps women-owned businesses. Send me an Angel Can you get angel funding to expand your company? By Aliza Sherman Entrepreneur Magazine - October 2007

A Year in Review

Whether you’re taking down last year’s calendar, or comparing lists of 2007 movies seen, it’s nice to reflect upon 2007. For those of you who love a good Almanac, Infoplease has compiled a helpful “ 2007- Year in Review .” The site offers news analysis, general and topical timelines, world statistics, sports in review, and lists to make your head spin (Top DVD sold: Happy Feet, Least Corrupt Countries (it’s a tie!): Denmark, Finland & New Zealand). So enjoy your reminiscing, and here’s to a great 2008. Oh, and my apologies for the pop-ups...

2008

Happy New Year! This is a leap year, being divisible by four. (There are exceptions; 2100, 2200, and 2300 are NOT leap years, but most of us don't have to worry about that.) The Beijing Olympics start on 08-08-08, eight being a lucky number in the Chinese culture. The United States is holding its first Presidential election with no incumbent president or vice-president running since 1952 (unless Dick Cheney accepts a draft from the Republican convention). These folks are hitting the big 9-0 in 2008, barring events: Oral Roberts 01/24 Ernie Harwell 01/25 John Forsythe 01/29 Allan Arbus 02/15 Marian McPartland 03/20 Bobby Doerr 04/07 Betty Ford 04/08 Eddy Arnold 05/15 Nelson Mandela 07/18 Marjorie Lord 07/26 Griffin Bell 10/31 Bob Feller 11/03 Claiborne Pell 11/22 Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. 11/30 But of course the most important thing about 2008: September (or possibly October)- The New York Mets will play their last game at Shea Stadium and the New York Yankee