New York SBDC Research Network

Volume 30, Number 6 [PDF} The July issue of The Small Business Advocate features Advocacy’s regional roundtables on women’s business ownership, the chief counsel’s listening tour of West Coast businesses plus regulatory updates and other regional news In This Issue Message from the Chief Counsel • West Coast Businesses Tell Washington: Let Us Innovate! Regional Update • Regional Roundtables Explore Women’s Business Ownership • Alabama and Florida Coasts Bounce Back from Oil Spill Research Notes • Request for New Research Forthcoming Regulatory News • Gainful Employment Rule Finalized • Ongoing SBREFA Panels

From D&B: Business bankruptcies and failures continued to decline this year ; however, the pace was slower than in Q4 2011. Overall, business bankruptcies and failures are lower this year in the U.S. and around the world. This is a confidence booster for many businesses and the growth in the small business segment - firms with fewer than 500 employees - is another driver of confidence for the U.S. economy.

Here's a numerical listing by publication number of documents addressing particular topics of interest to taxpayers From that list, A Guide to Sales Tax in New York State (PDF) Also, sales tax for specific industries .

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration is urging disaster victims seeking federal aid to be alert to scam artists posing as federal officials and to be cautious about any solicitations for fees to perform services that are available from federal agency staff for free. In the wake of widespread flooding, wildfires and tornados in many areas across the country over the past few months, the SBA is particularly concerned about flyers that have appeared in tornado-damaged areas asking for non-refundable fees of up to $450 to help disaster victims fill out their loan applications and as much as $1,000 to verify losses and file loan applications. Federal agencies involved in disaster recovery will never ask for a fee or payment to file an application for financial assistance or to inspect damaged property. “Historically, natural disasters bring out the very best in people, and there are countless stories of the selfless acts of helpful neighbors and volunteers,” said SBA A...

From BNET . Are you your business’s worst enemy? Let’s make sure that’s not the case.

From Step by Step Marketing : Unless you are the owner of a small business technology or communications company, the idea of creating and managing a blog, on top of the need to manage a website just to stay “in the game,” can be a little daunting. And of course, there are lots of kinds of businesses that don’t need to produce a blog at all. But even if you are one of those, read on, there’s some other good advice in here for helping you affordably manage your web presence, whatever that may be.

26 Shockingly Offensive Vintage Ads That Would Never Fly Today from Business Insider.com

Business Employment Dynamics Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in the growth of the U.S. economy. As the primary source for information on the nation’s labor market, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) collects data on new businesses and job creation. The following highlights from data series produced by BLS Business Employment Dynamics (BED) program provide some insights on the contribution of new and small businesses to the number of businesses and jobs in the economy.

The IRS has published the first Automatic Revocation of Exemption List . It indicates approximately 275,000 nonprofits whose tax-exempt status has been revoked because they failed to file a Form 990, 990-N, 990-EZ, or 990-PF for three consecutive years; the list is available for downloading in both Excel and PDF form. Here's the PDF of the New York State list . As GuideStar notes , if an organization appears on the list, it must now must file a federal income tax return and pay federal income taxes. If it previously could accept tax-deductible contributions, it no longer can do so. "If your organization is not on the list, technically you don't have to do anything. This a good time, however, to reach out to your donors, funders, and other constituents and assure them that you are in good standing with the IRS. You may also wish to suggest that your supporters consult the list to ensure that the other nonprofits they give to are still exempt."

The Top Nine Challenges of Growing an Entrepreneurial Business and How to Tackle Them .

The Business Expenses Survey has information of various types of expenditures, such as materials and fuels, for ALL businesses. There is also some info available for specific industries. You can find the 2007 data HERE .

These books are ubiquitous in the corporate world, but the truth is--they're no that useful. Read More from BNET .

One of our fine advisors came across a website that outlines the various documents required when exporting , and wanted to share it with you.

The National Academies — National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council—are committed to distributing their reports to as wide an audience as possible. Since 1994 they haveoffered “Read for Free” options for almost all of their titles. In addition, they have been offering free downloads of most of their titles to everyone and of all titles to readers in the developing world. Effective June 2nd, PDFs of reports that are currently for sale on the National Academies Press (NAP) Website and PDFs associated with future reports will be offered free of charge to all Web visitors. For more than 140 years, the NAS, NAE, IOM, and NRC have been advising the nation on issues of science, technology, and medicine. Like no other collection of organizations, the Academies enlist the nation’s foremost scientists, engineers, health professionals, and other experts to address the scientific and technical aspects of society’s most p...

Thursday, June 16, 2011, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., ET WASHINGTON – The SBA’s Web Chat will feature 2011 Rhode Island Small Business Person of the Year Kathleen Devlin, owner of All About Home Care LLC in Middletown, R.I. Devlin started her business in 2003 as the sole employee working out of a small home office. Today the company has a staff of 68. SBA’s National Small Business Week (SBW) events were held May 16-20, 2011, in Washington, D.C., where more than 100 outstanding small business owners from across the country were honored. Full videos of SBW events and the business forums held can be viewed online at . WHO: Small business owner Kathleen Devlin will host SBA’s June Web chat on “Entrepreneur’s Spotlight: Maintaining Business Success,” to share her story of achievement and endurance with other entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, and provide helpful insights on the successes and challenges of entrepreneurship. WHAT: SBA’s web chat series provides small b...

In 2007, minority-owned firms numbered 5.8 million, up from 4.0 million in 2002, an increase of 45.5 percent, more than double the 17.9 percent increase for all U.S. businesses, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 Survey of Business Owners. Receipts of minority-owned firms increased 55.0 percent to $1.0 trillion over the five-year period, compared with the 32.9 percent increase for all businesses nationwide. In 2007, more than one-fifth (21.3 percent) of the nation’s 27.1 million firms were minority-owned. Of the 5.8 million minority-owned firms, 766,533 had paid employees, an increase of 21.7 percent from 2002. These firms employed 5.8 million people, a 24.4 percent increase from 2002, and their payrolls totaled $164.1 billion, an increase of 42.2 percent. Receipts of minority-owned employer firms totaled $860.5 billion, an increase of 54.3 percent from 2002. In 2007, minority firms with no paid employees (nonemployers) numbered 5.0 million, an increase of 50.0 percen...

WASHINGTON – Small businesses interested in starting or expanding sales of their goods and services overseas have access to a new, free online tool that will gauge their readiness to export and help them develop an export business plan. The Export Business Planner, developed by the U.S. Small Business Administration, offers a ready-made, customizable and easily accessible document that can be updated and referenced continuously as the business grows. The Planner, located at www.sba.gov/exportbusinessplanner , allows users to: • Determine their export readiness • Learn about training and counseling opportunities • Complete worksheets for global market research • Obtain financing information and options • Customize export marketing plans, and • Access resources for exporters “Creating jobs through exporting is one of the nation’s top economic priorities, as the President indicated when he launched the National Export Initiative,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills. “Giving exporters t...

Dumbo Gets Free Wi-Fi; Manhattan's Paid Version to Follow - New York News - Runnin' Scared : "Dumbo Gets Free Wi-Fi; Manhattan's Paid Version to Follow" Now, this is change I'd love to see happening. I wonder if it will happen elsewhere. It seems like it's inevitable. It could be like street lights. Just another utility that we all use.

Interesting ten minute film on YouTube . Warning--for print lovers only.