New York SBDC Research Network

From the Census Bureau : Several states and municipalities across the United States have been raising the minimum wage well above the federal rate of $7.25 an hour, a trend studied by many economists. Less attention has been paid to workers who rely on tips for part of their earnings. Recent research by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that rising minimum wages may increase server employment, but do not always result in higher pay for tipped workers. “My research shows

From  Fundera Ledger Online marketing is vital for any small business hoping to stay competitive. But what online marketing tactics should you focus on in your limited time is a busy entrepreneur?  Here are 10 essential digital marketing tips for small business owners. 1. Start with Your Website “Make sure you have an updated, mobile-friendly website that is easy for users to navigate across all devices and has a modern, clean design.” —Deborah Sweeney, CEO, MyCorporation.com  By choosing the right keywords and narrowing your target audience, you can hone in on those prospective customers who are most likely to want what you sell. By following these digital marketing tips for small business owners, you’ll see your sales and profits grow.

From the Harvard Business Review : How often do you consider the air quality in your office and how it affects employees and their productivity? Chances are it’s not often. There is a tendency to assume that, as long as commonly used standards for air quality are met, it won’t be an issue. But these standards aren’t very high. One common international standard that governs how much air is brought in from outside, “Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Quality,” does not even purport to assure “healthy” air quality. In the 1970s, efforts to conserve energy in the U.S. included tightening up buildings and reducing ventilation rates so buildings didn’t have to bring as much fresh air inside. This inadvertently led to a buildup of indoor pollutants and the birth of a phenomenon known as “sick building syndrome,” a set of symptoms such as eye irritation, headaches, coughing, and chest tightness that is still an issue today... We found that breathing better air led to significantly bett...

From Forbes : Social media provides a powerful tool for outreach: Companies can share stories, talk about events or offers, or discuss services or solutions with interested customers or potential clients. But not every small business has set aside the time and money to establish an online strategy or presence. 12 Forbes Agency Council members share their top tips for small companies to improve their social media presence. Utilize the little time you have on social media to understand your customers and address their needs, not to promote your product.

From Albany Business Review : Law firm Hodgson Russ and the Albany Business Review hosted a panel discussion with seven women in various stages of their careers to answer these questions. Teal Vivacqua, director, marketing communications at Plug Power; Ashley Jeffrey Bouck, executive director, Girls Inc. of the Capital Region; Kathleen Godfrey, president, Godfrey Financial Associates; Julie Clancy, director of admissions, Emma Willard; Dawn C. Doherty, partner, BST; Carmen Duncan, CEO and founder, Mission Accomplished Transition Services; Kendra Hart, business development manager, Martin Electric Cindy Applebaum, Albany Business Review publisher and market president, moderated the discussion. What’s the importance of having a mentor? What potential do you see in the younger generation? How do you approach and explain issues facing young girls? What barriers do you see for women taking on leadership roles? Are men always the obstacle? How often do you find yourself the...

From  Small Business Trends So you want to start a business – congratulations! Once you get over the initial excitement, it’s time to break down the process of launching your startup into manageable chunks. You might get overwhelmed with the sheer number of items on your to-do list. But not to worry; I’ve broken down this startup checklist into the primary tasks you need to do now, and those that you can defer until later.

From  Forbes A local hardware store in Worcester, Massachusetts recently announced that it was going out of business. This wouldn’t be big news, except Elwood Adams Hardware has been around since the Articles of Confederation. Dating back to 1782, it is (or was) one of the oldest hardware stores in the United States—continually open for 235 years under various owners.  The store’s employees, most of whom have worked there for decades, gave multiple reasons for the business’s closing. First, the pressure of Internet competition; second, and related to the first, a lack of loyalty from younger customers; and finally, the owner was ready to retire, and couldn’t find anyone to whom he could sell the business. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses account for 48% of national employment in the United States. In number, they represent 99.7% of all businesses in the country. Small business owners, some with staffs of 500 employees, others toilin...

From the Harvard Business Review : Connecting with others is at the heart of human nature. Recent research emphasizes that the power of connections can help us be creative, resilient, even live longer. But we can easily overlook the importance of these bonds. As popular writer and researcher Adam Grant has noted, the pressure of tight deadlines and the pace of technology mean that fewer Americans are finding friendship in the workplace. In fact, many of us are further disconnecting from the people we work with: we’re more stressed out than ever, and half of us regularly experience incivility in our jobs. How can we create possibilities for connection in what is sometimes a hostile atmosphere? We believe there needs to be more compassion. We define compassion as a 4-part experience of noticing someone’s distress or pain, interpreting it as relevant and important, feeling concern for that person or group, and acting to alleviate their pain. Acts of compassion can span from grand...

From RocketLawyer Hiring employees who fit in with the environment of your work place is a key element to your success. A bad or even hostile working environment can lead to high turnover, which is a costly and hurtful situation that you can avoid by paying careful attention to the personalities and work ethics of people you interview for a job. Hire Employees Who Fit Your Work Environment Start by examining your own attitude at work. Are you critical? Supportive? Willing to invest time and energy into helping your employees grow and take the lead in solving problems? Employers can set the tone for the environment workers encounter-either positive or negative.

From eMarketing : More than half of retailers in North America offer buy online, pick up in-store (BOPUS) service. But BOPUS is widely seen as a significant challenge, according to a new survey of retailers. According to an August 2017 survey by JDA, a supply chain software company, roughly three-quarters of US store managers said they have faced difficulties in implementing BOPUS. The ability to accurately track inventory is a major concern, it found. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, only about one-third of the US retailers surveyed said that they offer discounts for consumers who buy online and pick up in-store. The benefits of BOPUS for retailers are well-known. In-store pickup means that customers are, by definition, in the store and more likely to make additional purchases.

From Yougov.com : Driving brand loyalty among the affluent has never been more challenging. New brands, new options, and new products are competing for the devotion of your customers. What’s more, the majority of the global elite don’t feel personally connected to many brands, even though they say that a personal relationship factors into their loyalty. A new study from YouGov on affluent shoppers worldwide reveals that most just want brands to show them their loyalty is appreciated. Indeed, 72% said they felt that way.

From MarketingProfs : For more than 50% of CMOs and marketing directors, space and location on the exhibit floor are most important in maximizing ROI. And that makes perfect sense. With an accessible location and a major source of foot traffic nearby, a booth is likely to attract a lot of attendees. The higher the number of visitors, the greater opportunities for a business to raise awareness, get leads, and build relationships. The location selection process, however, can be complicated, with various factors at play—from budget, to space requirements, to traffic flow and more. So here, in this handy guide, are all the important factors you need to take into consideration. Quick Tip: Reserve Your Spot Early

From the New York Times : Salad bars are magnets for bacteria and viruses. Even if the sprouts and ranch dressing aren’t tainted, the serving utensils may be. The Silicon Valley start-up Chowbotics has devised what it says is a partial solution. Its device, which it calls Sally the Salad Robot, is aimed at reducing the risk of food-borne illness by assembling salads out of pre-cut vegetables stored in refrigerated canisters. Diners use a touch screen to place their orders, choosing from a menu of recipes or designing their own salads. The machine calculates the number of calories per salad and drops the veggies into a bowl in less than a minute. There is less human contact with the food. But as a growing number of food- and drink-slinging robots have begun interacting with diners in the San Francisco Bay Area, Deepak Sekar, the device’s inventor and the founder and chief executive of Chowbotics, has faced questions about whether his machine will put people out of work. He deni...

From Search Disaster Recovery : Developing a business continuity strategy is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. Organizations must gather and validate massive amounts of data and develop and validate procedures to keep data available and protected at all times. Employees must be trained on the business continuity plan, as well as their roles and responsibilities when a disruptive incident occurs. Senior management must be aware of the plan and be involved with its development. Given the comprehensive nature of business continuity planning, mistakes can happen. Explore some of the most common errors to avoid before a disaster hits.

From NerdWallet : Problem solver. Communicator. Financial whiz. Running a small business involves wearing a lot of hats. If you’re looking to increase productivity and organization — or just make your life as an entrepreneur a little easier — a good app might be just what you need. To help you navigate the seemingly endless sea of business apps, we’ve compiled a list of our favorites. These 25 can help you stay organized and in charge, no matter which hat you’re wearing. They are arranged in these categories: Finance and accounting Communication Time management Payment Organization In a league of their own

From MarketingProfs : Imagine you just invested a lot of time and resources in your next content masterpiece. You did third-party research, interviewed industry experts, carefully crafted the copy with your target persona in mind, and pulled out all the stops to design a visually compelling piece. You then released it into the wild through all your Web and social channels and sat back, waiting for it to become the next viral sensation. But then the unthinkable happened: No one shared it (gasp!). What happened? Even the greatest content sometimes needs an early boost to gain traction in social media. Paid promotion and influencer marketing can certainly help, but those can be costly. Fortunately, virtually every organization has a captive audience that's willing—and even happy—to share content with their networks for free... Look to your left, look to your right, look at Bob in accounting: I'm talking about your fellow employees (bet you didn't know Bob has 3,000...

From IBISWorld : The disruption caused by the rise of the internet and popularity of web-enabled devices is indisputable; industries have been completely flipped upside down as new, online businesses offer consumers products and services that were once unimaginable. As life is moving to the cloud, however, so are the criminals. The US Justice Department estimates that more than 4,000 ransomware attacks have occurred each day since the beginning of 2016, meaning hackers engineer software programs that prevent employees from accessing their computer systems until a ransom total is paid. In 2016, about 72.0% of large companies and 20.0% of small to midsize companies were targets of cyberattacks, according to CNBC and Microsoft, respectively, boosting demand for products and services protecting against cyberattacks. IBISWorld expects the US Security Software Publishing industry to grow 2.6% in 2017, to $12.0 billion. However, while companies are increasingly investing in defending a...

From Entrepreneur magazine : Last year [Ross McCammon] was a guest on an NPR call-in talk show to discuss workplace etiquette. Most calls were about shaking hands, conducting meetings, asking for a raise... It was light and funny until one caller asked for advice about being shunned by her co-workers. They would gather near her desk, talking about work she was involved in without asking her to weigh in. They never invited her to lunch or after-work drinks. When she brought up her feelings, her colleagues dismissed and mocked her. She felt unimportant and ostracized. And she sounded deeply distressed. I felt ill-equipped to answer the question. I stammered out a reply. I made a joke. (She didn't laugh.) The show's host suggested that she record these instances and, if they continued, alert a supervisor. The host labeled the behavior as “bullying.” Which at first struck me as infantilizing. I hadn't felt bullied since middle school. And I certainly had never felt bu...

From Rodon Group : Friday, October 6th is National Manufacturing Day. According to the MFG Day website, "MFG DAY addresses common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show, in a coordinated effort, what manufacturing is — and what it isn’t. By working together during and after MFG DAY, manufacturers will begin to address the skilled labor shortage they face, connect with future generations, take charge of the public image of manufacturing, and ensure the ongoing prosperity of the whole industry. Supported by a group of industry sponsors and co-producers, MFG DAY is designed to amplify the voice of individual manufacturers and coordinate a collective chorus of manufacturers with common concerns and challenges." Census Bureau data

From BizWomen : Small businesses and startups can survive the so-called Amazon effect by being creative and innovative, said U.S. Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon. McMahon was in Denver Sept. 28 for the sixth annual Denver Startup Week, a week of free panel discussions, workshops and networking events for entrepreneurs in all stages. Metro Denver has recently attracted the eye of Amazon.com The e-commerce giant opened a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in suburb Aurora this month and has broken ground on a 2.4 million-square-foot fulfillment center in nearby Thornton, expected to open in August 2018. Now, the Seattle-based company is on the hunt for a city in which to build its second headquarters, expected to be a $5 billion project and employ as many as 50,000 people. Colorado and metro Denver leaders plan to bid on the facility. But it’s in no way doomsday for small businesses, McMahon said. “There is no way for a small business to compete against an Amaz...

From the Small Business Administration : The Small Business Administration is hiring temporary employees to assist with disaster relief efforts this hurricane season from September 1st to December 31st, 2017. Bilingual language skills a plus. Jobs include: Damage Verifiers (Nationwide) Lawyers, Paralegals and Legal Assistants (Sacramento, CA, Dallas, TX, or Buffalo, NY) Loan Specialists (Sacramento, CA, Dallas, TX, or Buffalo, NY) Program Support Assistant and Call Center Specialist (Sacramento, CA, Atlanta, GA, or Buffalo, NY) Customer Service Representatives and Public Information Officers (Nationwide) Customer Service Representatives (Atlanta, GA, Buffalo, NY, Sacramento, CA) Customer Service Representatives, Bilingual (Orlando, FL) Information Technology Specialists - Customer support (Nationwide) Construction Analysts -Loss Verifiers (Nationwide) Administrative Support Assistants (Herndon, VA)

From ThomasNet : Recently unveiled during the National Safety Council’s Congress and Expo this week, are findings showing how a lack of proper rest is hurting the competitive efforts of U.S. companies. The research was conducted by the National Safety Council and Brigham Health Sleep Matters Initiative. The report’s findings show that a company with 1,000 workers stands to lose $1.4 million annually due to absenteeism, diminished productivity, and healthcare costs stemming from tired employees. A key point of the survey is the growing number of these individuals with undiagnosed and untreated sleep disorders. These conditions contribute significantly to the $80 million in fatigue-related costs that can accrue on an annual basis for the average Fortune 500 company. Additional data can be obtained by utilizing an online resource correlating with the research, entitled the Fatigue Cost Calculator for Employees .