New York SBDC Research Network

Calling all small businesses and entrepreneurs! If we hope to translate what we are learning about Alzheimer’s disease into health, safety, and emotional well-being benefits for Alzheimer’s patients and their families, then small businesses have a vital role in making that happen. The NIA recently published two funding opportunity announcements for small businesses focused on Alzheimer’s disease. One targets the  Small Business Innovative Research  program and the other the Small Business Technology Transfer  program. Both have an initial submission date approaching rapidly— April 5 . And if peer reviewers smile upon your application, you can even receive funding before the end of September this year. TO READ MORE

The blog post How to Create Triggers That Get People to Spread Your Ideas was the introduction of sorts to a webinar I listened to earlier this month, Viral Marketing: How to Create a World Wide Rave . Both venues made these cogent points: "Nobody cares about your products (except you)...What people do care about are themselves and ways to solve their problems..." "No coercion required...When you've got something worth sharing, people will share it..." The webinar example was a dentist who created a free e-book, Healthy Mouth, Healthy Sex! and ended up more than quadrupling her gross while allowing her to drop her expensive Yellow Pages ads. "Lose control...Yes, you can measure success, but not through business-school Return On Investment (ROI) calculators." Think of the Grateful Dead, who allowed and even encouraged recording at their concerts. "Put down roots...If you want your ideas to spread, you need to be involved in the online communities...