New York SBDC Research Network

From:  The Balance Becoming a successful  entrepreneur  is as much of a mental game, as it is one of finesse and expertise. You can be the most intelligent, talented, and respected person within your industry, but if you don't believe in yourself and continue to be brutally honest as you move through the extremely difficult stages of growing a business, your failure is all but inevitable. Everything from the way you feel about getting up to head into the office each morning, to the quality of relationships with your business partners, and the words you use on a daily basis, will have a long-term effect on whether or not you'll become successful. Whether you intend to or not, if you allow yourself to use  words and phrases that convey doubt , insecurity, and a lack of true belief in what you're saying, you'll eventually lose faith. Not only does this effect your own mental well-being, but the people you're communicating with will read into your word choice and pic...

From The Balance Feeling like you’re treading water with your small business and not making progress towards your goals? Or are you having trouble choosing business goals to work towards this year in the first place? We all want to be successful owners of profitable small businesses, but how do you get there from where you are? If you want your small business to be more profitable than ever before, here are some suggestions for how to make it happen. And remember; building a successful business is a marathon, not a sprint!

Psychologists have found that  successful leaders share the same basic traits . While circumstances also play into the mix, great leaders are those who build these traits over time.  In this newsletter, we cover other ways to build your leadership skills, as well as a few examples of things not to do, courtesy of some well-known CEOs. 

Did you know Steve Jobs loved lecturing at universities because it gave him an opportunity to scout talented potential employees and build his team first hand?  Read more about the habits  of successful business leaders .

While the old adage of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” might conjure images of a John Wayne-esque steely resolve, ignoring sleep flat out is a horrible idea. Headlines nowadays are filled with information about sleep deprivation killing everything from your productivity to your moods, and with that, the notion of sleep being for the weak has fallen out of vogue. The jury is in: Skimp on sleep, and you pay the price. But how much—and how well—do you need to sleep to feel rested, recharged, and ready to tackle all of the challenges an entrepreneur faces in everyday life? Read more at: liveplan

Employees spend nearly one-fourth of their workday, on average, sorting through their email inbox, a study by McKinsey found. Email is the most used form of communication in the workplace, but it's also easy for the emails you send to be quickly deleted or marked as irrelevant. Salespeople, particularly those who rely on email as their first point of contact with prospects, need to ensure their emails are relevant, appropriate, and able to cut through the noise of a busy inbox. Needless to say, so do marketers. Here are my top tips for crafting an email that will encourage opens, generate interest, and warrant a response. 1. Perfect the subject line A subject line is the gateway into your email. It needs to instantly grab the receiver's attention to ensure your email doesn't end up in the dreaded junk folder. First, keep it short: A recent analysis by MailChimp suggests fewer than 50 characters—but still descriptive. Place the most descriptive words at the beginnin...

Like most other community radio stations, Radio Boise is a not-for-profit organization. While there is a small paid staff of seven people who help run the station—both part time and full time—the deejays are all volunteers. There’s also a small group of steadfast individuals, including community members, who help keep the station up and running. In 2003, when Radio Boise was in its infancy and only just banding together as a team of like-minded individuals, it was known as the Boise Community Radio Project. It wasn’t until 2011 that the station actually went live on the FM airwaves. 1. Volunteer organization is challenging It’s kind of like herding cats. That is, you have to accept contributions in bite-size proportions. Continuity is often obtained via chains of volunteers, as opposed to leaning heavily on individuals, for example. That being said, the leadership team that makes up any organization is extremely important, and Radio Boise is no different. Here are a few import...

Do you juggle several tasks at once during your workday? If so, multitasking probably tops your list of skills. But is multitasking really beneficial to productivity? There’s a lot of research that suggests it hurts productivity, rather than helps it. Multitasking decreases productivity Many people assume that multitasking can improve their productivity. After all, if you can send emails during a meeting, or scan reports while listening to a conference call, you’re being more productive, right? Not necessarily. One study reported in the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that students took far longer to solve complicated math problems when required to switch to other tasks. In fact, they were 40 percent slower than those that didn’t have to keep switching. The study suggests that no one actually multitasks; in reality, they just do a whole lot of “task-switching.” Read more at: liveplan

From SmallBusinessNewz : If I were starting a business today there are just seven questions I would want answers to. Funny thing is, even after twenty-five years in business, I still need the answers to these questions. Now, it’s not that I can’t find these all-important answers, it’s that they change constantly and to some degree that’s how I know I’m growing and evolving. Visiting these seven, what I call, Guiding Questions, is what keeps me sane or at least moving down a path that’s heading towards something worth doing. These questions inform strategy, purpose, priorities, culture, marketing, projects, process and simple day-to-day tasks. Hang these questions on a big poster somewhere prominent so that everyone in your organization is constantly pondering answers. Pull your entire team together every 90 days or so and go on a search for the current state of these answers. Hole up in a cabin in the woods once a year long enough to get all the voices in your head to quiet d...

*The most successful business owners do 100% of what’s required to succeed. *The average business owner does 100% of the things required… so long as they feel comfortable doing it. *Successful business owners think of the people, whose help they will need, in advance. They deliberately, regularly make connections with key people. Then, months or years later, if they need their advice or help, it’s there. I know of no exceptions to this rule. *Struggling business owners wait until they need help, then they pester strangers with selfish requests. More from SmallBusinessNewz .

From MicheleShaeffer.com : There have been nights where I've felt torn. It's not easy to juggle a business and a family. But then I remember the alternative. I could be working a job I probably wouldn't like for 8+ hours a day, with limited hourly income potential, and away from my children completely — probably struggling to break even by the time I figure in childcare and other expenses. Instead I'm home. I'm able to be here for them, work with clients I adore and admire, and create a profitable business. It's worth it. And If I can do this, I know anyone can. We all have challenges. Yours are different than mine. But we can get through them. Just know that it's possible–hold on to that and don't give up.

This week's New Yorker features an article by Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point , What the Dog Saw , and other really interesting reads) called "The Sure Thing". I've always liked Gladwell's writing - not just for its clarity, but the way his iconoclastic approach never sounds contrarian just for the sake of being different. This article is more of this style. Its premise is that entrepreneurs don't succeed because they fit the romantic image of the reckless daredevil who doubles as a business savant, but rather from their innovative insights into an opportunity, combined with an aversion to risk and a predatory approach to getting the big deal done. The article cites numerous examples to back up this belief, and spends quite a bit of time detailing the exploits of John Paulson (a hedge-fund manager who made a huge fortune on short-selling credit default swaps just ahead of the housing collapse), and Ted Turner (to whom the myth of the populist bu...

Clients come to the NYS SBDC with business ideas ranging from the norm to the weirdest business you can think of, and then some. While we never want to discourage an individual from following their dream, the reality is that not all small businesses will succeed. Often times the more specialized business ideas have more of a chance than the norm because the norm is what everyone else is doing. Yahoo Small Business recently published an article on the 7 Most Overrated Businesses . "The problem: Many would-be entrepreneurs are drawn to businesses they like to patronize or the ones that are cheapest and easiest to start. Instead, experts argue, aspiring entrepreneurs should create firms in which they have professional experience so they have a competitive advantage in the market." So if you were thinking about starting one of these types of business and I have now discouraged you, what can you do now? Well, you can check out the Most Successful U.S. Startups 2008 . Or, if you ar...

Trying to stay on the bright side? I'm sure we'll be reading more about how we can conserve and make the most of what we have. Encouragement may come in the form of an article in Inc. magazine: Starting up in a Down Economy which looks at companies that got started in lean times. Some of the examples are household names like Coors, IBM, Domino's, Wikipedia, and Clif. On a more personal (financial) note, The Simple Dollar looks at protecting oneself and succeeding in challenging times. MSN Money: Smart Spending has a bit on it as well: Preparing for and Surviving an Economic Downturn Jan 11 2008 by Karen Datko And from Small Business Notes comes Surviving an Economic Downturn with tips specifically geared to small business owners.