New York SBDC Research Network

Most people start a business with one key objective in mind – making a profit. Yet some companies seek out not only to profit but also to provide a tangible benefit to society and the environment. These companies, depending upon a few specific criteria, are classified as Benefit Corporations or Certified B Corporations. Confused by the difference between the two? Didn’t even realize there was a difference? You’re not alone – it’s one of the most confusing aspects of a recent movement for companies focused on giving back. Benefit Corporations and Certified B Corporations have a lot in common, but there are a few key differences.  Benefit Corps To date, 31 states (including New York)  as well as Washington, D.C. have passed laws creating a new type of corporation – the Benefit Corporation (often referred to as “Benefit Corp”).  Benefit Corporation status involves a separate process available to companies in every state. These companies pledge to think about people and the planet

Starting your own business may sound like an undertaking of epic proportions. The truth is, it’s not. Yes, you’re going to have to work hard, and commit to working on it at all hours of the day, but actually getting set up is simply down to making sure you’ve “checked all the boxes,” which is exactly what this business startup checklist aims to help you do. 1. Find a good business idea A good business idea isn’t just one that turns a profit. It’s one that’s a good fit for you personally, for your target market, and for your location. You’re going to be in business for the long haul, so you really should pick something you can live and breathe. Identify your strengths and weaknesses Conduct a SWOT analysis on yourself Come up with a business idea that caters to your strengths Define what success looks like for you Do your research: What are popular businesses today? Read more at bplans

First impressions. They’re worth so much. In franchising, the first impression you get when you start to look at a specific franchise opportunity, dictates how far you’ll go with your investigation.  These days, it’s  the franchise company website * that is often where people who are looking at franchises get theirs. According to website conversion expert  Peep Laja *, website visitors form their first impression in about 50 milliseconds. That’s not a lot of time. And, once you do get interested in a franchise opportunity, franchisors have to keep you interested. They do this in a number of ways. And, your impression of how they do it is crucial. Ways To Keep You Interested

the Technology Transfer Days program is coming to the Brooklyn SBDC. If you are developing technology that may have military applications, check out the information about this event. This is an opportunity for people to speak directly with folks from the Department of Defense and get funding. Deadline for registration is 18 September. Participants must participate in a technology that pertains to the Communities of Interest (COI) that is listed below. • Autonomy • Advanced Electronics • Biomedical • Command, Control, Comms, Computers & Intelligence • Cybersecurity • Data to Decisions • Electronic Warfare • Energy & Power Technologies • Engineered Resilient Systems • Human Systems • Materials & Manufacturing • Space For more information, go to Technology Transfer Days.org . Contact: info@technologytransferdays.org or 646-543-2009

Recover From the Most Likely Disaster: Power Outage Wednesday, September 16, 2015 | 2:00 to 2:30 PM ET    Nearly 70% of businesses in the United States will lose power sometime in the next 12 months. Most businesses are unprepared to withstand such an event, and recover from it quickly. During this webinar we’ll discuss strategies to mitigate this threat and best practices for a swift and efficient recovery.     >>Register Webinar | Q&A Session with Small Business Mentors: Get Your Questions Answered  Tuesday, September 15, 2015 |  2:00 PM ET Do you have questions about the best way to market your new or existing small business? Join the Small Business Administration (SBA) and AARP during a free hour-long webinar on September 15 to learn about:  Developing your business idea and plan  Securing financing  Marketing  Getting a mentor, and more!  >>  Register now    Webinar | How Small Businesses Can Leverage the Sma

The use of the following words and phrases are restricted or prohibited by statute* in the name of a Business Corporation (“BC”), Not-for Profit Corporation (“N-PC”), Limited Liability Company (“LLC”) and/or Limited Partnership (“LP”): academy cooperative institute preschool acceptance cooperation insurance redevelopment "America Espirito Sport Fraternite" council investment savings annuity doctor kindergarten school arboretum education labor secondary assurance elementary lawyer state police attorney endowment library state trooper bank exchange loan surety benefit fidelity mortgage tenant relocation blind finance museum title board of trade guaranty nursery school trust casualty handicapped Olympiad underwriter chamber of commerce historical Olympic union "Citius Altius Fortius" historical society Pan-American United Nations college history Paralympiad university community renewal incorporated Paralympic urban development conservatory indemnity

Do you feel stuck in your business? Have you hit a plateau and you can’t seem to turn things around? Then check out Carmen Sognonvi's interview with Brian Young, founder of Home Painters Toronto. Brian overcame 15 straight years of decline in his business to triple his revenues in the last three years. And what did it take for that to happen? Getting punched in the face by a customer. More from Carmen Sognovi .

Note: This post originally appeared on the  White House blog . It is authored by Jason Miller, Deputy Assistant to the President and the Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. Summary: We applaud new legislation that's helping startups scale up production in the United States.  The story of American manufacturing is one of grit and resilience. But it’s also the result of investments across the public and private sectors in skills and cutting-edge technologies to lay the foundation for a new period of manufacturing growth and resurgence. Over the past five years, we’ve added nearly 900,000 new manufacturing jobs, the fastest rate of growth in decades. Manufacturing production has increased by almost a third since the recession, and the number of factories operating in the United States is growing for the first time since the 1990s. Right now is a moment of opportunity for American manufacturing that we cannot allow to pass us by. North America is becoming the epice

The computer industry is the most liked business sector by Americans, according to a recent report from Gallup. The report was based on data from a Gallup poll conducted in August 2015 of a random sample of 1,011 adults.... Some 69% of respondents say have a positive view of the computer industry, and only 10% say they have a negative view. Other industries with high net scores (positive rating minus negative) are the restaurant, Internet, grocery, farming, travel, accounting, and retail sectors. The federal government is the least liked sector (-29 net score), and the oil and gas industry is the second least liked (-13). Read more Marketing Profs

Sometimes the hardest thing—conceptually—for marketers to do is to separate their brand from their product. "Product is king." "All people really care about is the product." "Price and product—that's it." "Our brand is our product—they're one in the same." I've heard it all before, and from some very successful people. But it's all an illusion. None of it is true. When people choose brands, they are projecting an extension of themselves onto the brand. The brand augments their identity, just as their choice of friends, music, and fashion does. Consumers will literally brand themselves by identifying with your brand. It's personal. It's emotional. Here's what a brand really does To develop a brand, you need to understand how it works and what it does. You need to separate your brand from your product, and think of it as its own entity. Read more from MarketingPros

Although conventional wisdom may suggest the answer is yes, the short answer is, not always. There are many factors that determine the size of a business. Such factors include access to finance for key investments, costs of doing business, health of the overall economy, and industry-related trends. Although these can be important constraints for growth, entrepreneurial motivations also matter. Some entrepreneurs just do not want to make it to the big leagues. In fact, survey data has shown that scaling up their business model is not the top priority for small business owners in the United States. Instead, they value a business that is a size they can manage by themselves or with the aid of a few employees. This is particularly true for necessity-driven entrepreneurs, for whom starting a business often responds to scarce high-quality employment opportunities. More from AIER

There’s plenty of advice out there about choosing a business name, such as the need to do a name search in your state, a trademark search, register the name, and other key legal issues.  Those are all important factors to consider as you choose a business name. But I’d like to focus today on five considerations you should also be thinking about. These five things may be overlooked when choosing a business name (or thinking about a re-branding of your business): Dot Com Domain Names Still Rule Today’s small businesses depend on Web presence to generate leads.  Prospective customers are researching businesses online before they buy, so being findable online is crucial.  Before you settle on a choice for a business name, go to your favorite domain registrar, and search to see whether the .com URL is available.  The “dot com” version of a name is still the go-to address that most of the public thinks of automatically.  So whenever possible, try to get the dot com version of your

Today, four technologies are driving live-event marketing: social, mobile, analytics, and the Cloud—"SMAC." SMAC technologies provide myriad new ways to get to know your fans, reach them at the right time through the right channel, and measure results to ensure you spend your precious event marketing dollars wisely. The days of spreading the word about concerts or other live events with fliers and radio spots have all but disappeared, laid to rest alongside the cassette tape and the Discman in the graveyard of Music Industry Past. Here are four ways that live event promoters and venues can use SMAC in their digital marketing. Read more from MarketingProfs

As we prepare to move office, I came across a set of booklets we have. They are from BoardSource and they cover topics such as Structures and Practices of Non-Profit Boards and Ten Basic Responsibilities of Non-Profit Boards. I went looking for current editions of these works and discovered this article: The BridgeSpan Group surveys non-profit organizations to help them get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. When they surveyed 131 non-profits, what they discovered was that for all their strengths, they were falling behind in other areas. The average score across all statements is 2.92. Overall nonprofit organizations exhibit important strengths: leadership’s vision, having skilled and effective staff, and having an inspiring culture that promotes values and produces results. However, those very strengths are often undermined by what they consider to be their organizational weaknesses, which include their nonprofits’ ability to develop and build staff skills over time. Th

The high cost of these keywords is the result of competitive bidding, according to the report. For mesothelioma-related keywords, attorneys set high bids in Google AdWords because they stand to receive large sums of money when a plaintiff in a lawsuit gains a favorable judgment or settlement. One thing to note is that keywords with the highest average CPCs tend to be more niche and do not generally correlate to the biggest overall ad spends. An analysis of 2014 data by Adgooroo found the top keywords by spend are for the most part broader terms, such as "free credit report" and "car insurance." Read more from MarketingProfs

The use of technology for bettering health is on the rise. Indeed, wearables and similar markets are projected to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years. In this slideshow, PersonalTech MDM shows where the boom is expected to happen and what practitioners should know. Special thanks goes to the New Jersey Institute of Technology’s online Master of Science in computer science program for allowing us to use this data.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans ten years ago this week, it devastated the local business community as well as individual citizens. According to a  report by ABC News , insured losses alone totaled $40 billion. That’s a sobering statistic given the inevitability of disasters and emergencies. It can be especially daunting when you think about the whole range of potential events. Natural disasters, technological failures, pandemic—the list goes on. The good news is that you can take steps now to prepare for disasters, mitigate potential damage and plan for how your business will recover.  Hurricane season  is already underway in the Atlantic and Pacific, and September starts  N ational Preparedness Month  with this year's theme of  " Don't Wait. Communicate. Make Your Emergency Plan Today, " so read on for tips, resources and training to help make sure your business is prepared and can recover when disaster strikes. What Did We Learn? Hurric

Sentiment among sole proprietors and other small business owners fell in July, according to the latest Thumbtack survey, suggesting similar readings in other surveys. Thumbtack noted concerns about future conditions and referenced headlines about Greece. Inflation expectations fell further and employment sub-indexes were lower. The Thumbtack index of small business sentiment has shown a tendency to anticipate moves in other sentiment indicators. • The Thumbtack sentiment index dropped ... Its three-month moving average has also declined modestly, bringing it in line with declines in major consumer sentiment surveys, although it has remained somewhat more resilient than the Small Business Optimism Index published by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB). All four indexes have declined over the course of 2015. Bloomberg See Thumbtack

Per the New York Times: The National Labor Relations Board in Washington on Thursday made it substantially easier for unions to bargain for higher wages and benefits, potentially opening the door for organized workers at fast food chains and other franchises to negotiate with the larger corporations, like McDonald’s and Yum Brands, rather than with individual restaurants, where they would have a harder time achieving their goals. The ruling, which may eventually be challenged in court in a variety of individual disputes, changes the definition of a crucial employer-employee relationship that had held in some form since the 1980s. Now, a company that hires a contractor to staff its facilities may be considered a so-called joint employer of the workers at that facility, even if it does not actively supervise them. A union representing those workers would now be legally entitled to bargain with the upstream company, not just the contractor, under federal labor law.

Are You Stressed?  Saturday, August 15, was National Relaxation Day, a day dedicated to unwinding and enjoying our personal lives. But for most of us, relaxing on the weekend isn't the challenge. We could all do with a little less stress at work, too. In this newsletter, we look at how stress affects business owners, executives and employees as well as what to do about it.   The Biggest Driver of Stress: Lack of Control No one is surprised to learn that owning a small business is intensely stressful. It certainly isn't a surprise to business owners.   One study points to lack of control as the largest source of stress. Even worse, obsessing over things that you don't have the power to change can have physiological effects such as raising your blood pressure and emotional effects like reduced confidence.  Read more about  the leading causes of small business stress  and recommendations on how to manage them.