New York SBDC Research Network

After living for several years as an expat in the UK, you would think that I would be immune to the perpetual critique of the US and Americans that goes on. But I am not. Not even when I agree or can clearly see the truth in what is said. But this also inspires in me a need to represent the good people I know who are trying to make a difference day-to-day. Most people I know are not Hummer-driving, junk-food guzzling, paper-towel-wasting, supporters of ne'er-do-wells in the world. So,as usual came home from a trip to the UK feeling the need for a little good news, and after a few futile attempts returned to The Good News Network to see if in fact there was any good news. Well, sometimes these things can backfire, because the good news can seem so anemic compared to the bad news...but! If there is good news to be had, they will find it - and I am pleased to read that Google is trying to help develop clean energy to offset it's use of electricity and that healthy school lunche...

How goes your holiday gift shopping? As usual, I'm planning to make far more gifts than I will actually finish, and vowing to avoid the mall. We'll see how I do... Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine offers some interesting holiday-shopping related articles. Here's a few: Affluent Shoppers Buy Half of Holiday Gifts Apparently, households with annual incomes less than $75,000 are expected to spend 7.6 percent less on gifts than last year, while households with more than $75,000 in income are projected to spend 3.1 percent more. The top 30 percent of households will spend almost the same as the bottom 70 percent. Gold, Geese, Milkmaids Drive Rising “12 Days” Price Tag Have an extra $19,507 ? You could buy your true love the items from the 12 days of Christmas. Black Friday Shoppers to Buy Before 10 a.m. According to Mastercard, 1/3 of "Black Friday" purchases are made before 10 am. Electronics and appliance retailers see their busiest hour between 7 and 8 a...

When it comes to businesses promoting their location as having free WiFi access, I think primarily of bookstores, coffeehouses, and hotels. However, WiFi access is something that any small business can promote. In today's New York Times, there's an article called " In-Store Wi-Fi Is Free, but Not Commercial-Free ". It features a company called AnchorFree , which "has introduced a service that lets merchants of any size — from a large bookstore chain to a mom-and-pop restaurant — offer free advertising-supported Wi-Fi to customers on the store premises. People who are shopping or eating in an AnchorFree location will see banner ads on their screens or short video spots or both before their browsing session." The article also mentions JiWire as a company that "has a similar system, though a different technological approach." If you have a client whose customer base includes the techno-literate, this is a service that they might want to consider.

Frequently Occurring Surnames From Census 2000 Tabulations of all surnames occurring 100 or more times in the Census 2000 returns are provided in the files at the link above. The first link there explains the methodology used for identifying and editing names data. The second link provides an Excel file of the top 1000 surnames. The third link provides zipped Excel and CSV (comma separated) files of the complete list of 151,671 names occurring 100 or more times. These charts are broken down by race and Hispanic origin. The top ten surnames are: NAME Number of occurrences Smith 2,376,206 Johnson 1,857,160 Williams 1,534,042 Brown 1,380,145 Jones 1,362,755 Miller 1,127,803 Davis 1,072,335 Garcia 858,289 Rodriguez 804,240 Wilson 783,051 Green is 37th with 413,477.

There's no shortage of information about green business and environmental issues. But its not always easy to find on the web. Here's a pleasant directory of " Going Green " resources put together by the librarians at the Middletown Thrall Library in Middletown, NY. Topics include organic food, energy and fuels, and home improvement - areas many of our clients seem to be particularly interested in.

Based on SBA guidelines, SBDCs at one time couldn't really assist not-for-profit organizations. Now, however, they can. One of my favorite resources is Guidestar.com. The October and November issues featured the article "20 Biggest Fundraising Mistakes", some of which apply to for-profit businesses as well, such as Failing to Set a Realistic Goal and Failing to Have Deadlines.

In late 2005, I was part of an SBDC meeting where we heard from a director of The Entrepreneur's Source . This company provides coaching/counseling services to people interested in owning a business, with a specialization in franchises. Theoretically, they help the budding business owner in finding the franchise opportunity that best suits his/her personality, lifestyle, etc. They are not brokers, nor do they represent any particular franchisor. We often get questions from advisors with clients who want to own a business, but aren't sure what type is best for them. If, during discussions with them, you & your client can't seem to find that industry perfectly suited to them (and the client is interested in running a franchise), then keep this site in mind.