New York SBDC Research Network

At a Staff Training event years ago, I encountered Bonnie Gestwicki in the lobby of the hotel. She had a glow about her (she usually did). I asked where she got it from. She mentioned that she attended a kind of meditation session, which ended with the instructor saying that he "honored the light within you". From there on out, this became a running greeting between us. Today is the last day of Bonnie's run as director of the Corning SBDC, and I'll miss her insight on Finger Lakes wines, her wit & wisdom, and how she sent birthday email greetings to so many of us. Most of all, I'll miss that glow. So long, Bonster! We honor the light within you. Just don't head for the light any time soon!

Roger blogged about Canada earlier this week. Since Canada Day is next Tuesday, I'll continue the theme. Recently, Health Canada published Reducing Work-Life Conflict: What Works? What Doesn’t? While Canadian in focus, it discusses issues that transcend borders. From its summary: "More and more workers are finding it difficult to balance the roles of employee, parent, spouse, and eldercare giver. Trying to balance paid work, family responsibilities, and personal needs takes a toll on employers, families, and workers. And it shows up as higher absenteeism, reduced employee commitment, declining job satisfaction, lower workplace morale, and reduced satisfaction with family life . . . the report examines what employers, employees and their families can do to reduce work-life conflict." It's lengthy (325 pages), but if you're facing this conflict (and have the time), I recommend giving it a read.

Earlier this week I stumbled onto The Franchise Mall , an online directory of franchises. The reason why I prefer the Franchise Mall over other franchise directories is the amount of information given about the company. The Franchise Mall lists the number of franchises in operation for the past five years, start-up costs, statistics on business operations, similar franchises to look at, and much more. There are many other excellent franchise directories to choose from and since results vary from database to database, I would suggest using a few when searching for franchise opportunities. The Franchise Registry - SBA list of franchise companies whose franchisees enjoy the benefits of a streamlined review process for SBA loan applications. Franchise Search - Resource for franchising lifestyles and personal ownership. Franchise Opportunities - Directory of available franchise and business opportunities. Best Franchise Opportunities - Best franchise opportunities, franchises for sale...

Are you on Facebook, but wondering what it can do for your small business? On June 24 th , Visa unveiled a new Facebook application, the Visa Business Network . While still in beta, the application claims that "Here you can connect with other small business owners, learn ways to manage your business more efficiently, and grow by reaching the millions of potential customers on Facebook." Visa's also partnered with the Wall Street Journal, Google and Entrepreneur to bring small business content and applications to its Facebook presence. Read more about the Visa Business Network in this article from ComputerWorld: Visa, Facebook unveil social network for small businesses

Sharing your best pics Beautifully crafted cabinets, comical before and after plumbing or electrical shots, clothing, jewelry, interesting photographs of anything - this is an opportunity to be creative and show the beauty in daily life. While you cannot use Flickr to advertise your business, you can still use it to store and share photographs. And like LinkedIn, and Facebook, it is another social networking resource. Build a repository of photos to share with colleagues or the world at large and you can decide who can see which photos. Label them with your website name and without screaming your message, you can still show your stuff. In this situation, less is definitely more. But check out Flickr and just browse and see the beautiful and interesting things you can see.

Canada at a glance presents the current Canadian demographic, education, health, justice, housing, income, labour market, economic, travel, financial, and foreign trade statistics. This booklet also includes important international comparisons, so that readers can see how Canada stacks up against its neighbours. Updated yearly, Canada at a glance is a very useful reference for those who want quick access to current Canadian statistics. Remember, Canada Day is July 1.

When a new business is started, it is rare of the entrepreneur to own the necessary machinery and supplies. While the Yellow Pages might be the first place an entrepreneur thinks of to search for supplies, there are better options. Earlier this week I learned about ThomasNet , where users can search for manufacturers, distributors, and service providers. According to the website, "ThomasNet is the leading online industrial destination site where buyers and engineers from companies of all sizes, including the government and the military, go to search for and purchase everything needed – from printed circuit boards to laboratory equipment to machinery." The site provides an easy-to-use keyword function for the user to search products, services, companies, brands, news, and more.