New York SBDC Research Network

As I was using my usual translation sites to translate a block of text, I plugged in my paragraph and was disappointed to see half the words left untranslated and giving me a garbled mess. I remembered the Word Monkey gadget on my igoogle page and plugged the text in there and lo, it really worked. The entire paragraph made sense - a vast improvement on other translation tools. In this case, I was translating from Danish to English. Usually translation tools can get the nouns and verbs but are confounded by context. Looking at the Word Monkey site, they make clear that are not affilated in any way with Google yet are powered by Google Translate . In Google Translate, you can search for information on foreign language sites and translate the results back into your home language. There is also an option to contribute a better translation. This wiki feature may be part of the reason this translator is more accurate than others. With the ability to learn, I am liking this tool.

Surely you have tired by now of the whole Tiger Woods saga. All the articles about sex addiction, a world without privacy, being a role model, the future of professional golf, and whether we should care about any of it. But, from a business POV, here's one more article: The Ultimate Case Study In Brand Identity Vs Brand Image . It explains that brand identity really is "the heart and soul of who you are as a company or a person." Businesses can take a free "brand strength" test - go to the first link in the article - and that will be worth three minutes of a business' time.

I recently worked on a question about getting a business to want to contribute to a non-profit. (It was more complex than that, but that'll do for this purpose.) In researching the query, I came across Business Nonprofit CONNECTIONS, Inc. The About Us page poses this question: "Is your company’s giving making a difference in your community...and your bottom line?" The founder and CEO of the company, Susan Hyatt, "provides small and mid-sized companies with ideas and tools for actively managing their community impacts and giving strategies." Also, there's a lot of free, useful advice in blog articles and links to other resources at the site. And I've been getting some start-up e-mails from her that are commonsensical but useful; e.g., "Lesson One - Your Business is NEVER 'Too Small' To Make A Difference." One can sign up for a "free 12-page report, Great Gifts That Make a Difference, for ideas on alternative giving this holiday sea...

Well, not really, but I needed a title to tie-in the season with this recent article from Small Business Trends , called the " Top 10 Homepreneur Trends for 2010 ". (Aside - why do so many year-end lists [or lists in general] come in a multiple of 10? Is it a common number of toes, or fingers? Anyway, it's not my list, so they can do what they like.) The article reveals the neologism "homepreneur," which I wasn't familiar with until today. Regardless, we frequently receive questions from advisors as to what home-based businesses are hot. Keep these in mind. Now, should a person enter into a home-based businesses because he or she is limited, for one reason or another, to the home, and that choosing amongst this list would yield something more promising than something that isn't hot? Or should this list be read by someone who has talent and experience in one of these fields, and decides to start out a career in the field by starting in the home? I rea...

Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have been all the rage for the past few years, but the big question of profitability was always looming. Sure, they had a lot of members, but did these companies have any way to make money? Well, Twitter seems to have figured it out, at least for the time being. Twitter has just signed two agreements which will allow Twitter posts to be searchable by Google and Bing (Microsoft). The respective $15 and $10 million dollar agreements will open up your Twitter tweets to data mining, and will make the company profitable (we think - Twitter is privately held, and isn't giving away all their financials.) Read more at BusinessWeek: " Content-Search Deals Make Twitter Profitable "

The following three articles are only related because they are lists and I thought that they could be interesting and useful to business owners. 19 Blogs You Should Bookmark Right Now - Inc. scoured the Web and came up with a list of the smartest business bloggers. Their advice just might help you run a better company. (Inc.) 30 Entrepreneurs Who Are Saving the World - A look at 30 entrepreneurs who built successful businesses that were also driven by a social mission. Because, let's face it: There's more to life than simply making lots of money. (Inc.) The Best Money Management Sites - Although written as an article on personal finance software, the new generation of money management Web sites can help you take control of your financial life. (CBS Money Watch)

From the Office of Advocacy, Small Business Administration States looking to grow their economies must ensure that sufficient human capital exists to raise productivity, output, and incomes throughout the state. Some of these gains will stem from the creation of new enterprises, which previous research links to higher living standards. Each state experiences ebbs and flows of people moving in or out, but some states experience “brain drain” more than others. This paper explores the mobility of labor from one state to another, using data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond longitudinal survey and examining student outcomes as wage and salary and self-employed workers 10 years after graduation. A full copy of this report is available here , and the research summary can be found here . Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Chad Moutray at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.