New York SBDC Research Network

JK3430.P976 2001 New York Public Sector: JK671.F43 2005 Federal yellow book: JK3430.N49 2005-2006 New York State directory 2005/2006 Peachtree accounting 2005 (software) HD62.5 .L53 1996 Gregg A Lichtenstein; Thomas S Lyons Incubating new enterprises: HD30.28 .R644 2004 Rogoff, Edward G., Bankable business plans / TK5105.888.N54 1996 Niederst, Jennifer. ; Freedman, Edie. Designing for the web: HV7936.S56 1999 The NRA range sourcebook HD61 .R378 2004 Author Reiss, Claire Lee. Title Risk management for small business /

How Many People Move Each Year – and Who Are They? By David Bancroft Avrick Over the past quarter century I’ve heard dozens of different statistics about the percentage of people that move every year. These guesstimates have varied from a low of 10 percent to a high of 25 percent. When people move, your database takes a hit. So let’s look at who moves and why. Using the information provided by the U. S. Census Bureau, let’s clear up the confusion and misinformation. Out of a population of 282,556,000 people, 40,093,000 moved. That’s an overall percentage of 14.19 percent annually. These 40-plus-million people break down as follows: 23,468,000 (58.51%) moved within the same county, 7,728,000 (19.28%) moved to a different county within the same state, 7,628,000 (19.03%) moved to a different state, and 1,269,000 (3.17%) moved to a different country. The percentage of population that moves, when broken down by age, varies considerably – from a low of 1.55 percent to a high of 17.84 per

Once upon a time, there was a client starting a gourmet food store. The client wished to obtain a list of business fax numbers for the neighborhood immediately surrounding the store with the intent of faxing lunch menus. A bit of digging at the Research Network revealed that while this advertising method appears inexpensive it is unlawful and therefore could end up costing the client quite a bit. According to a notice on the Federal Trade Commission web site , the Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans unsolicited fax advertisements. "The Act makes it unlawful for anyone to fax an unsolicited ad to another individual or business if there is no prior business relationship - and the penalty for each violation is $500 or up to $1,500 if a company willfully and knowingly violates the law." Now, what if the gourmet food store had established a prior business relationship with the recipient of the fax? Then, the gourmet food store could send the unsolicited fax. However, afte

There are many, many sources for franchising information but I’ve outlined a few here: FranchiseOpportunities.com describes itself as the “web’s largest database of franchise and business opportunities” and offers a search facility by industry or investment level with various industries broken out into type of situation. It also offers articles and news on franchise business. BestFranchiseOpportunities.com This site offers a similar look-up including a good resources list naming well-known sources for franchise information. One can also look up company names directly. The International Franchise Association Also includes a franchisor directory as well as a supplier directory, books and reports. Entrepreneur.com Franchise Zone Slices and dices the similar information in some useful ways. Like Top-Home based , Fastest Growing , Top New and Top Low Cost among others. For a quick overview HowStuffWorks.com has an article on How Franchising Works by Lee Ann Obringer that offers pros and

I had a reference question recently. The bottom line was that the client thought that if he typed in a domain name and he didn't find it, it meant that it was available. Wrong. Your clients should be checking the Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers , which will direct them to several other locations. Perhaps the most useful is the InterNIC , which provides: a roster of ICANN-accredited registrars (legitimate organizations that sell the domains), information regarding registered domains (who owns the domain names), a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding domain name registration , and more. I like to look at a couple sources for registered domains, so I also look at Whois Source . When I type in ibm or ge or fedex into Whois, I find the domains at .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .us, and are no longer available. Even if they were open, your client should be wary of using them. If a website is a variation of an existing URL that would likely create &

More about those Entrepreneur Start-Up Guides . . . Recently, I e-mailed a Word file that listed the remaining guides in the Research Network collection. While we were busy winnowing our holdings, we received a notice from a center that wondered why we allow only 2 weeks to view these books. This is one of those vestiges of the days when the Researh Network served the entire country. Back then, we had a much greater demand for the guides than we do now. Two weeks was a reasonable duration to allow people to view the guide, but not so long that others would have to wait too long. Obviously, we're not national anymore. As of now, the Research Network will allow these guides to be on loan to SBDC advisors & their clients for a period of three weeks. This includes the mailing time. It's something that should've been done many years ago. Sorry for the delay. This clause will appear in the upcoming revision of the SBDC's Standard Operating Procedures manual. In the near

By now you can probably recognize an Internet scam in your e-mail inbox. But, sometimes the text is so persuasive that you consider forwarding it to one hundred of your closest colleagues and friends. How can you tell if it's for real or not? Do a bit of research at one of these sites: Hoaxbusters: http://hoaxbusters.ciac.org/ Snopes: http://www.snopes.com/snopes.asp To discern whether you received a computer virus , search: Symantec: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html Vmyths: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/hoax.html And if you get spam e-mail that you think is deceptive, forward it to spam@uce.gov . The Federal Trade Commission uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive e-mail.

Many of our clients are setting up or growing businesses in rural settings. A source that looks at rural economics is the USDA’s Economic Research Service: Key Topics: Rural America . It looks at rural industry including farm labor, issues facing farms, how many farms are set up and federal funding distribution. You will also find Characteristics and Production Costs which looks at how production costs vary among producers. Agricultural Outlook: Statistical Indicators includes data on specific commodities, prices and expenditures. Rural America at a Glance is at http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/AIB793/ and State Fact Sheets: New York is a summary of farm income and employment for NYS.

Everyone in the country should soon be able to get a FREE copy of his or her credit report from each of the credit reporting companies once every 12 months . The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has a brochure, Your Access to Free Credit Reports , explaining your rights and how to order a free annual credit report. The free reports have been phased in during a nine-month period, starting on the West Coast last December 1, to the Midwest on March 1, to the South on June 1. Starting September 1, the free reports will be accessible to everybody, including those in CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY , NC, PA, RI, VT, VA, WV, DC, PR, and all U.S. territories. There’s a toll-free number to order the report: 877-322-8228, or complete the request form on the FTC site and mail it. The instructions read: "When you order, you need to provide your name, address, Social Security number, and date of birth. To verify your identity, you may need to provide some information that only you would know, lik

When doing research on non-profits, I often check GuideStar.org . GuideStar provides data on more than 1.5 million non-profit organizations. When you search the GuideStar database without registering, you find a non-profit by its name, city, and state. You'll see its NTEE (National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities) code, and whether contributions to it are tax deductible. If you register (for free), however, you get much more, including: Address Mission and program descriptions Goals and results Three most recent Forms 990 received from the IRS* for an organization Any documents a nonprofit has posted through the eDocs service *Form 990 is an annual reporting return that certain federally tax-exempt organizations must file with the IRS. It provides information on the filing organization's mission, programs, and finances. If you're looking to work with a non-profit or thinking about donating to an organization, GuideStar.org can help you become better-informed, and make more ef

To follow on Darrin's earlier post... No doubt everyone has visited the DOL site for data at some time for employment law or other tips and stats. I tend to get in and out, going straight for what I need without really looking around, especially since there is such an alarming amount of information jammed in there. A few spots that are worth a visit if you haven’t been recently are: OSHA - Injury and Illness: Recordkeeping Reports on Computer and Internet Use at Work Temporary help agency workers report Occupational Outlook Quarterly We often go straight to Occupational Outlook Handbook and certainly you will recognize the reports from that source from enquiry packets. A source you may not check as often is the Occupational Outlook Quarterly Online. While poking around I came upon the You’re a What? feature. This quarter they focus on a modelmaker , past issues have been flavorist , and perfusionist . But they also covered acupuncturist , corporate concierge , dog walker , and gree

I was looking for more cool resources for you when I came across a November 2003 article in Entrepreneur magazine online , with the title shown. While the other librarians and I have cited some of the sources they've included, there are a few others that you might want to check out. Business Basics Business.gov : "Sponsored by the SBA, this site asserts that its purpose is to make the relationship between business and government more productive." U.S. Postal Service : "The USPS delivers when it comes to helping you figure out the ins and outs of shipping your precious letters and packages. Of particular interest: a section on direct mail—how to do it, rates and mailing info, templates, FAQs and more." Also in this section: SCORE and something called the Small Business Development Centers . Business Opportunities Cited here: Export.gov : "Register to receive the Export.gov newsletter, and you'll get monthly updates on feature articles, trade events and n

Sometimes, a library is improved by what it removes, rather than what it adds. Since 1992, the Research Network has been buying, cataloging, and lending Business Start-Up Guides, as published by Entrpreneur magazine. These are guides that are regularly borrowed by you on behalf of our clients. At the beginning of 2005, we had exactly 200 guides in the collection. However, a recent review of our holdings shows that 75% are more than 10 years old. I knew we had some dated guides on the shelves - however, I didn't realize it was that prevalent. In traditional public & academic library settings, items that are this old are kept as a matter of historical record. We don't have that luxury here - there's simply not enough space, nor are these guides of any practical value to the clients we serve. (In fact, they can do more harm than good. A recent evaluation came back to the Central office, specifically noting a client's disappointment with "very old" info

You have by now likely seen or used a wiki . A wiki is a simple but useful web tool to learn about any number of things. A natural outgrowth of email and blogs, it is server software that lets users to communally control content. A group of people can edit parts of text on the wiki, tweaking the information found there. The strength of the wiki comes from so many eyes constantly improving it. It is the closest thing to the original concept of what the web should be – an open tool for people to share information. While abuse does exist, moderators can correct incidents. One highly visible wiki is wikipedia , there is also wiktionary , wikiquotes , but they are well suited to collaborative projects. Organizations that are interested in knowledge management may be looking in this direction for information sharing. For more information on wikis check out HowStuffWorks.com for an article by Marshall Brain entitled “ How Wikis Work ”.

As a librarian, I tend to be cognizant of, and pulled by, two often conflicting values, the widespread distribution of information versus the desire to honor intellectual property rights (copyright, trademark, patent), the latter so the creators will be willing and able to "do it again." So, I was very interested in reading an article in the July/August 2005 Searcher, "The Magazine for Database Professionals" . The article, "Generosity and Copyright" by Laura Gordon-Murname , asked the question, "How can you help patrons identify public domain content...?" The copyright law has become more skewed towards the copyright holder over time, with longer periods and more lenient applications, so that the doodle on a napkin or a quick e-mail becomes copyrightable. According to Gordon-Murname, there are many critics who believe these changes fly in the face of the law as envisioned by Jefferson and others. She quotes Larry Lessig, who says this "per

I frequently prepare usage statistics for presentation at meetings. A blog seems a good place to present them, too. Here's a few items of note: As most of you know, the Research Network has been serving the SBDC community since September 1992. On May 31st of this year, we received our 20,000th request for information. Thanks to John Narciso at our Farmingdale SBDC for being the one to help us reach this milestone! We answered 146 requests asked during the month of June. This is about right - we've averaged exactly 146 for every June since 1993. To put that number in perspective, know that our busiest month ever was April 2002, when a whopping 217 requests came to our doors. The lowest? October 1998, when there were but 74. Generally, March is our busiest month of the year, and (unsurprisingly) December is the slowest. In June, we devoted 1.4 hours of prep time per question. This isn't unusual - historically, we've spent 1.5 hours on a request. I'll try to re

In this age of rising costs for proprietary information, the Research Network librarians have to be creative in their research strategies. One of the ways we track down industry trends is to look at Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings . Maybe your client sells a product in a retail establishment. Check out the manufacturer's filing for a discussion of the industry as well as competitors. Form 10-K is a good place to start. The 10-K is the annual report to the SEC, however, it's generally different from the Annual Report to Stockholders . The 10-K follows a standard format as mandated by the SEC and doesn't contain the colorful charts and graphs found in the glossy Annual Report to Stockholders. The 10-K describes how the firm does business, lists ownership and management, may provide estimates of market share and competition, discusses research and development activities, lists subsidiaries, and reveals legal proceedings and other matters that affect the compa

While working on a question for an advisor, I came across a term I had not heard before: ‘ home-shoring’ . At a time when there is so much written about out-sourcing and off-shoring, it piqued my interest. We come across a lot of buzz words, and this was a new one on me. Naturally coined here in the US, home-shoring refers to the outsourcing of functions in this case to those working from their homes. Off-shoring has not worked out in many cases, particularly for call and customer services, and with increasing security fears, this seems to be a viable alternative. And apparently about as cost effective as off-shoring to India, while employing those within the market they serve. Not that we haven’t seen many home-based businesses offering outsourced services to industry, but now we have the lingo. Star Tribune Let's hear it for 'homeshoring' October 7, 2004 at 11:46 AM By Nick Eian September 19, 2004 FORUM0919 http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4983779.html CNet News 

There's a U.S. Census activity now taking place that will eliminate the need for the long form in the 2010 Census, and beyond. The American Community Survey is a nationwide survey designed to provide information more quickly, rather than having users wait for 10 years. Yet it it has received very little publicity, because the Bureau has little or no budget for promotion. "The decennial census has two parts: 1) the short form, which counts the population; and 2) the long form, which obtains demographic, housing, social, and economic information from a 1-in-6 sample of households. Information from the long form is used for the administration of federal programs and the distribution of billions of federal dollars. "Planners and other data users are reluctant to rely on [out-of-date data] for decisions that are expensive and affect the quality of life of thousands of people. The American Community Survey is a way to provide the data communities need every year instead of once

We receive a number of requests for average wages paid - either hourly or per year - for a given occupation within a given geographic region. If this is something you're asked repeatedly, then you should bookmark this site: http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_data.htm It presents wage estimate data generated by the Occupational Employment Statistics division within the U.S. Department of Labor. Right now, the most current data is available from May 2004. Data can be generated by a) the U.S. in general, b) an individual state, and/or c) selected metropolitan areas. (Metropolitan areas are usually defined as a collection of one or more contiguous counties, not necessarily within the same state. However, not all counties are part of a metro area. To find out, visit this section: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/msa_def.htm .) Back to the wage tables. You'll notice the far-left column is titled "SOC Code Number". Occupations are organized according to the Standard Occupationa