New York SBDC Research Network

One of the things I love about the World Wide Web is the ability to track down your favorite poem, book, or movie simply by entering keywords into a search engine. Here's a poem that I have posted next to my desk: Sometimes, oh, often, indeed, in the midst of ugly adversity, beautiful Memories return. You awake in wonder, you awake at half-past four, Wondering what wonder is in store. You reach for your clothes in the dark and pull them on, you have no time Even to wash your face, you have to climb Megunticook. You run through the sleeping town; you do not arouse Even a dog, you are so young and so light on your feet. What a way to live, what a way... No breakfast, not even hungry. An apple, though, In the pocket. And the only people you meet are store-windows. The path up the mountain is stony and in places steep, And here it is really dark -- wonderful, wonderful, Wonderful -- the smell of bark And rotten leaves and dew! And nobody awake In all the world but you! --

I started work on a request today on change management, an area I’ve looked at often in previous incarnations as a librarian for an HR consultancy and as it is something we all have to face, it might be interesting to see how the “experts” think it should be done. Many of our established clients are faced with the reality of shifting gears after years in the business, perhaps they can put some of these ideas to use. Here are a few direct lifts from sites explaining change theory. Change Management 101: A Primer Fred Nickols 2004 Fred Nickols of Distance Consulting provides an overview but succinctly boils down some basic strategies: Four Basic Change Management Strategies Strategy Description Four Basic Change Management Strategies Empirical-Rational People are rational and will follow their self-interest — once it is revealed to them. Change is based on the communication of information and the proffering of incentives. Normative-Reeducative People are social beings and will adhere to

Every once in a while, one of our centers gets a call from a reporter. That was the case last Tuesday, when the 2002 SURVEY OF BUSINESS OWNERS (SBO) came out with the release of the Final Estimates of Business Ownership by Hispanic or Latino Origin . It showed that the Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002 in the Albany area actually dropped in relation to 1997 , though the population had increased. Complicating the story further was the fact that the the 1997 data were in SIC, while the 2002 data were NAICS-based. Also, the definition of the Albany metro area changed. The Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY MSA used to include Albany County, Montgomery County, Rensselaer County, Saratoga County, Schenectady County, and Schoharie County. The current definition , however, excludes Montgomery County. There's a new beast in the Census terminology, though, the Combined Statistical Area. The Albany-Schenectady-Amsterdam, NY CSA includes the newly configured Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistic

Demographics is at the heart of nearly every question we answer at the RN. To do so, we have several tools at our disposal, including several from New Stragetist Publications. I recently learned of a blog now being published by this publisher on the subject of demographics. It's called DemoMemo, and can be found here . Its primary author is a woman named Cheryl Russell, who also once worked with the late, lamented magazine American Demographics . It's updated nearly every day, and is filled with references to demographics - sources, data, interpretations, etc. - that are quite interesting and bound to be useful not only to librarians, but to your clients as well.

The New York State Small Business Awards are presented annually to honor outstanding small businesses. Awards are presented to the Small Business Person of the Year (last year's winner-Frank S. Falatyn, President and CEO of FALA Technologies, Inc.); Small Business Advocate of the Year (last year- Raymond M. Nowicki, managing partner of Nowicki & Co.) ; and Small Business Not-for-Profit Organization of the Year (last year- Staten Island Economic Development Group)during a ceremony which recognizes the exceptional achievements of the award winner. All completed applications are considered. The governor may also designate candidates for honorable mention. Any small business is eligible for nomination. Applications for the New York State 2006 Small Business Awards are available here . The deadline is April 30, 2006. For more information, please contact the Small Business Division of Empire State Development at 518 292-5220.

Besides doing reference, each librarian is responsible for various other duties. I update the web site and this week that has focused on the upcoming U.S. - China Trade & Business Development Conference in Albany. Logos have been added for various organizers and sponsors, the agenda has been tweaked, and a PDF questionnaire was posted this morning. I added a Times Union article that highlights the conference in the news section . And you'll notice a direct link to the conference details on the homepage . If you haven't already registered or passed on the details to some of your clients, please visit the conference web site .

So, I started with the idea that I would highlight the issue of finding venture capital for start-ups after reading a brief article in the April issue Entrepreneur Magazine entitled All Aboard? By C.J. Prince “Is your company’s concept so cutting edge that investors won’t touch it? Here’s how to get their attention- and their money.” The article suggests taking proactive steps while waiting to hear from VCs and sweetening the deal. The Entrepreneur site also has many other articles on their site relating to raising venture capital, But, while looking for tidbits on brand new ventures finding investors I happily ended up on Paul Graham’s website who wrote Hackers & Painters among other titles. I got caught up reading How to Fund a Startup, Nov 2005 and got sucked in. Mr. Graham is also a partner in Y Combinator , which is described as a venture firm focusing on software and web start-ups. Paul Graham, an essayist, and program designer and it seems, all-round big-head. Besides an imp