New York SBDC Research Network

I saw this article- THE NUMBERS GUY: Weddings Are Not The Budget Drains Some Surveys Suggest Carl Bialik. Wall Street Journal. (Eastern edition). New York, N.Y.: Aug 24, 2007. pg. B.1 Abstract (Summary) The Knot takes steps to ensure that its respondents are representative in terms of geography and household income. But research manager Kristyn Clement acknowledges that The Knot's members may not be typical spenders. "Our market is brides who are planning an actual wedding and putting resources toward that event," Ms. Clement says. "Are there brides who are not spending money on their weddings? Potentially." Rebecca Mead, staff writer at Conde Nast's New Yorker magazine, writes in her new book, "One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding," that the survey covered only brides who had made themselves known to the Bridal Group and thereby "already demonstrated an interest in having the kind of wedding that bridal magazines promote.&quo

In an article in yesterday's (September 18, 2007) New York Times by RICHARD PÉREZ-PEÑA, the paper announced that it would stop charging for access to parts of its Web site, effective at midnight night, "two years to the day after The Times began the subscription program, TimesSelect, which has charged $49.95 a year, or $7.95 a month, for online access to the work of its columnists and to the newspaper’s archives." "In addition to opening the entire site to all readers, The Times will also make available its archives from 1987 to the present without charge, as well as those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. There will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, and some will be free." The story indicated that while the Times had generated about $20 million from 227,000 paying subscribers — out of 787,000 over all — and generating, the paper didn't release how much traffic would be generated by the search engines, visitors who

For those of you who like a good map, here's a fun tool: Using GIS data from ESRI (a leader in the GIS software & data field - pssstt... we bought some way cool data from them that you'll be hearing more about soon...) National Geographic's MapMachine offers good looking satellite views, physical maps and road maps. But it also provides theme maps on a range of topics, including weather, population density, natural disasters, and nature & conservation. While many of these topics are probably more applicable to school projects, others (perhaps congressional district maps or land use maps?) just might be useful at work. Whatever your motives, its pretty cool.

In most organizations the raw materials of the successful team exist; like dedication to service or professional ability, quality control. Where many, many organizations fall down is in the area of communication, sharing expertise, and a supportive environment. In particular, an appreciation of differing styles of working is essential to the smooth running of any organization. The detail oriented worker cam still have an appreciation of the big-picture worker; the process man can make room for the innovator. Organizations or businesses may have a plan but no process to truly implement it - the goal may be to empower employees but in practice, employees are micromanaged, evidence of a lack of trust. Or there is lip-service to the idea of communication but no process or game plan for dealing with conflict. To read up on teambuilding, check out Free Management Library

An advisor at one of our regional centers asked me to share some information he learned while working with a client last week. During the course of the counseling session, the client revealed she had signed up with a credit counseling service, Clear Your Debt LLC, from Austin, TX. The advisor was concerned when he read the contract the client signed, which prompted him to investigate the company. The Better Business Bureau in Austin told the advisor they had received numerous complaints against Clear Your Debt LLC. Though Clear Your Debt promised financing, counseling and other assistance, the advisor’s conclusion - after reading their confusing contract and talking to the BBB - was that the client would pay $15,000 for basically nothing. At that point, the advisor encouraged the client to return the contract she signed and cancel the agreement (this was within 3 days of the client signing the agreement). The advisor called me and asked that I share the information with other SBDC advi

The Association of Religious Data allows you to interactively explore the highest quality data on American and international religion using online features for generating national profiles, maps, church membership overviews, denominational heritage trees, tables, charts, and other summary reports. Over 350 data files are available for online preview and most can be downloaded for additional research. I had a question about the number people practicing Islam in parts of New York for a question about the dietary practice known as halal . I used The ARDA search mechanism and found files describing the number of Muslims by county. Other sources of religious data: Hartford Institute for Religion Research and Glenmary Research - the latter especially good for a breakdown of Roman Catholic numbers. Not so incidentally, it would be a mistake to assume that most U.S. Arabs are Muslims. In fact, if you go here , you'll see that most Arab-Americans are Christians.

The Research Network has answered over 23,000 questions since its inception. I've been around for most of them. Most every new request reminds me of something we've researched in the past. It's that deja vu feeling, on a daily basis. You can't trust it, though. I wanted to write a post about business incubators in New York, but I was sure I'd done it a year ago. I hadn't. I looked & looked, but there's no record of it. My bad. Sometimes, I just think I remember things. All righty then. David Hochman, the Executive Director of BIA/NYS, visited a Directors' Meeting within the past year. He let on that their website features contact information & descriptions of active business incubators throughout the state. Here's the URL: http://bianys.com/datainc/ Pass this list on to clients of yours whom you feel have the potential to benefit. And sorry for not getting this to you earlier. Say, a year ago.

When the Do Not Call registry opened registration to the American public in 2003, the majority of individuals rejoiced at the thought of no more telemarketer calls. According the FTC, "The registry was created to offer consumers a choice regarding telemarketing calls". Now, the list has started to expire since numbers are only on the list for five years from the date registered and not everyone who originally signed up is aware that they may be recieving unsolicited calls in the near future. For the article on the list expiring, go here . To re-register your number when it expires, go here . For more information from the Federal Trade Comission, go here . ---Alexis Mokler

Someone at the State Library took the trouble to compile in one place all of the databases tucked away on the websites of New York State government agency. God bless those librarians. Check out the page here . Some you already know about (like the Business Permit System, or the Corporation and Business Entity Database [which I wrote about last week]). There are others on such things as inmates in New York correctional facilities, profiles of licensed doctors, links to websites of licensed insurance departments, and other tidbits. I'm particularly interested in the GIS Clearinghouse website. I'll explain why in a future post (hint, hint).

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have created an online catalog of our circulating collection on the LibraryThing network. Here's a brief update: Due the diligent work and mad trouble-shooting skills of our intern, Alexis, we now have 156 books listed in our online catalog. The catalog is searchable, and most records contain basic information about the book (title, author, publisher etc. ) as well as an image of the cover, and links to other LibraryThing members that own the book (anyone can create a LibraryThing account and catalog their personal collection.) Its pretty easy to enter records, as you just provide the ISBN or title, and the database finds a matching record. That said, not all the records are perfect, and since we didn't enter all the data ourselves, their may be some inconsistencies. For example, the Entrepreneur start-up guide records all look a little different. With that in mind, we'll try to "tag" records, to pull together similar item

The SBA Office of Advocacy released an update to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). It estimates that there are 26.8 million small businesses in the United States, and addresses small businesses' importance to the U.S. economy. It provides data on small business firm survival, owner demographics, health care questions, regulations, and procurement. Advocacy's updated FAQs can be found here (PDF) . *** Small Business Report: Statistics for Tax Year 2003 Small businesses are defined by New York State as those businesses that employ fewer than 100 employees. Small businesses in New York may be sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited liability companies and partnerships, general business corporations, subchapter S business corporations, or transportation, transmission, and utility companies. Data presented in this report includes employment and business receipts by entity type and employment class. This edition of the Small Business Report provides data for New York Stat

It’s Warren Buffett’s birthday today, so I thought I would look at advice he has offered. Warren Buffet Wikipedia Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion,[2] he was ranked by Forbes as the third-richest person in the world as of April 2007, behind Bill Gates and Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú.[4] Profile of Warren Buffet the free dictionary Investors Should Heed Warrens Buffett’s Free Advice SmartMoney By James B. Stewart July 10, 2007 In any event, Buffett has given away more free advice than just about any billionaire I can think of. He reports his stock holdings and discusses their merits and the reasons for his choices in his popular annual letter to shareholders. More fundamentally, he has laid out his investment philosophy repeatedly for all to see. Anyone can piggy-back his actual stoc

When I stop at a roadside farm stand, my first assumption is that they are selling home-grown fruits and vegetables from their own fields. But when a New York farm stand has mangos and lemons? And sells t-shirts too? That's a totally different experience. This recent Treehugger blog post, Farm Stand Produce Not Always Local , refers to a Newsday article, Farm Stands on Long Island Undergoing an Evolution , and discusses that while Long Island is known for its local produce, many farm stands are importing their products from as far away as Florida and Mexico, and are not limited to selling only fruits and vegetables. Whether or not this is a good thing for local agriculture, retailers, or consumers, farm stands are an evolving business. With that in mind, here are some helpful resources for the farm stand owner or agricultural businessperson: Farmers' Market Federation of New York Planning the Farm Retail Market Cornell Cooperative Extension: Agriculture Business Resources

Answering the office phone at the end of the day is often interesting. Last week, the Central office received a call from Michael Raptis, casting director of RDF Media Group . As the press release he subsequently sent me reads: "Key US RDF/Pangea shows include: Wife Swap (ABC); Shaq's Big Challenge (ABC); Two Coreys (A&E); Meadowlands (Showtime); Off The Charts (Fox); How to Look Good Naked (Lifetime); Banzai (G4); 3 Kings (MTV); Ice T's Rap School (VH1); Junkyard Wars (TLC); Faking It (TLC); Gene Simmons Rock School (VH1); Ladette to Lady (Sundance)." Now, the company is engaged in starting a new program: Have you always wondered how wonderful life could be if you started that business, took that hobby more seriously or changed your career? Is there anything you always said you'd do once your kids got older? For many people in their 40’s and 50’s, the time has come to restructure their life and do something they’ve always dreamed of...it could be anything fr

Some clients have businesses that could benefit in knowing the names of newly-created companies. The Division of Corporations (within the New York Department of State) makes available a daily report of newly registered corporations, limited liability corporations, and limited partnerships. It's not EVERY new business in the state, but it's a start. Here's the service, in DOS' own words: "The Department of State publishes a daily report of new Corporations, Limited Liability Companies, Limited Partnerships and Registered Limited Liability Partnerships and amendatory certificates thereto. These reports are available only through e-mail. The subscription fees are: Annual subscription $125.00 Semi-annual subscription 75.00 Quarter-annual subscription 40.00 Your computer must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to review and print the report. You will be notified of the date of expiration of your subs

Well, I am surprised to see that I have not written about this most favorite website. The Halfbakery is a wonderful site for innovative thinkers to run their ideas by other thinkers/would-be inventors. I have found this site useful especially for those - "the world has never seen a product like mine..." clients. For every idea presented, posters will then weigh in on whether they think it is a good idea(viable or not) and often present examples of similar or existing products. Many products are completely fantastical but then some ridiculous sounding ideas have actual examples out in the world. This was the case with the collapsing bollard, and I just read about the "dog jack" that I can imagine being a real product like the doggie stairs we see so often. Here's another that would probably be popular if it existed: School kid pick up express: "So what I thought of is a transponder for each family. When we arrive at the school driveway, our ID and our kid

If you look to the right-hand side of this screen, you just might see a new feature we've added. There's a widget here that links to our new LibraryThing collection . LibraryThing is an online community that allows members to catalog their own book collections. You simply enter the title, or ISBN etc., and it finds the appropriate catalog record for your book, links you to others who own the same book, and can also make book recommendations and provide other user-advisory-type services. A user can enter up to 200 books for free. As our circulating collection isn't particularly large, we thought we'd give it a try. So, check out our library collection. The goal is to include all of our circulating books from this decade, but its a work in progress. Still, take a look, use the search feature, and if you find something you're interested in, send us an email and we'll send it your way.

Source: The Informant e-newsletter, Volume 4, Issue #243 -- Tuesday, August 21, 2007 Free From NASA: Rocket-science Expertise for Businesses NASA offers 40 hours of free technical advice to businesses. Overhaul by SBA to Help Fix System on Procurements Small Business Administration chief Steven Preston announced reforms aimed at cleaning up a broken system for keeping track of government procurements that has allowed federal agencies to classify billions in contracts to some of the world's largest companies as going to small businesses.

Tom Morley (from the Westchester SBDC) recently forwarded me an email that began like this: "Whole Foods Market, a national grocery chain with seven stores in New York, recently started a new program to provide low-interest, long-term loans to small producers around the country. We would very much like to let small producers of food products in New York know about the program." Part of this company's mission is that their produce be as fresh as possible, and make these loans available to farmers of "locally grown" produce (for reasons best explained here ). Of Whole Foods Market's seven locations in New York State , none are farther north than White Plains. However, they define "locally grown" as "produce that has traveled less than a day (7 or fewer hours) from the farm to our facility." Eligible products include agricultural crops, value-added food products, and other all-natural grocery items. This definition, then, makes most of the

Commissioned by Capital One and conducted by BusinessWeek Research Services , the survey looks at confidence, expectations and hopes of small business owners. The survey asks small business owners where they seek business advice, in this order: colleague, family or friends, CPA or accountant, business association followed by consultant, lawyer, commercial lender and other. “In their own words” are sections given to hearing actual comments from business owners on these topics: How Would You use $50,000 to Improve Your Business? How Did You Start and Then Grow Your Business to its Current Level?