New York SBDC Research Network

I've read about word clouds, a/k/a tag clouds, how they reflect which words are being emphasized in a website/blog or newspaper or any written document. From Tag Crowd here's the one done on July 15, 2008 of the NYS SBDC website : 732-sbdc administration advice advisor albany answered appointment article business center choices corporate decided decision development economic expert extended factors floor form free funded honored irs ny onondaga partners partnership personal photo private products program public published resources sba sbdc services significant sole start state step tax thanks trades university york created at TagCrowd.com And here's the one for this blog: access american application business canada center com comments data database directory education email entrepreneurship facebook federal franchise free government handbook health history information internet labels law national

How's your brain feeling today? Right now, at 10:30 in the morning, mine is a bit sluggish. When asked "How are you?" by coworkers first thing in the morning, "tired" is the word I've used the most. No different today. I need more sleep. A fellow named John Medina would agree. He wrote a book called Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. In it, he puts forth his 12 rules for a better brain. Most of the rules are pretty obvious: exercise more, eat better, get more sleep. However, he's built a website where he lays out the science behind each of them - how a portion of your brain is physically influenced by external factors. For instance, regular exercise stimulates a part of the brain related to the thalamus, which aids in memory. A lack of sleep hinders your attention span, promotes moodiness, and impacts your logical reasoning. Your brain will better retain new information if exposed to it repeatedly. And so

As of July 24th, the minimum wage has been raised to $6.55. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 required three minimum wage hikes over a three-year period, with the final increase going into effect July 24th, 2009. This summer also marks the 70th anniversary of the Fair Labor Standards Act. History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 - 2007 Minimum Wage Laws in Individual States

I have suggested the language podcasts on iTunes . They also have business podcasts on various issues. I've been listening to one called How to Give Feedback About Attire on Manager Tools by Michael Auzenne and Mark Horstman. It's free and you can also get it from their website . One of the sessions I listened to was about talking to employees about dress codes. It is interesting and talks to this team's approach to managing employees in general. For the purposes of this topic they discuss the ways managers talk to employees - making judgements versus offering feedback on employee behavior with an explanation of impacts. In this scenario, not criticizing clothes specifically, but talking to the choices employees make and how to separate the person from the behavior. They describe situations where a dress code is too specific and tries to codify clothes. The difficulty is where a person is not breaking rules but is making choices that creates less than positive results. Th

We have several resources related to venture capital at our disposal at the Research Network. Here's a new one I saw on the ResourceShelf blog. It's the Venture Capital Database . As described on by Alain Sherter on TheDeal .com : "The database, which lists information on 492 VC firms and nearly 6,800 venture investors worldwide, is based on information from the National Venture Capital Association, supplemented by Winn's own entries. It provides links to firms' Web sites, email addresses, locations and investment parameters, including assets under management and minimum and maximum investment. In a nice touch, VCDB displays firms in Google Maps, which gives entrepreneurs an idea of their proximity to investors. Even more useful, it provides biographical info on individual VCs , along with links to their blogs, if they have one. The database is searchable by firm and VC , location, investment size and alma mater." Worth checking out? Let us know what

I've gotten this question a couple times now this summer, so I thought I ought to address it here. Q: There are women-owned certification programs, minority-owned certification programs, and small business disadvantaged certification programs,, such as 8(a). Is there a small business certification program? If not, how do those programs that require small businesses fill them? A: According to my sources - the SBA and a very nice woman at the NFIB - there is no small business certification as such, as there are women, minority and small disadvantaged programs. Wait, you say, so how do they get SB for contracts, etc.? They assume they are telling the truth, but then require documentation (payroll records, tax records, etc.) to make sure. Trust but verify. BTW, it’s the same for veterans – no certification, but one will need to bring in the documentation at some point.

In today's online Wall Street Journal there's a brief article titled " Wait to Work for Family ". We sometimes get inquiries regarding succession planning from small business owners who, upon retirement, hope to keep things in the family. This article suggests that grown children are likely more effective - and more confident in their decision-making - if they don't join the business right out of school. It's obvious - small businesses kept in the family stand a better chance of survival if the next generation is as motivated as those who founded it.