New York SBDC Research Network

Demographics are a very important part of the research that we do here at the Research Network. While demographic is defined on dictionary.com as "a statistic characterizing human populations (or segments of human populations) broken down by age or sex or income etc", this definition does not cover the many uses of demographics. Demographics can help a small business owner decide where to open a new business, who the business' target audience should be, and many other essential aspects of operating a small business. Below are links to demographics information that is available for free. Bureau of Labor Statistics Demographic Data American Fact Finder - Demographics from the U.S. Census Social Statistics Briefing Room - The White House I also found a useful pathfinder from the University of Michigan Documents Center on Statistical Resources on the Web - Demographics and Housing

Two new items we have in our library are: National Coffee Drinking Trends 2008 What You Need to Know, When You Need to Know It Table of Contents Highlights Background Research Methodology Overview Detailed Sections Coffee Consumption Frequency Coffee by Type Coffee Consumption by Age Coffee Consumption by Region Coffee Consumption by Time of Day Coffee Consumption by Location Drivers and Barriers Country Origins/Certifications Coffee Additives Consumer Profiles Appendix A Guide to Developing a Community Farmers' Market from the Farmers' Market federation of New York, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets. Table of Contents Introduction Building Interest Market Research & Assessing a Need for a Market Market Organization Preparing for the First Season Evaluation Appendices: Checklist for Developing a Farmers' Market Sample Survey for Farmers Sample Survey for Consumers Sample Rules and Regulations for a Farme

We all know that it is increasingly difficult for even well-established small businesses to get credit. But your SBDC can help! Tom Morley (and I think I saw Geri Kavanah too) from the Westchester Small Business Development Center, and their client, Carol Conolly of Discovering Me Nursery School, discuss these issues with Business Week TV. Watch it here:

Stolen from J.J. Hill Library blog because I found out about some sources I didn't know about before. Trade shows are a tried and true way of reaching out to and interacting with numerous potential customers in a short period of time. But they can take some finesse to do right. The Trade Show Handbook can help you put together that "just right" show. The site offers guides and tutorials for choosing and maximizing a trade show presence, links to directories of trade shows by industry , and a listing of convention centers by state . You'll also find lists of event planners and suppliers for help bringing it all together. Trade shows, as with any form of marketing, should be entered into with forethought and a solid plan. Formulate that plan with the Trade Show Handbook.

Here's an article that offers a few tips on screening employees through the Internet. Some of it is rather obvious (check Google . . . really?). It also cites a few fee-based sites that help with background checks. On a similar note, the Degree Check website is a useful tool to see whether or not a candidate for a position really has that MBA. There are likely dozens of additional sites that perform similarly useful functions. Anyone know of any off the top of their head?

Happy Fiscal New Year to everyone on the Federal calendar. Tuesday saw the end to what's been a turnaround year for our library. We hired Alexis in March, and she seems to be the final piece to the puzzle. We just finished the busiest September in our 16-year history. Requests are up 31% over last year, to a point not seen around here since 2003. A few weeks ago witnessed the 25,000th request in our history. Turnaround time has been cut in half. In addition, we've incorporated an SBDC presence on Facebook , LinkedIn , and Twitter . We've been defined in Wikipedia . We've been slowly building a Spanish-language collection, and a long-overdue LISTSERV has been built for SBDC personnel. There's miles to go . . . we're about to embark on rigorous training in GIS services. We'd like to explore podcasting, both for what we do & how to help our clients do the same. There's lots more to come. It's been a fun year. We're looking forward to the next o

The central office for the NYSSBDC has created a document that can be used as a guide and information source for our clients in today's rough economy. Originally created in July, we recently found it was necessary to update and revise the document. The guide combines facts and figures regarding the current state of the economy as well as tips and stragtegies for surviving in down times. In order to create the document, we visited major and business news websites and found the most recent articles and blogs that are applicable to our client base. We would be happy to send the document to any advisor or NYSSBDC employee who requests a copy. Feel free to call, email, or leave a comment and we will send you what we are calling the "white paper".

"Hmmm.... I think I heard about that somewhere..." Have you ever wanted a search engine that can search through multimedia content, including audio and video files without written transcripts? Here's a tool that might be helpful. EveryZing's ezSEARCH "is the web’s first integrated universal site search solution, enabling multimedia content to be indexed and searched just like any web document." Search results yield the multimedia file where your term occurs, and links you to the part of the file where your term is spoken.

Over the years, I've gone to at least three workshops by Joel Saltzman. My recent trip to Chicago was no different. He did three different presentations there: CHANGING THE WAY WE REACT TO CHANGE, Shaking that ETHICS Brain and Shaking That INNOVATION Brain. I had gone to the first two before, so I went to the innovation session. It's difficult to capture the essence of the talk, but the notion of taking some item and repositioning it for another use - wax paper was microwave safe, even before there were microwaves - at least touches on it. Check out some of Joel Saltzman's articles on assumption busting, reframing the question, persistence in the midst of mistakes, and the value of bad ideas. He uses this quote that, modified, is useful for baseball, racquetball, other sports and life in general: "I skate to where the puck is GOING to be, not where it has been." -- Wayne Gretzky. Photos (c)2008 by Mary Hoffman.

See what JJ Hill Library says about this NYS SBDC website: If you run a retail shop or have an office to meet with clients, what's the first thing your customers see when they get to your location? Your sign! So you want to make sure it presents the same good face for your business as you do. The What's Your Signage? site includes articles detailing the importance of signage to a business and provides background on the elements of a well-designed sign. You can use this information to become an informed partner with the sign-maker of your choosing, or use the site's manufacturer locator to find recommendations. What's the most important thing a good sign will do for your business? Reassure your customers that they've found the right place.

Google seems to be adding new products daily and this is one I was unaware of until now: GoogleSites . It is a product that can serve as a mini-intranet for personal or commercial use. It looks like a wiki with project management capabilities. It's free unless you want extra storage space but you can use other Google gadgets through it. So it can store documents, have community files. You can limit the access to your set users, who can view only or have owner-rights. You can check out the various applications a product like this could be used for here.

Sites I've come across recently: The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp , with common-sense pieces such as "An Introvert’s Guide to Networking" and "Delegating Work: Don’t Panic, Everything Will Be Fine". The Entrepreneurial Mind , affiliated with Belmont University's Center for Entrepreneurship. Also, Alltop , actually a gateway to business blogs of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business, Entrepreneur magazine and many more. Not a blog, but a how-to site: My Own Business , "An Entrepreneurial Guide for both Start-ups and Operating Businesses."

I came across this site earlier this week, featuring articles written (and podcasts recorded by) the faculty at the Wharton School of Business. I don't pretend to understand the entirety of the ripple effect of recent events, so I went here looking for a primer. Here's some of the articles found there: * Will the Levee Break? An Ocean of Bad Debt Rises despite Government Rescues * After the Bailout: How Can the Fed Clean Up the Fannie and Freddie Mess? * Eyes on the Wrong Prize: Leadership Lapses That Fueled Wall Street's Fall * Note to Investors: Don't Play Games with Asset Allocation I've read a few. I'm still not an expert, but it's helped me understand some of the issues a bit better.

While most of the research we provide here at the Research Network centers around industry data and information, sometimes we are asked to provide research regarding a certain occupation. One of the common requests we recieve when asked about a specific occupation is the average salary. A website that I use to find salary data based on location, experience and education is Salary Expert . For more salary information, I also use the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook .

Here's the text to a recent interview (" Main Street Spared ?") by Reuters with William Dunkelberg, the chief economist for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (as well as chairman of a small commercial bank serving southern New Jersey). He doesn't see recent developments on Wall Street, as well those with AIG, as having any immediate effect on small business owners in the U.S. Some of the reader comments at the bottom of the page don't agree with him. What are your clients saying?