Posts

Desktime

Desktime is an application that offers a marketplace for office space. If a company or building has a desk available, they can advertise it and those in need of desk space can locate it via this site. Right now it looks they only have listings for Austin and Chicago but it looks like a good idea. I wonder if things like this will take off. It seems like it would appeal on a number of levels: efficiency, non-wasteful approach, crowd-sourcing, network-encouraging opportunity. Like most things, its success will depend on populating the database. If this were tied in with a site like Linkedin, or Twitter you might be able to join forces with a limited network to share resources. I read an article about this on Springwise , a site that tracks innovative business ideas.

Small Business Profiles for the States & Territories

Check out the latest stats coming out of the Office of Advocacy's state small business profiles . These profiles show details about each state's small business makeup as well as the entire country. Each state profile will show you stats on; business ownership, demographics, industry breakout of firms and employment, employment turnover and lending.

Top 10 Web Hosting Services 2011

Consumer-Rankings.com "performed in depth research on the leading web hosting service providers." It "compared their pricing, features, bandwidth and storage space, ease of use, customer support and more to help you determine which hosting provider is right for your personal or small business website. According to our 2010 logs and stats , 59% of our visitors preferred iPage .For a quick overview of the most popular web hosting services click here ."

SBA Proposes Increase in Size Standards for Some Industries

WASHINGTON – A proposed rule published today for comment in The Federal Register by the U.S. Small Business Administration would adjust the size definition of small businesses in professional, scientific and technical services and other services sectors. The proposed revisions would increase the revenue-based size definition businesses need to meet to qualify as small businesses. They apply to businesses in 36 industries and one sub-industry in professional, scientific and technical services, and one industry in other services sectors. As part of its ongoing comprehensive review of all size standards, the SBA evaluated 46 industries and three sub-industries in these sectors. Of these, the SBA proposes to increase size standards for 36 industries and one sub-industry and retain current standards for the remaining 10 industries and two sub-industries. SBA’s size standards vary from industry to industry to account for differences among them. In 2007, the SBA began the process of review

Internet Page Ranking

Check PAGE RANK of Web site pages Instantly . "In order to check pagerank of a single web site, web page or domain name, please submit the URL of that web site, web page or domain name." http://www.whitehouse.gov 10 http://www.sba.gov 9 (Small Business Administration) http://www.state.ny.us 9 (state of New York) http://www.ibm.com/ 8 http://www.asbdc-us.org 7 (Association of Small Business Development Centers) http://www.nyssbdc.org/ 6 (New York State Small Business Development Center) http://www.timesunion.com/ 6 (Times Union newspaper, Albany, NY) http://nysdca.blogspot.com/ 6 (Data Detectives - the blog of the NYS Data Center affiliates) http://sbdcrn.blogspot.com/ 5 (blog of the New York State Small Business Development Center) http://www.whitehouse.com/ 5 (spoof of White House site) http://www.rogerogreen.com/ 4 (my primary blog)

Manufacturing Industry News

" Manufacturing Industry News is your go-to resource for latest news and trends in manufacturing. Our mission is to help manufacturing companies keep up with industry news, stay ahead of the competition and achieve business growth. Affiliated with HubSpot , a Cambridge-based inbound marketing softare company, Manufacturing Industry News seeks to offer you practical takeaways for sustainable manufacturing and growth strategies."

Bankruptcy stats

You can get all the bankruptcy stats you need from the US Bankruptcy Court site.

SBA Disaster Preparedness Webinar Is March 15

WASHINGTON – In the aftermath of flooding, wildfires, earthquakes and man-made calamities, how does the U.S. Small Business Administration determine which businesses are eligible to apply for disaster loans? How are loan amounts decided? What role does insurance play in the outcome of disaster recovery? Get answers to those and other questions during a free webinar on SBA disaster assistance funding hosted by the SBA and Agility Recovery Solutions on Tuesday, March 15 at 2 p.m. EDT. Representatives from SBA’s Office of Disaster Assistance will explain how the disaster loan program works, how an SBA declaration is made, details on the application process, and tips on managing a swift recovery. A question and answer session will follow. SBA has partnered with Agility Recovery Solutions to offer business continuity strategies for entrepreneurs via their “PrepareMyBusiness” website. Visit www.preparemybusiness.org to access previous webinars and for more preparedness tips. Since 1953,

The Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD)

A useful link to find out much of what you might want to know about about franchise and business opportunities, including Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDD), can be found on the FTC site .

Patents

A nifty wiki of patent databases .

Top 15 Hispanic-owned Companies in New York 2010

From Hispanic Business The Top 15 New York companies in the 2010 Hispanic Business 500 Ranking produced revenues of $323.12 million and employed 5,032 people in 2009. The revenue figure is down from the previous year, when it stood at $418.69 million, but the number of employees has risen from the 4,570 people reported in 2009. Gracious Home, in New York City, heads the list, with 2009 revenues of $59.00 million.

SBA Faces 45% Funding Decrease in U.S. Proposal

The U.S. Small Business Administration faces a 45 percent drop in funding under President Barack Obama’s budget request after receiving extra funding in economic stimulus legislation. The agency, which supports companies through loan programs and disaster assistance, would get $985 million in the fiscal 2012 plan Obama proposed today, a cut from the spending levels of 2010 supplemented by $962 billion in stimulus funding. While the budget would back $27 billion in loan guarantees for small business, administrative spending and funds for Small Business Development Centers would be cut...

New York State Directory of Small Business Programs

This may be a directory to help small business access valuable resources , but it's also a useful tool for those advising small businesses. It includes: *information resources (OPAL, Healthy NY, Guide to Sales Tax in New York, etc.) *technical assistance (environmental ombudperson, Workers' Comp, etc.) *funding incentives (general, environmental, minority/women/disadvantaged, tax incentives) *industry-specific programs *workforce recruitment, development, and benefits *government contracts/market expansion *mandated state filings

Pricing Used Merchandise

A new website is aiming to make it easier to price used merchandise. According to The New York Times, Worth Monkey aims to be the Blue Book for used anything, says co-founder Fred Abler. When a user enters a certain good at the site, the site combs the Web (eBay, Amazon.com, Google) for asking and actual prices for that used good, combines that data with information about broader category trends and statistical analysis and then presents the user with details about a great price, a fair price and an overpriced price for that good as well as pricing information for comparable products. Users can also enter their own thoughts about what the item is worth, which then helps inform future site results. Currently, the site provides such data about millions of products in 10 different industries, including vehicles, electronics and musical instruments. Once users have the fair market value, they can “use that as the basis for negotiation, and we just take a little bit of the friction ou

CCC Copyright Video

Here is Copyright Clearance Center’s new animated video concerning academic copyright . The video educates people, specifically faculty, about copyright laws when distributing materials to students, via course packs or readings uploaded online.

EBRI blog

Employee Benefit Research Institute - "EBRI is the only private, nonprofit, nonpartisan, Washington, DC-based organization committed exclusively to public policy research and education on economic security and employee benefit issues." Here is its blog .

Laws of New York

When searching to rules, regulations, permits, and licensing information, the first place to look is New York State's Online Permit Assistance and Licensing website . Sometimes, the helpful information provided will tell the searcher to look up legislation that is available through Laws of New York . If no information in provided in OPAL, sometimes searching Laws of New York will yield results previously undiscovered. Ultimately, it is always a good idea to search both sites for the most comprehensive results.

Dumb Customer Service, Part 237

My family stayed in a chain hotel in a southern city recently. It was reasonably nice, especially for the price, but a couple things bugged me: 1. There was something called the "business center" which was comprised of one computer, with a printer behind the registration desk that was hit or miss. 2. Checkout was a 12 noon. We went downstairs for the complimentary breakfast, returning about 9 a.m. we packed, then my wife decided to let the daughter have a chance to use the pool. I went to get a cart to haul the luggage. When I got back to the room, around 11:15, my room key didn't work. I thought it somehow got demagnetized, so I went down to get my wife's key; that didn't work, either. So I went to the front desk. Apparently it is a regular issue that the keys time out at some point before the checkout time. This is an absurd system, which wasted a good 10 minutes of my time.

SBA Re-launches Dealer Floor Plan Pilot Loan Program

A pilot loan program aimed at increasing access to inventory financing for auto, boat, RV and other dealerships will be re-launched Tuesday (2/8) and will be effective through Sept. 30, 2013, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced today. The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 included a provision for re-launching SBA’s Dealer Floor Plan (DFP) Pilot Loan program, which first became available in July 2009. The pilot is part of the SBA’s overall 7(a) loan guarantee program. The Jobs Act also increased the maximum size for 7(a) loans to $5 million, up from $2 million, which includes loans made through the DFP pilot program. “As a result of the credit crunch in late 2008 and early 2009, dealerships saw a significant decline in the availability of this type of inventory financing,” SBA Deputy Administrator Marie Johns said. “SBA’s original DFP pilot program was launched as a way to expand the availability of floor plan financing and the Jobs Act added further enhancements to that pro

The State of Small Business

The 2010 edition of The Small Business Economy documents the 2008 recession’s effects on small business as well as the changing economy at the end of 2009. In 2009, after weathering a deep recession that began in late 2007, the American economy began to stabilize. For small businesses, one of the biggest remaining challenges was the lack of sales adequate to grow employment. Many economic indicators began to show improvement by year’s end. For example, in the first three quarters of 2009, small businesses accounted for almost 60 percent of the net job losses, with the greatest losses in the first quarter. By the third quarter, net small firm job losses were one-third what they had been in the first quarter. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and other policy actions added between 1.5 percent and 3.5 percent to real gross domestic product in fourth quarter 2009 and projected an employment increase of 1.0 million to 2.1 million more