New York SBDC Research Network

Here is a http://www.labor.state.ny.us/stats/PDFs/enys0212.pdf the February 2012 Employment in New York State newsletter. Note the lead article, "Who Creates Jobs?" One of the most widely held beliefs about the U.S. economy is that small businesses create the most new jobs. Statements over the past 30 years by political leaders (see above) reinforce this notion. However, recent research by John Haltiwanger of the University of Maryland and Census Bureau economists Ron Jarmin and Javier Miranda (hereafter listed as HJM) found that the accuracy of this idea is“subject to a host of statistical and measurement issues.” These issues include: • How large is a “small” business? • How do we measure “job growth”? • Is the age of the business considered? This article takes a closer look at the issues outlined above, using New York State data from the Census Bureau’s Business Dynamics Statistics (BDS).

From the New York State Executive Chamber: Governor Andrew Cuomo launched the FreshConnect program in 2011 to create new farmers' markets and provide support to existing ones. In addition to providing farmers a consumer outlet, the FreshConnect program helped create local jobs for youth in urban areas and facilitated an increase in the sale of locally-grown food. After the success of last year's program, the initiative is now expanding to include not just farmers' markets, but other innovative projects that connect underserved communities with New York farm products. Click here to learn more. Potential expansion projects include: programs to increase access to farm products at food pantries delivery programs that send farm goods to areas in need programs for low-income individuals to access food directly from a farm new farmers' markets that are located in underserved neighborhoods satellite markets that purchase produce from an existing

Think about it: Most customers will hear your business name before they know anything about your products or services. Like all first impressions, you only get one, so you better make it count. Leonard Green, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, suggests that a name be quick, unique and easy to remember. “You have 10, 15, 20 seconds to catch people’s attention,” he says. “Just get in there and do things differently than what everybody else is trying to do, because that’s where the home runs come from.” More HERE .

Business as Art Fact: Entrepreneurship is an irrational pursuit. Founding a company--much less one that could "change the world"--entails insane amounts of risk, ridiculously low chances of success and zero work-life balance. Nevertheless, the value of risk-taking is incalculable, insists Steve Blank, professor of entrepreneurship at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, who pioneered the Lean LaunchPad course that the National Science Foundation adopted for its new incubator boot camp, I-Corps. Blank started a total of eight technology companies--two of them massive failures, one that set him up for life--before turning his attention to the next generation of visionaries, to whom he's been extolling the virtues of embracing his particular brand of irrationality. More HERE .

Collecting sales tax is one of the most confusing aspects of transacting business – online and off! Whether you’re starting a new business or expanding into e-commerce, here’s what you need to know about your sales tax obligations. Read More

The JM Internet Group, a leader in providing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) training online, is proud to announce that the 2012 edition of their SEO Fitness Workbook - a leading book on Search Engine Optimization - is available free of charge as a review copy up to April 1, 2012. The new SEO book charts how to get a company or organization to the top of Google and Bing step-by-step and includes access to the SEO Toolbook, a compendium of over 100 amazing free search engine optimization tools for small business. More HERE .

According to the Labor Department, more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs have been created since the start of 2010. America’s small manufacturers are a critical part of that. BLS and Census data reports that 98 percent of America’s manufacturing firms are small. More than one in three Americans who work in manufacturing, work at a small business. Read More .

If you are a manager at a large corporation with a well-staffed HR and legal department, you've probably gotten a wealth of training on how to conduct a job interview. But if you own your own company or are a manager in a small business, it might be up to you to keep yourself out of trouble when you start the hiring process. Do you know what kinds of questions you're legally allowed to ask? Knowing the limits will help you avoid lawsuits and make smarter hiring decisions. First of all, there are a limited set of topics that are protected -- in other words, you may not make hiring decisions based on these considerations. The good news is that the list is quite short and is mostly obvious stuff that common sense would dictate is off limits. Sometimes, though, applying this list in real-world situations can be confusing. More HERE .

Building a community around your startup can be one of the cheapest ways to create momentum for your product. A community is much more than a one-time marketing campaign, and can help you throughout your company’s life cycle if you take the time to grow it right. HERE are 10 tips for getting started.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has unveiled a new program to eliminate some of the challenges minority and women-owned businesses face when bidding for state contracts. Cuomo's program, launched Feb. 21, provides MWBEs and small businesses with surety bond assistance. Surety bonds, or letters of credit from insurance companies, act as promises the insurance companies will cover a specific amount of a contract cost, should contractual obligations go unmet. Two A-plus rated surety bond companies, Travelers and ACE, are taking part in Cuomo's program, ensuring companies contracting to MWBEs up to 30 percent of the principle contract cost. In addition to surety bonds, New York state is collaborating with intermediary lenders to create more working capital loans for contractors. Cuomo says entrepreneurship, innovation and diversity are New York's strength. More HERE .

Did you start a home-based business in 2011? Confused about what home office costs you can deduct when you file your tax return for 2011? The IRS home office deduction gives many small business owners a tax advantage allowing them to write-off certain home costs. However, it’s important to understand the rules of the road so that you don’t raise red flags with the tax authorities. More HERE .

For years the question, “What is Twitter,” was among the top searches in Google. While the answer is varied depending on who’s answering, what’s consistent across the board is that people find value in the network for very personal reasons. That means that people are weaving emotional connections in the network based on the people they follow and those who follow them back. This includes friends of course, but also organizations, athletes, celebrities, musicians, as well as their favorite businesses. So as a small business owner, entrepreneur, or service provider, why is this, or Twitter for that matter, important to you? More specifically, how could Twitter’s indefinable characteristics improve your business? More HERE .

Learn how to increase traffic, leads and sales by reaching more than 11 million people on Pinterest. Pinterest isn't just another social media network. What appears to be the fastest-growing social media site ever has become a huge traffic referral (arguably, more powerful than Google+) for all businesses. An increasing number of companies are leveraging the platform to reach a new audience, increase visits to their websites, and generate leads or retail sales. And guess what? It's working. More HERE .

Taking Things Into Your Own Hands In order to thrive in today’s digitally driven business environment, sales folks need to think and act more like marketers. I suppose to some degree this has always been true, but it is painfully so now that prospects have access to mounds of information, have tools to deflect unwanted sales messages and have the ability to freely publish both flattering and unflattering information about the companies with whom they choose to do business. So, in order to survive in this new world order salespeople need to take things in their own hands and connect much more deeply with the marketing side of things. I’ve often said that getting marketing and sales on the same page was one of the biggest challenges for departmentalized business, but now it’s become an individual challenge. In the traditional model marketing owned the message while sales owned the relationship. In the new model there can be little distinction. Marketing must get better at relation

What, exactly, is the Rule of Three? It’s a rule that basically states that more than three “whatever” is confusing and overwhelming – either visually or mentally, or both. That makes it especially helpful if you’re the kind of entrepreneur who likes to give too much…As in: too many options, too much rambling content, too many bullet points, too much info crammed into a speech, etc. The Rule of Three is a fascinating thing. Why? Because it seems to apply in so many different situations. And many of these situations are related to effectively marketing a business. So if you’re an entrepreneur, it makes sense to understand how, when and why to apply it. Read more HERE .