New York SBDC Research Network

Looking for insight about how the Affordable Care Act will affect your small business and your employees? This free webinar series will help you understand key pieces of the law and what you should know about tax credits, the new small employer health insurance Marketplace (SHOP), and more. This week will feature special guest SBA Administrator Karen Mills. The series will run every Thursday through October, and the same webinar will be offered each week. Join us this week and get the facts you need to know. Thursday, August 15 at 2:00 PM ET: Click to Register Tip: Check out Business.usa.gov/healthcare to get customized ACA information for businesses of all sizes

If you want your readers to click “like” or “retweet” or “reblog” or “pin” or “plus,” you gotta ask for it. Not for nothing do two of the web’s most popular sites--BuzzFeed and Mashable--serve up big buttons at the top of each article, beseeching you to “share me now!” What’s more, these icons now include the number of shares in real time, boxing you in with peer pressure: “Don’t share me--I dare you!” This is marketing at its finest: so subliminal, you think you’re making a considered choice. Too often, however, those in the communications field blanch at making an explicit ask. We think of ourselves as marketers, not salesman. We trust in the purity of our craft, rather than tricks of the trade. Yet there’s a reason “marketing” and “business development” often find themselves in the same job title. More from the ASBDC blog .

WASHINGTON–Long-term assistance for small businesses affected by Hurricane Sandy is being made available through expanded funding to the U.S. Small Business Administration’s resource partners working in conjunction with state and local organizations. “SBA is working to harness the ingenuity of our local communities to make sure that we’re not only rebuilding, but building smarter,” said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. “This funding will provide extensive collaborative services to help small businesses recover and rebuild from Hurricane Sandy, so they can do what they do best, grow the local economy and create jobs.” SBA’s resource partners will issue a total of $13.1 million to collaborative teams, which will integrate local economic recovery efforts and bring distinct delivery of business services. This second phase of funding, part of $19 million in emergency appropriations approved by Congress, will be distributed by SBA’s resource partners -- the Small Business Development

If you’re not using video in your social media marketing, what are you waiting for? The engraved invitation came back in 2006 when Google bought YouTube. In 2011, YouTube passed Yahoo to become the world’s second-largest search engine. Video is a powerful tool, and leveraging it correctly can yield amazing results for your social media marketing. Social media video is hugely popular and includes everything from Vine (Twitter’s 6-second mobile video app) to long-form videos on YouTube. According to research by Pew Internet, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Video-sharing-sites.aspx 71% of online Americans use social media video sites (and that study was conducted in 2011—the percentage has likely increased since then). A picture is worth a thousand words so the cliché goes and a motion picture is priceless, which is why Pew Internet described videos as “social currency” when they reported in 2012 that 41% of adult internet users share and repost videos on social media. More from

The U.S Small Business Administration celebrates its 60th birthday this week. It is a great occasion to mark and celebrate the agency’s accomplishments over the past six decades. When, following the suggestion of President Eisenhower, Congress passed the Small Business Act and created the Small Business Administration in 1953, its stated mission was to "aid, counsel, assist and protect, insofar as is possible, the interests of small business concerns," and also ensure small businesses a “fair proportion” of government contracts. The SBA still does these core functions to this day. And at the time he signed the Small Business Act, President Eisenhower said: “It is my wish that the federal government programs and policies aimed at assisting small businesses ...provide such enterprises with additional constructive assistance.” Sixty years later, the landscape of the nation has changed substantially, but SBA’s mission and its commitment to the success of small business re

The Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2013, or H.R. 2988, which was introduced by Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., would expand the definition of a full-time employee from the ACA’s current 30-hour-per-week threshold. The ACA currently establishes that businesses with more than 50 full-time workers must provide health insurance for full-time employees who work either 30 hours a week or 130 hours per month. Many in the foodservice industry have been working to convince policymakers to increase the number of weekly hours worked to 35 or 40 since the ACA was passed in 2010. This newest measure mirrors a similar bipartisan bill that had been introduced in the U.S. Senate by Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., earlier this year. Like the House bill, the Senate version redefines a full-time employee as one who works 40 hours a week or 174 hours a month based on a 52-week year. More from Nation's Restaurant News .

WASHINGTON – The Obama Administration has launched Business.USA.gov/healthcare , a one-stop-shop Website which will provide employers of all sizes educational materials on how the Affordable Care Act may affect businesses and help them compete. The site includes a wizard tool that is tailored based on size and location, so businesses can learn how the law helps them provide affordable coverage options to their employees while still meeting their bottom line. The site will act as a user-friendly hub that connects employers to informational content on tax credits and other provisions of the law from the Small Business Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the Treasury Department. As part of the Administration’s ongoing dialogue with leaders of our nation’s top businesses, this latest tool will help ensure that employers of all sizes know what the Affordable Care Act means for them, and have the information they need to take advantage of the new bene

vol. 32, no. 6 The July-August edition of The Small Business Advocate [PDF] spotlights regional Advocacy: the 10 regional advocates and Chief Counsel Winslow Sargeant’s recent tour of innovation engines in Maine and Boston. It includes reports on two environmental roundtables, the new Small Business Lending Study, and introduces new Advocacy employees and interns. America’s Collaboration Headquarters Lending Study Published Regulatory News Environmental Roundtables Regional Roundup Ten Regional Advocates in Action New Faces at Advocacy

From USA Today , reprinted here . The minuscule budgets of small businesses often hinder their marketing power. But now, one small firm will join mega marketers on the biggest advertising stage of all: the Super Bowl. On Wednesday, software provider Intuit kicks off a contest that will award one small business with a 30-second Super Bowl XLVIII commercial. The third-quarter ad will likely be seen by more than 100 million viewers. Mainly, it's big-time marketers such as Anheuser-Busch and Pepsi paying for such pricey commercial time. Last year, some 30-second slots sold for more than $4 million each. Intuit — which makes products such as TurboTax and QuickBooks — recruited reality TV personality Bill Rancic and former football coach Jimmy Johnson to promote the contest. Businesses, which must have 50 or fewer employees to apply, can register at SmallBusinessBigGame.com .

The July 2013 release of BDS data contains data for 1976–2011 and includes tables by establishment characteristics in addition to tables by firm characteristics. •Firm Characteristics Data Tables Describes job flow and entry/exit patterns for establishments in the U.S. classified according to the size and age of the firm with which they are associated. •Establishment Characteristics Data Tables Describes job flow and entry/exit patterns for establishments in the U.S. classified according to the size and age of the establishments themselves.

The phone’s ringing off the hook, your only employee didn’t show up today and your website and email just crashed. It’s another hectic day in the life of a busy entrepreneur. Someday, you’ll be able to take a day off – maybe even a whole week! But that won’t be anytime soon. Until you can afford to pay higher wages, you may be stuck with that one deadbeat employee. But you don’t have to put up with your website being unreliable. The problem is most likely your Web host, so if you’re not getting what you need, it’s time to make a change. As you begin your search for a website host, take advantage of resources available to you as a small business owner. More from SmallBusinessNewz .

Most chargeback situations arise at the point of transaction—at the time the transaction is completed—and most can be prevented with a little training. Consider these 16 tips to avoid potential chargebacks .

Operating your business as a legally formed entity, such as a corporation or a limited liability company, means that you have an obligation to keep the entity in good standing by filing the required annual reports and paying any required taxes and fees. Failing to do so not only jeopardizes your ability to expand into other states, but you may forfeit your limited liability protection as well. Learn More

Small Business Lending in the United States is the Office of Advocacy’s annual report on bank lending to small businesses. Financing is critical for small businesses; without it, they would be hard pressed to make important contributions to the nation’s economic health and well-being. In the pages of this report, you will find the most current available information on lending to small businesses by depository institutions of various sizes in the United States. Tables in the report provide a wealth of data on the amount and number of loans made to small businesses year by year. The overall picture looks better than it did a year ago. Although lending to small businesses was still down, the decline was less than in 2010 and 2011, an indication of progress. You will be able to track the year-by-year changes in small business lending as the economy continues to improve. Readers can also learn more about what’s happening with the banks in their own states and localities. Detailed tab

Looking for insight about how the Affordable Care Act will affect your small business and your employees? This free webinar series will help you understand key pieces of the law and what you should know about tax credits, cost containment and more. Get the facts you need to know. • Thursday, July 25 at 12:00 PM ET • Thursday, August 1 at 2:00 PM ET • Thursday, August 8 at 2:00 PM ET • Thursday, August 15 at 2:00 PM ET