New York SBDC Research Network

Public relations, "free advertising," media coverage, TV and newspaper interviews—whatever you want to call it, PR is an exciting and powerful part of doing business. Good PR brings you more customers and higher sales, and great PR can completely transform your company into the kind of multi-million-dollar powerhouse you're dreaming of. Of course, that's exactly why PR firms are so expensive to hire, and so out of reach for most small business owners. But what if you had the tools to do great PR yourself? More from Palo Alto Software

According to the Small Business Administration, "Veteran business owners are responsible for nearly one out of every ten small businesses in America, employ nearly six million workers, generate over 1.5 trillion dollars in receipts each year and are 45 percent more likely to be self-employed than non-veterans". So what exactly makes veterans so well suited for entrepreneurship? 1. Work Ethic See more at: the New Jersey SBDC for Monmouth and Ocean Counties

It happens to the best of us. You're sitting in class or in a meeting and you suddenly find yourself daydreaming, losing focus, and not paying attention. In one study of over 2,000 adults, people reported that their minds weren't really on the task at hand almost 50 percent of the time. Perhaps even more importantly, people report feeling less happy when they are distracted. So what can you do to improve your attention, increase your focus, and prevent your mind from wandering? Researchers have discovered a few different things that might help. More from About Education

Brazzlebox, the exclusive social network for small and home based business, has announced it is launching nationally as of September 18, 2014. Small, at home, Veteran owned and start-up businesses will be able to go to http://www.brazzlebox.com/web/guest/home www.brazzlebox.com and sign up FREE. They can quickly develop their profile page and immediately start connecting with businesses in their community or industry. Brazzlebox is the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Glen Zinszer. Brazzlebox will be working to fill the current B2B and B2Community social networking void. More from America's SBDC

It's possible to become a real farmer with 25 square feet of space, even if skyscrapers are your neighbors. But it does take a bit of planning and innovation. Luckily, there is a core group of artists, designers and farmers leading the charge to help city-dwellers lower their food costs, eat local and turn their urban homes into homesteads. With the "moderate cost" of food for the average 19 to 50-year-old man in the U.S. at $295.90 per-month, according to the USDA, why wouldn't you want to feed yourself from the land where you're already paying to live? Plus, filling an urban space full of leafy vegetables, fruit trees, roosting chickens and buzzing bees is a lot more beautiful than covering one in concrete. More from CBS News .

There are many reasons that companies fire employees. If you take a look at the stories about getting fired shared by About.com readers you'll find a variety of reasons people were fired from their job, including for posting on Facebook , for having a bad attitude , and for stealing , just to mention a few. Unfortunately, for many fired workers, in most cases employers don't need a reason to fire you unless you are covered by a bargaining agreement or employment contract. It's called employment at will. Employment at will means that an employee can be terminated at any time without any reason and without notice. That said, most employers won't fire an employee without cause. Most firings are termination for cause, which means the employee is fired for a specific reason. More from About Careers .

Constant Contact has long been an advocate for permission-based marketing. [It is] the best route to developing the long-lasting customer relationships that small businesses work so hard to achieve —the relationships that can drive customer engagement, and encourage repeat sales and valuable word-of-mouth for your business. Over the summer, this topic was brought to the fore in the world of email marketing, as Canada began enforcing a new Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). The legislation requires all those that market to Canada with commercial electronic messages (email, some forms of social media, etc.) regardless of where in the world they are located, to adhere to the some of the strictest anti-spam regulations in the world or risk serious penalties: up to $1 million for individuals and up to $10 million for businesses. Even if CASL doesn’t affect your business, it serves as an essential reminder of how important it is to get your customers’ permission before adding them to your em