New York SBDC Research Network

The U.S. Small Business Administration unveiled today a new cybersecurity webpage for small businesses at  www.sba.gov/cybersecurity  on the 12th Anniversary of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.  The SBA launched the online tools and resources to highlight Cybersecurity at Work from October 5-9th and in recognition of President Obama’s annual proclamation to educate Americans about cyberthreats and cybersafety. “Cybersecurity is one of our nation’s most pressing national security priorities, and America’s 28 million small businesses, which create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S., are especially at risk.  Small employers are quickly becoming a larger target for criminals looking to access sensitive data because small businesses typically have limited resources for information systems security,” 

We’re entering a new era. For much of the past century, the 9-to-5 job has defined what most Americans think of as “work.” But that is changing—fast. More than 53 million Americans are now earning income from work that’s not a traditional 9-to-5. That’s 1 in 3 workers. We are still at the leading edge of a once-in-a-century upheaval in our workforce. The freelance surge is the Industrial Revolution of our time. More from the Bureau of Labor Statistics .

By SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and Square CEO Jack Dorsey This October, America will take a major step to mitigate fraud and improve our financial security by migrating away from outdated credit and debit cards that transmit sensitive customer data using magnetic stripes. In 2015, it should not surprise us that a system using essentially the same technology as cassette tapes is especially vulnerable. That is why major credit card companies, lenders, and businesses are now embracing new, more secure, authenticated payment technologies. Many consumers already have credit cards embedded with microchips in their wallets, and many more will be receiving these cards in the coming months. This technology – also known as EMV (Europay, Mastercard, Visa) – is a safer form of payment for buyers and sellers alike, as the cards are nearly impossible to counterfeit. EMV is not the only payment shift on the horizon. Because reading chip cards takes more time than reading magstrip

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is proposing revisions to its regulations for determining affiliation under SBA’s business loan programs and its surety bond guarantee program.  These revisions are designed to simplify eligibility determinations and reduce costs and processing time.   The proposed revisions were published October 2, 2015 in the Federal Register.  The comment period will be open until December 1, 2015.  SBA seeks comments from the public on the proposed rule and will consider these comments in its development of a final rule.   The proposed rule would apply to affiliation rules for SBA’s business loan programs and the surety bond guarantee program, but would not apply to SBA government contracting, business development, or grant programs.  The affected programs would include: the 7(a) Loan Program, the Business Disaster Loan Programs (collectively, the Economic Injury Disaster Loans, Reservist Injury Disaster Loans, Physical Disaster Business Lo

Business team and spouses Colleen and Stephen Sheehan started small, then went big. Tired of working for someone else, in 2010 they opened a Northwest-style-meets-Southern-cuisine food cart in downtown Eugene, Oregon. Their cart Delacata quickly became a local favorite, garnering multiple “Best of Eugene” accolades in annual people’s choice contests from local newspaper “Eugene Weekly.” But in 2013, the Sheehans set their sights higher. Riding the current national craft beer boom, the Sheehans remodeled a two-story, 5,580-square-foot former Carl’s Jr. restaurant into Elk Horn Brewery. The brewpub opened in 2014 and is gaining renown for its unique food menu, beers, and ciders. Elk Horn also won “Best New Restaurant” in Eugene Weekly Best of Eugene 2014-2015. In the midst of managing employees, running two businesses, handling suppliers, discussing beer styles with their brewer, and taking on all the other challenges of running a brewery and restaurant, the Sheehans took some time t

Now that we’ve looked at advertising in Part 1, it’s time to consider the situations in which you may be directly contacting your customers to advertise or market your products, and collecting their information to do so. Collecting customer information will be done in different ways online and offline, and has a number of different legal and privacy issues tied up in it that you need to consider. Let’s take a look. Read more at bplans

$100,000 Scholarship Program In April, we started partnering with Skillshare on  a series of educational classes about email marketing . It’s been fun and effective, so we’re excited to help Skillshare with a new project to further empower small businesses. Together, we‘ll be  awarding $100,000 in annual scholarships  granting small business owners access to Skillshare’s full educational catalog. Skillshare offers hundreds of business courses with experts like Seth Godin, Simon Sinek, and Lisa Congdon—plus 4 courses from MailChimp all about email marketing. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, small business owner, or a marketer, investing in education is a great way to grow your business, and Skillshare can help.