New York SBDC Research Network

There are numerous advantages and challenges to introduce Bitcoin and Blockchain technology to your small business. Today we see companies like Dish, Overstock, Microsoft, Dell, and more start to accept bitcoin as a payment. Though these giants have made the introduction, should your small business?  A cryptocurrency made in 2009, Bitcoin is a decentralized form of digital currency, w hich means that there is little to no government or bank involvement  through any transaction being made . According to Fortune.com Blockchain is a "  coding breakthrough—which consists of concatenated blocks of transactions—allows competitors to share a digital ledger across a network of computers without need for a central authority." For the entire analysis of the advantages and challenges of bitcoin technology follow this link to Entrepreneur.com. Here are just some of the advantages:  Compared to traditional two and three percent merchant transaction fees, Bitcoin has a

From eMarketer A new survey reveals that more marketers and agencies are beginning to adopt native advertising. However, the data hints that they aren’t necessarily ready to truly commit to native. According to a report from Advertiser Perceptions, nine out of 10 marketers and agencies in the US had at least gotten started with native in 2016. Just 10% had not tried it. Interestingly, though, while the number of marketers who had tried native rose over 2015 levels, there was no increase at all in terms of committed users. From Wikipedia : Native advertising is a type of advertising, mostly online, that matches the form and function of the platform upon which it appears.

From the IRS : In an unprecedented partnership, the IRS, the states and the tax industry are working together to protect your federal and state tax accounts from identity thieves. We are asking you - taxpayers, tax preparers and businesses - to join with us to create an even stronger partnership in the face of this constantly evolving enemy. Our "Taxes. Security. Together" awareness campaign is an effort to better inform you about the need to protect your personal, tax and financial data online and at home. People continue to fall prey to clever cybercriminals who trick them into giving up Social Security numbers, account numbers or password information. In turn, criminals use this information a variety of ways, including filing fraudulent tax returns. As part of the "Taxes. Security. Together" effort, we launched a Protect your Clients; Protect Yourself campaign to raise awareness among tax professionals that they increasingly are targets of cybercriminals an

To streamline the process of starting a business in New York State, the state is pleased to offer citizens and businesses access to a comprehensive resource for starting, running, and growing a business in New York. Using a redesigned platform with new functions, NY Business Express helps a user to quickly learn about and access what they need in one central location. New York Business Express is open to all citizens, along with current and prospective business owners, without a login. Here are some of the key innovative features offered through this website: • To get started, visit the Business Wizard , which leads users through a series of questions to create a Custom Business Checklist that helps determine which New York State, as well as federal and local, requirements apply to their business. • New and returning users are encouraged to utilize the Incentive Guide to find out what New York State incentives and support programs they may be eligible for. • Those who know

The Census Bureau released updated editions of Census  Business  Builder that provide major updates and features, mobile-optimization, and performance improvements to this popular suite of tools.  Census  Business  Builder:  Small   Business  Edition  and  Census  Business  Builder: Regional Analyst Edition  include the following new features: ·         An expanded and customizable dashboard with charts that allow users to compare data at   national, state and local area levels and to compare current data to historical trends. ·         New map features, including the ability to download the data directly from the map. ·         Access to information at the state level as well as for counties, cities/towns, zip codes and census tracts. ·         New age category of 21 and older. ·         Fully interactive and downloadable reports. The  Small   Business  Edition also now includes industry access to all 2,014, 2- to 6-digit North American Industry Classification System   (NAICS) codes

From the Small Business Administration : Between 1994 and 2015, self-employment rose substantially among those born abroad, and, by 2015, self-employment was much higher among those born abroad than among those born in the United States. This report explains the rise in self-employment among those born abroad and the difference in self-employment in 2015 by birthplace. The prevalence of self-employment varies with age. Between 1994 and 2015, the population born abroad shifted toward ages with higher self-employment. If the age distribution of those born abroad had not changed, self-employment would not have risen among those born abroad, and self-employment in 2015 would not have differed significantly by birthplace.

From Marketing Profs : In content marketing and in journalism, the word jargon has come to be used mostly as an insult. It's a label that people put on unfamiliar language they dismiss as gibberish. Jargon has another meaning, though, and it doesn't have an inherently negative connotation: the specialized vocabulary or language that a profession or group uses. Often riddled with industry-specific acronyms and colloquialisms, industry jargon is difficult for outsiders to understand. Content marketers contemplating whether to use that sort of jargon need to note whether their target audience is general and broad, or specialized and narrow. If you're targeting a general audience (say, you're writing a beer commercial), you should comply with conventional wisdom and avoid jargon. But if you're writing or speaking to a highly specialized group, as content developers are increasingly doing, you should consider embracing jargon. Don't avoid jargon reflexivel

From BizWomen The result of this baby boomer retirement surge? A massive brain drain that threatens to destabilize American business. Many companies are unprepared for the challenge... A recent study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill reveals that less than 40 percent of employers have taken action to address the imminent loss of detailed know-how. Adding even well-trained millennials to the workforce may not be enough to restore the balance when your company is hemorrhaging its veteran employees... Dorothy Leonard, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, says there is a big difference between information and knowledge. Information is something you can get from Google. Knowledge is the critically important stuff in your head that has never been written down. And companies often fail to retain it. It is critical that longtime workers transfer the knowledge they’ve gained from decades of experience to employees who will be taking on th

From the Office of the New York State Comptroller : Among the more than 455,000 businesses in New York, over 451,000 are small businesses. In addition, there are over 1.6 million non-employer businesses in New York, which are primarily self-employed individuals. Of the small businesses with paid employees in 2013, almost two-thirds had fewer than five employees, with over 80 percent having fewer than ten employees. These 369,000 microbusinesses provided nearly 943,000 jobs with total payroll close to $40 billion. Businesses with fewer than 20 employees reported total employment of nearly 1.5 million, with total payroll of $63.2 billion. Over the most recent decade for which figures are available, New York’s small businesses fared better than the nation’s on three key metrics – number of firms, employment, and total payroll. Small business employment in the State rose by a net 1.6 percent, or 59,000 jobs, in the ten-year period through 2013, while declining nationally by 1.1 percent

From Bplans : One day in the fall of 2014, when I was still helping run a startup I co-founded (not the one I’m working for now), a client forwarded me an email he thought was suspicious. The email looked a lot like something my company would send. It linked to a website that looked a lot like ours that offered a great deal on the same service we provided. The site’s URL was almost identical to ours, too. Right away I had a bad feeling, but my first reaction was to tell myself it was just a competitor that had somehow gotten the email of a single client. Not a big deal. Then another client forwarded the same email. And another, and another. Pretty quickly it became clear that someone had gotten a list of our clients, and was sending them emails to try and trick them into paying the wrong company for our service. I was angry and worried. Who was doing this? How had they gotten our clients’ information? How much did they have? Ultimately, I think the way we reacted was mo

More from eMarketer Pointing not only to an influx of fake news and spam, but also an ongoing challenge to distinguish what's real and what's not, Google took down 1.7 billion ads last year that violated its advertising policies—more than double the amount it removed in 2015. In a post the company published yesterday, Google said it removed a vast amount of different types of ads. Google removed more than 17 million bad ads for illegal gambling violations and suspended around 6,000 sites, as well as another 6,000 accounts, for attempting to advertise counterfeit goods. In addition to keeping an eye out for these types of ads, which have been around for a while, Google also saw a rise of a new type of scammer, what it calls "tabloid cloakers," but many know it simply as fake news.

From eMarketer Cart abandonment is a major concern for online retailers, and according to new research, shipping costs and overall price are the two major factors that are causing digital shoppers to abandon their items. According to a Q4 2016 study from FuturePay, which asked consumers about their top reasons for cart abandonment, 86% of respondents said "cost of shipping," while 72% said that the "cost of order became too expensive." Other reasons such as "hassle of return," "lack of payment options," and "security concerns" had much less of an influence on shoppers. Another study done in August 2016 by Market Track also found that shipping and price were critical to completing digital purchases.

From TIME magazine : A host of planned funding cuts to federal agencies, reported last week by The Hill, are part of the Trump administration's desire to eliminate roughly $10.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years -- nearly all of the federal government's discretionary spending. Yet Trump has vowed not to cut entitlements, such as Medicare and Social Security, and promised to beef up military spending, which represents the lion's share of federal spending -- making it hard for him to do more than chip away at the margins of the nearly $20 trillion national debt. What, then, would the reported cuts accomplish? The answer appears to be defunding a number of projects seen as liberal darlings -- including groups aimed at preserving and supporting the environment, civil rights protections, the arts, minority-owned businesses, and public broadcasting. Minority Business Development Agency Budget: $36 million Cost per American: $0.11 This federal agency helps min

From WhiteHouse.gov MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES Section 1. Purpose. This memorandum directs executive departments and agencies (agencies) to support the expansion of manufacturing in the United States through expedited reviews of and approvals for proposals to construct or expand manufacturing facilities and through reductions in regulatory burdens affecting domestic manufacturing. Sec. 2. Stakeholder Consultation on Streamlining Permitting. The Secretary of Commerce shall conduct outreach to stakeholders concerning the impact of Federal regulations on domestic manufacturing and shall solicit comments from the public for a period not to exceed 60 days concerning Federal actions to streamline permitting and reduce regulatory burdens for domestic manufacturers. As part of this process, the Secretary of Commerce shall coordinate with the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Director

From MarketingProfs : Consumers generally value competence more than morality when choosing among service providers, but that effect is weakened if the less-competent provider is seen as an underdog, according to recent research published in the AMA's Journal of Marketing... The researchers conducted five studies to compare the impact of competence, morality, and warmth on consumers' choices. The first study analyzed Yelp.com reviews of businesses to see how different attributes correlate to positive evaluations. Some 88% of the positive online reviews examined mentioned competency attributes (reliable, knowledgeable, etc.). In contrast, only 56% of the positive online reviews mentioned warmth attributes (friendly, etc.), and just 18% mentioned morality attributes (honest, trustworthy, etc.).

From eMarketing : It's no surprise that millennials' social media time is mainly spent on smartphones. But what about older folks—are Baby Boomers and older users mostly mobile when it comes to social? Turns out, the answer is yes, if not quite to the same extent. According to Q3 2016 data from Nielsen, even those age 50 and up spend the vast majority of their social media time on mobile devices.

From FiveThirtyEight : The new year brought raises — sometimes big ones — to millions of low-wage workers. It also begins the country’s first large-scale experiment in the economic effects of a double-digit minimum wage. According to data collected by the National Employment Law Project, a workers-rights advocacy group, 19 states and 21 local jurisdictions raised their minimum wages at the start of 2017. Many of those increases were small cost-of-living adjustments, but some of them were dramatic. Arizona, where voters approved a wage hike on Election Day, raised its minimum wage by nearly $2 an hour, to $10 from $8.05... Some cities set the bar even higher... Low-wage workers are understandably cheering the increases. So is the union-backed "Fight for $15" movement, which defied the odds to put the minimum wage back on the political agenda. Economists, though, are watching more warily. Researchers disagree about how minimum-wage hikes affect the economy, but most stud

From BizJournals : Economic developer Alison Lands has been named the next executive director of the New York State Economic Development Council. Lands, who most recently worked as a senior manager at Deloitte Consulting LLP, was confirmed as executive director designate yesterday by the council's board of directors. She will replace Brian McMahon, who has served as executive director for the council for 16 years, after he retires on July 1.

The SBA Office of Advocacy released its annual report, Report on the Regulatory Flexibility Act, FY 2016 . The report analyzes federal agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), as well as with provisions of the Small Business JOBS Act of 2010 and Executive Order 13272, “Proper Consideration of Small Entities in Federal Rulemaking.” The RFA is Advocacy’s most effective tool for bringing small business concerns into the regulatory process. In FY 2016, Advocacy’s intervention on behalf of small business in federal rulemaking resulted in foregone regulatory cost savings of almost $1.4 billion. These cost savings came from Advocacy’s work on seven rules that were made final in FY 2016. These and other regulatory successes stem from small business involvement in rulemaking made possible by the RFA. Advocacy facilitated this during FY 2016 through 27 small business roundtables, 20 public comment letters, working closely with agencies on small business concerns, and ongo

From ThomasNet : How can we measure growth for the industry overall? A good barometer is the state of the manufacturing workforce. That’s why we will be regularly diving deep into the latest information from the Bureau Of Labor Statistics to take the pulse of hiring in the industry and to highlight sectors that are growing. According to the BLS's Employment Situation report for December, a total of 156,000 new jobs were added to the economy. However, despite this increase, the national unemployment rate ticked up one percentage point, from 4.6% in November to 4.7% in December. Within the manufacturing industry, a total of 17,000 new manufacturing jobs were created during the month. However, the unemployment rate rose slightly, from 3.9% to 4%, meaning the industry finished the year with the exact same unemployment rate as it did in 2015. As far as year-over-year growth manufacturing job growth, 2016 proved to be a mixed bag. While many sectors either held steady or lost wor