New York SBDC Research Network

By Kate Ashford from Monster It’s the start of a new year—time to evaluate how you’re doing and set goals for the future. For many companies, it’s also performance review time. If the thought makes you want to hide in your coat closet, there’s good news: Evaluations don’t have to be painful. You can structure the review process a variety of ways, but the key to making everything easier is to treat it like a rolling conversation. "Companies are moving away from an annual performance review, [going] to regular check-ins and ongoing feedback conversations throughout the year," says Todd Cherches, CEO and co-founder of executive coaching firm BigBlueGumball. Above all, employees need to understand what you want from them. "Throughout the time that I’m working for you, I need to be totally aware of two things: the expectations and whether I’m meeting them," says Laura MacLeod, an HR expert and consultant with From The Inside Out Project, an employee-morale company

Written by Marguerita Cheng  Article from CNBC While people start out with good intentions and set their sights on meeting various financial goals, many never achieve them and instead fail miserably.  Here are nine bad habits that will hinder investors from reaching their financial success.  Everyone wants to be successful, but only a few are ready to take meaningful action. These habits will help you discover what has been preventing you from achieving your financial goals. Identify your limitations and formulate strategies to address them and it will be easier to establish a plan, practice self-discipline, make sound decisions, have security and maintain assertiveness.

From the Internal Revenue Service Section 199A of the Internal Revenue Code provides many taxpayers a deduction for qualified business income from a qualified trade or business operated directly or through a pass-through entity. The deduction has two components. Eligible taxpayers may be entitled to a deduction of up to 20 percent of qualified business income (QBI) from a domestic business operated as a sole proprietorship or through a partnership, S corporation, trust or estate. For taxpayers with taxable income that exceeds $315,000 for a married couple filing a joint return, or $157,500 for all other taxpayers, the deduction is subject to limitations such as the type of trade or business, the taxpayer’s taxable income, the amount of W-2 wages paid by the qualified trade or business and the unadjusted basis immediately after acquisition (UBIA) of qualified property held by the trade or business. Income earned through a C corporation or by providing services as an employee is no

By Max Gulker From the American Institute for Economic Research Who doesn’t love small businesses? They embody two classic American archetypes: the little guy and the hard worker. People treat them less as individual businesses, and more as barometer of what they find good and fair in our market-driven economy. There are few more effective ways to drum up public support for or opposition to a policy than arguing that it’s good or bad for small business. Lost in this narrative are the businesses themselves — a diverse array of individual actors rather than a monolithic symbol of economic virtue. Asking whether something is good or bad for small business limits our understanding of how firms and markets evolve. Nothing better embodies the array of ways revolutionary technological change reverberates through the business landscape than the impact of internet retail giant Amazon on small businesses. Thinking carefully about that impact requires us to unpack the many kinds of firms we

Provided by Rae Steinbach A strong product launch requires a strong marketing campaign. From ensuring you’re using a verified email list to developing dynamic imagery for your new product, you need to ensure you’ll be putting your best foot forward when your product launches. If you’re trying to generate buzz for a new product, you need to determine what type of content to focus on in your strategy. Your two main options are evergreen content and one-off content. Neither one is “better” than the other for a product launch. To determine which is best for your needs, you need to first understand the unique benefits each type of content offers. One-Off Content Builds Buzz One-off content associates your new product with the season, a timely event, or anything else that’s immediately relevant to a potential customer. For example, if you were promoting a new app for purchasing concert tickets, your content might focus on an upcoming festival that would likely appeal to your custom

Written by Krista Garcia Article from eMarketer In June 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that states could impose a sales tax on ecommerce goods, even if a retailer had no physical presence in a state. The South Dakota v. Wayfair case reversed an online retail practice that had been accepted as law since 1992.  Over the past few months, more than half of states in the US have enacted an online sales tax or will do so in 2019.  Local governments viewed online sales tax as a boon, brick-and-mortar retailers considered it leveling the playing field, while online retailers—many which already paid sales tax—predicted it would be detrimental.

Written by FranchiseKing, Joel Libava  Article from SBA I If you’re considering becoming the owner of a franchise business, it’s important to make sure you’re looking into franchises that are the right fit.  But finding the right franchise opportunity for you is only part of the picture.  Finding a Fit:  Finding, researching, and potentially purchasing a franchise is a step-by-step process. One of those steps is conducting a self-assessment. This involves compiling a list of what you consider to be your top professional strengths and skills.  Once you’ve done that, set it aside. You’ll want to refer back to it as you find franchise opportunities that interest you. The goal is to determine if your top skills and strengths can be used in an ownership role.  Immediate Fit vs. Long-Term Fit:  When it comes to finding the right fit, you need to look at short-term and long-term fit. Short-term fit involves matching your strengths and skills to a specific franchise o