New York SBDC Research Network

Earlier this week while doing research on the Hot Dog Industry, I stumbled across the interesting article directory SME Medic . A business resource blog providing advice for companies looking for help with growing their business, the website provides tips, articles, guides, and solutions designed to "Take Your Business to the Next Level". There are 3659 published articles and 3203 registered authors in the article directory. You can find articles with interesting and useful information on most popular business themes, including: Advertising Business Startup Careers Computers Finance Human Resources Internet Marketing Legal Logistics Marketing Office Equipment Real Estate

It will be interesting to see how innovators rethink how we do things that are currently in a state of flux. Improvements seem to come in stages, with a departure from how things have always been done (or not done) and the sometimes awkward stages before a new workable solution comes about. How we keep in touch, how we form communities, how we buy and enjoy music - all of these things are changing and perhaps we have not reached a long lasting solution yet. They are still in development. you have the converts, the skeptics, and at some point, we turn the corner and there is a new way of doing things that everyone just has to accept until the next sea change. This article making the rounds is an example of an innovation that looks promising: State of the Art A Simple Swipe on a Phone, and You’re Paid By DAVID POGUE Published: September 29, 2010 Of course, other places, cell phone users have found it commonplace to pay via their cellphones. This service offers another option for getting

In an email I received earlier this week from Portfolio.com , I read an article that taught me a lot about online coupon websites. Titled Coupon Clipped , the article discusses business owners and the mixed feelings they have about coupon sites. The article tells an interesting story about the business owner of a spa who posted a 60% off coupon for a hot stone massage to the coupon website Groupon . Within 24 hours, he sold 1,288 of the deals, exceeding his expectations and the expectations of "the trendy national couponing site". While the increase in sales was a good thing, the business was almost overwhelmed by the number of appointments made. The bottom line - advertising on a coupon website might be good for business, maybe even too good.

Includes extension of successful SBA Recovery loan programs, tax credits, other support for small business growth, job creation WASHINGTON – SBA Administrator Karen Mills today issued the following statement regarding the passage of the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act by the U.S. House of Representatives: “Today’s vote by the House to send the Small Business Jobs and Credit Act to the President for his signature is a key step forward in making sure small businesses have the resources they need to do what they do best – create jobs and drive economic growth. This bill includes billions in tax cuts specifically targeted to small businesses so they can put more of their own resources into growing their business. At the same time, this bill ensures those very businesses have access to the capital they need by extending SBA’s successful Recovery loan enhancements and putting local, community banks in a position to be a real partner for small businesses and entrepreneurs. This bill is t

The exemption from New York State sales tax for clothing and footwear under $110 has been eliminated, for the period October 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011 . Beginning October 1, 2010, clothing and footwear costing less than $110 will be subject to the 4% New York State sales and use tax and, if applicable, the ⅜% tax in the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD) downstate. Local sales tax rates are not affected. This means: For jurisdictions that did not enact an exemption from the local sales tax, all sales of clothing and footwear are subject to the full state and local sales tax. For jurisdictions that provided for this exemption, only the New York State tax (and MCTD tax, if applicable) will be charged. These counties: Broome, Chautauqua, Chenango, Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Hamilton, Madison, Schuyler, Tioga County, Wayne will charge only the 4% state sales tax. New York City businesses will charge 4⅜% (the combined state tax and MCTD rate). *** The Office of th

The key to providing good industry research is knowing where to look. Sometimes I start doing research on an industry and am not sure where to start looking. I have found the website ValuationResources.com to be incredibly helpful when I have difficulty locating information. According to the site, "ValuationResources.com is a free guide to business valuation resources, industry and company information, economic data, and more. Designed as a comprehensive resource guide for business appraisers, the site's audience includes a broad mix of business owners, professionals, students, and other parties interested in business valuation and industry information." Although the information listed in the guide isn't always available free of charge, knowing where to find the information is a step in the right direction. For resource guides specific to a particular industry, see Industry Information Resources , which covers more than 400 individual industries in the following

Products made in New York generate comparatively high levels of wages and spinoff economic activity, according to a new report prepared by the Rockefeller Institute for the Manufacturing Research Institute of New York State. Even after recent losses, the state ranks sixth in the nation in total manufacturing jobs, according to the report. Including other jobs that depend on manufacturing, the sector supports one in three payroll dollars in much of upstate New York. Yet New York City is the largest single center of manufacturing in the state, with more than 81,000 jobs and $4.2 billion of payroll in 2009. In economic terms, the wealth created and added to the economy through manufacturing processes represented 52.7 percent of the total value of products shipped from New York in 2008, compared to 41.5 percent nationally. The state’s largest manufacturing sector, computers and electronic products, employs nearly 65,000 New Yorkers, with total payroll of $5.5 billion and average salaries

Tad Hargrave is a self-described "hippy who developed a knack for marketing," and started Marketing For Hippies . From the site: We work with good businesses. That could mean: “green business”, local business, sustainable business, social entrepreneurs, holistic practitioners, life-affirming and otherwise conscious entrepreneurs. I find that, for the most part, they keep ‘meaning’ to handle their marketing but are a bit ‘allergic’ to notions of sales, marketing and self-promotion. They think it’s kind of gross. They look at what many of the bigger names in ‘conscious wealth’ do and secretly hate it (but sometimes do it because they think it’s the only way to grow their business). A lot of them have sort of given up hope that there’s any way to market what they do that resonates with them and feels in integrity. I found this guy through an e-mail someone sent me a link to Building a Customer Psychographic Profile . "Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of defining their ta

The Middle States Commission on Higher Education acted to reaffirm the University at Albany's accreditation and commended UAlbany "for the quality of the self-study process." The final self-study document, along with the statement of reaccreditation, is available on the wiki HERE .

EventsEye bills itself as "the most complete, practical and reliable free web source dedicated to key exhibitions & trade shows worldwide." With a database featuring over 8,000 events for 2010 and an additional 6,000 more through 2012, it isn't hard to see where the description comes from. Featuring a classification of 149 Activity Topics, EventsEye's purpose is to cover major Trade Exhibitions all over the planet. Finding the information you are interested in is very easy thanks to the leftmost pane that allows you to access the information by Trade Show name, activity topic, exhibition date, location, organizer and also by entering keywords. For example you can get access to all Fashion Industry related Trade Shows in Paris by typing "fashion paris" in the Keyword text box.

Harvey Mackay On Business Published: 12:00 a.m., Sunday, September 5, 2010 Albany Times Union Studies show that children who use the library tend to perform better in school. They are also more likely to continue learning and exploring throughout their lives. If you don't use the library for business, now is a good time to start. We can obtain a high percentage of the information we need via search engines using our home or work computers. But there are a lot of hidden business jewels available at your local library, and many of them can be accessed online. The average small business or job seeker is penalized by having limited research capabilities. Big companies with big budgets pay for expensive databases. With a mouse click, they can instantly access company data, sort through research reports, and locate current and archived newspaper and trade journal articles. Small companies and individuals who can't afford premium access are left out. Unless they have a local library c

The Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) is the primary resource for determining tariff classifications for goods imported into the United States. The U.S. Harmonized Tariff Schedule, like Harmonized System tariff schedules generally, classifies a good (assigns it a ten-digit tariff classification number) based on such things as its name, use, and/or the material used in its construction. The tariff schedule is divided into Chapters 1 through 99 plus numerous additional sections such as various appendices and indexes. There are over 17,000 unique ten-digit HTS classification code numbers. Chapters are divided into a varying number of headings, and headings are divided into a varying number of subheadings. Raw materials or basic substances often appear in the early chapters and in earlier headings within a chapter, where highly processed goods and manufactured articles often appear in later chapters and headings. Agricultural products are generally provided for in ch

I find this list useful because it addresses the requirements of specific industries, as well as general information such as what new businesses need to know. Some examples: Veterinarians, Hotel and Motel Operators, Drugstores and Pharmacies, Broadcasters, the Film Industry, Snowmobile Dealers, Manufacturers, Exempt Organizations, and Residential Energy Sources and Services, the latter updated as of September 1, 2010.

I read an interesting article the other day in Advertising Age. Hispanic Market Hits Tipping Point provides important information on the Hispanic Market and how businesses should market their products and services to Hispanics. "The market is growing: The 2010 Census expected to count a record 50 million Hispanics, or one in every six U.S. residents, meaning the Hispanic population will have increased a stunning 42% from the previous census in 2000. (By comparison, the non-Hispanic population will have edged up just 5% in that decade.) It's also got scale: Hispanics are now the nation's second-largest consumer market after white non-Hispanics, who are still the largest group at about 200 million." "But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Hispanics in America is how closely they exemplify our idealized concept of 1950s America. They are young (their median age is about where the whole nation was in 1955) and more often live in large, traditional, married-with-

From the SBA Office of Advocacy: The purpose of this research is to provide policy-relevant analysis of the characteristics and career paths of those Americans who have chosen self- employment. Specifically, the study uses the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth to provide new empirical findings regarding the dynamics of self- employment and documents generational changes in self-employment patterns in early adult work life between two cohorts born in the second half of the 20th century. The key finding is that early exposure to self-employment increases individuals’ engagement in self-employment during the early- and mid-career years. There is a strong positive link between an indicator of self- employment during ages 20-22 and the self-employment outcome measures in ages 22-41. A copy of the report is located HERE and the research summary can be found HERE . Should you need further information, please feel free to contact Ying Lowrey at (202) 205-6533 or advocacy@sba.gov.

It has been written that the Census Bureau has no data on same-sex couples; this is incorrect. Go to Families and Living Arrangements and scroll near the bottom. Not only will one find tables, one will discover a couple working papers that describe the political and statistical challenges about gathering such information. Gay marriage is a particularly complicated statistical issue. Also, on American Factfinder, look for Table B11009. UNMARRIED-PARTNER HOUSEHOLDS BY SEX OF PARTNER in the American Community Survey. There's a UCLA professor named Gary Gates , who has put together some statistics based on 2000 Census data and other sources, including the Gay and Lesbian Atlas.

The Business Plans and Profiles Index provided by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh lists types of small businesses and a corresponding sample business plan, profile or book about the business with sources provided after each entry. Entries that refer to actual sample plans are in bold print. If the plan or profile is online, a link is provided. This is one source I use quite frequently and I highly recommend it.

This report examines the gender characteristics and business dynamics of establishments that were in operation as of 2002 for the 2002-2006 period. This paper is the first to report matching data from the 2002 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) and the 1989-2006 Business Information Tracking Series (BITS) in an Advocacy publication series. The series focuses on business dynamics by gender, race/ethnicity, and business type (publicly held vs. non-publicly held businesses). Business owners’ gender, race or ethnic characteristics can be identified only for non-publicly held enterprises. Employer establishments—establishments with paid employees—owned by women had higher closure rates and lower contraction rates than those owned by men or owned equally by men and women over the 2002-2006 period. The average four-year survival rate for all 2002 employer establishments was 70 percent; for female-owned, 66 percent; for male-owned, 72 percent; and for male and female equally owned, 69 percent. I

The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides access to a variety of useful statistics, but there are two publications that I find particularly useful while doing research. Occupational Outlook Handbook 2010-2011 - The Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information for hundreds of different types of jobs, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. Revised every two years, the Outlooks include: Nature of the Work Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement Employment Job Outlook Projections Data Earnings Related Occupations Sources of Additional Information Career Guide to Industries 2010-2011 - The Guide is a companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, providing information at the industry level, for dozens of different kinds of industries. Categories for each industry include: Nature of the Industry Working Conditions Employment Occupations in the Industry Training and Advancement Outlook Earnings Sou

Many programs that are less than $25,000 are listed at FedBizOpps ; ones over $25K MUST be, but smaller ones are not prohibited. One should sign up with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) and the SBA , as it says here . Beyond that, creating a relationship with the particular department is a good idea.

The Business Owner's Toolkit - Total Know-How for Small Business is a useful website that provides guides, tips, and pertinent information for small business owners. This week, I received an email about an article on Tax Tips for New Business Owners . Based on the a checklist from the IRS, the article provides information on common tax issues that all new business owners must address, including: Choice of Business Entity Tax Obligations Employer Identification Number Recordkeeping Accounting Period Accounting Method

So, you want to know, for business or cultural reasons, what holidays are celebrated in various countries. Here are some suggestions: Time and Date lets you choose a date until 2015 and choose the country. CountryReports is also useful. Though you need to scroll through the months to see the holidays, you can choose a country or region. My favorite may be Earth Calendar , a "daybook of holidays and celebrations around the world. For the purpose of this web site a 'holiday' is any day that recognizes a cultural event, and not necessarily a day when businesses are closed. *** Madonna - Holiday The Bee Gees- Holiday

City-Data.com is a useful website that has collected and analyzed data from numerous sources to create as complete and interesting profiles of all U.S. cities as possible. The website has over 74,000 city photos not found anywhere else, graphs of latest real estate prices and sales trends, recent home sales, home value estimator, hundreds of thousands of maps, satellite photos, stats about residents (race, income, ancestries, education, employment...), geographical data, state profiles, crime data, registered sex offenders, cost of living, housing, religions, businesses, local news links based on their exclusive technology, birthplaces of famous people, political contributions, city government finances and employment, weather, tornadoes, earthquakes, hospitals, schools, libraries, houses, airports, radio and TV stations, zip codes, area codes, air pollution, latest unemployment data, time zones, water systems and their health and monitoring violations, comparisons to averages, local

I've been checking out the blog put out by WorkingPoint , an "online, small business solution." They have been putting out some interesting articles such as Essential Ingredients for Small Business Success and 19 Ways to Drive a Steady Stream of Traffic to Your Website . It's fun site - periodically, you'll come across the Botpreneur, who is ready for (business) action. WorkingPoint offers free invoicing, bill & expense management and bookkeeping, with additional services for $10 per month. This article explains that the founders of WorkingPoint "worked for Intuit and were behind the creation of QuickBooks and Quicken. They believed Quickbooks had become too complicated and that the small business software segment was ripe for SaaS-based innovation."

When I am assisting a business with start-up information, I find that industry statistics are particularly helpful. A wonderful source for industry statistics is the Economic Census. A useful information tool available from the Economic Census are Industry Snapshots . 2007 data is available for the majority of 6-digit NAICS codes and snapshots can be obtained for 3, 4, and 5-digit codes as well. Each snapshot provides comparisons between the current census and the previous one. Maps of the United States divided by state are provided that show various industry statistics, including sales per capita, number of establishments, payroll per employee, etc. There is an option titled "Compare YOUR Business" that compares a single business to national averages. And a "Did You Know" feature provides interesting factoids on the Industry. All in all, this is a useful AND interesting tool from the U.S. Census.

The authors of Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Other Die and Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard have made some related resources available on their website heathbrothers.com . Free with registration, the tools available here are probably most useful if you have read the corresponding book(s), but are helpful even without that additional context. There is a framework and first chapter available for each title, plus a podcast series, a guide for creating successful (“sticky”) presentations, and more. (Tip o the hat to hillsearch.org)

The US Department is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act this week. I find this to be exciting; at the same time, it seems as though some people seem to find ADA difficult and punitive. While I'm sure that one can find bad outcomes of good intentions in any bureaucracy, the core message of the Act is to make goods and services more accessible to a population that is nearly one in five Americans, and growing. As the Reaching Out to Customers with Disabilities section indicates that "The ADA asks public accommodations to take steps that are 'readily achievable' or are 'reasonable' or that do not constitute an 'undue burden' to enable people with disabilities to be their customers and clients." I was at a business conference a few years ago, and a representative laid out some examples about how a business could become more customer friendly. A dry cleaner had a three-step walk up to the entrance. No

The SBA is conducting a complete overhaul of its website to make it easier for small business owners to find the information they need. The agency recently launched “The NEXT SBA.gov," a transition site dedicated to sharing its redesign progress with employees, small business owners, agency partners and other agency stakeholders. You can find the site at www.sba.gov/NEXT . The site includes a link to Frequently Asked Questions which provide more details about goals of the redesign. Feel free to submit comments and suggestions using the “What Do You Think?” box at the bottom of the site.

SBA is now offering a new set of three export-oriented podcasts offering valuable information on issues and challenges small business exporters may find when dealing with specific countries. The podcasts, featuring interviews with business representatives from Uganda, Cameroon and Bahrain, are part of a comprehensive effort by SBA to promote and support the President’s National Export Initiative. The interviews focus on what U.S. companies can expect when exporting to those countries and provide information relevant to their respective business and import environments... The podcasts on Uganda and Cameroon include interviews with two women business owners who are members of the African Women’s Business Network, an organization that supports a network of businesswomen’s organizations in Africa. The podcast on Bahrain features an interview with an official of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce. The podcasts are available online and include transcripts. They provide valuable information

StepByStepMarketing is, according to its website, "an Internet-centric resource for owners and managers of growing and emerging businesses – entrepreneurs and established businesses alike – designed to keep you on top of the latest trends in brand building, marketing, sales, and customer service and relationship building. To help you build profits, take your business to the next level, and gain competitive edge, StepByStepMarketing.com provides you tips, tools, and techniques in a methodical, how-to, step-by-step way that is easy-to-understand and quick and simple to implement." The site offers daily tips such as how to improve the results of your marketing and tips for retaining lasting customer loyalty . The site also offers several free reports .

For a summary of what doing business is like in various countries, have a look at the Doing Business project . These reports focus on a select number of topics relating to starting a business including permits, taxes and enforcing contracts for small and medium sized companies.

"Social enterprise" is the new buzzword within both the nonprofit and for-profit world, encompassing an organization or individual who wish to do well while doing good – that is, achieving the "triple bottom line" of people, planet, profit (that is, having social, environmental, and economic goals). Presented in partnership with Community Wealth Ventures and the Social Enterprise Alliance, this is a free, searchable directory of nonprofit social enterprises . Search by keyword, type of organization (think interest/activity area), budget, type of venture, legal status, and/or state. Your search results typically include basic contact information, stated mission, and any specific enterprise or partner venture(s).

A while ago, there used to exist a multi-volume set called the "Dictionary of Occupations". It has since been folded into the O*NET Online website . This is a handy site to use when you have businesses starting out, or looking to expand (there are some out there . . . really), and need some kind of basis to write a job description. This site is far more user-friendly than the old DofO, which was laid out in a less-than-intuitive classification system. Once you have that, you'll need to know rough estimates of what to pay those who are hired. For that, check out the "Wages by Area and Occupation" section on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website, here .

Data.gov is leading the way in democratizing public sector data and driving innovation. The data is being surfaced from many locations making the Government data stores available to researchers to perform their own analysis. Developers are finding good uses for the datasets, providing interesting and useful applications that allow for new views and public analysis. This is a work in progress, but this movement is spreading to cities, states, and other countries. For instance, type in the word migration , and you'll get 2007-2008 State-to-State AND County-to-county Migration Inflow AND Outflow, along with the source of that data, which is the IRS. Enter the term business and find Business Employment Dynamics, Licenses and Permits Search, and Loans Search.

At this point, many small businesses have websites. But it is unlikely that they are all using Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, to maximize the effectiveness of their website. For assistance in how to utilize SEO, there is 20 Essential Search Engine Optimization Tips for Small Business Owners . For something more in-depth, check out the 15 Minute SEO List , a list of 77 best and worst practices for designing a high traffic website

The U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs, as part of their continued commitment to our Nation’s Service Members, Veterans, and their families, launched a new and improved National Resource Directory . This free online tool provides access to thousands of services, programs and resources at the national, state and community level. The Web site has a fresh look with many key features that include an improved search engine, Really Simple Syndication (RSS) news feeds, subscriptions to e-mail updates, and new subject areas such as “Homeless Assistance.” The National Resource Directory is designed to serve a broad base of users including transitioning Service Members, Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and their families and caregivers. In addition, it is a useful tool for service providers who support Veterans and Service Members, such as Department of Defense Recovery Care Coordinators and AW2 Advocates, Veterans Affairs Federal Recovery Coordinators, health care providers

From Debbie Bermont at ConnectItNews If your company is dependent on larger sales from fewer customers, then you could put yourself at financial risk by taking on the wrong customer. One of the most common mistakes business owners make is to accept money from anyone who is willing to pay for their product or service -- even if the customer is not the ideal fit for their business. Whether you're a startup or a large corporation, taking on a new customer who doesn't match your ideal customer profile can be a big mistake. Here are seven situations that indicate you should say no to new business. If you don't heed this advice on when you should turn down new business you will be in serious danger of having a database of customers that can take your business into bankruptcy.

SmallBusinessNewz had a story last week entitled Shopping Cart Abandonment - Seller's Fault or Consumer Behavior? It cites a Forrester Research report that said: "Despite improvements in site design and increased consumer comfort with online purchasing, 88% of Web buyers say that they have abandoned an online shopping cart without completing a transaction. This is the same percentage as five years ago, suggesting that retailers have yet to address the primary drivers of cart abandonment: frustration with the amount of shipping costs, unpreparedness to make a purchase, and a desire to comparison-shop for a lower price." Personally, I never abandon a purchase unless: 1) I feel I've been a victim of "bait and switch", i.e., the price or item isn't really what I thought it was 2) the vendor makes it too difficult to complete the transaction. Sometimes, I'm supposed to log in, and cannot as Guest. And the site asks me a bunch of things that I don't

4 powerful ways to promote your green credentials "You’ve probably heard of greenwashing, a term describing marketing that makes exaggerated or otherwise misleading claims about the green credentials of a company or product. Greenwashing is a problem for consumers who wish to make truly informed decisions. And unfortunately, consumer skepticism in the face of all the green messaging that’s out there means that even scrupulous business owners promoting real environmental benefits need to make sure their message is credible."

One of my State Data Center colleagues, Dale Miller, pointed this out to me. He thinks this is important to share, and I quite concur. Moreover, this being the graduation season, it’s timely! He has discovered that many parents are quite surprised about how much they are expected to contribute to their kids’ college costs. Dale writes, "This is referred to as their Expected Family Contribution (EFC). What typically happens is that parents bumble along (I know we did) until their child is a junior in HS and then they go through the process of applying to colleges and for financial aid at the FAFSA.gov website when WHAM >>>> - they get a reality check upside the head when it comes to how much the federal government thinks THEY can contribute toward attending school." I can imasgine there are MANY parents sitting in financial aid office with tears in their eyes over this. What can the schools or government could do to reduce this sticker shock when it comes to EFCs?

In answer to a question about websites or other resources that offer free credit score information, as opposed to just free credit reports , a colleague pointed out a Wall Street Journal article, Credit Scores: Can You Get Them Free? If you are curious about your credit scores, you may have tried one of the plethora of Web sites and services that offer some free credit information, then lure you into paying for your scores, usually as part of a credit-monitoring package. Consumers are entitled by law to a free credit report— which is simply a record of your borrowing and repayment history — but the numerical scores derived from these reports will cost you, in part because credit-reporting agencies aren't required by law to provide them for free to consumers along with the reports. Now, a handful of companies are launching services that give consumers at least a glimpse at their credit scores free of charge. The sites— Credit.com Inc., Credit Karma Inc.'s CreditKarma.com and Qu

In their third annual survey to measure and monitor consumer behaviors that have an impact on the environment, the National Geographic Society and the international polling firm GlobeScan have found that environmentally friendly behavior among consumers in 10 out of 17 countries has increased over the past year. The survey results show that environmentally friendly consumer behavior, as measured by the Greendex, has now increased from 2008 levels in all but one of the 14 countries polled in both 2008 and 2010. By environmentally friendly consumer behavior, we mean people’s transportation patterns, household energy and resource use, consumption of food and everyday consumer goods, and what consumers are doing to minimize the impact these activities have on the environment. Greendex 2010: Consumer Choice and the Environment — A Worldwide Tracking Survey is a comprehensive measure of consumer behavior in 65 areas relating to housing, transportation, food and consumer goods. Greendex 2010

For the commercial organic farmers or any one else who grows fruit, vegetables or runs a dairy: Cornell's Integrated Pest Management Program has released nine new organic production guides . The new guides provide information on how to produce certified organic apples, blueberries, grapes, lettuce, potatoes, spinach, strawberries and cole crops, including cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. The guides cover integrated pest management techniques, with sections on cover crops, resistant varieties, crop rotation, field selection and soil quality.

The Census Bureau is conducting a half-day workshop for data users on the 2007 Economic Census. • New users learn about the range of data about businesses available from the Census Bureau, including both the Economic Census and more frequent data sets. • Experienced users learn about new features of the data, comparability issues, and qualifications of the data. • Attendees gain skills in accessing Economic Census data in American FactFinder. • Attendees have the opportunity to tell others about their own practical applications of the data and learn what others are doing. Albany, NY Wednesday, June 23, 2010, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM Cost: FREE Location: College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering of the University at Albany CESTM Auditorium, Building 251 257 Fuller Road Albany, NY 12203 Register HERE Directions Additional Workshops in New York State: Additional workshops are planned for New York City (June 10 and 11, 2010) and Syracuse (June 24, 2010). For details about these workshops se

WASHINGTON – With the June 1 start of another Atlantic hurricane season, the U.S. Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery Solutions are launching a new Web site to help small businesses develop an emergency preparedness plan before disaster hits, and reminding homeowners and renters to plan ahead as well. "Regardless of where you live, it’s a good idea to be ready for any kind of crisis," said SBA Administrator Karen Mills. "Every threat, from wind storms, floods, wildfires and earthquakes, to power outages and computer system failures, reminds us to be proactive when it comes to building strategies to survive a disaster and recover quickly. Recent disaster events demonstrate the need for preparedness to reduce the risk to life and property." Weather experts are predicting this year’s storm season may be the most intense since 2005, when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma devastated the Gulf Coast states. In an effort to encourage businesses to plan ahead

Everywhere you look there are articles on how to ensure your privacy on Facebook. With new releases, the default settings change but here is a visual representation of how the default privacy settings on Facebook have evolved over the years. You can check it out here . To ensure you do not get caught up in updates to Facebook that adversely affect your privacy, have a look at this article from Electronic Frontier Foundation that explains the latest changes and what your options are. They have also created a video .

From the SBA PRESS OFFICE Administrator Karen Mills of the U.S. Small Business Administration has written an open letter to small business owners across the United States explaining immediate benefits available to small businesses as part of the Affordable Care Act. The full letter is available at http://www.sba.gov/acaletter/ - content is below: *** Dear Small Business Owner, For decades, access to affordable health insurance has been the number-one concern of small business owners. To help you address that concern and provide quality, affordable coverage for your employees, the new Affordable Care Act gives you a number of new tools and benefits . The most immediate benefit you should know about is the tax credit to help you pay for up to 35 percent of your employee premiums starting this tax year. An estimated 4 million small businesses may qualify for these tax credits, totaling about $40 billion over the next 10 years. Go here to learn more about the tax credit , including new in

WASHINGTON – The Orange County Calif. SCORE Chapter, a New Mexico Women’s Business Center, and a New York Small Business Development Center received national awards today for their outstanding service and assistance to entrepreneurs in their communities. These outstanding resource partners were recognized during a National Small Business Week award event in Washington, D.C., taking place May 23-25. The event, sponsored by Northrop Grumman, also highlighted lender awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration. ‘During national small business week we honor those who stand beside and support small businesses as they create jobs,” said SBA Administrator Karen G. Mills. “Because of our resource partners we are able to touch the lives of over a million small businesses each year that are the engine of our nation’s economy.” The Entrepreneurial Development Award categories include the National SCORE Chapter of the Year, the Women’s Business Center of Excellence Award, and the Small Busi

On May 17, 2010, the IRS begins the process of revoking tax-exempt status from nonprofits that failed to file three consecutive annual returns (Form 990-N, 990-EZ, 990, or 990-PF). "A large number of these organizations are smaller nonprofits that previously were not required to file an annual return because their gross revenues were $25,000 or less. These nonprofits now must file Form 990-N, which the IRS created in response to the Pension Protection Act" of 2006. Read more about these upcoming changes HERE .

WASHINGTON - Calling small business the backbone of the nation's economy, President Barack Obama stressed his Administration's commitment "to helping small businesses drive our economy toward recovery and long-term growth" in his proclamation of the week of May 23-29 as National Small Business Week. The President's proclamation was issued May 20 prior to the U.S. Small Business Administration's 47th annual observance of National Small Business Week in Washington, D.C. (May 23-25). The event honors the nation's most outstanding entrepreneurs, and features the announcement of the National Small Business Person of the Year for 2010 from among the 53 state small business winners, including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. President Obama will meet with Small Business Week award winners at the White House Tuesday. "Small business owners embody the spirit of entrepreneurship and strong work ethic that lie at the heart of the American dream.