New York SBDC Research Network

When the Press calls, you need statistics fast. How many small businesses are there? What is the survival rate for new firms? How many businesses open and close each year? How many new jobs do small firms create? These and many more Frequently Asked Questions are answered by the SBA’s Office of Advocacy in this PDF document or on the web . If you need New York State-specific statistics , check out SBA's State Economic Profiles . These annual profiles show the number of small, women-owned, and minority-owned businesses for each state; business turnover (new firms, bankruptcies and terminations); employment; small business income; sources of financing; firms by industry and firm size; and non-farm establishment job gains and losses by firm size. The 2004 New York profile is available in two formats: PDF or plain text . This data is also available on the NYS SBDC web site at: http://www.nyssbdc.org/News/SmallBizStats/smallbizstats.html .

I am attracted to the human aspect of business which is why I find marketing so interesting. Here are few articles and books that may be of interest: Targeting People of Caribbean Heritage: 4 Common Errors by Xavier Murphy June 28, 2005 MarketingProfs.com http://www.marketingprofs.com/5/murphyX1.asp “Marketers who ignore people of Caribbean heritage are missing on the opportunities to showcase their products and services to a fast-growing segment with significant buying power.” 5 illustrious strategies to explode your web site traffic by Benjamin Scott The Marketing Resource Center http://www.marketingsource.com/articles/view/1917 “Are you spending hundreds of dollars on advertising campaigns, only to find out that you have earned a very small profit or none at all? Here are 5 illustrious strategies that will help you explode and create viral traffic to your web site.” Mind over market: over 20 years ago, Jay Conrad Levinson changed the way entrepreneurs thought about marketing with h

The Federal Trade Commission is my first destination when I get a variety of reference topics that involve making sure that individuals are not being "ripped off" by an entity: CREDIT : Consumers have important protections under the Fair Credit Reporting Act IDENTITY THEFT : How to fight it PRIVACY : A delineation of the rights of the consumer CONSUMER INFORMATION : Things to know about Lasik eye surgery, indoor tanning, product labeling CONSUMER PROTECTION : Deciphering advertising and marketing practices, avoiding scams FRANCHISING : Certain states (including) NYS) have tougher regulations for would be franchisers Another valuable national tool in consumer protection is The Consumer Protection Safety Commission . It describes itself as an "independent US regulatory agency that helps keep American families safe by reducing the risk of injury or death from consumer products." These are the folks who issue the product recalls that sometimes make the papers. New York

One of the benefits of the NAICS Code classification system is that it classifies the PC- and Internet-based businesses that often defied description in the SIC Code Manual. I've noticed in WebMQS, however, that there's an attempt to classify e-commerce businesses by the product line being sold, or Web-based services by the service being offered. The 2002 NAICS code system has removed the guesswork from these situations. Just keep these codes in mind the next time you have a Web-based business client: 454111 - "Electronic Shopping" - For those establishments that retail all types of merchandise using the Internet, regardless of the product being sold . 454112 - "Electronic Auctions" - For businesses akin to eBay. 518111 - "Internet Service Providers" - For businesses that promise Internet access & other services to their customers. 518112 - "Web Search Portals" - For those businesses that maintain informational databases that vis

Many of us have come to rely on Google when searching the web. And, I admit, Google gives me the results I want, most of the time. But no search engine can find everything . Try these options in your spare time and post a comment when you do: Did you know that Yahoo! now crawls the web on its own? Yahoo! News gets selective feeds directly from publishers and crawls over 7000 sources for news. You can set up keyword news alerts for free with Yahoo! Alerts . Still like Google's clean interface? Get it on Yahoo! at http://search.yahoo.com/ . Have you ever tried A9 from Amazon.com ? A9.com includes results from Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" feature - the service that allows you to search the full-text of over 120,000 current books . Searching A9, I found out the average commissions paid to Avon independent reps. for a Buffalo advisor's recent inquiry. Clusty is a different kind of search tool. It uses a Clustering Engine to organize search results into folder

We've had a number of additions to the collection here in the library, some replacing older editions and some completely new to us. While this is not a complete list, it contains a number of sources that may be of interest. Although they are in our reference collection and do not circulate, you may want to note that we have them and may have already seen them in your enquiry packets. Aftermarket Fact Book 2004/2005 Hotel Operating Statistics Study 2004: Report for Year 2003 Bond’s Franchise Guide 2004 Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association: Market Intelligence Reports 2004 Bowker’s News Media Directory 2005 National Associations of Convenience Stores: State of the Industry 2004 Restaurant Industry Operations report 2004 National Coffee Drinking Trends 2004 Ukers’ International Tea & Coffee Directory and Buyers guide 2004 American Pet Products Manufacturers Association: National Pet Owners Survey Professional Carwashing and Detailing: 2004 Automatic Carwash Operations Benchmar

A popular source for the status of a bill pending in Congress is Thomas: Legislative Information on the Internet . Named for our third President, Thomas Jefferson, it is also a repository for the Congressional Record going back to 1989, and Public Laws going back to 1973. One can search bills by committee, by a word or phrase, or, if you have it, the bill number. One thing to keep in mind: when you see citations to a numbered Congress, such as the 109th Congress, it refers to the two-year period between the swearings in of a new Congress. The 109th Congress coves 2005 and 2006, the 108th Congress covered 2003 and 2004, and so forth. The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) is where you will find the rules of the Cabinet departments and other executive agencies of the Federal Government. There are 50 volumes that are updated annually; the first 16 on January 1st, Titles 17-27 on April 1st, Titles 28-41 on July 1st, and Titles 42-50 on October 1st. The CFR that covers the Small Business