New York SBDC Research Network

Your clients, both as retailers and customers, may appreciate this article from All Things Frugal- Home of The Pennypincher E-zine Tightwad Tidbits Daily & The General Store Maximize your Money by Seasonal Shopping We all know that certain items go on sale at different times of the year. Here is a list of items that regularly go on sale- when and why. Most of these are common sense. Most items go on sale at the beginning of the season they are used in, due to competition. They also go on sale at the end of the season during clearance sales. There are also traditional sales, probably started to fill in the gaps, and inventory clearance sales at the end of the year on almost everything. January *Winter clothes- inventory clearance of clothes, shoes, boots, purses and other seasonal items. *Holiday Clearance- the festivities are over for while. Look for sales on all holiday or festive items. *This is a great time to buy wedding gifts or gifts for children. *January White Sale- The tra

Back on 6/2/05, I blogged that the New York State Library and New York Public Library's databases are accessible to all New Yorkers with a library card. Well, things just got easier. Now you can skip the library card application and log into http://novelnewyork.org/ with a valid New York State driver's license (or DMV photo ID). You and your clients would probably find these databases of interest: Business & Company Resource Center -includes company profiles, brand information, company histories, SEC reports, periodical articles, and links to relevant Web sites. New York State Newspapers -includes the following seven full-text newspapers from around New York State: Buffalo News, New York Times (from 2000 on), New York Post, New York Observer, Syracuse Herald American, Syracuse Herald-Journal, and Post-Standard (Syracuse).

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), whose mandate is “to maintain and extend international cooperation between all its Member States for the improvement and rational use of telecommunications of all kinds” and with members across the globe, they are well placed to offer reliable information relating to the telecommunications industry. You can find maps and graphs, statistics on the number of telephone lines, broadband penetration, and mobile cellular subscribers among other ICT indicators for most countries you can think of. They also have a who’s who directory, and a section on industry regulations in this densely packed site dedicated to telecoms issues and developments. Publications include the World Telecoms Indicators 2004; and the ITU Internet Reports 2005: The Internet of Things as well the practical guideline handbooks dealing with security issues or regulations and standards. Based in Switzerland, the reports available for purchase or download are in Swiss franc

Some employers have made the fateful decision to furlough their employees, only to hire them back as "independent contractors" to avoid governmental obligations that an employee requires, such as matching Social Security payments. Can they do that? Well, "it depends." The IRS has a PDF document here that describes the definitions of an employee and an independent contractor. (Saying they are independent contractors does not necessarily make them so.)

In late December, I heard from a woman named Mary Redmond. At the time, Ms. Redmond was the Acting Director of the New York State Library. In addition, she serves on a committee called the Government Information Roundtable for the New York Library Association, or NYLA/GIRT. The purpose of her call was to inform us that What's Your Signage? was named one of two winners of NYLA/GIRT's 2004 New York State Notable Documents Award. More on that story can be found here: http://www.nyssbdc.org/News/FullArticle.cfm?id=134 If you recall, the book serves as an introduction to the value that an effective sign can provide a small business. It took the better part of eight months to create. It is the result of work done by myself, Mary Beth Bobish, and Josee Fonseca, with invaluable design work done by SUNY Central Administration's David Schillinger. If you were with the SBDC in April 2004, then you should have received a copy of this book. If, for whatever reason, you don't

SBA offers several free e-newsletters to keep you up-to-date on a wide variety of information and business opportunities for small businesses. Subscribe to one or many and receive e-mail notification as soon as items are published. Here's a sampling of the available newsletters: BUFFALO, NY NEWSLETTER This monthly newsletter provides current events, lender reports, and up-to-date information on SBA programs and small business issues. REGION 2 NEWSLETTER Inside Region 2 is a quarterly newsletter focusing on SBA news in New York State, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as program and policy updates from SBA headquarters in Washington, D.C. SBA BUSINESS LOAN GUARANTY Be among the first to receive emails with Agency approved, time-sensitive information regarding SBA's business loan guaranty programs. SMALLBIZOPPS SBA's Office of Government Contracting offers this newsletter to help small business owners understand how to market to federal agencies and pri

There are several sources useful when searching for minority or women owned businesses in an area of sector. Here are a few I have used: Empire State Development Minority & Women Owned Businesses Searchable Database This database can searched by: Economic Development Regions Business Market Areas Certification Types Gross Sales Product/Services Type Federal ID number 8(a) Sources "The comprehensive source for current information on federally-certified minority and woman-owned businesses." Business Research Services, publishers of business directories and electronic directory products, offer this online service, searchable by company name, industry and location. They also publish the Set-Aside Alert , a newsletter for small, minority, and woman-owned business issues and contracting news. BRS also create custom-generated electronic directories for a fee. The MWBE Directory : The Source for locating minority and women owned businesses. This is