New York SBDC Research Network

To my mind what we all do here is communicate. As researchers, we specialize in guessing accurately how a journalist or research source uses words so that we can extract what we want. If we insist on using words that no-one else does - we won't find what we are searching for. Advisors communicate with clients to understand where they are, where they've been and where they are going. I'm sure if a client doesn't express adequately what they mean by something like "experience" for instance, it can mean the difference between getting a bank loan or not. 20 years in the business and a summer spent looking over someone's shoulder both could be expressed as "experience" and therefore knowledge. We share information. We with advisors in the field and advisors with clients. This is particularly difficult to do if we have information that is out-of-date or otherwise incorrect. I am frustrated by using tools that are developed and readily available tha

A few postings ago Roger mentioned how helpful librarians can be in sharing information and resources with each other. Here’s another example: The Reference and User Services Association (a section of the American Library Association) has a committee that creates a list of the best free reference Web sites each year. This list is then compiled and now the combined index of 1999-2006 is available here . There’s a little bit of everything : ranging from the AARP website to yourDictionary.com , with fun stuff like Download.com from CNET (Ooh! Free music!) and Big Charts (Ooh! Free historical stock prices!) in between. The list is alphabetical (not arranged by subject), so it’s kind of a gamble as to what you’ll find, but it’s definitely good browsing.

That's the question posed in the Wall Street Journal last week. The article by Kelly K. Spors, subtitled "Studies Find Often Time Wasted Gathering Data With No Link to Success", appeared in the January 9 edition, on page B-9. The abstract reads: Amar Bhide, a Columbia University entrepreneurship professor, found that 41% of Inc. magazine's 1989 list of the 500 fastest-growing private firms didn't have business plans and 26% had only rudimentary plans. A follow-up by the magazine in 2002 found the numbers without a plan have remained pretty much the same. Many business concepts are "transitional in nature," meaning there are competitive advantages to starting the business quickly and by the time you write a full business plan "the opportunity will be gone." Scott Shane, a professor at Case Western Reserve University, says most studies that discount business-planning are flawed because they don't correct for business failure rates, only accou

Best Business Practices for Photographers by John Harrington The table of contents starts with a reminder most artists need to hear: "Chapter One: You are a Business - Now Let's Get to Work! Whether or Not You Think You're a Business, You Are." Chapter 3 covers "Planning and Logistics: Why a Thrity-Minute Shoot Can Take Three Days to Plan." A chapter is dedicated to "Pricing Your Work to Stay in Business (containing very practical and real-world tips) and the next is on "Overhead: Why What You Charge a Client Must Be More Than You Paid for It." The author offers a little cold-water on what needs to be paid for in order to achieve long-lasting success. He covers insurance, retirement accounts, accounting and various contracts. Chapter 10 is entitled "Contracts for Editorial Clients including: ""We'll Send Along Some Paperwork": Why You Should Be the First to Send the Contract" There is advice on negotiating an

. . . is another man’s resource. Most of us recycle in one way or another. But how about on a broader scale? Some companies and organizations are doing pretty neat things in order to re-use and recycle. Check out NY Wa$teMatch . According to this site, “NY Wa$teMatch provides reuse, recycling and other innovative waste solutions to boost your bottom line. We help our clients reduce disposal costs, generate revenue and obtain raw materials for free.” They offer a materials exchange service to match sources of waste product with organizations that can use it, as well as technical and research services to strengthen the reuse and recycling markets.

Among the tools librarians use are...OTHER LIBRARIANS. A librarian posted the query above, and several librarians - including yours truly - came up with some nifty solutions. Here, with her permission, is the summary: Several people recommended Nielsen and one person mentioned Comscore. Comscore is the chief competitor of NetRatings. The Pew Internet & American Life Project was another recommended source. Cyber Alert was recommended as a good source for information on web analytics and definitions of web stats. ClickZ was recommended as a great source for the definition of a web user and related information & definitions. *** Also, remember the bad old days when someone was quick or smart enough to register a company name before that company did, forcing the latter to buy back its own name - at exorbitant rates - for the URL? I've gotten an occasional request to find out how to do that! Well, tell your clients this: DON'T. It's called cybersquatting , and there

Way back in August 2005, Roger posted a blog about "40 Government Sites You Can't Live Without". One of the 40 is Business.gov , which is managed by SBA in a partnership with 21 other Federal agencies. Back in October 2006, I read an e-mail about how SBA has overhauled this site, both in look and content. Rather than ramble on & on in this blog, click here to read what this site can do. If you've never used it before, it can be pretty handy, especially to the start-ups among our clientele, or for those interested in things like licensing & regulatory information.