New York SBDC Research Network

Well, you've seen it. What do you think? (What?? She wants me to comment on the blog?? I couldn't possibly do that!!) Maybe we'll keep this new look, maybe we'll change it. And your opinions matter. Either way, stay tuned, for new logos, headers, and maybe even some sort of feature to make it easier for us all to communicate in this space.

CBS Sunday Morning had a story a couple weeks ago about The Ever-Growing American Commute . The subtitle is "People Are Living Farther From Cities And Enduring Longer Commutes So They Can Have Large Homes". Much of the background data for the story comes from Commuting in America III from TRB. While one can buy the whole report for $60, there are important (free) data available in the summaries. The most interesting thing I learned is that the commuting patterns are not just from the suburbs to the central city, but from a suburb of one central city to a suburb of another central city. The implications of this is that carpooling and mass transit are almost never available options in these situations; thus, individual - no passenger - use is on the rise in many areas. Yet, there is this countervailing trend: "Although immigrants make up less than 14 percent of all workers, they represent about 40 percent of those in large carpools. The percentage is particularly high amo

(For this Monday, we could have the only blog in America without a posting about last night's episode of "The Sopranos". So, welcome.) On the theme of entertaining cultural events, I found amusing this link that Roger forwarded to me this morning: http://www.worldalmanac.com/blog/2007/03/calling_all_librarians.html It makes a reference to a post that appeared here last December. The blogosphere is nothing if not self-referencing, but I'm a bit bummed that our title is considered "less entertaining" than other library blogs out there. Just the title - not the content itself. Maybe a name change is in order. Any ideas? "Library Card CataBlog"? "Blogolicious"? I'll take suggestions.

As I think most of you know, I'm always on the lookout for news articles about the SBDC and our clients. Some of you are great about sending me new pieces that feature your workshops and successes, and I love you for that! I frequently use simple alerts from Yahoo! and Google to find mentions of the NYS SBDC in internet news sources. A few days ago I wrote up some basic instructions for one director, describing how to set up your own alerts. I thought they might be useful to everyone, so here they are: Setting up Yahoo! Alerts : Select “News” Select “Keyword News” Type in the keywords that you are interested in. I have two alerts set up here: One for “ SBDC ” and the other for “Small Business Development Center.” Those are broad, but since I am looking for all the NYS centers, “New York” may never appear in the article. I get a lot of articles I have no interest in, but I skip through them quickly, and catch things I might have otherwise missed. For your center you may w

I attended the State Data Center Affiliate meeting last month. Periodically over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing things I've learned. The big thing the Census Bureau his working on is the 2010 Decennial Census. It may seem far away, but there is a lot of preparation that goes on. Even though the charge of the Census is to count people, the Census first needs to establish residential addresses where they can send forms. There is something called the Master Address File. They ask local officials to verify the addresses they have, through a program called LUCA . Of course, addresses change in in obvious and not-so-apparent ways. New construction will add to the housing stock, while demolition, including fire and natural disasters, will reduce it. But a change of usage will also affect the housing stock; for instance, an office building that turns its upper floors to apartments or condos will add to the roster. So will turning a one-family home to a two-family home by creating

This link describes the contents of a recent (May 2007) study conducted by the National Federation of Independent Businesses regarding small business' attitudes towards the health care system. As you can imagine, the "survey . . . identified cost as the single most important problem facing the health system today." (A link to the full report is provided.) As a provider of health insurance options to its members , NFIB has a vested interest in this issue. If your clients don't know of these options yet, perhaps you should give them this link.

I had intended to highlight books some of the newer books we have in the library and this is one very practical one. This list does not list all the subsections for all the chapters - I have listed only the sections from the chapter on essential recordkeeping for small businesses. Keeping the Books: Basic Recordkeeping and Accounting for the Successful Small Business 6th ed.(2004) by Linda Pinson Chapters Recordkeeping Basics Income and Expenses Cash Accounting Versus Accrual Accounting Essential General Records for Small Business Single and Double Entry Systems Chart of Accounts Debits and Credits An Overview of Four Accounting Tasks Using QuickBooks Pro® Summary: Accounting Software Revenue & Expense Journal Petty Cash Record Inventory Record Fixed Assets Log Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable Payroll Records