New York SBDC Research Network

In most organizations the raw materials of the successful team exist; like dedication to service or professional ability, quality control. Where many, many organizations fall down is in the area of communication, sharing expertise, and a supportive environment. In particular, an appreciation of differing styles of working is essential to the smooth running of any organization. The detail oriented worker cam still have an appreciation of the big-picture worker; the process man can make room for the innovator. Organizations or businesses may have a plan but no process to truly implement it - the goal may be to empower employees but in practice, employees are micromanaged, evidence of a lack of trust. Or there is lip-service to the idea of communication but no process or game plan for dealing with conflict. To read up on teambuilding, check out Free Management Library

An advisor at one of our regional centers asked me to share some information he learned while working with a client last week. During the course of the counseling session, the client revealed she had signed up with a credit counseling service, Clear Your Debt LLC, from Austin, TX. The advisor was concerned when he read the contract the client signed, which prompted him to investigate the company. The Better Business Bureau in Austin told the advisor they had received numerous complaints against Clear Your Debt LLC. Though Clear Your Debt promised financing, counseling and other assistance, the advisor’s conclusion - after reading their confusing contract and talking to the BBB - was that the client would pay $15,000 for basically nothing. At that point, the advisor encouraged the client to return the contract she signed and cancel the agreement (this was within 3 days of the client signing the agreement). The advisor called me and asked that I share the information with other SBDC advi

The Association of Religious Data allows you to interactively explore the highest quality data on American and international religion using online features for generating national profiles, maps, church membership overviews, denominational heritage trees, tables, charts, and other summary reports. Over 350 data files are available for online preview and most can be downloaded for additional research. I had a question about the number people practicing Islam in parts of New York for a question about the dietary practice known as halal . I used The ARDA search mechanism and found files describing the number of Muslims by county. Other sources of religious data: Hartford Institute for Religion Research and Glenmary Research - the latter especially good for a breakdown of Roman Catholic numbers. Not so incidentally, it would be a mistake to assume that most U.S. Arabs are Muslims. In fact, if you go here , you'll see that most Arab-Americans are Christians.

The Research Network has answered over 23,000 questions since its inception. I've been around for most of them. Most every new request reminds me of something we've researched in the past. It's that deja vu feeling, on a daily basis. You can't trust it, though. I wanted to write a post about business incubators in New York, but I was sure I'd done it a year ago. I hadn't. I looked & looked, but there's no record of it. My bad. Sometimes, I just think I remember things. All righty then. David Hochman, the Executive Director of BIA/NYS, visited a Directors' Meeting within the past year. He let on that their website features contact information & descriptions of active business incubators throughout the state. Here's the URL: http://bianys.com/datainc/ Pass this list on to clients of yours whom you feel have the potential to benefit. And sorry for not getting this to you earlier. Say, a year ago.

When the Do Not Call registry opened registration to the American public in 2003, the majority of individuals rejoiced at the thought of no more telemarketer calls. According the FTC, "The registry was created to offer consumers a choice regarding telemarketing calls". Now, the list has started to expire since numbers are only on the list for five years from the date registered and not everyone who originally signed up is aware that they may be recieving unsolicited calls in the near future. For the article on the list expiring, go here . To re-register your number when it expires, go here . For more information from the Federal Trade Comission, go here . ---Alexis Mokler

Someone at the State Library took the trouble to compile in one place all of the databases tucked away on the websites of New York State government agency. God bless those librarians. Check out the page here . Some you already know about (like the Business Permit System, or the Corporation and Business Entity Database [which I wrote about last week]). There are others on such things as inmates in New York correctional facilities, profiles of licensed doctors, links to websites of licensed insurance departments, and other tidbits. I'm particularly interested in the GIS Clearinghouse website. I'll explain why in a future post (hint, hint).

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we have created an online catalog of our circulating collection on the LibraryThing network. Here's a brief update: Due the diligent work and mad trouble-shooting skills of our intern, Alexis, we now have 156 books listed in our online catalog. The catalog is searchable, and most records contain basic information about the book (title, author, publisher etc. ) as well as an image of the cover, and links to other LibraryThing members that own the book (anyone can create a LibraryThing account and catalog their personal collection.) Its pretty easy to enter records, as you just provide the ISBN or title, and the database finds a matching record. That said, not all the records are perfect, and since we didn't enter all the data ourselves, their may be some inconsistencies. For example, the Entrepreneur start-up guide records all look a little different. With that in mind, we'll try to "tag" records, to pull together similar item