New York SBDC Research Network

We see a lot of information on making the most of referrals, having reciprocal relationships with other businesses, but they all assume you've had your first customer. These are a few articles on starting somewhere to get that first customer. Getting Your First Customer Strategies: Getting your first customer takes work 8/7/2009 3:58 AM By Rhonda Abrams USA TODAY Recognizing the difficulty of getting the ball running, the author suggests some ways to build clientele. OnStartups Startup Diaries: Getting Your First Customer This blog entry offers a different point of view for a software developer. Getting Your First Customer: 2007 Entrepreneurship Conference Interactive presentation by Chuck DeVita, Growth Process Group. This is a video presentation from Stamford University on the same issue.

Based on how often I talk about it, you would think that I really enjoyed the movie, “Minority Report.” Well, I didn’t hate it, but there’s one part that made me really excited. You remember in the beginning, where Tom Cruise is pushing around holographic images with his hands? I want that. I’m almost there, now that I have two computer screens and can drag open windows from one screen to the other, but it's still not quite as much fun. If those holographic screens are the vision of the future for projecting images, what do you think the communication devices of the future will look like? Designers at Motorola had a go, and the results look like they’d fit nicely in almost any futuristic flick. Which one do you want? I like the bracelet…. Design World: What will communication devices look like in 2033?

I came across this article by Jeff Wuorio. "When it comes to your company's Web site, there's no shortage of advice on what you absolutely have to have there. But little is often said about those elements that should never see the light of day." Wuorio lists his nine items and the reasons. I'm going to give my observations about his major points. 1. Your photo on the home page. Interesting. Feels right. Heck, I don't even have my photo on my personal blog. 2. Visual (and audio) overkill. I HATE sites that start music as soon as I go to them. Partly, it's because I'm usually already listening to music. Partly, it's because their music is usually treacle. It happens a lot at music and wedding-related sites I go to. Sites that take too long long to load, I abandon relatively quickly. Virtually all studies suggests my reaction is the norm. 3. Too many confusing menu options. I took this website design one-day course once - I was visiting a friend in M

comScore describes itself as "a global leader in measuring the digital world and the preferred source of digital marketing intelligence". I'm fond of their "press releases" page, as it provides links to brief articles featuring measurements of users of the Internet from countries around the globe. In the past, I came to rely on sites like this, only to see them stop publication of material without any warning. I'll keep my eye on this one, as it seems pretty hip. Pass it on to your e-clients, too.

Last night I attended an event hosted by the Albany Business Journal . The Biz Mix was a networking opportunity that brought together individuals from all types of business throughout the Capital Region. The Albany Business Journal is an American City Business Journal , the nation's largest publisher of metropolitan business newspapers. ACBJ's metropolitan business newspapers reach 4 million readers each week with exclusive, in-depth coverage of their business communities. Every day I recieve emails from the Albany Business Journal that keep me informed about local and national business news. ACBJ operates in 42 metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. and the websites associated with the 42 journals reach 8 million unique monthly visitors. I also recieve invitations to events like the one I attended last night, which provide a great forum to meet other business indivduals in the community. I highly recommend to any business individual to check out their local business jou

If you've asked us for any information about the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the United States, you probably saw the 2004 report, "Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use Among Adults: United States, 2002," with a note that this was the most up-to-date and comprehensive info available. Well, I'm happy to say there's a new report on the subject. " Costs of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and Frequency of Visits to CAM Practitioners: United States, 2007 " was released by the CDC on July 30, 2009. The data covers a wide range of CAM practices, including energy therapy, acupuncture , biofeedback, hypnosis and massage, providing data on out of pocket costs, practitioner costs, and number of visits per year.

The Census Bureau released three Economic Census reports last week: 2007 Economic Census: Arts, Entertainment and Recreation Industry Series 2007 Economic Census: Construction Industry Series 2007 Business Expenses for Wholesale and Retail Trades Unsurprising, I suppose. But Census has also recently released Reports on Residential Vacancies and Homeownership , which showed "National vacancy rates in the second quarter 2009 were 10.6 (+ 0.4) percent for rental housing and 2.5 (+ 0.1) percent for homeowner housing...The Census Bureau said the rental vacancy rate was higher than the second quarter 2008 rate (10.0 percent) and higher than the rate last quarter (10.1 percent). For homeowner vacancies, the current rate was lower than the second quarter 2008 rate (2.8 percent) and lower than the rate last quarter (2.7 percent). The homeownership rate at 67.4 (+ 0.5) percent for the current quarter was lower than the second quarter 2008 rate (68.1 percent), but not statistically different