New York SBDC Research Network

I am working on a request for average property lease rates in a city and so I thought I would outline a couple of places I looked at to get an average price per square foot. These are real property listings so this is not an agregate but anecdotal prices to inform. All of these sites allow you to search by city or zip code, price, square footage including ranges, both for lease and for sale properties: LoopNet CityFeet LeaseMLS Grubb Ellis

It's probably no surprise that the 2008-2009 recession has been a big deal for the professional book industry. In May 2009 sales of professional books were down 6.8 percent from the previous year, and the recession plays a major thematic role in many of the most recent business-related books. If you want to check out some of the best business books of this year, strategy+business magazine has published their list of the " Best Business Books 2009 ." Winners come from a variety of categories, including management, leadership, strategy, technology and marketing, as well as the meltdown.

Again, from the Pew Research Center : In Arkansas and Oklahoma, men and women marry young — half of first-time brides in these states were age 24 or younger on their wedding day. These states also have above-average shares of women who divorced in 2007-2008. It’s the opposite state of affairs in Massachusetts and New York. Their residents marry late — half of ever-married New York men were older than age 30 when they first wed. These states also have below-average shares of men and women who divorced in 2007-2008. Looking at rates, about 6% of Texans who ever have been married have wed three times or more. That is similar to the national average (5%), but well below the leaders in this category — the neighboring states of Arkansas and Oklahoma — where about 10% of all ever-married adults have had at least three spouses. Marriage and Divorce: A 50 State Tour

This past week or so, an executive staff member in my office has been putting a little more effort into his business attire. He has been wearing elegant ties with coordinating shirts and while this is not a huge change from his normal button down shirts and nice slacks, the tie seems to add something. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with his attire when he is not wearing a tie. On the contrary, I have never seen this co-worker, or any other in this office, wear anything that could be deemed inappropriate. But there have been times in my life when I have been visiting other businesses or places of work where I see attire that in my opinion is entirely unsuitable and basically just wrong for the work environment. Sometimes, I even wish that dress codes were more formal, like they used to be, so that there is less opinion involved in deciding what to wear. Read articles on how to write dress codes , how some companies are reverting back to more formal dress codes , and defini

There was a recent discussion on a listserv I monitor about what a florist might do who is suffering in the recession. One participant suggested "expanding their offerings beyond just flowers...some gifty/crafty stuff to compliment the flowers and get feet through the door and create incremental volume." Good idea, that. One of my favorite resources is looking at the Economic Census for the Product Lines documents. The one for Retail Trade (NAICS 44-45) can be found here . For NAICS code 45311, found on page 173, you'll see that of the 22,750 florists in 2002: 3719 sell candy, 1209 sell other food stuff or 4061 selling some sort of grocery item (some sell both) 9268 sell some sort of kitchenware 603 sell jewelry 364 sell books 4810 sell games and toys Again, these are 2002 numbers - the 2007 numbers don't exist yet - but it does provide some guidance for how an entity might diversify its line. There are similar product line reports for: NAICS 22: Utilities NAICS 42: W

This is now old news, but we'd be remiss if we didn't mention it. Last Tuesday (11/17), Goldman Sachs announced that it was partnering with Warren Buffet to provide $500 million in a "10,000 Small Businesses" plan. I learned about it from the Wall Street Journal last week . The article focuses on the actual plans for the fund. These won't be direct loans to just anyone. $200 million is earmarked on "education and training programs" (they're big on mentoring), and the remainder will be (according to their press release ) "a combination of lending and philanthropic support to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)". The education and training programs will be targeted primarily at "underserved" small business owners, and will be taught primarily at community colleges and universities. Our own SBDC at LaGuardia Community College in Queens will be the first to offer such training, in the spring of 2010. As the WSJ arti

Less companies are throwing holiday parties. Companies are planning their parties later in the year than usual. Companies are planning potlucks instead of hiring caterers. These are just a few of the methods that companies are using to save money this holiday season. Instead of scratching the holiday festivities altogether, read the below articles on ways to save money this holiday season while still celebrating with your employees and customers. Party Poopers - Holiday Parties Take a Hit in Hard Times Small Business - Partying simply with smaller events, iPods instead of DJs Small Businesses - Still giving holiday gifts to customers