New York SBDC Research Network

In a business, administrative chores can stack up. It might only take 20 minutes to send an email, or five minutes to answer your business cell, but all of these little tasks can take up a significant amount of time. Before you know it, your day is nearly over and you haven’t done half of the things that you wanted to do. To get some of that time back, we asked entrepreneurs to help us compile a list of apps that can save time on administrative tasks. Here’s a look at the top 10 time-saving apps for your business: Read more from BPLANS.com .

From Forbes : A pitcher of cold ice water. A social media account. And a smart phone. Those are the elements of philanthropy’s feel good hit of the summer – the Ice Bucket Challenge, starring a millennial near you and almost every celebrity you can name. This August, it’s been as inevitable as a sun burn. Yet as with every great instant movement these days, the backlash is here like a late day summer thunderstorm. You’ve probably heard the criticism. It’s a stunt, mere “slactivism.” It’s a substitute for real long-term involvement and engagement. It’s all about showing off for social media. It won’t change a thing, or cure ALS or ease the suffering of those with the disease. Which is true, I guess, to some degree... But [have you] ever been to a big ticket charity gala?

Don’t trust Kevin Costner for marketing advice” is probably a good rule of thumb. "If you build it, they will come." That’s what I believed, when I was first starting out. I assumed that if I opened a business, customers would just show up—no major marketing effort required. Other entrepreneurs take the complete opposite approach, and treat marketing as if it’s the 1916 Battle of the Somme: they throw all of their resources in the general direction of their intended audience and hope something hits its mark. Fortunately, in-between these two approaches is a strategy that actually works: target marketing. MORE from BPLANS.com .

Hispanic Heritage Month Business Forum 2014 Tuesday, September 30th, 8:30am-12:00 noon How SBA Can Help You Start and Grow Your Business Government Contracts: Certification and Marketing Federal Plaza Conference Center (26 Federal Plaza, 6th Fl,  New York, NY 10278) RSVP:  Ana Hernandez at 212-264-1473 or man-li.lin@sba.gov  Meet the Lenders Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 8:30-1:00pm (Must register by 10/10/14) Federal Plaza Conference Center (26 Federal Plaza, 6th Fl,  New York, NY 10278) Learn about SBA Financing Programs Speed Meeting the Lenders Meet the SBDC, SCORE and WBC Business Advisors Register:  Ana Hernandez at 212-264-1473 or man-li.lin@sba.gov 

Intellectual property (IP) is one of the most important components of any business, and yet it is often one of the most neglected. Amidst the furor of innovation and the pressure of day-to-day operations, IP can get lost in the shuffle. But neglecting your IP won’t resolve the issue; in fact, it puts your business at increasing risk every day. So why should entrepreneurs care about IP? IP - Copyright, Patent, and Trademark - is your most valuable asset. More from ASBDC .

From the ASBDC : It’s no secret that U.S. military veterans are a force to be reckoned with in the nation’s small business economy. But according to the latest research, both older and younger veterans are emerging as major players in the buying of small companies. To better understand today's business-for-sale market, BizBuySell.com recently commissioned a demographic study of individuals engaged in buying or selling a small business. The study, which surveyed more than 2,000 buyers and sellers, highlighted several trends that are shaping today’s market. One of the trends the survey revealed is that a surprisingly large number of veterans are shopping for small businesses. According to BizBuySell’s study, 13 percent of prospective small business buyers listed themselves as veterans. But who are these veterans? And how do they compare to other buyers in the market?

When you are developing a marketing plan, it’s important to focus on the aspect of your product that you mean to be the selling point. You have to have that thing that makes you stand out from the pack, and that’s what you focus on. You’re the cheapest. You’re local. You’ve got the highest quality product. Your staffers know more about the field than your competitors. It’s that edge that sets you apart from the rest of the market, and thus draws the crowd of buyers searching for your specialty. But what if you don’t have that thing that makes you stand out from the crowd? It’s an important concern. Maybe you can’t afford to be the cheapest option in the field. Your product might not actually be the best there is. If you don’t have that thing, how can you compete? It’s simple: You have to be cooler than the competition. Read more at BPLANS.com .