New York SBDC Research Network

Until a few years ago Steve Cronce’s Raphael Industries did $1 million dollars a year of specialized industrial painting for customers within driving distance of their plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of them happened to be GE Healthcare, which sent Raphael “dead” X-Ray tube parts for re-coating and re-commissioning. Challenged by other entrepreneurs in Scale Up Milwaukee’s Scalerator program to come up with a plan for rapidly ramping up his business, Cronce wondered: “What if I redefined Raphael as a strategic link in the global medical imaging supply chain, rather than as a paint shop?” This supply chain epiphany is taking Raphael toward $10 million of work a year by burrowing into GE’s global network as well as serving its competitors. He is poised to become the leader in this segment of a multi-billion dollar market. “By serving as GE’s and other equipment makers’ supply partner, the whole world is now my scope. I am no longer limited by geography.” This story leads us to a ques

This week we’re sharing some helpful worksheets you can use to evaluate and plan your social media marketing.  They come from our “ SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR SMALL BUSINESS ” planning guide.  Come in to your local SBDC  for a copy of this book - 65 pages of step-by-step social media instructions.   Social Media Marketing Worksheet #2: Current Social Media Presence: What does your social media marketing look like today? Use this worksheet to make note of the platforms you’re using, how many followers you have and their level of engagement.

Marketingprofs.com is likely well-known to do you for their articles and great advice on marketing for small business. They also offer video tutorials like their Take10 program. Marketing professionals offer focus on specific topics to get you up to speed.You can even watch them on your mobile device through their app. They are available in real-time but you can also purchase single sessions for $10 on-demand. This tutorial is by Viveka von Rosen of Marketingprofs.com  who is the author of LinkedIn Marketing: An Hour a Day . Take 10: Use LinkedIn's Newest Features to Boost Your Profile You created your LinkedIn profile five years ago, and it looks fine. So why spend more time on it? ... ... In just 10 minutes, LinkedIn expert Viveka von Rosen will share how you can start using LinkedIn's newest features to boost the effectiveness of your profile. You'll learn how to create a custom hero image to help define your business and how to add media to increase your cred

Discipline is essential to running a proper business. The most successful business owners have great habits. Whether checking inventory at the end of the day or following up on each and every email before closing up shop, it’s the little things that make big differences. You need the same kind of discipline when managing your online ratings and reviews. While some business owners may think they don’t have to deal with what happens on rating-and-review sites, they’re wrong. They do. Yelp processes 26,000 new reviews per minute, and customers pay more attention to them than ever before. You need samurai-esque discipline when it comes to managing your online reputation. (highlight to tweet) The Manipurated Code of Conduct can help give you that katana-sharp edge. By following these four simple rules, you’ll see steady improvement in your ratings and reviews. Step 1: Do This Everyday The first step of discipline is consistency. This means checking your ratings and reviews sites every s

Do you have big plans for improving your small business social media efforts in 2016?   We do too.   This week we’ll share some helpful worksheets you can use to evaluate and plan your social media marketing.   They come from our “ SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR SMALL BUSINESS ” planning guide.   Come in to your local SBDC for a copy of this book - 65 pages of step-by-step social media instructions. Social Media Marketing Worksheet #1 : Google Your Business: You should assess your current social media presence before beginning a new social media marketing strategy. Whether you’re starting from scratch or starting over, you might find that your brand, product, or service is already being talked about in key social media networks. Evaluate what comes up from a search for your business with this worksheet. 

While the old adage of “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” might conjure images of a John Wayne-esque steely resolve, ignoring sleep flat out is a horrible idea. Headlines nowadays are filled with information about sleep deprivation killing everything from your productivity to your moods, and with that, the notion of sleep being for the weak has fallen out of vogue. The jury is in: Skimp on sleep, and you pay the price. But how much—and how well—do you need to sleep to feel rested, recharged, and ready to tackle all of the challenges an entrepreneur faces in everyday life? Read more at: liveplan

This is the first post in our " Contracting Corner " series from Judy Wolf, Government Contracting Coordinator, Mohawk Valley SBDC & NY SBDC Procurement Assistance Center Interested in government contracting? There’s good reason to look toward this area of opportunity. According to USAspending.gov, on the federal level in FY 2015 alone, more than $428 billion were spent on nearly 3.4 million contracts. More than 127,000 of those contracts were awarded in New York State, bringing nearly $9.4 billion into New York. Add to that the fact that it is written into law that the federal government has to do everything in its power to funnel 23% of its spending to small businesses, and this equates to great opportunity for entrepreneurs! Federal agencies take this responsibility very seriously. Recent measures to enforce the importance of these goals include adding measurements to the evaluations of senior federal agency officials tracking progress toward meeting small busine