Blog Posts by Subject: Small Business

Today I'm going to write about trade shows. I'm going to use as an example the recent trade show/exhibition for the violin (really, string instrument) trade, MondoMusica New York 2013.

What are Trade Shows? The name says it all. Businesses and businesspeople getting together at an event organized for the chance to network, display their wares, buy and sell — to each other and, possibly, the public.

Here is a selection of books new to the New York Times list of Business Best Sellers published in the print edition Sunday, March 3rd. Plus, a quick look at the Nielsen BookScan listing in the March 2nd edition of the Wall Street Journal shows some titles new to this column. Enjoy!

NYPL's small business website, smallbiz.nypl.org, can link you to hundreds of free and low-cost assistance programs through its Services Directory. New York City is one of the best places to start a business, and a wealth of small business services is available to entrepreneurs through local & state government, non-profit organizations, economic development corporations and neighborhood community groups. There are hundreds of programs, funded separately, not connected to each other, so it's hard to know how exactly what type of assistance is available.

If you're thinking of starting your own business, or you're in business and need to keep up with trends, you can save time by using the industry and market research databases at NYPL's business library, SIBL. The library provides access to a range of premium information which is not available free on the Internet. At SIBL, you can research an industry or market sector to get the background and data you need for a business plan or for a marketing plan.

Two of the best industry databases are First Research and Plunkett's Research Online, both available onsite at SIBL.

Do you need a BIG push towards realizing that elusive goal of business ownership? If so, the 2013 New York StartUP! Business Plan Competition offers you the option for multiple wins: a piece of the more than $30,000 "pie" of cash prizes, technical training, one-on-one business advisory, and participation in a vibrant small business network. But, hurry! There is just a week left to meet the first requirement -- attending an orientation.

Here is a selection of books new to the New York Times list of Business Best Sellers published in the print edition Sunday, November 11th, and, to catch up, the August 28th edition. Plus, a quick look at the Nielsen BookScan listing in the November 10th edition of the Wall Street Journal shows some titles new to this column. Enjoy!

The October 13, 2012 Economist included its quarterly business book reviews. Here is a listing.

For those interested in the articles, you can find them through some of our electronic resources (I recommend our Custom Newspapers database, available from home with a library card — I have put a link to the articles from Custom Newspapers after each title) or on The Economist's website (if you're a subscriber). For those who are too impatient to read those, I've included for each book, based on the articles, a short squib.

Here is a selection of books new to the New York Times list of Business Best Sellers published in the print edition Sunday, August 5th. Also, a quick look at the Nielsen BookScan listing in the August 11th edition of the Wall Street Journal shows some titles new to this column. Enjoy!

Do you own a business? Work as designer, distributer, or manage a retail boutique? Maybe you're a buyer for a large store? You need to find reliable suppliers for your business.

Last Spring, I invited my niece Molly and her husband, Ted Fienning, to SIBL to trace the meteoric rise of their new company Babiators, which, in less than a year, grew from an idea sketched on a napkin to a thriving enterprise. The audience's avid response to their nuts-and-bolts account of launching a startup in NYC inspired a series of talks by other successful metro-area entrepreneurs that will kick off in Fall 2102 as SIBL heads into its fourth StartUP! Business Plan Competition season. For now, I asked Ted to flesh out some of the points they made in their presentation.

As over a million of service men and women are returning to the civilian workforce in the next five years, entrepreneurship may be an attractive option for some of them. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Report on Veterans Small Business Development, veterans own 2.4 million American businesses or 9 percent of all the American's business. When including businesses in which veterans are at least half owners, these numbers rise to 3.7 million businesses or 13.5 percent of U.S. businesses.

It's not quite time to worry about choosing your beach reading yet. But Memorial Day is coming, and so it is time to think ahead just a little. With that in mind, here is a selection of books new to the New York Times list of Business Best Sellers published this last Sunday, May 13th.

No matter how hard you try to prioritize your reading, magazines can really pile up rather quickly. So... I've just finally gotten to the April 7th issue of The Economist, and discovered its quarterly business book selection for April.

I don't want to neglect highlighting some of the newer business best-sellers from the New York Times (Sunday, April 1, 2012, page 7). I've also included a selection from Nielsen BookScan as published in the April 7-8, 2012 Wall Street Journal (page C10). Happy Reading!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, people in the 55-years-and-older age group account for 19.5 percent in the labor force in 2010 and are projected to be 25.2 percent in 2020.

This age group’s contributions to the work force are substantial, some of them serving at helms of chief political, economic, education and military institutions. The experience of people over 50 provides a valuable asset to the U.S. workforce and their accomplishments are commendable.

Trade Associations exist for nearly every industry and can be valuable sources of information for new business owners and those doing industry research. Some trade associations offer continuing professional training and certifications, and many conduct market research, to keep their members up to date with industry data, reports and statistics.

If you’re writing a business plan or have recently started a new business, you need to keep up with industry news and trends. One way to do this is with trade journals.

This Sunday's paper listed the New York Times business best sellers. Rankings reflect sales for January 2012. Below are several of the titles culled from that list, sorted by genre, with links to our catalog.

The January 14 issue of The Economist has reviewed (and maybe recommended...) five new books on a few different business topics. I'm using this as an opportunity to post a list of these titles with links to the Library's collections.