Business and Self-Employed Tax Center
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/index.html
It’s March and April’s IRS deadline is ahead.  BIC Source of the Month, Website of the Month, and Check It Out focus on taxes and your business.  The Business and Self-Employed tax center link of the Internal Revenue Service allows you to quickly find important tax information. Their Filing Season Central link is “your one stop assistance center for filing your business returns. This includes Highlights of Tax Law Changes, Tax Tips, and more.”

Artists Meeting Place and Resource Collection

This month, BIC Source of the Month, Website of the Month, and Check It Out focus on the business aspects of a career in the arts.  The website, Artists Meeting Place and Resource Collection, is an “international resource collective of artists and people who work in the arts”.  AMP connects “artist and behind-the-scenes collaborators of all genres…with resources, opportunities, and personal connections.” Explore this website for connections and information to expand your career and your horizons.

SBA – MARKETING TRAINING

The website of the Small Business Administration offers informative links to the many aspects of developing and sustaining a business.  Good marketing is a key and SBA’s Marketing and Price link provides training on market research, customer service, advertising, pricing, and more.  Create a marketing plan or readjust your current one through the support of the Small Business Administration.

ConsumerSearch.com

Overwhelmed by choices as you purchase your gifts for this season of giving? Quickly find evaluations of the products that you are considering by visiting our website of the month.  ConsumerSearch.com. is under the umbrella of the website About.com, which is part of the New York Times Company.  The website states that for each product category the following information is provided:

·         Best reviewed - its “selection of the top rated products, based on expert and user reviews”
·         Full report - its “complete analysis of who the experts are and what they say, as well as our review of important product trends
        and developments”
·         Offers “ranking and description of the top reviews, complete with links”

FINRA – Broker Check
FINRA – Scam Meter

Are you ready to test the waters of investing?  As you do, remember the Library for finding timely and authoritative information before you make these important decisions.  November’s BIC Bizbeat’s Website of the Month, BIC Source of the Month, and Check it Out all focus on the topic of investing. 

We feature two websites this month from FINRA.  What is FINRA?  It is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, “the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States."  All told, FINRA oversees nearly 4,900 brokerage firms, about 173,000 branch offices and approximately 651,000 registered securities representatives.”  (FYI.....the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County received a grant from FINRA Investor Education Foundation through Smart Investing @ your library®, a partnership with the American Library Association.) 

FINA’s Broker Check link allows you to check the professional backgrounds of current and former securities firms and brokers registered with FINRA. Its Scam Meter link helps you to assess if an investment proposal is, as the old adage says, too good to be true. Answering four questions on the FINRA Scam Meter “will help you tell if an investment you are thinking about might be a scam.“  Your answer prompts warnings and advice.

Pew Research Center – Social and Economic Trends: Reports on Money

This website of the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends project allows the website visitor to examine the results of this project’s study of “behaviors and attitudes of Americans in key realms of their lives, including family, community, health, finance, work and leisure”. Original public opinion survey research is combined “with social, economic and demographic data analysis”.  The Website of the Month is a link to the Center’s demographic reports on topics related “to money, personal finance, and the economy”.  The reports, which include statistical charts and graphs, are useful as marketing guides for your business or your career in the world of business.  Additional links are available for older reports from 2005.

HBS Working Knowledge Newsletter

From time to time we remind you that you can sign up for the weekly HBS Working Knowledge, a free e-mail newsletter from the Harvard Business School Faculty.  You can benefit from the research of the faculty of this preeminent business school by having this newsletter delivered to your e-mail doorstep.  Along with the articles and columns, you’ll find podcasts from faculty members about their work.

Business.gov and Financing Your Business

One of the most frequently asked questions from our business patrons....Where’s the money?  To answer this question for both the aspiring business owner and the established business owner, Business.gov has launched a search tool to “quickly find grant, loan, and venture capital programs from federal and state governments.”   Answer the 14 question form and the website directs you to programs for which you may be eligible.

Making Sense - Your Guide to the Economy

The state of the economy follows us throughout our day – from workplace issues, to our purchases, to talk at the dinner table.  BIC’s Website of the Month, Source of the Month, and Check It Out all deal with this ever-present issue. Paul Simon, who covers economics on the PBS show, News Hour, takes his expertise to the web with Making Sense – Your Guide to the Economy.   Tabs direct the website visitor to regional news, news by topic, economic analysis, retirement and investment information and much more.  There is also a Teachers Center with ideas and lesson plans for the classroom.

Center for Small Business and the Environment

CSBE is a nonprofit network mobilizing small businesses to protect the environment while creating jobs and economic growth. 

Green Business Guide
Business.gov offers ways for small businesses to save energy as they continue to grow.
 

Green Suppliers Network
The Green Suppliers Network promotes the Lean and Clean Advantage for manufacturers. Technical reviews identify ways to use 
materials more efficiently and reduce costs. 

GreenBiz.com

GreenBiz.com offers more than 8,000 resources to support business success while being environmentally responsible.

THE SBA AND THE RECOVERY ACT
How will the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act affect your small business? From temporarily eliminating some loan fees to refinancing programs, read the FAQs here and learn more about how the Small Business Administration can help.

FORBES.COM
Look at the Lists tab on Forbes’ online site to find billionaires, the richest Americans, and the largest public companies. While on the site, browse through the financial, technology, personal finance, and lifestyle news for which Forbes is so famous.