For the majority of small-business respondents in the 2009 Small Business Attitudes & Outlook Survey, the economic recovery is nigh. Seventy percent anticipate moderate to significant growth this year (only 1 percent think they will close their businesses), and 47 percent expect to hire additional employees.

The survey, conducted by online marketing firm Constant Contact, reveals two things, said CEO Gail Goodman: the optimism and perseverance of business owners, and their ability to adapt to even the toughest economic conditions. read more...

Starting a business is not for the risk averse. But in an effort to help entrepreneurs assess just how much risk is associated with launching or running their business, StartupNation.com, a website that provides business advice and networking for entrepreneurs, recently introduced an Odds of Success Calculator.

The business valuation device calculates a business owner's odds of success based on eight factors: amount of capital investment, difficulty in obtaining funds, quality of financial management, degree of business planning, annual industry growth rate, management experience, industry experience and timeframe. read more...

In his new book The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What It Means for You (Crown Business), business and technology journalist Michael S. Malone argues that a new generation of young Americans entering the workforce -- Generation Y -- isn't the best choice if you want loyal, hard-working, long-hour employees on your team.

"Managing this generation may not only be a nightmare, it may actually be impossible," Malone writes. "It is quite likely that some sizable percentage of these new workers (and, being the  so- called "echo" of the Baby Boom, their numbers are huge) will never work in a steady job on the payroll of a single employer. And an equally large segment may never know a career different from that of a 'permanent part-timer,' contractor, or consultant." read more...

If you assign mobile phones to employees, they might be liable for a quarter of the applicable taxes if new IRS rules under consideration go into effect.

The idea is to take some of the burden off business owners' backs. Already, a notice issued this week allows employers to forgo "minute-by-minute" documentation of employees' company phone use. read more...

If you've logged into your Facebook account within the last 48 hours or so, chances are you've already seen and read the following message:

Starting on Friday, June 12th, at 9:01pm in your time zone, you'll be able to choose a username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile. Check out the Facebook Blog for more information or send yourself an email with the details.

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The big news at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference, as expected, was the unveiling of a new iPhone. This one's called the 3G S and, among its more advanced features, it has the ability to record video.

The 3G S is also said to be twice as fast for data as the current 3G model, which Apple is putting on sale for as low as $99. The 3G S will start at $199 for a 16-gigabyte model. It comes with a three-megapixel camera. And new software will allow users to plug into MMS technology that allows the sending of pictures via text message. read more...

The buzz at Apple's Worldwide Developer's Conference in San Francisco continues to be apps, apps and more apps - for the iPhone of course. Those little programs that do everything from find friends to provide a virtual mug of beer are the hottest topic at the confab.

The New York Times is live-blogging the event while the Los Angeles Times is checking in with updates via Twitter. While there is much speculation about a possible new hardware version of the iPhone, so far the big news is about new apps that, for example, will allow iPhone users to get turn-by-turn map directions from TomTom. read more...

The Milken Institute, nonpartisan think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif., recently unveiled its annual list of top metropolitan areas for "high-tech industry." California dominated the list, with the Silicon Valley, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County and San Francisco making the top 10.

"Silicon Valley's unique ecosystem of collaborating agents has an unmatched ability to spawn entrepreneurial firms that create new products, services, and even entire industries,
while sustaining major high-tech anchor firms that remain at the leading edge of innovation in their industries," states the Milken report (PDF). The top 10: read more...

According to the Discover Small Business Watch monthly report, 38 percent of entrepreneurs surveyed said they used Facebook, Linked-In, My Space or Twitter, up from 22 percent in October of 2007.

A little less than half of those people, however, said they used their social-networking accounts to promote their businesses.
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This week Marshall Sponder, an Entrepreneur expert columnist and author of WebMetricsGuru, participated in a panel on finding New York City resources at  Entrepreneur Week NYC. Other panel members included Oz Sultan, Founder of NextWeb as the moderator, Amish Jani, Manging Director at FirstMark Capital, Kristy Sundjaja, VP of Media and Technology at New York City Economic Development Corp, Vince Sbano, General Cousel & Co-Founder of PCM Exchange and Rod Underhill, Co-Founder of MP3.com.

Following are Sponder's thoughts about how social networking in New York tech community helps business owners leverage connections to build their businesses.
 
For starters, the New York technology community has great resources just for startup; such as Ultra Light Startups (recently referred to as Self-Help for Startups, by Businessweek), held at For Your Imagination, in Chelsea, Manhattan. The focus of Ultra Light Startups is on those starting a business and who want to connect with others who can either help them or collaborate on launching the business. There have been many a great idea pitched to a willing and helpful audience. Sometimes these pitches result in entrepreneurs connecting with venture capitalists looking for the next new businesses to invest in. Other times, people in the process of reinventing themselves -- due to the recession and job loss -- have found the next big thing, right there at Ultra Light Startups. read more...