Newsletters:
Star members and clients of the GC SBDC have access to a wide variety of resources to assist them in market research, general business management, or in getting their business started. The Director and the Consultants frequently write articles and are featured in newsletters addressing the concerns of business owners. As a Star member, you will receive our future newsletters as they are published.

Articles:
The GC SBDC maintains a library of articles of interest to business owners and managers. Some are written by our own consultants and some are written by other experts. You can search these articles by topic here. If you do not find an article that answers your question, please call us for more information, or search the additional resources provided at the Regional center.

Regional Resources:
The GC SBDC is a member of the University of Houston SBDC Regional...

The Galveston County Small Business Development Center (GC SBDC) provides business consulting and training to help entrepreneurs and small business owners at every stage of your business development. Our assistance is customized to your needs, whether you need help evaluating financing alternatives, developing a loan package, reviewing and updating your business plan, or improving productivity and profitability. We can also help you evaluate new market opportunities selling to federal, state and local governments or to customers outside the United States.

Visit us at our GC SBDC facility to meet with one of our expert consultants for a free, hands-on, one-on-one consulting session, or to attend one of our practical workshops led by experienced entrepreneurs to learn and expand your knowledge of critical business tools and technology skills. We’ll also customize training just for you...

People’s use of authentication codes to regain access to their online accounts can be exploited by criminals. Researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi have released a study of how such attacks work and the ways to prevent them.

The proliferation of online services for banking, social media, shopping and just about everything else certainly makes life easier.

Buying things, checking account balances and staying in touch with friends involves little more than a few taps of a keyboard and the click of a mouse.

But remembering the passwords for our myriad online accounts can prove difficult, and often we need help to get into our accounts when our memory fails us.

With some accounts, users who forget their password can ask for a verification code to be sent to their mobile phone. The code can be used to regain access to the account.

However, a study by Prof Nasir Memon, who set up...

If you think your finances are safer now that you use a chip card, think again. The latest Javelin Identity Fraud Study reports the number of identity fraud victims increased by 16 percent in 2016 to more than 15 million consumers. And the amount the thieves took grew by $1 billion to more than $16 billion in the past year.

A large part of the increase came from “card not present” fraud in the first year since chip cards became widely used. Fraudsters are resorting to more invasive ways of getting your identity details than simply counterfeiting mag stripe cards.

So-called “phishing” schemes have become far more sophisticated. Gone are the days of the misspellings and clumsy grammar that made fraud emails obvious. Fraudsters have gotten better at tricking you into clicking on a link in one of these emails. Once you do that on your computer or smartphone, these links deploy malware...

Summer is a time to kick back and relax – unless you’re an ER doctor, that is. Hospitals don’t take vacations. In fact, some research shows that emergency room visits actually increase during the summer months.

Outdoor fun and time off from school and work can provide great opportunities for staying active and fit, but they can also raise your risk for injury and illness. To keep yourself and your family safe this summer, check out these tips for staying out of the ER, from Lenox Hill Hospital emergency physician Robert Glatter, MD.

Injury-proof your home and yard

Your family will probably spend a lot of time outdoors this summer, so take a look around and remove potential hazards – like dead tree branches lying right where they can be tripped over, or broken swing sets your kids may want to climb. If you’ve got a pool, make sure it’s securely fenced with a self-closing, self-latching...

Why people invest? Investing creates more money, which in turn, helps you to fund your lifestyle and plan for financial hardships. When you invest, you devote your time, resources or effort to some specific endeavor with the expectation that it will generate a return in the future.

Entering the world of investment isn’t easy, you need to have a certain level of knowledge and skill because taking your first step in the market without knowing what you’re doing and where you’re heading is a very dangerous move. Be sure that you are well-informed, there’s a huge amount of information available on the Internet to make yourself equipped before investing in an institution.

There are various ways to invest – stocks, bonds, certificate of deposit and mutual funds are some form investments you can choose from, just be careful of investment scams. But before venturing your way down the road of...

Wrestling with debt for years with no success? It certainly is an exhausting thing to struggle and keep your head above water. A debt isn’t something you can brush off. It is like a recurring nightmare where Freddy Krueger keeps on haunting and chasing you even on dreams. And now, it is time to take back your life and follow these debt escape plan I prepared for you.

Seek help from family and friends

This will be my first suggestion. Talk to a friend or relative that has a financial capability to help you pay your debt. But make sure to have a formal agreement on paper regarding payment terms and conditions so that it wouldn’t cause arguments and disputes in the future.

Pay higher than the minimum monthly payment

One of the faster ways to escape your debt is to pay higher than the minimum monthly payment. Paying only the minimum cash required each month will just lengthen your misery...

The ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan is heartbreaking for the people who live there – and may have made you wonder at least a little about lead levels in your own home. That wonder may have turned to worry after news reports that many other cities around the country, including several in nearby New Jersey and Pennsylvania, have reported high levels of lead in their water, or high percentages of kids with elevated levels in their blood.

If you’re concerned about lead in your water, there are steps you can take to ensure that you and your family remain safe, says Jacqueline Moline, MD, chair of occupational medicine at North Shore University Hospital. Here’s how to get started.

1. Learn about your water supply. Lead enters drinking water when it leeches from pipes or plumbing fixtures. This can happen on a community level – especially if a city’s pipes are old or its water is...

At 2 a.m. this Sunday, your clocks will “spring forward” an hour, kicking off Daylight Saving Time. The upside: You’ll get some extra sunlight in the evening for the next several months. The downside: You’ll almost certainly lose an hour of sleep Sunday night. And depending on how early you have to get up in the morning, it may be pitch black when you rise for a couple of weeks.

For most people, adjusting to the change isn’t hard. “It’s like flying from Chicago to New York,” says Saul Rothenberg, PhD, a behavioral sleep medicine specialist at Northwell Health. “Good sleepers may not even notice a difference.” But if you’re sensitive to time changes or sleep disruptions, you could have trouble falling asleep at night or waking up in the morning, at least for the first few days. If that’s the case, here are some dos and don’ts that can help.

Don’t sleep in on Sunday. You may have a habit...

If you’re seeing red today, it’s probably because some of your friends and acquaintances are using a splash of color to draw attention to the fight against heart disease in women. And with good reason: While coronary heart disease is recognized as a major threat to American men, a lot of people aren’t aware that it’s also the 1 killer of women.

Here are a few other numbers worth pondering in honor of National Wear Red Day:

80
80 percent of women between the ages of 40 and 60 have at least one risk factor for heart disease.

35
Take out a tape measure—if your waist is more than 35 inches, you’re at increased risk of heart disease.

30
You can protect your heart by getting as little as 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days. Exercising every day is even better.

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If you’re at increased risk for heart disease, here’s a reassuring thought: Women can lower their risk by as much as...