Three Big Reasons Why You Should Be Careful of Hard Money Loans | The Startup Magazine

April 6, 2021April 4, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Hard money loans are a form of collateral-backed loan that real estate assets secure. Those who have the necessary collateral can obtain them, even if they don’t have good credit. What makes it strange is that the lender doesn’t rely on you to pay the loan back. That’s why your credit doesn’t play a significant role in the process.

Your hard money lender will base your loan primarily on how much your collateral is worth. For example, if you default on your loan, they will take possession of the property you used for security. Let’s find out more about what hard money loans are and how they work.

Covid: Trials to begin for return of England mass events | BBC News

April 6, 2021April 4, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The government is to trial a series of measures in England, including Covid passports, to allow the safe return of sports matches, events and nightclubs.

Passes would show if a person had been vaccinated, had a recent negative test, or natural immunity.

Trial events in the coming months will also explore how ventilation and testing before and after could help crowds return.

Any use of passes would be “time-limited”, the sports minister has said.

This CEO Changed His Feedback Style–and His Company’s Revenue Grew Almost 1,500 Percent | Inc.com

April 5, 2021April 4, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Would you rather be feared or loved? For three years, Dan O’Malley opted for the latter–and every day, he says, he failed his employees a little more.

The founder and CEO of Numerated stumbled onto that epiphany by accident: The four-year-old Boston-based startup, which helps banks and credit unions automate their processes, went into crisis mode in March 2020, when the Small Business Administration launched the Paycheck Protection Program. It turns out, when your entire 55-person team is working 20-hour days for weeks on end (to help banks process roughly $250 million in forgivable small-business loans per hour), you don’t have time to mince words. You do, however, start to bond with the people around you down in the foxhole.

That was the secret sauce, right there. “I didn’t have the time to be worried about how people would take the feedback. I just had to give it,” O’Malley says. But brutal honesty can be jarring, and can elicit defensive reactions, so he added a personal twist. He’d start with a short warning: “This is probably going to come off rough, and I don’t mean it that way.” And after detailing exactly what went wrong, he’d ask: How can I help? What do you need to fix it?

Amazon addresses pee bottle denial tweet | TechCrunch

April 5, 2021April 4, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Amazon kicked off the holiday weekend by backtracking slightly on a social media offensive that unfolded in the waning days of a historic unionization vote. The earlier comments reportedly arrived as Jeff Bezos was pushing for a more aggressive strategy.

Along with taking on Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the Amazon News Twitter account went toe to toe with Congressman, Mark Pocan. The Wisconsin Democrat cited oft-reported stories of Amazon workers urinating in bottles in reaction to comments from Consumer CEO, Dave Clark.

“You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you?” the account asked. “If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.”

The Airline Industry Will Release a Covid-19 Passport for Your iPhone Next Month | Entrepreneur

April 2, 2021April 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

After successfully trialing it on an international flight between Singapore and London earlier this month, the IATA says it will release its Travel Pass app in mid-April. The software allows airline travelers to store verified COVID-19 test results and vaccination certificates on their phones. The trade association told Reuters it expects to make the app available to download on iPhone around April 15th, with an Android version to follow later.

Starting on April 16th, Virgin Atlantic plans to pilot the digital pass on its London to Barbados route. The Caribbean island will accept the app at its border, making it one of the first countries to admit a digital pass instead of paper documentation.

5 Ways That Charity Can Boost Your Business | Getentrepreneurial.com

April 2, 2021April 1, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There are two reasons to get your company involved in charitable activities: It’s good for the world and it’s good for business.

A survey from just two years ago shows that 88 percent of consumers want their favoured companies to help them make a difference.

Your business will receive several advantages in partnering with a charitable organization, including improving image, more productive employees, boosting your brand, building a network, and a healthier bottom line.

Allbirds creates a plant-based leather | Inhabitat

April 1, 2021March 30, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Allbirds put its best foot forward when it stepped into the sustainable footwear sphere. Now, the company is going further with the development of a new, plant-based leather. Made with rubber, vegetable oil and other natural ingredients, this leather alternative, aptly named Plant Leather, has 40 times less carbon impact than animal-derived leather and 17 times less carbon impact than synthetic leathers made from plastics.

The leather industry is a huge polluter. Many chemicals are used to process leather, and tanneries generate a lot of waste. The runoff from leather production negatively impacts air and water quality. It also means killing animals in order to use their hides. While this used to be done in a more sustainable, nose-to-tail manner for thousands of years, today, the process of making leather is not environmentally friendly

Canoo Electric Pickup Truck | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

April 1, 2021March 30, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

LA-based electric mobility company Canoo has pulled back the curtain on its third vehicle, following the launch of a subscription-based people mover and a delivery van. The company has now joined the likes of Tesla, Bollinger, Rivian and others to add an all-electric pickup truck to its vehicle fleet.

“Our pickup truck is as strong as the toughest trucks out there and is designed to be exponentially more productive,” said Canoo’s Tony Aquila. “This truck works for you. We made accessories for people who use trucks – on the job, weekends, adventure. You name it, we did it because it’s your platform and she’s bad to the bone.”

The vehicle certainly has a different look to it than other electric pickup trucks that have been announced, which tend to be very much like their ICE brethren. Gone is the long hood, and instead the cabin has been pushed way forward for maximum visibility.

Apple will finally fix the iOS issue that blocked searches for ‘Asian’ as adult content | Mashable

March 31, 2021March 30, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Do you have adult content blocked on your iPhone or iPad?

If so, it’s likely that your iOS device is currently blocking web searches using the word “Asian.” It’s been an issue for more than a year — but it’s about to be fixed.

Mashable has confirmed that in the latest iOS 14.5 Beta, the adult content filter no longer blocks web searches containing the word “Asian.”

The iOS 14.5 Beta was released for developers just last week. Apple will launch the public release for all users sometime in the Spring.

Olive Garden is raising its wages. That’s not the full story | CNN

March 31, 2021March 30, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The company that owns Olive Garden is raising wages in a bid to attract workers. But the move doesn’t go far enough to satisfy critics of a practice common in the restaurant industry.

Currently at Darden Restaurants (DRI), which owns Longhorn Steakhouse, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen and other chains in addition to Olive Garden, all employees are entitled to at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 or state minimum wage.

But not all of their wages have to come from the company. In many states, employers pay tipped workers a sub-minimum wage floor, which amounts to $2.13 at the federal level and is higher in some states. Customers pay the rest in tips. If those tips don’t bring employees up to the minimum wage, companies like Darden are required to make up the difference.