FAA approves first autonomous commercial drones | Mashable

January 20, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You can officially claim autonomous commercial drones for your 2021 bingo card.

On Friday, Massachusetts-based industrial drone developer American Robotics announced it had received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to operate its fully-automated “Scout” drones without any humans on-site.

It’s the first waiver of its kind, as the FAA has previously approved the use of autonomous commercial drones exclusively under the condition that human observers be present along the flight path — or that risk of collision be mitigated through otherwise hyper-strict limitations. Advocates of drone technology say those restrictions have long held the industry back.

Dollar General will pay workers to get the covid vaccine | CNN

January 20, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Dollar General wants its employees to get Covid-19 vaccines, so it’s offering to pay them to do it.

The chain said Wednesday that it will give its workers a one-time payment equivalent to four hours of pay after receiving a completed vaccination.

“We do not want our employees to have to choose between receiving a vaccine or coming to work,” Dollar General (DG) said in a press release, noting that its hourly workers face hurdles to getting vaccinated, such as travel time, gas mileage or childcare needs.

Why is snow white? | Live Science

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Imagine waking up after a night of heavy snowfall — you look out the window and see a world of white. But if you turn on a faucet or open the freezer, you’ll notice that liquid water and ice usually appear clear. So, why is snow white?

When it comes to understanding how H2O, an inherently clear substance, can transform into something white, Kenneth Libbrecht, a professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology, and author of snowcrystals.com, a site about the physics of snowflakes, used the following analogy. “If you take a piece of glass, like a windowpane, which is obviously clear, but then you get a hammer out and you smash the pane into little bits of glass … now it’s white.”

How to Negotiate a Business Loan | businessnewsdaily.com

January 19, 2021January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Business loan terms are often negotiable, giving borrowers a chance to secure more favorable rates and better terms.

Negotiating your business loan terms can help your business get to the next growth stage more easily.
Your interest rate, prepayment terms and personal guarantee provisions are three important areas that you can negotiate.
Before heading to the negotiation table, you should know the key terminology to make the best case for your business.
This article is for small business owners considering borrowing money for additional funding.

You can’t start or grow your business without funding. Unfortunately, applying for and getting a business loan isn’t usually a fast or stress-free experience. On top of that, some small business owners believe that they have to take the loans at face value and can’t negotiate the terms. Thankfully, that is far from the case. So, what parts of a business loan are negotiable, and what should you know before heading to the negotiation table?

How To Log Your Daily Activities And Manage Your Time Better | Life Hack

January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Go to business school, and you’ll hear it over and over again: What gets measured gets managed. Often attributed to Peter Drucker, this maxim also applies to time management. The best way to improve your time management is to log your daily activities. Simply seeing how your time is spent empowers you to be more productive.

Before you begin recording your daily activities, you have two choices to make—where to do it and how to do it. Let’s discuss them both.

Where to Log Your Daily Activities

Generally speaking, you have two options for logging your daily activities: physically or digitally. Although there’s no “right” answer, there are reasons why people choose one over the other.

Digital Logging

For a few reasons, many people prefer to log their tasks in a calendar or productivity software:

1. Accessibility

Who wants to carry a planner everywhere they go? Digital tracking tools can be accessed from your phone, which is probably in your pocket from when you wake up to when you hit the hay. They can also be pulled up on your computer, where you’ll analyze the data.

2. Customizability

Do you like to view your tasks as a calendar or a list? Do you like to categorize them by type, participant, timeline, or something else? Do you color-code them? Digital activity logging tools put you in the driver’s seat. If you change your mind about a layout or color choice, you can always adjust it later.

Paris is redesigning the Champs-Élysées into pedestrian gardens | Fast Company

January 18, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In Paris, the Champs-Élysées was originally designed as a place to stroll. But in 2021, around 64,000 cars travel down the eight-lane avenue each day. It’s polluted and noisy, and while the sidewalks are filled with tourists, it isn’t a place where people living nearby want to walk.

As Paris transforms elsewhere—aiming for a vision of a “15-minute city” where it’s possible to easily get anywhere you need to go for day-to-day errands on foot or by bike—the Champs-Élysées will now also be redesigned, in a $304 million project that will turn the mile-long street into what Mayor Anne Hidalgo calls “an extraordinary garden.”

5 Ways To Have Better Sales Conversations | AllBusiness.com

January 15, 2021January 14, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Having trained more than 1,500 insurance agents since 2013, I have learned that one of the best strategies to improve the outcome of sales is to improve an agent’s ability to have better sales conversations with their prospects. Simply put, the more significant our conversations are with prospects, both in building rapport, fact-finding, and presenting our opportunity, the more sales we are going to make.

In this article I’m going to share five of my favorite strategies for improving sales conversations with prospects that will help you improve trust and close more deals.

Don’t Make These Cybersecurity Mistakes in Your Business in 2021 | Small Business Trends

January 15, 2021January 14, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Data privacy and cybersecurity became buzzwords in 2020, and for good reason. Due to bad privacy practices and cybersecurity mistakes, businesses both big and small were affected by data security vulnerabilities.

Data breaches such as the Solar Winds hack, Nuclear Weapons Agency Breach, and Clearview AI’s entire client list being stolen were just a few results of software vulnerabilities. Hackers gained access to T-Mobile’s employees’ email accounts, compromising customer and employee data, and Nintendo left 160,000 users vulnerable from a massive hijacking campaign.

Even Twitter experienced a large phishing attack that resulted in penetration tools being stolen. The number of attacks were ample, proving that businesses must take cybersecurity and data privacy more seriously.

Should You Use the Same Fee Structure for These Two Consulting Engagements? | David A. Fields

January 14, 2021January 12, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Consulting engagements come in many flavors. Your consulting firm’s work for a client could range from answering questions in real time based on your knowledge and experience, to developing research-based recommendations, to constructing and implementing complex solutions.

Where does advisory work fit in, and should you construct contracts for advisory work differently?

Why Your Business Should Be on Instagram | business.com

January 14, 2021January 12, 2021 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Instagram is a great way to expand your business’s reach and engagement with your customers. Here are 12 reasons why you should make an account.

Since its inception, Instagram has proven to be a powerful marketing tool for businesses looking to expand their presence and the visibility of their products. While advertisement and sponsorship opportunities exist, getting started with Instagram is free and businesses can establish a significant following without spending a dime. If you have not jumped on the Instagram bandwagon yet, you may be doing your business a great disservice.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is a hugely popular photo and video-sharing social media platform. Users can share photo or video posts; temporary Stories that live on your profile for 24 hours; Reels, which are 15-second-max short-form videos; IGTV videos, and can even shop directly from e-commerce brands through the app.

Instagram is owned by its parent company Facebook and has over 1billion active users.

If you still need convincing to join, then check out these 12 reasons why Instagram is continuously rising in importance and how your company can benefit.