Did Your Business Receive a PPP Loan from the SBA? Here’s How to Handle Potential Press Inquiries | AllBusiness.com

May 26, 2020May 25, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has provided billions of dollars in loans to millions of small businesses. Most of the recipients received relatively small loans (average size of $80,000 for the second tranche of loans), but there are a significant number of recipients who received $1 million or more, and 40,000 businesses received $2 million or more.

However, while the program clearly allows businesses with up to 500 employees to take out loans of up to $10 million, Congress and the Administration are rethinking that, and are promising to examine and audit those companies that have received more than $2 million in PPP loans. In addition to that scrutiny, however, the press is actively pursuing companies that have received loans of $1 million or more, often “naming and shaming” them and pressuring them to return their PPP funds.

Communication Overload Impacts Employee Performance | Small Business Trends

May 26, 2020May 25, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

How Communication Overload Affects Employee Performance

GuideSpark CEO Keith Kitani said in an email to Small Business Trends, “Competition for employee attention is intense, especially when you consider the sheer volume of communications that employees receive every day, so it’s easy for a company’s important communications to get lost in the noise.”

GuideSpark’s survey also found that employees receive about nine emails per day that fall into the category of strategic corporate communications. In most cases, these are the messages you really need to get through and make an impact on your team. But they’re usually mixed in with all the other, less important messages. And even if they do get through, employees end up wasting tons of time sifting through their inbox daily to make sure those important communications get addressed.

Biden wants Amazon to ‘start paying their taxes’ | CNN

May 22, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Former Vice President Joe Biden said Amazon (AMZN) should “start paying their taxes” in a broader critique of large, successful businesses.

“I don’t think any company, I don’t give a damn how big they are, the Lord Almighty, should absolutely be in a position where they pay no tax and make billions and billions and billions of dollars,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee said in an interview with CNBC on Friday.

For the 2017 and 2018 tax years, Amazon’s own financial filings showed that it expected to receive money back from the federal government, not that it owed money in income tax. For the 2019 tax year, Amazon said it owed more than $1 billion in federal income tax, a figure experts said amounted to little more than 1% of its profits.

The coronavirus ‘does not spread easily’ from touching surfaces or objects, CDC says | Live Science

May 22, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The new coronavirus “does not spread easily” from touching surfaces or objects, according to updated wording on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) website.

This change was made on May 11 without an announcement from the organization, according to NBC News. The change, which was made during an internal review of their website, was meant to “clarify other types of spread beyond person to person,” CDC spokesperson Kristen Nordlund told NBC News.

But there doesn’t appear to be any new data on how infectious viral particles are on surfaces, according to NBC News.

What Is a Public Cloud? | Business News Daily

May 21, 2020May 20, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The most recognizable form of cloud technology are public clouds, which allow consumers to remotely access a large virtual environment of stored and sharable files. The data stored in a public cloud can be accessed by people around the world.

If you have ever watched a movie on Netflix or participated in a conference on Zoom, you have utilized the availability of a public cloud.

Although the concept of public clouds and private clouds are similar, there are several differences between the two, but the primary difference is that a public cloud is available over the internet, while a private cloud is deployed through a firewall.

How to Focus Better and Increase Your Attention Span | Life Hack

May 21, 2020May 20, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Can you remember the last five articles you read? More importantly, do you remember how they ended?

Studies show that a reduced attention span is formed and enhanced by companies like Facebook & Google, SnapChat, and their peers[1]. Instead of relying on expensive marketing, they link their services to our daily routines and emotions.

What do you do when you feel a tad bored? Do you instantly open Twitter or Instagram?

Today, tech companies can profoundly change our behavior by guiding us through a series of hooks. The hooked model was developed by Nir Eyal in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, typically consists of four phases:

Memorial Day 2020 travel plans? Not even AAA will bother | Fast Company

May 20, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

This Memorial Day weekend, you’ll likely be traveling from the bedroom to the kitchen.

COVID-19 has all but halted plans for what is one of the biggest travel holidays of the year. Even with some states reopening, many Americans are choosing to stay put—or at least close to home.

For the first time in 20 years, AAA won’t be issuing its annual Memorial Day travel forecast.

Memorial Day is the last Monday in May; the holiday weekend is viewed as the unofficial start of the summer season. Traditionally, many summer-home rental agreements begin then, as do companies’ summer-hours schedules.

Student Loan Servicers Are Dinging Credit Reports For The CARES Act Forbearance | Forbes

May 20, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Robert P., a student loan borrower from Queens, New York, was surprised to find out that this credit score had dropped by 100 points after his federal student loans serviced by Great Lakes Higher Education were automatically placed into a forbearance. This happened following passage of the CARES Act. Another borrower named Ashley Higgins experienced a credit score drop during the same time period and told a local news affiliate about what happened. Other borrowers (who wished to remain anonymous) have reported similar credit score hits, as well.

How many people are napping while working remotely | Fast Company

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Feeling tired?

Perhaps you were out late or maybe that long, tedious meeting almost put you to sleep. Whatever the reason, it’s not so uncommon to be fighting a yawn at work.

But how common is it to give in to temptation and take a quick nap on the clock? With so many now working from home and the bed right there, surely now is the best time ever to sneak in a snooze.

We surveyed 2,000 American workers to find out how many could put napping on their resume. Each worker was asked the same 6 simple questions on off-task behavior conducted during work hours. It turns out one-in-three are taking advantage of the situation to get so much needed shut-eye.

Why A Private Equity Firm Backed By Bernard Arnault Is Putting $400 Million Into Norwegian Cruise Line | Forbes

May 19, 2020May 18, 2020 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As shares of Norwegian Cruise Line continued to sink like the Titanic—down 80% from the end of 2019 to $12 per share by late April—Scott Dahnke and his team at L Catterton were quietly eyeing the wreckage. The partners at his Greenwich, Connecticut, private equity firm had already made a killing by taking a cruise ship-based beauty chain public and they were focused on high-end brands. After all, the “L” in their name comes from their financial backing by LVMH, the French luxury goods giant and they had already scored a string of successes from investments in the upscale home decorator Restoration Hardware, Lily’s Kitchen, a London-based organic dog food maker and Peloton, the Internet-connected stationary bicycle concern