Author: knjohn

  How To Attract Talent To Your Small Business | Getentrepreneurial.com

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It’s safe to say that to a large extent the success of a business depends on the talents involved in running its operations. In order for your small organization to expand, you’ll need both strong, responsible workers and individual talents that will help you push your business offer into the next level. Here are 5 smart tips on how to attract talented employees to a small business.

  1. Offer a wider responsibility scope

In smaller companies, employees wear many hats and have much more influence over company policies. And that’s something that should serve as your main selling point – talented employees are ambitious and when choosing between two opportunities, they’ll pick the one that offers a wider scope of responsibility.

When talking to prospective employees, make your expectations clear and delineate their daily tasks and long-term goals. If you spot a real talent, try to get to know this person to learn what their background and career goals are – only then you’ll know how to make an offer that is too good to be true.

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Should Your Shop Purchase a .Agency Domain? | Adweek

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This month, hundreds of new domain names went on sale for the first time—and quite a few famous people and businesses are going out of their way to make sure those websites won’t tarnish their brands. For example, when .nyc debuted last year, lawyers for former Mayor Michael Bloomberg bought everything from BloombergBlows.nyc to MikeIsTooShort.nyc.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers “released” these new domains after hundreds of parties argued the online community needed more options and submitted their own requests over a period of several years.

In addition to jokes like .sucks and .ninja and practical entries like .technology, one new domain seems designed for the advertising industry: .agency. But should advertising shops invest in the new domain?

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What Is Generation Z, And What Does It Want? | Co.Exist

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3045317-inline-i-1-who-is-generation-z-and-what-do-they-wantPoor Generation Z. The oldest members of this cohort are barely 18 and they’re already getting a bad rap. Media and market research companies have labeled them “screen addicts” with the attention span of a gnat. And the pressure: They only have the weight of saving the world and fixing our past mistakes on their small shoulders.

Really?

While generational research is an inherently messy process—older generations study “the kids” to figure them out—much of the recent research is awash in normative preconceptions, biases, and stereotypes. Gen Z deserves a fairer shake, and the rest of us need a more nuanced conversation: This group makes up a quarter of the U.S. population and by 2020 will account for 40% of all consumers. Understanding them will be critical to companies wanting to succeed in the next decade and beyond.

My firm Altitude set out to dig below the surface to understand not only what Gen Z were doing but why—in their own words. We worked with over a dozen 16- to 18-year-olds with diverse backgrounds from across the country through a series of in-depth discussions, video diaries, and daily interactive exercises designed to provide a glimpse into their lives. Our goal was to view the world through their eyes.

What we learned was surprising.

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5 Crisis-Mode Moves to Save Your Google Ranking | Entrepreneur

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Usually, April 15 is the red-letter day on a business’ spring calendar. But this year, all eyes were on April 21, when Google’s new algorithm update — designed to provide a better search experience for mobile users — moved mobile optimization from nicety to necessity.

What does this mean? Basically, if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you can expect your search-engine rankings, and ultimately your web traffic, to take a hit. Mobilegeddon is upon us.

Now that the big day has come and gone, you may be suffering from the fallout. To help, we’ve identified five quick crisis-mode moves that can help you fix your most egregious mobile mistakes.

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Why Fructose-Laden Drinks May Leave You Wanting More | Live Science

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The type of sugar in your drink may affect how much food you want to eat, according to a new study. Researchers found that people wanted to eat more high-calorie foods when they had a drink containing fructose, compared with when their drink contained glucose.

In the study, 24 people were given drinks sweetened with 75 grams of fructose on one day, and the same amount of glucose in a drink on another day. The researchers also showed the people images of high-calorie foods that included candy, cookies, pizza and burgers, and asked the participants to rate how hungry they were and how much they wanted to eat each food.

After consuming fructose, the participants reported feeling hungrier and expressed a greater desire to eat the foods pictured than when they consumed glucose.

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Wells Fargo charged with opening accounts without customers’ permission | Money CNN

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Wells Fargo is accused of opening up accounts and credit cards in customers’ names without their authorization.

The accounts are being opened by Wells Fargo employees under pressure to meet unrealistic sales goals and quotas, according to the civil complaint filed by the Los Angeles City Attorney.

The complaint charges that bank employees opened new accounts for existing customers without their authorization, in order to meet sales quotas. The employees also allegedly transferred money from customers’ authorized accounts to pay fees on the unauthorized accounts.

When fees on unauthorized accounts went unpaid, some customers were placed into collection. Others had negative information placed on their credit reports as a result.

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Getting Rich in America Depends on a Lot More Than a College Degree | Bloomberg Business

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imagesWith graduation season around the corner, more than a few U.S. families are probably wondering just how much that college degree will be worth.

There’s little doubt education is associated with higher income, better financial decision-making and more wealth. However, issues that are harder for an individual to control — what type of family you come from, whether you get an inheritance, or how healthy you are — also play a growing role in determining your net worth, according to a new report by researchers William Emmons and Bryan Noeth at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Education “is important, but it’s not the whole story,” Emmons, a senior economic adviser at the St. Louis Fed, said in an interview.  “You can’t simply send everyone to college and expect to solve all the social problems that we have, including problems in the job market.”

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Until We Meet Again – Third in a Series | Peter Mehit

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imagesI remember one time when I was going to go do ‘stuff’ with my friends. You know what ‘stuff’ is, right? Anyway, as I was going out the door, my mom called out, “Take your brother with you!” The presence of my little brother made sure that we would have to substitute different ‘stuff’ to do, much to the consternation of my buddies.

The fact that I don’t have a little brother shouldn’t take away from the main point of my anecdote; the participants in an activity will determine its outcome. Meetings are no different.

When you’re building your agenda, consider the participants you need to make the meeting work and only invite them. How do you know if they are the right participants? If the agenda topics are related to their ability to perform their job, then they are the right people. If they only have minor involvement, they should not be invited.

Continue reading “Until We Meet Again – Third in a Series | Peter Mehit” →

Don’t Let These Barriers to an End-Client Mentality Ruin Your Consulting Firm | Business Tips

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downloadIn the consulting world, one rule reigns supreme: It’s all about the end client.

If you’re not scrutinizing your client service, satisfaction, and delivery on a daily basis, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to survive and thrive in the business world. Still, catering to your end client can be more difficult than it appears, especially when you’re juggling both buyers and influencers.

As a result, many consulting firms think they’re focusing on client satisfaction when, in reality, they’re just hiding behind rhetoric. It’s amazing to see the huge variations in quality, process, responsiveness, and overall experience among individual consultants.

For example, one consultant I work with excels at collecting feedback and clarifying expectations with all parties involved. He has formal and informal processes in place to gather this information, and he uses it to refine his engagement strategy with a client. On the other hand, I’ve seen consultants make empty promises on savings they can generate and problems they can fix without any input from the vendors involved. Not only does this create friction, but it also shows your client that you don’t value her relationships.

This disconnect between a consultant and a client can take many forms, including:

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