v.18 n. 42 – Released October 28, 2014
With a constant influx of new technologies to market, it can be tough to keep up with trends. Instead of spending months speculating what new features will appear, it’s worthwhile to consider how best to make the available products work for you.
We tracked down a slew of apps to streamline the tedious tasks in your life, from printing photos to adding a new contact to your phone. These recommended hacks will shave hours off your chore list — hours that can be well spent being far more productive.
Big online marketing mistakes seem all the rage these days. In late August, Spanish clothing and accessories retailer Zara got into hot water over what appeared to be a yellow Jewish star on a kid’s striped pajama top that looked like prison gear. Then there was Urban Outfitters with the Kent State sweatshirt that sported what looked like bullet holes and blood stains.
When confronted with evidence of what angered people, at least they managed to cleanly remove the offending items. It doesn’t make things all better, but it’s an important first step. If only Walmart had learned that lesson.
The company has just gone through a one-day rollercoaster with marketing stomachs likely still heaving. It all started with Walmart’s Halloween costume. Someone noticed a different subsection on the company’s website: Fat Girl Costumes, as the blog Jezebel reported.
And that started the very-bad-not-so-good day for Walmart’s marketing department. Even as the story was hitting online media and complaints were landing in the company’s social networking accounts–the term “fat girl costumes” apparently hit the top 10 of Twitter trends–things moved slowed at Walmart. Jezebel noted that by 11:15 a.m. eastern, there was still a fat girl costumes section, although there were no items in it.
Ding. It’s your smartphone alerting you of a new message–probably a message from the office, and you don’t want to touch that. But what if it’s something else? You can’t resist. And when you find out that it is from the office, you feel compelled to respond.
Sounds like a normal weeknight, or even weekend? Dr. Jennifer J. Deal has a cure. The senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership discussed why this is a problem, both for individuals and businesses, in a Wall Street Journal column. She also wrote about potential technology antidotes, which we outline here:
The problem – For employees, it makes perfect sense. “The smartphone makes it seductively simple to answer emails immediately, at all hours,” Deal writes. “And because it’s so easy, people start to worry if they don’t respond to notes quickly all the time.”
But it’s a problem for organizations, too. Bosses exploit it, because why not? “In short, smartphones have gone a long way toward making work a race to the bottom,” she explains. “People’s lives are more tied to work than ever, employee time has been devalued because it’s no longer finite, and inefficiencies have spread uncontrollably throughout organizations.”
The new product pitched to Whirlpool Corp. WHR executive Marc Bitzer three years ago wasn’t all that new. Whirlpool had tried to sell two previous versions of the device, which was designed to clean clothes that didn’t need much cleaning. Both flopped.
So, when about 20 designers and technicians came to Bitzer in July 2011 to propose yet another iteration of the same gadget, he was prepared to nix it.
“I was lukewarm, very honestly, because I had seen excitement before,” recalls Bitzer, who oversees North America, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East for the home appliance giant.
Within two hours, Bitzer was a cheerleader for something called a Swash. He was converted by devotees who’d traveled from the Cincinnati headquarters of Procter & Gamble Co.
Three months ago, Swashes developed jointly by Whirlpool and P&G started showing up in select Bloomingdale’s stores and Delta airport lounges. Salespeople explained how the Swash, a four-foot-high, steel-and-plastic box shaped like a radiator, could in just 10 minutes unrumple a cocktail dress or whisk cigar stench from a sport jacket, almost as if they’d gone through a wash cycle or a trip to the dry cleaner.
Online ads and videos said the Swash would cut dry cleaning bills in half by letting people re-wear dress shirts, sequined dresses, wool sweaters, and other clothes they’d normally toss in a hamper after one wearing or, in the case of $300 designer jeans, never wash at all.
Asking for a raise is never easy.
Requesting one when you’re a freelancer is downright scary — the client could immediately stop working with you and turn to your less expensive competition.
As I outlined in the first part of this series, how you set your rates should be determined by your expenses, expertise and how you want to spend the one fixed variable in this whole process: your time.
After I outlined the various ways you can use to determine how much to charge a potential client or what rates you’re willing — and unwilling to accept — let’s take a look at how you can increase your fees.
1. Track your time.
Time management expert Laura Vanderkam, who has often provided wonderful advice for my stories, says that you should know how much time your activities take. Having learned this from her while writing an article a while back, I have been following this advice religiously, to my great benefit.
Continuing our discussion of Generation X as our target consumer, we have gathered a variety of facts about our subjects and now need to use those facts to answer the following questions.
Let’s answer the questions using the information we’ve learned about Generation X.
Why do they buy?
We know Generation X women are motivated by price when it comes to fashion. We also know they spend more than the national average on apparel for children under 16. We could conclude they are willing to spend more money on their children than themselves, at least in terms of fashionable clothing.
They also spend more then average on housing, furniture, major appliances, cars and trucks. We might conclude that when it involves their family they are willing to spend more money.
Continue reading “Gen X as a Target Customer – Part Two | Lydia Mehit”
We get it. You’re starting a new businesses and you’re strapped for cash. There are a million questions going through your head. We empathize with bootstrapping entrepreneurs and small-business owners everywhere, and today we explore meaningful ways that add up where your business can save money in the early phases. That said, every small-business owner and entrepreneur has a unique set of circumstances that pertains to their business, industry, strategy, and execution. Here we will outline some of the key choices, some obvious, some less obvious, on ways you and your small business can save money.
Where is your business located?
The cost of living cannot be ignored when you’re looking at starting a business. While the glamour of the big city lights and talented potential workforce might be appealing, it might not be the best place for you to start a business. The cost of creating a startup in San Francisco or New York versus a small town in the Midwest needs to be taken into consideration. Having lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Madison, Wisconsin, it’s far easier to start a business in Madison, WI from a cost perspective.
The introduction of Apple Pay last Monday was widely described as the dawn of a new era for smartphone payments. But within a week, two major pharmacy chains, Rite Aid RAD and CVS CVS, rejected Apple’s AAPL version of the future: Both disabled Apple Pay as well as other tap-to-pay mobile payments systems Google Wallet and Softcard. As expected, customers took to Twitter to complain, and they almost universally sided with the smartphone company over the drugstores.
CVS hasn’t publicly explained itself. Rite Aid spokeswoman Ashley Flower defended the company in an e-mail to Bloomberg Businessweek. “We are continually evaluating various forms of mobile payment technologies, and are committed to offering convenient, reliable, and secure payment methods that meet the needs of our customers,” she wrote.
Freelancers often wonder how much they should charge. It’s a thorny dilemma: Quote too high a price, and the potential client may decide to hire someone else. Go with a lower number, and you may end up earning less than you could have.
That’s why you’ll see freelancer forums and discussion boards peppered with questions about how much the poster should quote for a potential gig.
But they’re going about it all wrong. While, yes, it helps to know the general price range for certain types of work, the reality is that the range can be quite wide.
For instance, writers for content mills may earn as little as $15 a post, writers for esteemed magazines could earn $20,000 for a lengthy story, and some authors can receive millions for a book advance. Even for articles of the same length — say, 1,000 words — some outlets pay as little as $100 and others pay as much as $2,000 or more.
Dispatches From The Front 