Cheap phones! Consumers win, Investors lose | Money CNN

December 12, 2014December 15, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

This is a great time for anyone looking for a new smartphone or tablet — or to switch from one wireless carrier to another.

That’s because the big four U.S. telecom companies are pummeling each other silly with price wars and discounts on new products. Check out some of these offers on Twitter.

Sprint (S) is asking people to “Bring us your Verizon or AT&T bill. We’ll fire up the chainsaw and #CutYourBill in half!”

T-Mobile (TMUS) recently tweeted, “Fa-la-la… oh forget it. The Note 4 is at @Tmobile for nothing down right now! GO GO GO!

Ma Bell is urging customers to “Switch to AT&T & Get a $150 Bill Credit with AT&T Next line.”

And Verizon (VZ, Tech30) is touting this. “Huge 16MP camera. Tiny price. Get the Samsung GS5 for $199.99 w/ $50 mail in rebate (2yr activation req’d) #GoodMore”

4 Reasons to be Ready to Sell Your Online Business Right Now | BusinessTips.com

December 11, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Having an online business is great. Not only are you your own boss and can dictate your own hours, but you can also sit in casual clothes at the computer during conference calls and filling orders. But even if your business is going smoothly, and the profits are rolling in, it is still absolutely essential that you prepare the business for sale. Even if you have no absolutely no intention of selling.

Confused? Read on and you won’t be.

In the excitement of running a new business and watching it succeed beyond your wildest expectations, selling the company is probably the last thing on your mind. But the fact is, most business owners eventually end up selling to an investor or an individual at some point in time, and usually when they aren’t expecting to do so. You may be lucky enough for someone to come to you with an acquisition offer, but more likely than not, you will be looking for a buyer, not the other way around.

So in preparation for that day possibly coming, it is essential to have an exit strategy ready, so you can sell quickly and easily, and move on to your next business idea. Even if you vow never to sell your business, it is still good to perform an exit strategy exercise on a regular basis. Here’s why:

Expect fewer passwords and more secure login systems in 2015 | LA Times

December 10, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A group of banks, technology companies and hardware makers looking to improve upon the username-and-password login systems that keep getting hacked reached a pivotal point in the effort Tuesday.

The Fast Identity Online, or FIDO, Alliance announced that it finalized the technical rules that companies must follow to get new login systems running. Websites and apps could replace passwords altogether or combine traditional logins with a second less-likely-to-be-hacked element such as a USB key, fingerprint scanning or eye or voice recognition.

Google has already begun allowing an $18 USB stick to be plugged in to log into a Gmail account, for instance. PayPal or Alipay users also can approve transactions by tapping the fingertip scanner on a Samsung Galaxy S5.

Employers Will Have to Raise Wages. They Just Don’t Know It Yet. | NYTimes.com

December 10, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

American employers are the equivalent of a shopkeeper who has a “Help Wanted” sign permanently on display in his window, but never actually hires anybody. None of the applicants who come in offer the perfect mix of skills, experience and willingness to accept low pay that the shopkeeper is looking for.

That’s one way of reading some key measures of the labor market, updated Tuesday, that shed light on what afflicts the economy and where things will go from here.

According to the latest Labor Department data, employers had 4.8 million positions they were looking to fill in October. That’s up 25 percent in the last year and 125 percent since the start of the economic expansion in mid-2009.

But for all these vacancies, actual hiring isn’t in a similar boom. The number of people hired is up only 12 percent in the last year and 33 percent over the five-year expansion.

Gifts for Employees – Great Holiday Gifts for Your Staff | Business News Daily

December 8, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Your employees work hard all year long, and there’s no better time to reward them than during the holiday season. You may not be able to give them big bonus checks or send them on expensive vacations, but a small token of appreciation from the boss can show your staff how valued they are. Here are 18 fun holiday gifts you can give your employees for less than $50

The 10 Communication Commandments That Drive Reputation And Business | Forbes

December 8, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

I have come to a bold realization this week: Researchers predict that reputation score will soon matter more than credit scores for individuals and businesses in the burgeoning “reputation economy” now emerging online.

However, a new SaaS software company, The World Table, believes the issues of bad or insufficient reputation are entirely fixable. All it would take is adherence to 10 easy rules. The curator of these practices is my personal friend Randall Paul who has quietly been refining these principles (along with a new technology platform) together with co-founder and partner Bryan Hall over the last several years.

An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Buying Health Insurance | All business

December 8, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Most entrepreneurs are solopreneurs or have less than five employees. This means that you’re not required to buy insurance for employees (obligation begins at 5o full-time employees) and it probably doesn’t make sense for you to have a company plan. In other words, you will be buying your insurance from the individual plan market. Here is a guide to buying health insurance in the age of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Decide Where to Buy

The ACA (often referred to as “Obamacare”) has made it much easier to buy individual health insurance plans by setting up a federal webstore: healthcare.gov. You can browse for plans available in your zip code, compare what they offer, and enroll in a policy of your choosing — all without leaving leaving the website.

The Next Big Thing You Missed: New Apps Instantly Convert Spreadsheets Into Something Actually Readable | WIRED

December 5, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Dave Story is building a mobile app that can instantly transform an Excel spreadsheet into something you can actually read.

It’s called Project Elastic, and he unveiled the thing this fall at a conference run by his company, Tableau. The Seattle-based company has been massively successful selling software that helps big businesses “visualize” the massive amount of online data they generate—transform all those words and numbers into charts and graphics their data scientists can more readily digest—but Project Elastic is something different. It’s not meant for big businesses. It’s meant for everyone.

Is Your Idea Actually Terrible? What to Know. | Entrepreneur

December 5, 2014January 22, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes, bad ideas happen to good people. We talked to a panel of experts in innovation about what bad ideas have in common to help you recognize them when they happen and figure out your plan of action.

The problem only you have. Just because a solution works for you, it might not work for anyone else or make good business sense, says Jonathan Axelrod, managing director at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Don’t assume that your needs are the market’s needs.

The idea you’ll monetize later. Finding a path to profitability is essential in testing the viability of an idea and whether it can find success. Crunch some hard numbers, suggests Greg Grove, an attorney at Chicago’s Much Shelist, and know what the cost to acquire customers will be, when you might break-even, and if it’s not too late to really reap the profits you think are available. After looking at the data, says Grove, “an idea that might initially look good, might be less good than you think.”

5 Tips For Making Time For Yourself Despite Competing Priorities | Forbes

December 5, 2014 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One woman recently asked me, “How do you go to work all day, attend several meetings, then come home and make dinner and tomorrow’s lunch and go to bed early enough to get enough sleep so that you can do it all over again tomorrow? Is there a way to get all of this done – oh, and find time for exercise and meditation as well?” Here are five tips I use to create more time in my day while being bombarded with demands.

1) Just say No

The key to creating more time is to start saying “no” to requests and obligations that you don’t want to fulfill. It’s kind of like cleaning out your closet. At first, you think everything is necessary. But once you begin getting rid of hangers from the dry cleaners and creating more space, you gain momentum. By the time you’re done, it feels great!