Nintendo Is Leaving Its Comfort Zone, and We’re All Better Off | Entrepreneur

December 12, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Super Mario will finally jump to iPhones on Thursday, and I will get to live out my boyhood dreams of exploring the game series’s Mushroom Kingdom in the real world sometime in the future. Today, Nintendo revealed initial plans for its first-ever theme park attractions, which will open in Osaka’s Universal Studios Japan in 2020, with other locations to follow.

There will also be Legend of Zelda-themed escape rooms. My inner child just can’t even.

You see, the Japanese company that’s also behind Pokémon and Donkey Kong has majorly shifted its strategy in the past few years, at a time when the smartphones in all of our pockets increasingly threaten its grip on the handheld games market and its Wii U console failed to live up to the success of its predecessor.

3 Best Free Recovery Software to Get Your Data Back | Life Hack

December 8, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Data loss can happen on any device that is capable of storing data. Even a simple misplacement is a loss of data, and it is a loss technically. There are number of reason for this like human error, file corruption, hardware, site relates thefts, viruses and damaging malware, mechanical damages of hard drive, power failure, spilling coffee, and other water damages etc. Thus the permanent loss of data needs to be avoided as it hinders the ongoing success of business.

Though there are number of ways for recovering the data but it is expensive business so it’s better to take substitute which is backing up your data, photos and key documents on regular basis. Even there are number of backup regimens but it is of less comfort. As and when you are aware that data loss had happened, first thing which is critical is stop using drive immediately which is affected.

Almost Half of Job Applicants Don’t Follow Basic Directions, Say HR Pros | The Simple Dollar

December 8, 2016December 8, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Were you one of those kids who always followed directions on classroom activities? If so, you probably had an advantage when you started your career, because standing out from the pack may be as simple as paying attention to the details as you submit your job application.

While there’s little hard data on the subject, it appears a startling number of job seekers don’t follow basic directions when applying for a job: The human resource professionals I spoke with estimated that about half of all candidates are guilty of leaving out critical information on their applications.

Whether it’s forgetting to include an attachment or requested references, or accidentally leaving a section blank, a haphazard application can have real consequences for your candidacy; depending on the circumstances and the strength of your resume, it could even get you knocked out of contention.

Background Checks May Lower School Shootings: Study | Live Science

December 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

States that require background checks before people buy guns or ammunition may have a lower chance of having a school shooting, a new study finds.

Researchers found that over a three-year period, states that didn’t require background checks before purchases of guns or ammunition were more likely to have a school shooting than those states that did require them, according to the study.

Why Your Company Should Blow Up the 9-5 Workweek | Inc.com

December 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Your mind could have drifted thousands of miles away, but as long as your body showed up to work at Dallas-based tax firm Ryan, that was all that mattered. “We literally ranked people by hours,” says Delta Emerson, president of Ryan’s global shared services. “Even if someone worked 24 hours the day before, they still had to book at least eight hours Monday through Friday.” The clock was seen as an easy proxy for work ethic, and employees who logged marathon sessions at their desks “wore their hours like a badge, practically tattooed on their foreheads,” Emerson says. “But it was at a cost.”

Emerson didn’t want to just tweak the workweek. She wanted to bust it open. But when she pitched the idea of flexible hours, she was almost thrown out of the CEO’s office. A resignation letter from a rising star finally got her the green light. Now the firm measures results–not time. Some staffers work as little as 20 hours a week; some start at 7 a.m., others at 10 a.m.; some commute to the office only twice a week. Since the 2008 shift, revenue has grown 15 percent year over year, customer satisfaction is higher than ever before, and turnover has plummeted.

Ten Cowardly Things Only Weak Managers Do |Forbes

December 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Now that we have more or less adjusted to life in the new millennium, we are beginning to see our institutions through new eyes.

We see how the Godzilla edifice of hierarchy, rules and control mechanisms in place in nearly every medium-sized and large employer has hurt working people and customers alike. Smart businesses are nimble and responsive — everything a bureaucracy-choked organization cannot be.

Smart organizations prize and praise their team members. Old-school, top-down bureaucratic organizations don’t dare to value employees, because that might send the message that every employee is not an easily replaceable cog in the machine. Employees might start to feel significant

5 Steps to Improving Customer Retention | AllBusiness.com

December 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When your business is just starting out, acquiring new customers has to be your primary concern. But once you get beyond the initial stages, the key to real growth is not so much getting new customers, but customer retention.

Many small businesses are falling short when it comes to customer retention. More than seven out of 10 small business owners in a recent survey (72 percent) say most of their marketing budget goes to acquiring new customers. Just 28 percent spend the bulk of their marketing budgets on customer retention.

The Pros And Cons of An Open-plan Office | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

December 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The open plan office has become a fixture of the modern workplace. Private offices and cube farms have been replaced by flexible workspaces with little or no partitions. 60% of companies have now adopted open plan layouts, with more than a third having changed from closed to open layout within the past five years.

The trend is particularly prevalent in London, where a rise in flexible serviced offices has contributed to the layout’s increasing popularity. A Deloitte report on office occupation in central London found that floor space dedicated to serviced offices has increased by 67% since 2004.

Smart Strategies to Stretch Your Startup Dollars | Business News Daily

December 2, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Initial startup costs are some of the biggest expenses a new business owner will have to encounter. Before you turn a profit, there are many parts of the business that need to be covered up front, and entrepreneurs don’t always anticipate some of these expenses.

To reduce your startup costs and stretch your dollars a little farther, follow these tips.

Have a budget, and stick to it

A simple way to save money as a new business owner is to set spending and expense limits. However, a surprising number of business owners don’t have a formal budget, said Carissa Reiniger, founder of small business support community.

Creating More Profits: 3 Essential Areas to Focus On | Getentrepreneurial.com

November 30, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Making more profit is NOT the same as generating more revenue.

They are two completely different areas, and something that I see very little discussion on.

Sure, I see LOTS of talk about revenues, i.e. six-figure businesses, multi-six-figure businesses, seven-figure businesses, but you never seem to get to the real story behind these headlines – how much profits are they really making? How much of the $100k does the business owner actually get to keep once expenses are paid — that’s the profit!

A six- or even seven-figure business sounds great, but it’s not so great if the profits aren’t there, i.e. you’re only making a $10k profit from a $100k business.

Profits are basically what’s left over (pre-tax or gross) after a business’ expenses have been deducted from its revenues – and this is one area of business that you need to keep a close eye on. So, taking two different scenarios, let’s look at some simple math in determining the profits of a six-figure business and a smaller five-figure business: