These Are the Risks Every Entrepreneur Needs to Take | Inc.com

October 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Entrepreneurs love to view risk as binary. The more you put on the line, the greater the potential for reward. Go on, take that second mortgage so you can pour more cash into your business. Mine your life savings for a few more months of runway. The thrill, the adrenaline, the glory come from being at the precipice of either winning or losing it all.

That’s a terrible way to navigate your company. It’s misguided, toxic, and, unfortunately, all too common. It’s what happens when the notion of risk is distorted–compressed from a spectrum to a single, indivisible point.

Here’s Why Google Should Reward Content Marketers (And SEO Practitioners) For Less Content, Not More | Adrant

October 13, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For a long time there’s been a love-hate relationship between SEO practitioners and and content marketers and, sadly, isn’t going away anytime soon. But, there may be a solution and Google is front and center. But, first, let’s take a look at the history between SEO practitioners and content marketers.

Yesterday: War

Throughout most of the ’00s, SEO and quality content were fighting an all-out war. All SEOs could think about were keywords, keywords, keywords. Content creators were driven by advertising, PR and branding considerations saw keyword insertion and other SEO tactics such as padded word counts as self-defeating ploys guaranteed to render published content unreadable, unpersuasive and undermining of the company brand.

Why ‘Hoppy’ Beer May Be Better for Your Liver | Live Science

October 13, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The hops found in beer not only add flavor, but also may lessen the damaging effects of alcohol on the liver, a new study in mice suggests.

In the study, the researchers gave mice regular beer with hops, a special beer without hops, or plain ethanol (alcohol). After 12 hours, the mice that were given the beer with hops showed less buildup of fat in their livers than the mice that were given ethanol. In contrast, the mice that were given beer without hops had about the same level of fat accumulation in their livers as the mice that were given ethanol.

Beyond Craigslist: 10 Marketplace Apps for Selling Your Stuff | Business News Daily

October 12, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It may not be a full-time business, but selling your gently used clothes, books, furniture and other items is a great way to make extra cash and minimize clutter. Peer-to-peer marketplace sites such as eBay and Craigslist are the go-to digital destinations for selling unwanted items, but they’re far from the only options. New apps, like the recently announced Facebook Marketplace, are popping up all the time, widening your potential base of buyers.

If you’re looking to empty your closets (and fill your wallet), here are 10 great apps to help you sell your stuff.

Simple Tricks To Make Your Office More Appealing | The Startup Magazine

October 11, 2016October 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Seeing the same things over and over again in your office can make you tired and bored. Even a comfortable setting can become dull after a while, so it’s easy to understand why so many people lose their motivation and their excitement, and start behaving like robots at work. If you are in this situation, you can easily change your mood and your state of mind by doing a few smart changes around you. You don’t need an extreme makeover of your work space, in order to reignite the spark of excitement for your job. Here are a few tips to help you overcome this issue.

47 Premium Invoicing Solutions With and Without Free Trials | Small Biz Trends

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Invoicing software is hugely important to small businesses. It’s the way to get paid and the more effortless the better so that as a small business owner you can focus on other things.

You’ve already seen 48 completely free invoicing software solutions. Now it’s time to examine 47 Premium Invoicing Solutions With and Without Free Trials below:

Select an Online Bill Generator from these Premium Invoicing Solutions

17 Hats is an all-in-one business system for entrepreneurs. It includes multiple tools including invoice templates, bookkeeping, contacts, contracts, project management, a calendar, time tracking, to-do lists, and more. Initially, it costs $299 for the two-year plan; however, existing users receive a $50 discount when they add another two years to their plan ($249 for two years) or choose to add five years to their existing plan for $499. All plans are identical. There is a 30-day money back guarantee on the initial plan. There is a 15-day free trial available as well.

An unpleasant online ad for a house is a surprise hit | Mashable

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When trying to sell something, you’d put your best foot forward to seal yourself a deal.

Not for home owner Kobie Hughes, who struggled to get interest for her home in the Australian city of Perth with a straight-laced ad. So she decided to do the opposite and make the place sound abhorrent.

While it might appear to be a typical suburban two bedroom home, Hughes has pitched it as a “Financial Black Hole for Rent” on classifieds website Gumtree.

Sign up and you won’t be dealing with landlords, she like prefers the term “Earth Guardians.” It’s an effort to “try and remarket Medina to hippies.”

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: Movie theaters hurting the industry | Business Insider

October 7, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings thinks the state of film is a “real tragedy” and that movie theaters are “strangling the movie business,” he said at The New Yorker’s Tech Fest on Friday.

Netflix has long faced off against the giants of the movie theater business, who have largely refused to show Netflix’s original films in theaters because of Netflix’s commitment to making them available to stream on the same day they appear on the big screen.

That could be changing — but only a little bit.

Can We Design An On-Demand Economy That Will Work For Everyone? | Co.Exist

October 6, 2016October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On weekends, LaNeisha, a 33-year-old in San Francisco, borrows a friend’s car to drive for Uber. When she discovered that she could rent out her closet for $290 through a startup called Roost, she turned it into a storage unit. She finds other gigs on Craiglist. For LaNeisha, who struggled to find work otherwise, it’s a way to survive. But it’s not easy.

A new report looks at the workers of the on-demand economy—from Lyft drivers and EatWith chefs to former McKinsey consultants who now use Catalant to find clients—and argues that we need to redesign platforms and policies so all of those workers can have sustainable livelihoods.

7 Tasks You Do Every Day That Waste Time and Cost Your Business Money | Entrepreneur

October 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

No business is 100 percent productive all day, every day. On-site employees will stand by the coffeepot in the morning, discussing last night’s game at length. Remote workers will take a few minutes to let the dog out or have a conversation with a neighbor, who stopped by. Both types of employees will occasionally take long lunch breaks, and check their personal social media accounts throughout the day.

While these small interruptions cut into a business’ bottom line, they aren’t the only productivity thieves companies have. In fact, some of the biggest time-wasters are things leaders themselves ask employees to do. Here are seven tasks employees engage in every day that hurt a business’ bottom line.