How to stop working with a client when you’re a freelancer | Mashable

February 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Leaving a 9-to-5 takes work. You have to tell your boss, be productive for two additional weeks, give an exit interview — and accomplish all of these tasks thoughtfully enough to make a good final impression.

While part of the allure of freelancing is being your own boss, quitting is still difficult. In this case, you’ll be telling a client — rather than a supervisor — that you won’t be working together anymore. You’ll still have to have that tough conversation (and then actually transition).

Here are few things to keep in mind:

How To Write A Killer Business Plan | Peter Mehit

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

If you’re like most, when thinking of a new business venture, idea or concept that you want to start, then writing a business plan is probably the furthest thing on your mind. You just want to dive in to the exciting stuff right? You’re too busy coming up with a catchy name, a logo, colors, designing your new website, picking out office furniture and buying cool office technology equipment to worry about sitting down and writing out a business plan.

Besides, you have most of the ideas in your mind, you kind of have a rough idea of what you want to do and how you are going to do it; the rest of the stuff will just fall into place and take care of itself right?

Delta One review | Business Insider

February 8, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Thanks to a last-minute booking, I recently flew to Bangkok, Thailand on one airline, and returned to New York City on another. It gave me the chance to experience business class with two very different airlines.

My flight east was with Emirates, the state-owned Dubai company that was recently ranked the fifth-best airline in the world. And I flew west on Delta, the publicly traded, Atlanta-based airline that came in 49th in the same ranking. (It’s the third-best airline in North America, according to Skytrax.)

Take a Trip to a Time When Viruses Still Called You Names | WIRED

February 8, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IT WAS CALLED the Casino virus. If it infected your machine, it would remove all files from your hard drive and challenge you to a game. “I’m giving you a last chance to restore your precious data,” it would say. “Your data depends on a game of Jackpot.”

It presented a kind of digital slot machine, and you had just five chances to spin those digital wheels and land on three matching monochrome icons. If you didn’t, Casino berated you with shockingly salty language before deleting your data forever.

These Meatballs Are Made Of Beef–But It Didn’t Come From A Cow | Co.Exist

February 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Memphis Meats, a new startup in the San Francisco Bay Area, isn’t your typical meat purveyor. It doesn’t have any connections to ranchers, factory farms, or slaughterhouses. All it has is a small lab. It was in that lab that biologists just birthed a meatball. Think of it like an immaculate conception of animal protein—real meat without the animal slaughter.

The finance metrics that matter most to startups | The Startup Magazine

February 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You don’t need to be an accountant to start a company but you should become intimate with key accounting metrics. Lack of financial literacy is the greatest threat to a global surge in entrepreneurship. Most companies fail because their founders had little or no financial acumen.

Such was almost the case with my first company. Pockets filled with seed money, I worked hard on creating nice products and chasing down new customers only to be in deep trouble within a year. The only financial focus I took was to deposit cheques and pay bills. The only metric I looked at was my bank balance and as money ran dry. The less I had in my account the more I looked at it. The disaster was avoided only after I brought in a great CFO and took classes on accounting.

Top 20 Tax Deductions for Small Business | Small Biz Trends

February 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

On Wall Street, there’s a saying that past performance is no guarantee of future results. When it comes to taxes, however, past performance is a great indicator of the types of deductions that businesses typically take each year.

Last winter the IRS released data on Schedule C filers. Here are some of the most popular tax deductions for small business that were claimed by sole proprietors as determined by the dollar amounts, starting with the largest category. The same types of deductions can be claimed by other entities — C corporations, S corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies (LLCs) (although there may be slightly different rules for some deductions). See which of these tax deductions for small business apply for your 2015 tax return.

Why Does the Sound of Water Help You Sleep? | Live Science

February 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The crash of ocean waves, the babbling of brooks, the pitter-patter of rain on shingles — many people swear by these watery sounds to help them fall asleep and stay in la-la land. Why does flowing “agua” apparently have such a powerful and popular drowsing effect?

Part of the answer lies in how our brains interpret the noises we hear — both while awake and in the dead of night — as either threats or non-threats.

How to Test Your Business Idea | Business News Daily

February 3, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Think you have a great business idea? Maybe it evolved from multiple brainstorming sessions, or perhaps it popped into your head fully formed. While you may think it’s awesome just the way it is, you should test your idea before launching your business. This could save time and money if your idea is a dud.

Here are a few simple but effective ways to test your business idea.

6 Reasons Not to Go Back to School | Page19

February 3, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You may be looking for a new challenge, you may be bored of your job and want to switch career, you may want to enhance your job prospects, or you may just want to quench your thirst for knowledge. No doubt, there are many good reasons for going back to school.

But, wait—before you consign yourself to poring over books in dark libraries all day long to churn out abstract essays of questionable value or choose to suffer the pain of reckoning with your intellectual limits, expressed through test scores, and alongside people, what, 10 years younger than you?—consider that, while going back to school might be the conventional choice, it might not actually be the best one.