Tips for Choosing the Right Investor for Your Business | Getentrepreneurial

February 12, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Entrepreneurs needing the help of investors commonly feel compelled to take whatever money comes along, no matter who is offering it.

While funding is understandably critical to the successful operation of a startup, there are times when accepting money is the wrong decision for a company. If you think of investors as relationships, then the reality of entering into a bad relationship that you won’t be able to walk away from for possibly several years should be sobering.

Here are a few tips that will help you make the right decision when it comes to choosing the right investor for your business.

Why Vulnerability, Authenticity and Love Are 3 Must Haves for Entrepreneurs | Entrepreneur

February 12, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It takes a lot of characteristics to run a business. Ambition, intelligence and tenacity are just a few. It also takes love. It takes love for your vision, your work and yourself. Love is the thing that burns inside you when people tell you that you should give up on your idea. It’s the reason you get out of bed in the morning, ready to kick butt at your own business. Love is also the grace you grant yourself when you make a big mistake.

Love can take many forms, like showing vulnerability by putting yourself out there, trusting in a process to allow something to unfold and being authentic with the people you encounter everyday. It can seem uncomfortable to talk about these things in a business article, but the truth is — that’s where all the magic happens.

How to Make Location Independence Work for You | All Business

February 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One of the things I’ve thought a lot about recently is location independence. Even though I still have a “real” job, my online businesses are doing well, and I know that if I quit my day job, I could live anywhere I decided.

Location independence is on the rise, thanks to technology that allows us to do more remotely. You don’t even have to own your own business to enjoy location independence. Telecommuting is on the rise, thanks to an increasingly mobile workplace, and you might be able to work for “the man” while still living where you want.

If you want to make location independence work for you, here are a few things you can do to move forward:

A 56-Year-Old Model Will Be an Ad Star in Sports Illustrated’s 2016 Swimsuit Issue | Adweek

February 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When you break open Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue on Feb. 16, you’ll see plenty of eye-popping stuff, including Justin Bieber’s ex-girlfriend Barbara Palvin wearing a schoolbus-yellow bikini and UFC star Ronda Rousey wearing even less than that (just body paint, in fact).

But the biggest surprise this year is actually on the advertising pages. Clad in a reflective gold bikini, Nicola Griffin will demonstrate that swimsuit models are not always stick figures—and they’re not always twentysomethings, either. At 56-years-old, Griffin is the oldest women to appear in SI’s fleshy showcase since its debut in 1964.

“People think you lose your sex appeal as you get older—but that’s a myth,” Griffin said in a statement. “I’ve never felt sexier.”

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.