8 Ways I’ve Learned to Maintain My Remote Team’s Productivity | AllBusiness.com

June 13, 2023June 12, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When I started my first remote company in 2017, there was no playbook for remote work. We often heard that remote work would kill our productivity and culture. However, what I learned instead is that remote work works.

And while I have made my share of mistakes, I scaled my second remote company, Halborn, to over 100 remote engineers by intentionally building a remote work culture, including integrating the Japanese life and work philosophies of ikigai and kaizen.

Maintaining a remote work culture where employees feel connected to the business and their life purpose—the essence of ikigai—requires creativity and experimentation. Here’s how I did it.

Elevate Your Brand Today with These Insightful Expert Tips | Small Biz Trends

June 12, 2023June 11, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Embarking on a new business venture can be an exciting and rewarding experience, and with the right mindset and strategy, small business owners can thrive in today’s economy. Although there will be challenges along the way, the opportunity to build a successful business is within reach.

According to new research from GoDaddy, the company that helps entrepreneurs thrive, 83% of microbusinesses (defined as those with 10 or fewer employees) started their business due to opportunity versus necessity. They were inspired by the potential of being their own boss while pursuing their passion to create something innovative or unique. Moreover, 73% of microbusinesses have confidence in their prospects for the next six months despite the economic outlook.

The Business Legal Terms You Need to Know | Business.com

June 9, 2023June 8, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

From comparable worth to torts, we break down the legal lingo all business owners should know.

Marketers, accountants and software developers all have their own jargon – common industry words that others might not readily understand – but the legal field is also well known for its complex lingo.

While there’s no need to go to law school if you’re not pursuing a career in this field, it’s important for business owners to have a basic understanding of the legal terminology they’re likely to encounter. You don’t have to know everything, but you do need to know enough to stay compliant. It’s also essential to know when you should hire an attorney. Consider this your crash course on legal terminology – no Bar exam necessary.

Biggest Business Lies Ever Told | Business.com

June 9, 2023June 8, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You’ll never look at these companies the same way again.

Honesty and trust are crucial ingredients in business success, but not every company chooses to go that route. Some companies lie, mislead their investors and create toxic work environments for their employees – only to have it blow up in their faces.

Business is competitive, but there are some lines that should never be crossed. Let’s look at some of the biggest business lies ever told and the practical lessons you can take away from these notorious mistakes.

Best wireless headphones for 2023 from Bose, Sony, and more | Digital Trends

June 8, 2023June 7, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

While wired headphones are still great for getting the most out of hi-res lossless music, wireless headphones have come a long way in terms of sound quality, features like active noise cancellation (ANC), transparency mode, and more. They’re incredibly comfortable, and, of course, you don’t have any wires to get tangled up in on your morning commute.

We’re always looking for the best wireless headphones, and we also take comfort, audio quality, and battery life, seriously, too. For this roundup, we’re focusing on wireless headphones of the over-ear variety. For the best wireless earbuds, we’ve got a roundup of those, too.

That said, we think that Sony’s latest WH-1000XM5 are so good that they currently take the top spot on not just this list, but also our picks for the best noise-canceling headphones and the best headphones, period. They’re light, very comfortable, have excellent noise cancellation and sound quality, and are packed with premium features.

How to download the iOS 17 beta on your iPhone right now | Digital Trends

June 8, 2023June 7, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As expected, Apple officially took the wraps off iOS 17 at WWDC 2023. The next major release of the iPhone operating system includes some exciting new features, ranging from improvements to phone calls and FaceTime to a new Journal app.

The final release of iOS 17 isn’t expected to arrive until September, but as usual, Apple is making its first developer preview available now to give developers a head start on prepping their apps so they’re ready to go as soon as iOS 17 officially lands in the fall. If the past few years are any indication, we’ll also see a public beta arrive sometime in July, usually in tandem with the third or fourth developer beta.

Best fitness trackers for kids: Wearables from Fitbit, Garmin, and more to get them motivated | Mashable

June 6, 2023June 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Kids have the kind of energy adults could only dream of having. But like for the rest of us, movement can sometimes get overlooked — especially if there’s a PlayStation or iPad with Youtube within arm’s reach or there’s not easy access to play outdoors. You might not think that a kid needs to track that activity (or the motivation to move around at all), but in a relatively sedentary society, making movement a priority from a young age is still vital.

Fitness trackers for kids can help foster a well-balanced lifestyle and introduce responsibility through reminders. The ones designed specifically for children in mind focus on leading an active lifestyle (rather than weight loss or something) as well as forming healthy non-fitness related habits, like building a bedtime routine or being responsible for chores.

WWDC 2023: 5 takeaways from Apple’s biggest product event in years | CNN Business

June 5, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Apple on Monday unveiled its most ambitious – and riskiest – new hardware product in years: a mixed reality headset called the Apple Vision Pro.

Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook touted the Vision Pro, which combines virtual reality and augmented reality, as a “revolutionary product,” with the potential to change how users interact with technology, each other and the world around them.

The highly anticipated announcement came at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, where it also teased a long list of new features and updates to some of its most widely used products.

Here’s what you should know from the event:

Hiring and Retention Tips for Small Business Owners | Business News Daily

June 2, 2023June 1, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small business owners. Here’s how employers can improve their recruitment and retention efforts.

Hiring and retention remain top challenges for small businesses due to a lack of workplace engagement.
Businesses have difficulty retaining workers because many of them feel under-compensated and burned out. Additionally, finding employees with the right skills and qualifications is a challenge.
To recruit and retain quality candidates, businesses must provide fair compensation, career development, flexibility and a positive company culture.
This article is for small business owners and recruiters looking to secure and retain talent in the current job market.

11 Reasons Why We Fail to Achieve Our Goals | LifeHack

June 1, 2023May 31, 2023 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Thinking up a goal is the easy part. Pinpointing the specifics of a goal, developing a plan of action, and then following through with that plan of action and pushing past the inevitable obstacles that will arise is a different story altogether. As you can see, there are many reasons why we fail to achieve our goals (and our new year’s resolutions every year).

Former U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt is famous for having said: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.”

It would be easy to blame people’s avoidance of pain and difficulty for the fact that a great majority of goals fail to be met, but there has to be more to it than that, right? Well, there most certainly is. So, why do we fail to achieve our goals?