Audi and Airbnb Offer Up a Crazy House in Death Valley, and a Great Ad to Go With It | Adweek

September 19, 2016September 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you fancy hanging out in the sizzling-hot middle of nowhere, with an endless expanse of sand all around and the occasional scorpion scuttling by for distraction, Audi’s got the promotion for you.

As part of its Emmy Awards sponsorship, the auto brand and Airbnb will offer fans the chance to book three-day getaways at the luxury Rondolino Residence in Death Valley, Nevada. The place is so isolated, it has no actual address—just coordinates on a map.

Guests get to drive a 2017 Audi R8 during their stay, which also includes chauffeur service from the airport, meals prepared by a personal chef and, according to press materials, “evening entertainment/activities.” (Scorpion races, perhaps?)

Factoring: What It Is and How to Choose a Service | Business News Daily

September 19, 2016September 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Choosing a factoring service doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are three things to consider when selecting one for your business:

What type of factoring does your business need?

How much of your outstanding invoices do you need funded and when do you need it?

How much are you willing to pay?

We will help you answer these questions below, but if you already know what you need and just want to see our recommendations for the best factoring service, visit our best picks page.

The first step to choosing the right factoring service for your business is figuring out which type of factoring you actually need. For instance, do you need a factoring service that covers all of your outstanding invoices upfront, or will a partial payment suffice? Do you prefer to keep receiving payments from customers, or will you hand collections over to the factoring company? And do you want to be held responsible to the factoring company if customers don’t pay? These are just some of the considerations we’ll cover below.

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

September 19, 2016September 16, 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.

Brew it (cider) yourself with Alchema | TechCrunch

September 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Things are starting to get a bit crowded in the world of automated home brewing, with startups like PicoBrew, Brewie and BrewBot all more or less vying for the same small sliver of space. And while these machines have raked in their share of dough through crowdfunding efforts, it seems pretty likely that actual retail interest will be enough to maintain all comers.

Alchema, on the other hand, just might be different enough to keep people interested. The company’s certainly secured its share of crowdfunding success, scoring $344,231 – several times its $80,000 goal – on Kickstarter earlier this year. Unlike the majority of other entrants in the space, Alchema’s not focused on beer. The company’s tagline, “turn fruit into alcohol” says it all, really.

How Creating A Culture Around Coffee Can Boost Millennial Engagement At Work | Forbes

September 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Coffee. It’s the drink we reach for when we need to get excited on Monday mornings or to help us through that Wednesday afternoon slump. Americans love coffee, with more than half of adults drink at least one cup per day. Millennials are avid coffee drinkers too, particularly with espresso-based drinks. According to one study, gourmet coffee beverage consumption among 25-39 year olds jumped from 19% to 41% between 2008 to 2016. The availability of these types of drinks has dramatically increased, as Starbucks has opened over 19,000 stores worldwide since 2000.

This change in coffee consumption started a shift in workplace coffee options. “Office coffee services have traditionally been the worst of the worst,” according to Jesse Kahn, national sales manager for Counter Culture Coffee, “and there’s been a lot of growth in companies recognizing the need for a better coffee experience.” Companies like Mars Drinks, for example, are working to provide higher quality coffee options.

So you think you can fake your own death? | Elizabeth Greenwood | Pulse | LinkedIn

September 16, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Faking your death—both as a concept and as an act people attempt with surprising frequency — first occurred to me over dinner with a friend at a cheap Vietnamese restaurant. I had just enrolled in a graduate program, and had taken out a brand new batch of student loans to heap upon a hefty debt from college.

As I bitched about the financial mess I’d gotten myself into, and how I feared I might never get out of it, I fantasized about finding a sun-bleached country with a rickety government and no extradition policy and just slipping through the cracks, disappearing without a trace.

“Or you could fake your own death,” my friend offered.

That conversation sent me on a years-long quest tracking down people who have faked their own deaths and interviewing experts in the art of disappearance. Along the way I picked up a few Dos and Don’ts. Whatever your motive and wherever you plant your umbrella, here are some considerations for planning your untimely demise.

Europe demands YouTube pay more to artists | Money CNN

September 15, 2016September 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Europe has opened a new battlefront in its war against big U.S. tech, announcing draft rules that could force YouTube and others to pay more money to the music industry.

The European Commission, which administers EU law, has proposed a new Europe-wide copyright law on Wednesday, saying it wants to strengthen the rights of artists and make sure they receive a fair share of the profits made on their work.

If approved, the new rules will force streaming services such as YouTube and Dailymotion to beef up their copyright protection measures by filtering out copyrighted content or paying for its use.

That’s a huge step up from the current measures that only require these services to act when notified about a copyright infringement.

The Top Trends in Franchising Business Today | Getentrepreneurial.com

September 15, 2016September 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When broken down, franchising simply represents methods of distributing products and services. For some time now, entrepreneurship has been the career path for many victims of downsizing and corporate layoffs. Despite the uncertain job market and the unstable economy improving considerably in recent years, business ownership remains a standard means of employment.

Franchising has become a major priority for people who seek the freedom of owning a business without undergoing the struggle of creating a concept from the ground. For that reason, franchising will continue to be a relevant part of the economy. Studies show that when done right, it can be a powerful business model for quick growth. Franchisees win through economies of scale, a defined system, mentorship, and support. As more entrepreneurs look at franchising as a viable path to success, it is vital to understand the emerging trends and how one can take advantage of them.

5 Benefits of Having a Website for Your Small Business | Small Biz Trends

September 15, 2016September 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Last week at SmallBizTrends I shared the statistic that 47 percent of small business owners still weren’t using social media because they didn’t feel it was important to their business. That post spurred a lot of strong comments, both on site here and on Facebook. Eventually the conversation went from whether SMBs should invest in social media to whether they even need a Website or an Internet presence at all.

I really wish we could stop having this conversation.

You probably know some businesses who are doing phenomenally well without a website. I do, too. But I often wonder how much better they could be doing if they took the time to invest in one. And when I say “website,” I don’t mean an electronic version of that brochure they’ve been handing out for the past 10 years. I mean a legitimate, well-thought-out site that is designed to inform, engage and convert their audience.

Even newspaper ads aren’t declining as fast as desktop ads | Mashable

September 14, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The next two years will not be kind to the now rapidly declining desktop ad industry, according to a new report from a leading prognosticator.

Zenith, owned by French media buying firm Publicis Media, predicts that spending on smartphone ads will eclipse their desktop counterparts much sooner than anticipated — possibly as soon as next year — as people do more of their web browsing on smaller devices.

While not much healthier in the long term, beleaguered newspapers and magazines are expected to fare better in the next two years, losing only $9.6 billion and $4.4 billion respectively compared to desktop’s projected $10.7 billion loss.

By 2018, the forecast says, mobile will account for as much as 60 percent of all internet advertising.