The State of Small Business: Michigan | Business News Daily

May 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

As part of our yearlong project “The State of Small Business,” Business News Daily plans to report on the small business environment in every state in America. In this installment, we asked a few of Michigan’s nearly one million small business owners about the challenges and opportunities of operating in their state. Here’s what they had to say.

It’s no secret that Michigan’s economy took a big hit after the 2008 financial crisis, with the damage centering on the automotive industry in Detroit. But entrepreneurs now report the state is coming back strong. Where prospects once seemed dismal, small businesses are now optimistic for the future.

Why Don’t People Buy From Me? | Getentrepreneurial.com

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Did you ever ask yourself, “Why don’t people buy from me?”

The Biggest Marketing Challenge We All Face

The biggest challenge we’re dealing with today is change. Things are changing so fast. As a result of this rapid pace of change people do not know who to trust!

There are six questions your prospects want answered before they will buy from you. These questions are designed to allow you to think like your buyer and speak with them so they know you are the right and safe choice.

Millennials: 10 Things Old Farts Won’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship (Sixth in the series)

May 10, 2016May 31, 2016 ~ CBPS ~ Leave a comment

6. Investors and The Rule of Rocks

Shark Tank has done a lot to raise the level of wishful thinking in America. Many people believe that if you find the right ten slides, or the perfect 30 seconds, you’ll be able to extend your hand and a check will float from the ether and drop into the palm of your hand.

Oh, that this were true.

Continue reading “Millennials: 10 Things Old Farts Won’t Tell You About Entrepreneurship (Sixth in the series)” →

Starting Off on the Right Foot | The Startup Magazine

May 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

You have your business idea, maybe even a rough framework in mind as to how you want to bring that idea to life. The time is now. Sit down and really understand what you want to achieve and how exactly you plan on reaching your goals. Without this initial phase of self-reflection and objective setting, you’re almost stepping out in a foreign city without a map – you may speak the language, meaning you may already know the sector you are launching in, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you will get to your end destination, on time or in the form you desire.

Not sure where to start? We’ve taken a look at how to evaluate a few macro areas that may influence the success of your business, and how you launch it. It is by no means exhaustive, but can give you a good foundation to get going.

Creative Startups and New Businesses Creating a New Office from Scratch | Cool Business Ideas

May 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The office environment is an incredibly important aspect of any business. Get it right and you should have a happy and productive team of employees. Get it wrong and you can expect morale levels to drop and productivity to lessen, especially when moving into a badly designed new office space. Especially important for creative startups with new business ideas and concepts to innovate.

For this reason there are a number of key factors of your new office you need to get right when drawing up the designs. It can be beneficial to use professional services such as those from Office Principles to get a well-designed new office. Or if you create it yourself remember to consider the following areas closely.

The Next New York City Breweries Will Be For Recycling Food Waste | Co.Exist

May 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In 16 years, if all goes as planned, New York City will no longer send any trash to landfills. That includes the million-plus tons of food waste the city generates every year. But, like other cities that are trying to recycle organic waste, New York faces a challenge: there aren’t yet enough places to take it.

The biggest composting facility on the East Coast was closed in 2014 because it smelled so foul, a problem compounded by the length of time it took the food to break down. Composting might work well if everyone had a backyard. But it turns out that it’s a tricky thing to scale up, especially for the amount of food thrown out in a large city.

Top women in tech join forces to push startups to tackle diversity earlier | Mashable

May 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A formidable group of prominent women in tech is joining forces to tackle one of the biggest issues plaguing the industry right now: Diversity.

Ellen Pao, the former interim CEO of Reddit, has partnered with a group of seven women from businesses like Pinterest and Slack to launch Project Include.

The non-profit group, revealed on Tuesday, plans to provide recommendations and data to early and mid-stage startups in order to “accelerate diversity and inclusion solutions in the tech industry.”

Wow! Hover Camera Requires No Stick for Selfies | Small Biz Trends

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The selfie has invaded virtually every aspect of popular culture. Social media, art galleries and mainstream news networks are completely and utterly littered with them. Yet very few of those images come even within striking distance of perfection.

Beijing-based startup Zero Zero Robotics is on a mission to change that with Hover Camera. This revolutionary quadcopter isn’t even on the market yet, and it’s already redefined the way consumers interact with drones.

Good Stuff Happens When You Have an HR Department of 1 | Entrepreneur

May 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Many startups begin without a human resources department. The company is small, and hiring someone to manage just a few employees isn’t the priority. But, as the company grows, things start to get complicated: The business needs HR.

And, oftentimes, that starts with “an HR department of one.”

That’s right. Growing businesses don’t need an enormous HR team; even just one person can get the job done. Eventually, when the organization gets big enough, a larger HR department will be a necessity. But until a full team becomes necessary, a one-person HR department can be an amazing force.

Here are three issues that even an HR department of one can help you solve:

10 Crazy Contraceptives from History | HowStuffWorks

May 6, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Silphium sounds like one of the coolest contraceptive options from the annals of history. It’s basically a giant fennel plant, but this fennel was more popular in a liquid state as a form of contraception than, say, shaved in a salad — at least for the ancient Greeks and Romans who relied on it to prevent conception and end pregnancy. In fact, they liked it so much as an effective population control method that they used the rare plant into extinction.

But what about the contraceptives in history that weren’t so successful — or were sometimes successful in spite of themselves? Let’s begin. And please, don’t try any of these.