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:

US government sues Ferguson over police reform | BBC News

February 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The US Justice Department is suing Ferguson, Missouri to force the city to adopt police reforms negotiated with the federal government.

Unarmed black teenager Michael Brown was shot dead by a police officer in the city in 2014, sparking protests.

Ferguson was required to reform its policing after investigators found widespread racial bias in the force.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said there was no option but to sue after the city voted to revise the agreement.

How Do You Stop the Biggest Gas Leak Ever? | Bloomberg Business

February 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Steve Conley got the call early on Nov. 5. A natural gas storage well was leaking methane into the air at Aliso Canyon, near a Los Angeles suburb, and no one knew just how bad it was—could he get a read on it? Conley, an atmospheric scientist and a pilot, rushed to a small airport northeast of Sacramento. He’s flown more than 1,500 hours measuring emissions over oil and gas operations in one of his two single-engine Mooneys. Tubes mounted on each Mooney’s right wing suck air into two chemical analyzers stored in the luggage compartment. Soon Conley was soaring south across California’s Central Valley.

BuildDirect Wants To Become The Amazon Of The Home Improvement Industry, Launches Marketplace | TechCrunch

February 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

BuildDirect is an online marketplace for buying home improvement products. Today, the company is opening its platform to third-party sellers with the launch of its Home Marketplace.

Unsurprisingly, selling heavyweight products like flooring and roofing materials online takes a very different approach to logistics than selling books. As BuildDirect’s co-founder and CEO Jeff Booth and its VP of marketing Joe Thompson told me, the company spent the last few years perfecting its approach to how it ships its goods around the U.S. and Canada.

While the Vancouver, B.C.-based company can’t use FedEx or UPS to ship its goods, though, it’s still taking a page out of Amazon’s playbook by using data analysis to predict demand and adjust pricing to manage it.

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.”

Flint Mayor: Lead Water Pipe Replacement Being Worked On | ABC News

February 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

A plan to remove and replace all lead water pipes in Flint homes will cost $55 million, the city’s mayor said Tuesday.

Households were residents are deemed to be high-risk will be given priority for pipe replacement, Mayor Karen Weaver said at a news conference.

“We’re going to restore safe drinking water one house at a time, one child at a time,” she said. “All lead pipes need to be replaced. We deserve new pipes because we did not deserve what happened.”

Flint’s water supply was switched from Detroit water to the Flint River as a cost-saving measure in 2014, when Flint was under state-appointed emergency management. The untreated river water caused lead to leach from old pipes. Flint has since switched back to Detroit water.

Facebook Has Three Months To Comply With Data Protection Laws, France Warns | Forbes

February 9, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Facebook needs to beef up its privacy protections in France or it could face sanctions.

On Monday, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL)—a data protection authority in France—issued Facebook a formal notice that the social media giant must update its data collection practices within the next three months. The CNIL levels that several of Facebook’s practices don’t comply with the French Data Protection Act.

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?