The Sharks Are In The Details | Peter Mehit

March 23, 2015March 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We frequently review contracts for our clients. It allows them to get another set of experienced eyes on an important document without the expense of an attorney. We read the document finding clauses and language that may be gotchas, referring them to an attorney for further review if needed.

We’ve noticed a trend recently. Contracts are becoming onerous, in some cases, predatory. We see this trend in everything from leases to service contracts to partnering agreements. Many contracts are becoming one sided in favor of the party writing them. We’ve seen an increase in otherwise smart business people being stung by outrageous contract provisions. They sign these agreements because they are assured they are the same as contracts they’ve signed before. The behavior we’ve seen falls into a few basic areas.

Fee death: This is where you are nickel and dimed for every possible charge that the contract maker can imagine. A client’s recent partnership agreement had an 80 – 20% net profit split in the client’s favor. However, hiding in the paperwork was a 40% overhead fee, tens of thousands of dollars in marketing costs and a bunch of small, mostly unnecessary, charges. The true net profit to our client was 19%. The deal was exactly the opposite of what the client expected.

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11 Major Spending Mistakes Many Entrepreneurs Make | Fox Small Business Center

March 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

When first starting out, it often seems that simple things like monthly subscriptions will only help your business. But after the first few months—then years—the small costs can really add up. That’s why we asked 11 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) the following question.

Q. What is one major spending mistake entrepreneurs make unintentionally?

1. Paying Too Much in Merchant Account Fees

One critical component in your business is how you collect money from your customers. A large piece of that for many companies is credit card processing. As someone in the industry, I know how costly it can be to make a knee-jerk decision to set up what is quick and has a simple pricing model, rather than finding a reputable rep to save you on fees.

Why Fraternities Have To Go | AskMen

March 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

It’s time to end the Greek system on college campuses — even Will Ferrell says so.

In a public Q&A via the New York Times last week, the comedian said that even though he was in a fraternity — Delta Tau Delta — during his years at the University of Southern California, the racist behavior of Sigma Alpha Epsilon brothers at Oklahoma University is “a real argument for getting rid of the system altogether.”

I couldn’t agree more. What began in the late 1700s as a small network of secret academic societies, in which young men at a few select colleges on the East Coast could gather and discuss topics deemed inappropriate by their institutions’ faculty and administrators, has devolved into a culture that not only condones abusive behavior, but in many cases demands it.

Small business tips | Business Insider

March 23, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

There’s nothing quite like starting a business from scratch. It is one of the most rewarding — and challenging — things you can do.

After all, it requires putting everything on the line for an idea that may not resonate with the market, and there are plenty of potential missteps along the way. The risks are clear: Half of all businesses fail within the first five years, according to Gallup research.

To help you avoid that route, we have compiled five important tips to keep in mind when you do decide to start your own business.

The BMW i3 Is a Peppy, Efficient Pain in the Back | Bloomberg Business

March 20, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Here’s the difference between an optimist and a pessimist.

An optimist drives the BMW i3 electric car and marvels at how great it is that he has only to lift his foot off the accelerator for the car to stop. The moment the foot releases pressure, the regenerative braking system will make actual braking—placing your foot on the pedal and pressing down—unnecessary. The car slows dramatically on its own.

A pessimist drives the BMW i3 electric car and finds himself annoyed that those blasted regenerative brakes make it feel like you’re stutter-stepping through every stoplight.

I tended toward the latter. It could be a character defect. I’m OK with that.

Immediate deceleration is not the defining characteristic of the car—the oblong body, 117-mpg efficiency, and variety of interior materials are all good candidates for that—but the sensation certainly commands your attention. And it gets more wearisome over time.

Lessons from an entrepreneur: Start before you are ready | BusinessTips.com

March 20, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

I attended an entrepreneurship summit recently, where I was asked to help select and distribute an interesting award. Attendees were asked to write down something inspiring they learned at the summit and the best entry would win.

The majority of attendees entered the same mantra from an earlier speaker: Start before you’re ready. However, only one attendee went the extra mile and described what that principle meant to him. He applied the knowledge and was named the winner.

I was impressed by that because, of all the so-called entrepreneurs in the room, he was the real deal.

Thinking about this, I decided to look at my own entrepreneurship efforts (some successful and some not) to see how the “Start before you’re ready” mantra could apply to me. Here’s what I learned:

Sony has created the Cadillac of pay TV. Would you pay $600 a year for it? | Mashable

March 19, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ 1 Comment

Sony has built the Cadillac plan of Internet TV: It’s big, it’s shiny and it’s expensive.

Sony launched its new PlayStation Vue streaming TV service on Wednesday featuring a 55-channel bundle that includes shows from three major broadcast networks — although notably lacks ESPN.

Vue comes along just as the Internet TV market has begun to take off. Dish’s Sling TV, one of the first “over the top” (OTT) bundles of channels to hit the market, reportedly logged 100,000 sign-ups in its first month. Apple is also reportedly working on an Internet TV service.

Rich Greenfield, media and tech analyst for BTIG Research, said Vue represented the most recent of many steps toward breaking the dominance of cable providers.

“The bundling is coming unhinged right in front of our eyes,” he said in an email to Mashable.

12 Ways Successful People Handle Toxic People | Entrepreneur

March 19, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Toxic people defy logic. Some are blissfully unaware of the negative impact that they have on those around them, and others seem to derive satisfaction from creating chaos and pushing other people’s buttons. Either way, they create unnecessary complexity, strife, and worst of all stress.

Studies have long shown that stress can have a lasting, negative impact on the brain. Exposure to even a few days of stress compromises the effectiveness of neurons in the hippocampus—an important brain area responsible for reasoning and memory. Weeks of stress cause reversible damage to neuronal dendrites (the small “arms” that brain cells use to communicate with each other), and months of stress can permanently destroy neurons. Stress is a formidable threat to your success—when stress gets out of control, your brain and your performance suffer.

How Do You Rebuild A Small Business After It Collapses? | Forbes

March 18, 2015 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Things could not have been worse for Bill Cromedy. His partners in the Philadelphia contracting firm had suddenly left, leaving him with little but the chair he sat in and a cloud of industry rumors about what had caused the company to split.

Cromedy knew that rebuilding the business would mean countless hours, as well as competing against his former partners. Cromedy could easily have walked away—many others would have. But now, just a few years later, Advantage Contracting is going strong once again, and the lessons he learned along the way continue to fuel his success.

How does a small business come back from such adversity? Cromedy began his path to recovery by looking inward. What he found can serve as a template for overcoming entrepreneurial catastrophes of any magnitude.

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