v.18 n. 31 – Released August 4, 2014
This Week’s Headlines:
Events of Interest:
You’re in the shower. The water sounds like a gentle, rainy static, and feels like a Plinko massage. You’ve just started to lather up and suddenly, you’re hit with a flash of brilliance. Maybe it’s the answer to a vexing problem at work, the location of your lost USB drive, or perhaps it’s just a random, inconsequential yet totally satisfying insight.
But, by the time you towel off, the idea already has spiraled away down the drain. We all get these kinds of thoughts, and they don’t just happen in the shower. Long drives, short walks, even something like pulling weeds, all seem to have the right mix of monotony and engagement to trigger a revelation. They also happen to be activities where it’s difficult to take notes. It turns out that aimless engagement in an activity is a great catalyst for free association, but introducing a pen and paper can sterilize the effort.
Managing cash flow is a challenge that many small business owners don’t realize can make or break a business, but streamlining the process is easier than you might think.
“Many great operators who understand their industry and how to deliver for the customers don’t have an understanding of what it takes to grow, maintain or create efficiencies in their operating cycle to empower their business,” said Quincy Miller, executive vice president and head of business and commercial enterprise banking sales at RBS Citizens Financial Group.
“Companies that have accelerated their receivables, streamlined their banking operations and established more-advantageous payment terms and processes with their vendors, suppliers and customers have a definite competitive advantage in today’s marketplace, no matter their business,” Miller said.
Inspired by Manta fish, Manta Chair has a unique look with its elaborate lines. Combining structural elements made of wood, steel and plastics, it uses materials in harmony. The stackable chair offers a variety of colors in its transparent seating. Using one wooden leg for the back and spine, design follows a minimalistic approach and aims for a light, simple chair. Either for home or office environment, it is designed to become a prestigious object pleasing the eye.
Are you doing the bare minimum when it comes to your small business website? Just having a website is no longer enough if it ever was. You’ve got to take action to get potential customers to discover, engage with and buy from your business. And that means creating an integrated online marketing plan where all parts of your Web presence work together.
Deluxe Corporation recently polled small business owners to find out what they’re doing online. Here’s some of what they found:
Small business owners say word-of-mouth is their most important way of engaging with customers 73 percent. However, they don’t seem to realize that social media has become a crucial part of word-of-mouth. Just 21 percent say social media is an important way to engage with customers; in comparison, 40 percent say business cards are.
What about websites? While two-thirds of small business owners have a business website, that number is still way too small. As I mentioned earlier, having a website is the bare minimum these days. Small business owners are also falling short in what features they have on their website. Fewer than half have photos or videos; just 32 percent use search engine optimization SEO, and only 28 percent have reviews or social media share/follow buttons.
This Week’s Headlines:
Events of Interest
California Home Sales and Median Prices in June
The California Association of Realtors released their report on California existing home sales and median prices in June. After increasing by double-digit rates for 23 months, the statewide median price rose over the 12 months ending in June by just 6.6% to $457,160. This may be in indication that median home prices are beginning to stabilize – a positive development for the housing market recovery.
California home sales fell for the eleventh consecutive month, declining by 4.8% to 394,930 units in June seasonally adjusted, annualized rate compared with the same period last year. June also marked eight straight months of home sales below 400,000 units. This might not be all bad: If monthly sales during the previous boom period 2003-2005 are removed from the calculation, the long run average sales figure is 392,000 compared to 413,500 for the entire 1990-present period, slightly lower than the recent sales pace. On a more positive note, the rate of decline in home sales is slowing, possible the result of lower interest rates and more inventory moving on to the market.
Inside a dim office secured by a sensor lock, eight young men in yarmulkes sit before computer screens sifting through tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gift cards. Toiling under a latticed ceiling, the workers some in their late teens field orders to buy pre-owned cards online, fetching each meticulously catalogued item from the company’s man-size vault, where at least $3 million worth wait for new owners at any given time.
Once assembled, orders are carried to a shipping and receiving room beneath the vault chamber, where another group of skullcapped employees mails them out. Newly acquired gift cards are scanned to check their value, catalogued and bar-coded for easy search. “You’ve got to find that exact card, and you’ve got to find it quickly,” says Elliot Bohm, CEO and co-founder of CardCash.com , a company in Lakewood, N.J. that grossed $56 million last year buying and reselling the gift cards that nobody wanted.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced mandatory restrictions on U.S. airlines flying over Iraq late on Thursday, citing “the potentially hazardous situation created by armed conflict.” Carriers are restricted from flying at or below 30,000 feet in the country, an increase from a previous restriction from flying at or below 20,000 feet.
International airlines had already begun rerouting flights to avoid Iraqi airspace, and many U.S. carriers have also developed alternate routes to avoid the country altogether. Iraqi officials have said it is safe to fly over.
The FAA’s order shows an increasing awareness of the dangers of flying over conflict zones following the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine.Although the new restrictions are meant to safeguard commercial flights, the new 30,000-foot restriction would not be sufficient to deter the kind of missile that likely hit MH17, which had been flying at 33,000 feet.
There is no doubt that environment influences how you think, believe, and live. In the field of psychology, there is an ongoing debate on nature versus nurture, both regarded as powerful influencers on confidence and the ability to succeed. But how do these factors shape entrepreneurs? I would argue that though the past plays a significant role in who you become, the choice of environment in which to work–especially as you’re working your way up–is another important part of the success equation.
Buckminster Fuller, an American neo-futuristic architect, said it perfectly: “Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them.
“Whatever work environment you are in, a certain intelligence or talent is always valued. If you happen to have an intelligence that is aligned that of the company, then you will rise to the top quickly. The problem is that it’s a losing battle for those that don’t have the valued intelligence–and that kills their confidence in the process.
Computer users pass around USB sticks like silicon business cards. Although we know they often carry malware infections, we depend on antivirus scans and the occasional reformatting to keep our thumb drives from becoming the carrier for the next digital epidemic. But the security problems with USB devices run deeper than you think: Their risk isn’t just in what they carry, it’s built into the core of how they work.
That’s the takeaway from findings security researchers Karsten Nohl and Jakob Lell plan to present next week, demonstrating a collection of proof-of-concept malicious software that highlights how the security of USB devices has long been fundamentally broken. The malware they created, called Bad USB, can be installed on a USB device to completely take over a PC, invisibly alter files installed from the memory stick, or even redirect the user’s internet traffic. Because Bad USB resides not in the flash memory storage of USB devices, but in the firmware that controls their basic functions, the attack code can remain hidden long after the contents of the device’s memory would appear to the average user to be deleted. And the two researchers say there’s no easy fix: The kind of compromise they’re demonstrating is nearly impossible to counter without banning the sharing of USB devices or filling your port with superglue.
