Life After Kickstarter | Ypulse

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Kickstarter has become an entrepreneurial epicenter, helping innovators earn the money to make their dreams become reality. But what happens after the kick start winds down? The crowdfunding industry raised $2.7 billion in 2011 and is expected to have doubled by the end of this year. For the new products and brands that raise funds on the platforms, expectations are sky high for delivering on crowdfunding promises and raising the bar for innovation with each new project. What is life like for the little brands suddenly launched into the world with the funds they asked for, and an audience of expectant consumers?

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BofA Intern Death and Wall Street’s Culture | Daily Intelligencer

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There’s a game played among young Wall Street analysts, usually late at night after everyone but the janitors have gone home. It goes by various names, but the one I’ve heard most often is “Misery Poker.” The rules are simple: If your workload is worse than your colleagues’, you win. So “I’m staffed on two deals, and I haven’t left before midnight in a week” might prompt a raise of “Oh, yeah? Well, I’m staffed on three deals, and I stayed past 2 a.m. six nights out of the last eight.”

Usually Misery Poker is played with a wink to its ridiculousness. These are 22-year-old investment bankers, after all, not battlefield medics or single moms working three jobs. All of them are being well compensated for the pain they endure. But last weekend, when a London-based Bank of America intern dropped dead, reportedly after pulling three all-nighters in a row, we learned what happens when a game of Misery Poker goes high-stakes.

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What CrossFit Can Teach You | wonderbranding

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CrossFit is a fitness lifestyle that has taken the world by storm over the last few years.  In some ways, it’s a throwback to old-fashioned fitness, using moves that incorporate cardio activity with strength training moves like pull-ups and push-ups.  From garage set-ups to larger spaces, CrossFit “boxes” as CrossFitters like to call them are popping up all over.The brand has grown exponentially, with no advertising.  People are addicted.CrossFit is the perfect example of a stripped-to-the-bone strategy for cult branding

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Million-Dollar Startup Secrets | AllBusiness.com

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Most small businesses never reach $1 million in annual sales. Instead, they struggle just to survive. Of businesses started in 2004, barely more than half — 56 percent — were still around in 2009, a study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found.

In fact, cracking the $1 million barrier at any point in a company’s lifetime is a major achievement. U.S. Census data from 2007 shows that more than three-quarters of the country’s 6 million firms with employees made less than $1 million in revenue. And most solopreneur businesses don’t earn anywhere near that much: According to IRS data for 2008, the average solo business brought in less than $60,000.

Given these sobering numbers, reaching seven figures in a business’s very first year — and with a startup’s often-scarce resources — is nothing short of extraordinary.

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Your Nail Polish Could be Toxic | GreenPacks.org

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nail polishDid you know your favorite nail polish contains toxic chemicals? Going by recent research, the nail polishes you commonly use contain at least three harmful chemicals.

Investigators at the California Department of Toxic Substances Control sampled as many as 25 brands of nail polishes commonly used in California salons and found that 10 of 12 samples that claim to be free of toluene actually contained the substance in a serious level.

They also discovered that five of the seven samples that claim to be free of the “toxic trio” actually contained those in dangerous levels. The three toxins – dibutyl phthalate, toluene and formaldehyde – may cause serious health problems, including asthma, birth defects, cancer, and other chronic health conditions.

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Entrepreneur’s Guide to Effective Time Management | BusinessNewsDaily.com

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Innovators like Henry Ford have attributed their success to good time management. Nevertheless, a recent study found that 72 percent of small business owners are working longer days and on more weekends, while half of those surveyed find there’s not enough time to get things done. With time being the most valuable commodity for small business owners, a time-management plan is essential to running a business and achieving a work-life balance.

Here’s how other entrepreneurs, from freelancers to small businessowners, effectively manage their time and how you can create your own time-management plan for life and business.

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Workstation Couch | CoolBusinessIdeas.com

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Since we’re on a subject of working from home – here is another interesting “workstation”, this time in a form of a couch. Famed Philippe Stark created the piece for the Italian brand Cassina. The couch, called My World, ergonomically designed to support the ideal posture for working and concentrating, while still being relaxed. The piece also features storage, work surfaces and ports for your various gizmos. It is so well-thought-out – you might never lift your bum…

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Soldiers Turn Entrepreneurs as One Million Exit Military | Bloomberg

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Robert Rummells, a U.S. Army Ranger for 22 years, says it was a natural transition when he opened a Mosquito Joe pest-control franchise in Richmond, Virginia, earlier this month.“I’m an outdoor type of guy, and I didn’t want to be chained to my computer in an office, talking on the phone,” said the 49-year-old, who tried jobs such as installing equipment at a community college and simulated firearms training after retiring from the military in 2009. “I learned I needed to work for myself.”

As more former service personnel turn to entrepreneurship, they’re generating jobs that are helping to cut the unemployment rate for veterans to a four-year low of 6.2 percent in April, lower than the 6.9 percent rate for adult non-veterans. The boost to the labor market matters: More than a million Americans are projected by the White House to transition out of the military through 2015.

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