Interview – Amir Banifatemi | Peter Mehit

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AmirAmir Banifatemi is founder of K5 Accelerator, which is based at ChapmanCollege’s e-Village. He has extensive experience developing start up and growth companies in many different markets but focuses primarily on healthcare, internet and media technologies. While he is focused keenly on developing value, he also has an eye toward projects that have significant technological breakthroughs and significant social and economic impact.

Mehit: You’ve been quoted that the center of gravity in OrangeCounty has been around real estate and finance resulting in a very careful and staid culture. What would you like to see changed?

Amir: I would try to improve a certain number of things, one of those would be more collaboration. I think the history of OrangeCounty and how people are disbursed does not promote synergies. Unfortunately, distance makes it difficult for people to meet and collaborate on projects, except on big projects.

Further if you look historically, at San Francisco or other places, when people get out of college, where do they go? They go to Hewlett Packard or the Fairchild or Intel but what do they do here? They go to a real estate company or title company. The appropriate employment environment is lacking.

Finally, people are focused on cash today instead of cash tomorrow. Your attitude, your investment of time and resource in collaboration and how you view society and community are different if you looking at cash tomorrow.

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5 Things Every Small Business Should Know About Branding | AllBusiness.com

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The whole concept of branding is foreign to many small businesses. They view it as something that only matters in the ivory towers of global corporations.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Branding is all about making your business memorable, and it’s the small business rather than the big one that’s likely to get lost in the shuffle. Here are five core concepts that small business owners should know about branding.

1. Repetition and consistency are paramount. Any parent knows that when you say something once it seldom sinks in. And, parents who send mixed messages confuse the child … and perhaps themselves! The same dynamics apply to branding: the market needs to see the same imagery and the same message again and again and again.

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100% Recycled-Aluminum Bicycles | GreenPacks

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In today’s world, going green is trendy. The environmental impact of transport is important as it creates air pollution and global warming through CO2 emissions. Many  countries encourage riding a bicycle as it is pollution free and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. If you want to take it to the green extreme, you can use a cycle made from 100-percent-recycled aluminum.

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Time Tracking and Management Software | BusinessNewsDaily.com

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time trackingAs a business owner, you know one of the keys to keeping employees productive is ensuring they aren’t wasting time. Time tracking and management software prevents wasted time, cuts down on projects slipping through the cracks and helps make sure deadlines are being met. Many of the software options include features that help track and coordinate projects, monitor employee hours and manage sick leave, vacation time, overtime and holidays. Time tracking software can also track other activities, such as presentations and meetings. In addition, some packages can produce invoices and integrate with accounting software.

Our sister site, TopTenREVIEWS, does extensive in-depth reviews of time tracking and management software. Here are the Top 3 recommendations for time tracking and management software:

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6 Foods That Make You Smell Good | Care2

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Cinnamon: its lovely scent not only suffuses your home, but also lingers on to make you smell good!

Citrus fruit: split open a ripe orange, and you’re greeted with an instant burst of refreshing fragrance, and a light spray of juice. Eat the orange, and you’ll feel your mouth feel fresh, too. What’s more, citrus fruit is more readily absorbed by the body, so you give off a pleasant scent.

Cardamom: the sweet, spicy seeds of green cardamom are a favorite ingredient in mouth fresheners.  I never buy commercial packets, preferring instead to simply split open a pod and pop the seeds in my mouth. For a long time after, the mouth feels fresh. Besides, cardamom is a powerful healing spice that boosts immunity.

Fenugreek seeds: they are a wonderful aid to smelling good. They are also excellent for strengthening bone health. Soak them overnight in clean water, and munch on them in the morning. At first, they taste slightly bitter, but as you chew, the flavor sweetens and feels wonderful in your mouth.

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How to Start a Business Without Debt | BusinessNewsDaily.com

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debtEntrepreneurs often talk about how they started their businesses with loans from family and friends, seed money from investors and even by maxing out their credit cards. But, for every one of these feel-good success stories, there are more than a few with unhappy endings.

Noelle Federico, the business manager and chief financial officer of Dreamstime.com, a stock photo service, said that while it is not easy to start and grow a business without incurring debt, it is possible.

“We’ve proven that it can be done,” she said. “Myself and the leadership team at Dreamstime.com have never taken loans, used credit cards or tapped angel investors to grow our business.”

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Workplace Distractions: Here’s Why You Won’t Finish This Article – WSJ.com

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Office workers are interrupted—or self-interrupt—roughly every three minutes, academic studies have found, with numerous distractions coming in both digital and human forms. Once thrown off track, it can take some 23 minutes for a worker to return to the original task, says Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, who studies digital distraction.

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Five Signs You Need to Hire an Assistant | AllBusiness.com

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busy peopleMany small business owners and entrepreneurs pride themselves on being able to wear several different hats and juggle many different balls at the same time. But is this really something to brag about?

Identifying the Signs

As the leader of your organization, it may not be wise to spend your time micromanaging all the details that go into running your business. Your time could likely be better spent on big-picture strategy such as casting vision and direction for the company. Here are five signs that you need to hire an assistant so you can spend more time on tasks that add value to your business:

Read the Signs.

7 Big Money Problems and How to Solve Them | genxfinance.com

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Building wealth is a part of the American Dream. We’re told that through hard work and seizing opportunities we can lead successful, healthy, and wealthy lives. But building wealth isn’t important just for the sake of having money. In fact, it’s almost a requirement these days if you want to fully retire at some point. Social Security won’t provide much of a retirement. Your kids may not be able to afford college on their own, and there’s a good chance that health care costs can wipe out even a decent nest egg during your golden years.

Since building wealth is so important for our future why is it that most people still find themselves under a mountain of debt or end up retiring broke and unhappy? It isn’t just luck. Sure, in the game of life luck does play a part, but most of the outcomes in life are directly attributable to the choices you make and financial decisions are no different. If you make smart decisions with your money your odds of success lean in your favor. Make poor decisions and you put yourself behind the 8-ball. Here are seven of the biggest money problems and mistakes most people make and if you can avoid making these mistakes you’re on the fast track toward building wealth.

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Five Trends Driving Traditional Retail Towards Extinction | Forbes

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The e-commerce behemoth is coming, but that’s no longer news. Amazon is nearly 20 years old now, eBay just a year younger.

What is news? The behemoth is arming itself. New tactics, new friends and a hefty war chest mean that the old defenses insulating traditional retailers are no longer enough. Venture funds dished out $242 million to online retail startups in the last quarter alone, more than any other period since 2000. E-commerce, meanwhile, is now a $200 billion-plus industry in the U.S., set to ratchet up 15% a year as consumers realize there’s no reason to trek out to the local strip mall anymore.

In the retail arms race, e-commerce is winning. Here are five trends driving traditional retail towards the grave:

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