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Showing posts from November, 2021

5 Steps for Creating a Lean, Mean Growth Machine

 For almost every company or organization, continued growth isn’t just important, it’s essential. Without growth, profitability may decrease. Without growth, employee satisfaction and customer experience could diminish. Without growth, your competitors may overtake you. Without growth, economies of scale are diluted. Without growth, risk will most likely increase. Without growth, building additional equity may become difficult. And without growth, you as an entrepreneur could actually lose your passion about your own organization. But there are a number of systematic ways to help your business or organization grow through the use of effective marketing and branding strategies and tactics. I’ve found that the most effective method—by far—is to follow a proven five-step process that I developed through trial and error over the past 30-plus years. And I continue to use and refine it for my clients to this day. This model has served me well for a wide variety of industries and applications

How Do Your Eating Habits Compare to Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and Bill Gates? These Are the Billionaires' Favorite Foods to Snack On

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  Although the life of a billionaire looks glamorous from the outside — private jets, mansions around the world, Michelin-starred restaurants — in some ways billionaires can be shockingly down to earth. Case in point: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, two of the richest people in the world, prefer a McDonald’s burger to most high-end cuisine. Read on for more insights into seven billionaires’ favorite snacks.  Bloomberg | Getty Images Jeff Bezos The Amazon founder reportedly makes time for a healthful breakfast whenever possible. His preferred order isn’t exactly commonplace, though. Bezos once  reportedly requested  Mediterranean octopus with potatoes, bacon, green garlic yogurt and a poached egg during a breakfast meeting. Before Bezos went to space on his New Shepard rocket ship, he also joked with reporters who suggested the tray of Arroz con Pollo he was carrying could be his  “last meal.”   Related:  How Do Your Drinking Habits Compare to Warren Buffett, Elon Musk and Oprah? Sara Bl

A Strong Jobs Report and Five Straight Weekly Gains

 There were no eleventh-hour monkey-wrenches thrown into the market mix on Friday, as a strong jobs report for October kept the major indices in record territory to finish a fifth straight week of gains. The term “goldilocks” has already been used to describe this month’s Government Employment Situation report, which showed that 531,000 jobs were added last month. The result easily surpassed expectations at 450K, but isn’t considered “too hot” by investors. It was a nice turn of events from the September number, which fell well short of forecasts at the time. The result fits in nicely with what the Fed said on Wednesday after its two-day policy meeting. The Committee thinks this economy has recovered enough to begin tapering the monthly bond purchases. The jobs number and the Fed decision were the two big events of the week, and they were both welcomed by the market. As a result, stocks continued moving higher on Friday. The Dow was the only major index with a negative close this week

NYC Mayor-Elect Says He Will Take Three Months Pay in Bitcoin

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  New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams said he would take the first three months of his pay as mayor in Bitcoin. PlayUnmute Fullscreen VDO.AI - be[IN]crypto “In New York we always go big, so I’m going to take my first THREE paychecks in Bitcoin when I become mayor,” Adams said. “NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry and other fast-growing, innovative industries!” The tweet was made as a playful response to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announcing he would take a month’s pay in Bitcoin. Suarez himself replied congratulating Adams on his electoral victory, while also looking “forward to the friendly competition in making our respective cities a crypto capital!” Earlier this week, Suarez tweeted that he would accept his next paycheck entirely in bitcoin. His tweet was a response to Morgan Creek co-founder Anthony Pompliano asking which United States politician would be the first to accept their salary in bitcoin. Pompliano also responded to the tweet, asking City of Mi

Taking Advantage of Going Virtual

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  Behind the Review host and Yelp’s Small Business Expert, Emily Washcovick, shares a look at this week’s episode of the podcast. VDO.AI House Meraki Dorothy was absolutely right when she said, “There’s no place like home.” It can be a sanctuary and a place to rest, away from our busy lives. That is, until our busy lives came home with us during the pandemic. House Meraki, an interior design firm in Denver, made a huge pivot from traditional design appointments and took all of their consultations virtual. It had been something they’d considered before the pandemic, but they accelerated their plans after COVID protocols were put in place.  And that virtual technology actually expanded their business, all the way to Yelp reviewer Jéssica N.’s apartment in Washington, DC. She needed help with her bedroom layout, and House Meraki co-owner Adriele was able to step in and design a new bedroom.  Jéssica wrote in her review, “After sending the measurements in my bedroom to Adriele, she was abl

8 Tips That Will Help Your Storytelling Deliver

 You’ve likely heard the saying that “Companies don’t sell products, they sell stories”, which is at least partially true. To seduce today’s consumers, it’s critical to show them more than flashy merchandise, as their Instagram feeds are already awash in glossy photos of the latest luxe loungewear, NFL merch, dating advice… a myriad of pitches. To differentiate a company, you need to tell a story, to engage their values, and to create a sense of community and connection. This is why Jack Daniels claims that it has been “turning nights into stories since 1866”, and why Ancestry.com promises that “behind every question is a story”. Even the U.S. Forest Service is in on the tactic, encouraging Americans to “make the forest part of your family’s story”. But of course, storytelling can also run the risk of becoming another corporate cliché, an empty platform that entrepreneurs trot out to make their companies simply seem relevant. Savvy consumers and investors will then likely tune out, the

Tesla Recalls Almost 12,000 US Vehicles

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  Tesla is recalling almost 12,000 U.S. vehicles because a communication error may cause a false warning for a forward collision or unexpectedly activate the emergency brakes.  Video Player is loading. PauseUnmute Fullscreen VDO.AI Kent Nishimura | Getty Images The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced the recall Tuesday, saying it impacted Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles sold since 2017. The total amount of affected vehicles is 11,704. The recall comes after an Oct. 23 software update to vehicles in the limited early access version 10.3 Full-Self Driving (FSD) (Beta) group.  Related: Tesla's China "Recall" Can Be Fixed With Software Update Per the NHTSA, the electric automaker “uninstalled FSD 10.3 after receiving reports of inadvertent activation of the automatic emergency braking system,” then “updated the software and released FSD version 10.3.1 to those vehicles affected.” The agency also noted it “will continue its conversations with Tesla to ensure

Astronomers May Have Located a Planet Outside of Our Galaxy for the First Time

 The search for expolanets — those orbiting stars beyond our sun — is taking place outside of the Milky Way as we speak, and astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have observed indicators of a planet in the Messier 51 (M51) galaxy, 28 million light-years away.  PlayUnmute Fullscreen VDO.AI If confirmed, this planet, estimated to be the size of Saturn, would be the farthest from our own ever detected. Exoplanet candidates in the Milky Way galaxy are no more than 3,000 light-years from Earth.  The recent finding was made possible by transits, a phenomenon that occurs when a planet passes in front of a star and blocks some of the star's light, which leads to a dimming effect that can be picked up by telescopes. Thousands of exoplanets have been located with this method. Researchers didn't think gas clouds or dust were responsible for the reduced brightness because such characterstics weren't present in the M51 event. The findings did support the presence of a