Why Virtual Reality Is More Than Just A Buzzphrase For The Film Industry

by Lionel Chok of Immersively

What do lights, cameras and black chunky headsets have in common? For years, movie theatres have tried different tricks to get audiences into their doors – extra wide screens, surround sound systems, 3D films, and most recently Virtual Reality (VR). The Martian for example, was one of the first commercial VR efforts to come out of Hollywood. As the industry grapples with the transition from physical media to a more digital-centric business model, it has to create new revenue streams.

The ways in which audiences interact with the stories they love have changed. Technology has enabled new creative tools and forms of mass distribution, altering the landscape so fundamentally that it’s hard to remember when it wasn’t common to interact with every beloved property via memes, cosplay, video remixes, and other forms of fandom. Interactivity and immersion aren’t just add-ons; they have become essential elements of the entertainment experience.

Look no further to the recent Sundance Film Festival, which has traditionally been the home for challenging films that are willing to test the boundaries of independent cinema. But in an era where entertainment is no longer confined to the limitations of a screen, it’s time for these risks to take place in a virtual landscape.

At this year’s Sundance Film Festival, artists are utilising audiences’ bodies as platforms for new storytelling projects. Instead of having the audience sit and passively watch a film, they are creating new worlds that enable audiences to see into the future and experience the changing ways audiences will interact with each other. In 2017, there are nearly 50 of such projects, and they are far more powerful than simply lounging in cinema seats and tossing popcorn into your mouth.

VR has long been a feature of the Sundance Film Festival in that there have been small, gimmicky demonstrations, but reports from this year’s festival indicate signs of an industry that’s starting to grow up and get serious. The notion of filming in 360 degrees offers the chance to step into a movie and feel completely immersed, bringing new interest, challenges and possibilities to the movie world.

One of the best things about video content is its ability to transport you to different places and times, and with VR, that effect is even stronger, and the experience even more immersive. It engages the audience in a different way; you can’t see the whole scene at once, you have to move your head around as you would in the actual physical environment, and one viewing may not be enough for you to see all there is to see. Audiences are also less distractible, which is the winning ingredient in a multiscreen world. It could also open the door to new forms of brand exposure for companies, translating to new advertising and sales channels for traditional broadcasters and filmmakers.

If audiences are going to be interested in VR content, beyond the initial novelty, really good narratives must draw them in like any other media.

The key to making a compelling VR movie is to focus on creating immersive worlds rather than storylines. Conventional storytelling simply doesn’t suit a VR film. A 360 degree VR movie is actually a range of potential stories rather than a single story, because it can be viewed from many different angles. Filmmakers who ignore this fundamental aspect of VR film will annoy their audiences and fail to leverage the technology’s unique features.

VR is still some way off from mass consumer adoption. But one of its biggest hurdles — not enough interesting content — is firmly a thing of the past, and Google’s Pearl will not be the last Oscar-nominated VR Film.

In some countries, such as America, it is difficult for people to try out VR technology as consumers often have to often fork out US$1,000 or more to experience high-end VR. The trick is to make VR accessible, affordable and widely available. In China, there are over 100,000 internet cafes offering VR sessions for just a few dollars. Any VR kit that will sell well in the next couple of years is likely to be an inexpensive lower-end version that pairs with a smartphone, take for example Samsung, which has sold 5 million Gear VR headsets. Undoubtedly, Asia is leading the way in the mass adoption of VR technology.

For more insights, join Lionel Chok, Startup Founder/Creative Technologist, Immersively at the Virtual Reality Zone at BroadcastAsia2017. He will also be speaking about ‘Embracing Virtual Reality for New Possibilities’ on Day 2 of the Conference.

 

Lionel Chok, Startup Founder/Creative Technologist, Immersively, and Speaker, BroadcastAsia2017 is an aspirational Creative Technologist with over 18 years of experience in creative, media and design.. In between winning hackathons against the competition in the UK, he also dabbles with microcontrollers, digital fabrication using 3D Printers and laser cutters, to building sites and apps. He specialises in Augmenting Reality and Virtual Reality; and is looking forward to bringing emerging technologies to the forefront in education and businesses.

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4 Tips For Choosing The Right Property For Your Business

Your business premises can make or break your business. Finding the right premises can seem like an uphill struggle, especially if you are unsure what you are looking for.

We make many judgements and decisions every day. Some decisions are rationalised choices. Others are made from the heart, a result of our emotions deciding what feels right.

When it comes to business premises, leased or bought, allowing yourself to make an emotional decision and not a rationalised one can be disastrous.

There is the question of deciding whether to lease or invest in a business property but irrespective of this decision, you need to make sure you get the right building, at the right price.

#1 Money, Money, Money.

It’s top of the list because it is the drive force and the barrier to renting or buying a business property. It is the one thing that will weigh heavy as it is the biggest financial outlay you will have every month.

Your start-up will need to turn over the orders to rake in the cash to pay the rent or the mortgage. You want suitable premises, at a great price because if the costs are too big, it will suck your business under.

There are other costs associated with moving to new premises too. Frankly, if the figures don’t stack up, you need to re-assess.

#2 Location, Location, Location.

Now you have your budget nailed, you need to research property in your price bracket, taking note of where it is located.

Rental prices and business property prices reflect, as do prices for domestic properties, where they are.

A retail unit in a shopping mall with a footfall of several hundred people a day will cost considerably more than a unit down an alleyway off side street.

If your business needs footfall – people walking past and dropping in ‘on spec’ – clearly you need a property as close to the main shopping route as possible.

If, your business doesn’t need this footfall, there are many options and locations open to you. Serviced offices on business premises can tick all your maintenance and service needs, but are the not the cheapest.

Business premises that are super-cheap may be in places that are out of town, far off the beaten track, perfect for when your business is online only or not open to the public.

Remember, when renting a business premises, there is always a deal to be done

just like buying a domestic property, when it comes to investing in a business property, negotiate and haggle on the asking price.

#3 The Right Impression.

Your business premises must suit your business. It needs to frame the context within which you operate.

For example, if you are a store that sells vintage clothing and accessories, there is a certain look and ambience you want to create to meet customer expectations. So why would you base your vintage clothing business on the first floor of a super-modern business block?

Is it because the rent is cheap? Or were there lots of enticing extras on offer to snag your signature? Is this really creating the right impression of your business? Is this outlet, the style, the look and appeal framing the context of your business?

There is a saying ‘a fish out of water’, and it is a means of highlighting when something is in the wrong place, giving off the wrong signals. We all know a fish need water to breathe and live, and your business needs to create the right impression and meet expectations for it to do the same.

With respect to looks, impressions and expectations, once you have the right property, you must spend time, energy and effort to create an interior that also frames your business.

Using the example of a vintage clothing store, customers will expect shabby chic. For those seeking modern, non-invasive beauty treatments, they will be expecting a clean, clinic-like appeal to the business.

#4 The Legal Stuff.

Once you grab your ideal business property, there are various legal obligations and rules that you will need to follow.

If you are changing the use of the building, you may need to seek planning permission or some kind of permit. There are also a myriad of health and safety issues to consider, as well as fire safety, disabled access, facilities that you must provide and so on.

As you choose your property, you need to make decision with your head – can this building be adapted? Is it suitable? What needs to change and what are the costs? – because what you don’t want is to fall in love with a building, sign the dotted line only to find that to make it into what your business needs will cost a small fortune – a fortune your start-up doesn’t have.

Written by MTX Contracts, a UK-based firm who provide cutting-edge, innovative modular buildings solutions. Take a look at the beautiful, bespoke solutions created all kinds of businesses @mtxcontracts

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Startups: How To Keep A Tab On Business Travel Costs

Business trips and travel are a necessary part of most businesses. If you aren’t careful, the costs of these trips can be detrimental to your profits. Fortunately, with careful planning, you can cut down on the costs of these trips dramatically. With just a few extra steps to your planning, your trips will help your business succeed without costing it a fortune.

Here are just a few ways to help you save money in the long run:

Check for Discounts and Offers.

There are plenty of discounts available, especially as a company and you should be sure to take advantage of all of them. Calling an airline or hotel, for example, rather than booking over the Internet, gives you the chance to ask about discounts that they will offer you. Some of these could include frequent flier benefits, corporate discounts, or even rewards programs.

Plan Your Trips in Advance.

Buying last minute tickets for travel or booking a hotel at the last second is sometimes unavoidable. If you do have the opportunity to plan ahead, though, take that opportunity. Many hotels, flights, and even trains, will raise their prices the closer it gets to the booking date, so you can save some money by planning trips in advance.

Invest in a Travel Agent.

Paying a travel agent may seem counterintuitive, but this service will pay for itself overall. The important thing to remember is that travel agents plan trips for a living. As such, they have learned tips and tricks to save money that you may not know.

Be Careful When You Travel.

Much like planning ahead, this isn’t always an option. However, when it is, it can be crucial to saving money. Hotels and travel tickets – airlines and otherwise – are going to be more expensive when there are a lot of people traveling. For example, if you need to plan San Diego airport transportation, avoid Christmas and Thanksgiving when everyone is headed home to see their families.

Airlines Aren’t Your Only Option.

When we think about travel for business, we often think of flying to the location. While this is sometimes unavoidable for international travel, for traveling nationally you can try other forms of transport. You can travel by train as an alternative to flights and it can be used for shorter trips.

Use Online Meetings.

With the help of new technology, you don’t always need to travel to meet someone on the other side of the country or even the other side of the world. This, of course, isn’t always an option but when it is, take it. With the use of Skype and other similar resources, the age of technology has allowed us to save money on business trips by sometimes cutting them out completely.

Conclusion.

Traveling is simply a part of business; it’s how you handle it that makes the difference. If you handle it without much forethought, then your profits are going to suffer. However, adding a couple of these tricks to your planning will save you a lot. Even if it only saves you a little at first, don’t worry. When planning trips for your business, you must remember that long term savings are just as important as short ones, but don’t make your employees suffer. The idea with business trips is to use these ideas to be frugal, not cheap.

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Are You Ready To Start A Business?

by Mike Carroll

There are people with ideas, and there are people with good ideas. There are those who want to work on their own, and there are the few who know how to do it. Most new businesses fail for insufficient passion and planning. But, thinking ahead, you can lay a strong foundation.

Making your startup succeed.

Believe in your brand.

Your product or service must have a unique sales proposition, a pitch that differentiates yours from others. You must have a purpose and believe your brand will achieve that purpose.

Buckle up.

Chasing a dream will take you for a bumpy ride. You need to be flexible. It takes courage and conviction, and they differ from stubbornness and myopia. You may not like it, but  you must let go of dreams that prove unrealistic. Your job is to create solutions.

Budget well.

You do not have the money to start a business if you have not planned well. It takes some over-budgeting to anticipate all the expenses you will incur. From business cards to technology, from insurance to signage, and from labor burden to regulatory compliance. Expect your actual costs to be well above your budget.

Consult pros.

Entrepreneurs risk failure when they ignore or fail to solicit the advice of professionals in law, human resources, accounting, and so on. For example, running a Delaware business search will identify business entities and help you form a regulatory-advantaged Delaware-based corporation.

Defy competition.

Writing for Forbes, Eric T. Wagner recommends, “Prepare to be copied. Don’t start unless you’ll survive imitation.” The most successful startups work innovative responses to copy cats into their plans. They build response and recovery into their business plan.

Hire performance.

It’s your mistake to hire friends and relatives. Confident and possessed by you idea and purpose, you must assemble the best team you can. The business does not need people; it needs specialists, skills, and smarts. It needs performers to run finances, operations, and marketing. As long as the product is yours, you manage the relationship and retention.

Grow business.

Revenue follows sales. So, early sales are crucial for needed income. They are also vital as relationships you can strengthen. Customers are the source of referrals and continuing income.

Lead well.

A leader defers more than manages. You must surround yourself with talent and, then, step out of their way. In Entrepreneur, Lindsay Broder says, “leadership is about creating and guiding an environment built around success.” It takes management – not micromanagement.

Strengthen connections.

The entrepreneurial drive and passion strains personal at home and professional relationships at work. While you must manage and control, you cannot afford to disconnect from your internal support and delivery systems.

Your startup is a GO!

A successful business starts with an idea. It’s fed and energized with passion and commitment. But, there is a very strong element of genius, too.

Whether you are thinking of an opening a dry cleaner or bringing a new app to the internet, you cannot compete without a unique sales proposition. You need that special reason to cross the street to buy or make your app the go-to online option.

When you start a business, your customers want innovation and quality. It’s your job to make that happen and keep happening – despite the challenges coming from every direction.

Those problems will continue and change their shape. But, successful startups accept those challenges as opportunities. They somehow understand their business is all about recognizing problems and selling their solutions.

You’re ready when you have positioned your head and body to life the life of a startup leader.

 

 

Mike Carroll is a contributor to OutreachMama and Youth Noise NJ who helps businesses find their audience online through research, content copy, and white papers. He frequently writes about management, marketing, and sales with customized outreach for digital marketing channels and outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.

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5 Modern Technologies That Make Launching A Startup Easier

According to the 2015/16 Global Report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), 69 percent of entrepreneurs pursue opportunities as a basis of entrepreneurial motivations, rather than just starting out of necessity. The report shows a shift in trends and entrepreneurship as a type of lifestyle, not just a job. This focus and ambition can also help fuel the momentum behind new start-ups, but attitude alone isn’t enough to guarantee success.

Fortunately there are plenty of resources and technologies to help make the startup phase easier. Here are five tools to help you get started:

1. 3-D Printing.

It’s now possible to prototype your entire idea in just one day and get the product back the next by relying on 3-D printing. For example, Stratasys Direct Express offers rapid self-service prototyping with fast-turn around. Customers upload their files and get back their parts and prototypes within days. And once your product is ready for mass manufacturing, rely on a manufacturer that custom makes parts, like Viton fluorocarbon o-ring manufacturer Apple Rubber, to significantly reduce your ongoing startup costs.

2. Traffic Building Software.

SumoMe offers site-growing solutions without any coding required. Load the SumoMe plugin into your website for access to social sharing features, email capture form and the ability to highlight and call out your best quotes to entice more sharing. SumoMe’s Discover connects your site to 150,000 other SumoMe sites to send more traffic your way and help promote content on your site.

Don’t waste valuable time or money backing up your own data using on-site servers. Data loss is a major reason why startups stumble, and even fail. However, restoring your own data has a high chance for error or failure, and you’re risking valuable data without a dedicated team to focus on your cloud backup and emergency restoration. Meanwhile, third party cloud backup providers like Mozy offer military grade encryption to companies of all sizes. Quickly restore the data you need on just about any device to keep your company going in a crisis.

3. Social Media.

Automation tools for social media have made it a breeze to quickly grow and maintain a presence across multiple channels. Use a tool like MeetEdgar to schedule out social media updates about your startup, news and giveaways. Updates are put into different categories, or buckets, that can then be recycled later without ever needing to go back in and reschedule your content. Your ongoing updates and social media presence can give your online traffic a boost and get your business and/or product in front of the right people who are motivated to buy.

4. Project Management Apps.

Launching a startup takes a lot of moving parts and processes with multiple employees, interns, investors, beta testers and vendors in the mix. Keep it all organized with a digital project management tool like Asana. Assign tasks to different people that only they can see, and move the assignment along to its completion. Everyone in the group can keep tabs on what’s happening without needing to trade multiple email chains back and forth.

5. App Building Software.

App builders dramatically lower the bar for entry as well as give entrepreneurs more options for how to structure their business and what type of products to release. Create your own apps for your company’s internal use or to launch to your customer base. A tool like GoodBarber can take you through the steps from design to content, testing and publication. GoodBarber can also help list your product in iTunes or Google Play to show off your app to the world.

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Top 10 Considerations When Starting Your Own Company

by Taylor Ryan, head of marketing at GenieBelt

According to recent reports, more and more people are looking forward to starting their own companies. In case you too are thinking of setting up your own company, it is essential to note that: the distance between the thought of starting up and finally being able to take action is usually extremely vast. In addition to this, there is the sad reality that majority of the people presently thinking of starting their own companies would never see through their plans.

In case you are amongst those who are launching their businesses then welcome to the adventure. First off, it is essential to understand the fact that the odds are not in your favor but again that is precisely why you are doing it. In the event that you decide to bridge the gap and take the plunge know that you are definitely on the right track.

In addition to all of the above, below are the top 10 considerations when starting your own company. They include the fact that:

1. Your business might fail.

In the process of planning to start your company, you should know that in case you fall in step with some of the finer details, chances are that your business will most definitely bite the dust. As a matter of fact, according to reports, the overall business failure rate is set at around 90%. These statistics factor in issues such as the industry type and failure time frame. In addition to the general fact that your business risks failure, it is essential to understand the fact that timing is equally of significant importance.

2. You are bound to have competition.

In case you are thinking of starting your own company, do not think that you are the only one with that idea. Just so you know, at any given point and time, there are usually several others who are competing for the same customer base. As a matter of fact, some of your competitors may even be better than you. For instance, their branding may seem snazzier than yours; their marketing budgets may seem larger than yours etc

Since you can’t possibly avoid or get rid of the competition, the best thing to do not to be discouraged by it. Just so you know, without competition, you could easily become lazy and lose your edge. This being the case, it is strongly advised that you embrace the competition and improve because of it.

3. You will need to embark on learning more than you already know.

According to reports, many entrepreneurs who set out to start companies do so because they have a detailed overview of the kind of business niche that they are venturing into. put, having the talent alone and the expertise to accompany it does not necessarily serve as a guarantee for success when looking forward to setting up your company. Just so you know, you will need slightly more in terms of scalability, marketing, software, sales, laws and software in order to make the business a success.

4. You will need a significant amount of money to spend.

Companies can be bootstrapped (launched with nothing more than one’s existing cash or resources). What’s more, these same companies usually require a significant initial capital apart from good financial planning. One perfect place to get the initial capital for setting up a company is leveraging small business loans. Take note, you should prepare yourself to spend money and also protect it being the valuable resource that it is.

5. You will not immediately succeed.

You will agree and support the fact that the title of business owners is usually in most cases associated with Bentleys and Rolexes. Take note, the harsh reality of the matter is starting a company is more of a soul sucking adventure rather than an income boosting experience. Take note, even though riches may be in your future, fact is, the path to achieving them will most definitely be long and hard.

6. You will need to obey laws.

Just so you know, in each and every country there are business regulations which you would need to comply with in case you are looking to start a company in any particular country. Taking this into consideration, it is strongly advised that you perform due diligence in order to have a clear idea of what compliance in the region you are looking to invest in entails. In the process of doing this, it is strongly advised that you closely pay attention the company registration, licenses as well as taxes. The last thing you need is finding yourself in legal mire as a result of your own laxity.

7. You can never do it by yourself.

The lone ranger entrepreneur is usually such an extremely romantic image. Even though it may seem extremely economically provocative, it is not accurate. Just so you know, on average, start ups with a single founder usually have such a high likelihood of failure because of the emotional pressure which start ups are known to exert upon individuals. put, at the bare minimum, start your business with a founder or even three. In addition to this, employ several different independent contractors alongside your preferred service providers to supplement your knowledge, time commitment and talent.

8. Your target customers won’t immediately come flocking.

It is essential to understand the fact that regardless of how innovative your idea may be, it is not a guarantee that customers would immediately find you and start flocking your way.

9. You would be tempted to quit.

In case you are looking forward to starting your own company, you should let this be the last course of action. Just so you know, at some point of time, expect to be tempted to quit, in fact, you will be racked with doubt forcing you to consider jumping ship.

10. Staff Classification.

You should also pay close attention to how you staff classification is done as this is the only way through which you would be able to make good of your idea once you plan is in motion.

Everything taken into consideration, it is   essential to understand the fact that it is only you who can make it happen for yourself.

 

Taylor Ryan is head of marketing at GenieBelt – an easy-to-use construction management software. Taylor has co-founded, led, and worked in multiple startups over the last 10 years. He’s passionate about SEO, growth hacking, conversion rate optimization, content creation, and managing the marketing team to be their very best.

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What’s The Most Important Trait To Look For In An Employee?

by Kyle Zagrodzky, president of OsteoStrong

Hiring is one of the most crucial decisions you will make as an entrepreneur. Staffing choices are some of the hardest in any business, but because every person counts in an entrepreneurial venture, the people you choose to grow your business are even more vital. As your business expands, the list of things you have to delegate grows along with it, which means putting more trust in more people. With so much on the line, how do you choose the perfect people for those roles?

Hiring is far more art than science. You could easily ask five great businesspeople about the best way to hire talent and get five different answers. Even hiring mammoth Google, who once tried to identify the smartest candidates with bizarre interview brainteasers, later admitted that their unusual questions weren’t reliable predictors of who would ultimately become a good employee.

How do you sort out the smartest from the friendliest, the most skilled from those with the most potential, and the team players from those who are just out for themselves? How do you make big decisions about who to trust within a miniscule interview period?

The answer is simple: Always go with your gut.

What do your instincts say?

Someone may flaunt perfect test scores, flawless GPAs from ivy league schools, and an ideal number of years in the right jobs, but… For some reason you can’t quite put your finger on, you just don’t like them. If that’s the case, don’t hire them! No matter how great someone seems on paper, it’s always better to hire the person you have a “good feeling” about. Think about a time when an employee didn’t work out, then go back over the initial interviews. Were there red flags or subtle signs that you ignored? When an employee doesn’t go the distance, there were usually overlooked warning signs early on.

Our culture often values visible facts over instinct, but gut feelings are one of your best hiring tools. They’re the subconscious compasses that point out good and bad traits in people that are harder to quantify on paper, traits like creative and confident versus uninspired and cocky. Above all, listen to your gut.

Get the team involved.

As an entrepreneur, you may be the supreme ruler of your business, but the person you hire likely won’t work with you exclusively. Even though the hiring manager makes the decision about who to bring on board, it’s wise to involve the team the candidate will actually work with in the interview and evaluation process. You might get lucky working on your own every time, but it’s better to involve people you trust in the choice of who joins the work family. For this process to work, you also have to make sure employees have a comfortable space to provide candid feedback. Give them a place to share concerns and upsides, and listen carefully.

Diversify your interview question base.

When someone is asked to describe their personality in an interview, they’re often trying to tell you what they think you want to hear. Instead, tune your questions to get answers that will show who someone really is. As they speak, do you get a sense that they are competitive, driven, soft spoken, or intuitive? To get a better sense of the person, make your questions more creative and approachable. For example, what would their best friend tell you about them if they were here? What was their last Facebook post about? What do they do to blow off steam when they’re stressed, and what do they do for fun?

Hire specific personalities for specific job categories.

Everyone is blessed with a certain set of skills and personality traits, and your job is to figure out who fits into which role best. Managers need to be on top of the numbers, but they also have to be fair, accountable, encouraging, and realistic. A good manager will be positive and want to coach employees and bring out the best in them. They need awareness, empathy, and the ability to know which employee will perform which task the best. “Front people” are the born extroverts who are energized by time with people and don’t mind being assertive; they’re the ones you want greeting people on the phone, attending trade shows, and selling. Visionaries are the sensitive, creative problem solvers who assess the present accurately and see past the moment into the future.

Take the interview outside the office.

This rule applies to every role, but especially to jobs that include sales and public-facing responsibilities. Take your top candidates out to lunch, ideally with the group they will work with closely, and let everyone get a sense of them in an informal setting. How are their table manners? Are they comfortable making conversation with a group they don’t know well? How do they treat the waiter and other people who aren’t directly related to the interview? A casual lunch is an optimal environment to just relax with a candidate and let those inner instincts go to work.

 

Kyle Zagrodzky is president of OsteoStrong, the health and wellness system with a focus on stronger bones, improved strength, and better balance in less than 10 minutes a week using scientifically proven and patented osteogenic loading technology. OsteoStrong introduced a new era in modern wellness and anti-aging in 2011 and has since helped thousands of clients between ages 8 and 98 improve strength, balance, endurance, and bone density.

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Merchant Services 101: Credit Card Processing For Small Business

According to Apple’s latest quarterly report, ApplePay users tripled in 2016, with transaction volume up 500%. Clearly, evolving with the latest in new technology like ApplePay is crucial for small business owners–especially when those new technologies deal with sales, the lifeline of your business.

At the forefront of these changes is a revolutionary wave of new credit card processing solutions that make it easier and safer than ever for consumers to spend their money, and customers are happily embracing these innovative new ways to pay. From mobile wallets like ApplePay and Google Wallet, to on-demand apps, connectivity through near field communication (NFC) and transactions via Bluetooth, credit card processing has changed significantly in just a few short years, and merchant service companies are virtually unrecognizable from what they were just a few short years ago.

Keeping informed of new innovations to what is credit card processing for small business is vital to the financial health and growth of your enterprise. Read on to find out more about the best tools and services you should be using for payment processing in 2017, and how your merchant services company can help you build a better business.

Credit Card Terminals for Small Business.

A credit card terminal is a portable device that allows merchants to process credit and debit card transactions almost instantly through a merchant services provider. If you’re doing over the counter sales, chances are that you’re already leasing, renting or have purchased a device for smooth, fast credit card processing.

The range of features included on your credit card terminal will vary according to your machine, the pricing plan under the merchant services provider you work with, and your own personal business needs. If you’re interested in the growth of your business into the new era of online payment processing, you’ll want to make sure that your credit card terminal offers the following features and capabilities:

• Contactless Payment Processing (Tap and Go)
• Digital Wallet Payment Processing (ApplePay, Google Wallet)
• EMV Chip Readers
• Check Scanning and Pin Pad Add-On Devices
• Mobile, Wi-Fi Compatibility

Many payment processing companies, like National Bankcard, offer free, credit card terminals up-to-date with current industry standards, wholesale rates, and no contract policies–making it easier than ever to transfer your business transactions into the new era of payment processing.

Mobile Credit Card Processing for Small Business.

If you’re taking your business on the road, there’s no better way to do that than with wireless credit card machines for small business. Mobile credit card readers are small devices that plug into your smartphone, and allow for merchants to swipe credit cards for quick and easy payment, no matter where you are.

Most mobile credit card readers will come with a useful app to manage sales and send receipts to customers. Look for companies that offer well-designed apps with these features and as many extras as possible– like tip calculators, data charts and graphs, and more.

POS Credit Card Processing for Small Business.

Many businesses operate without a POS system in place, however, not having one places merchants at a huge disadvantage from those that do. An advanced POS system will not only offer a range of payment processing options, but will also offer features designed to help you streamline your business operations, organize your customer information into useful data, reduce the risk of miscalculations at checkout, manage your inventory and employee schedules, and so much more.

New era POS systems connect to your cash drawer, printer, tablet, scanner and phone lines, and are NFC and EMV compatible. Your merchant services provider should be able to work with you to set up a personalized suite of services designed to substantially enhance your business’s performance from the ground up.

Online Credit Card Processing for Small Business.

Online credit card processing over the internet gives customers the convenience of accessing your products at any time of the day or night, providing unlimited extra potential for earnings.

Today’s merchant service companies offer a range of online credit card processing solutions, from shopping cart integration to virtual terminal processing, access to a platform of online management services like transaction history, sales information, financial reports, customer databases and more.

If you have a online payment solution integrated onto your website, there’s never been a better time to evaluate how it’s working for you. If your online payment system is glitchy, unattractive, outdated or user-unfriendly, it could be costing you money in sales. You’ll also want to take a look at your competition to get an idea of what payment methods they accept on their websites. For example, Comcast announced they would soon be accepting ApplePay payments online, and other similar companies should be likely to follow suit if they want to keep from losing customers that prefer this option.

Deciding on a Payment Processing Solution.

A quick comparison of features offered by different merchant services providers that specialize in credit card payment processing for small business, like the aforementioned National Bankcard, should tell you whether it’s time to upgrade your payment processing systems or not.

All in all, choosing the right options for payment processing is about determining your own specific needs as a business owner. Understanding the complex world of merchant services is not for the faint of heart, and it’s worth it to speak with a trusted professional for advice on choosing the right methods to help your business grow.

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Surviving Growing Pains Of Blogging

With every new project or business endeavour, there are going to be a few growing pains. They are the price we have to pay to succeed, the bumps on the road to our destination. Blogging is no exception. If you want to truly succeed with your blog and make money from it, you’re going to have to endure some of the bumps along the way.

The harsh reality of blogging is that there are going to be times along the way that you may feel like throwing in the towel and giving up on your goals. But if you want to succeed, you’ll have to find a way to push through the tough times. You may have to:

• Endure sleepless nights
• Step outside of your comfort zone
• Forego some social engagements in favour of getting your post done
• Battle with writer’s block and lapses in creativity
• Dig deep to find the necessary discipline
• …and more.

These are just some of the “growing pains” that can be associated with blogging as a business. If you are serious about making your mark, however, those are the prices you’ll have to pay. Of course, not everyone will go through all of these issues, and there may be some issues not listed here. But as a general rule, these are things you can expect to have to go through if you want to make a splash. As the saying goes, if you want to see a rainbow, you’ll have to put up with a little rain. So, how do you go about getting through these tough times and persevere toward success?

These are the keys to success: consistency, determination, laser focus, and hard work. A can-do attitude will go a long way, too.

One thing that can really help is to have a plan. Create an editorial calendar for your blog so you always know what posts are coming up. This will help you to schedule your time, to preplan the rollout of your posts, to schedule some product reviews, etc. in between your regular posts, etc. It is amazing how much staying organized and having a plan will help to keep you motivated, focused, and consistent.

There are so many bloggers out there, and so many blogs on every imaginable topic. Some blogs make money – a lot of money. They didn’t get there overnight, though. Blogging can be fun, and most people wouldn’t do it if it weren’t enjoyable at least most of the time, but as with anything, it’s not always easy. When the tough moments strike, it’s important to keep your goal in the spotlight. Starting a WordPress blog can start out as a hobby, or as a hobby with a goal of transforming that hobby into an income stream. There are many people who make a very good living through blogging, and you can be one of those people, too, if you are wiling to put in the time and effort.

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How Fintech Startups Are Transforming Business

Financial technology, also known as fintech, is changing business in a number of ways, and the value it provides for the average investor will only accelerate the transformation. Fintech affects every aspect of the financial sector, may it be investing, money transfers, online purchases or banking.

Let’s look at how fintech startups are completely transforming the world of business and finance:

On Demand Financial Products.

Fintech startups and those who have been in the market for several years are revolutionizing the financial market by offering much faster loan processing. Whether it is a crowd-sourced lending site’s ultra-fast app-based mortgage process, it is increasingly possible to request and be approved for a loan in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.

Big Data Brings Personalized Services.

Big data has allowed many companies to automate “manual” underwriting. Processes can be automated to generate standard reports on someone’s payment history, bank deposits and other information. This makes manual underwriting almost as automatic as pulling someone’s FICO score and approving or denying a loan on that basis.

Another variation of this is the personalization of insurance through data analysis, allowing drivers to save on auto insurance with pay as you go auto insurance when the tracking devices show that they have safe driving habits. The analysis of “big data” also allows companies to offer insurance to markets that have never had it before, such as offering crop insurance to subsistence farmers for a few dollars per acre to replace their seeds if the harvest is wiped out early in the season.

Payment Processing Via Apps.

One of the biggest advances fintech has brought to small businesses and sole proprietors is allowing them to process payments via apps. For example, Square lets you process credit cards by swiping them and running the transaction through your smartphone. Stripe allows small businesses and individuals to accept Apple Pay. These apps allow Girl Scouts to receive credit card payments and Apple Pay for cookies, while someone at a flea market can use the same apps to sell items to those who don’t have enough cash.

Payment processing via apps is revolutionizing the developing world. Instead of trekking to a Western Union and paying heavy fees to send money home, remittances are increasingly sent via apps to family in the home country and available for withdrawal at an ATM or electronic payments immediately. Processing fees and wait times are reduced for the poorest in the world. Digital payments allow people who’ve traditionally been shut out of the formal financial system to pay utilities and school bills.

Wealth Management and Automated Investing Services.

Automated investing services, also called robo-advisers, use big data and machine learning algorithms to offer personalized advice for a fraction of the cost of a human adviser. These industry-leading online brokerage firms are able to offer advice to their clients anytime and anywhere, while keeping account minimums and fees low.

Cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have a shady reputation due to the anonymity they provide, due to the stories that pop up about ransomware demands for payments in Bitcoin. Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies also offer a way to launder money around financial controls, which is why Bitcoin and other alternative digital currencies saw demand boom as India demonetized and various European Union nations shifted to negative interest rates or even bail-ins. Cryptocurrencies also provide consumers a private way to donate money or buy items without worrying about currency fluctuations.

One side effect of Bitcoin’s Blockchain is the promise it has of providing a more decentralized, transparent and secure way of exchanging money and hard assets. The legal mess created with collateralized home mortgages sold and resold through mortgage backed securities would have been avoided had blockchain technology been used. Now blockchain is used to track money, gems and even vehicle titles.

Conclusion.

Fintech startups are offering financial products like loans in record time while reducing the work required by financial institutions to evaluate risks. Customers get customized offers and personalized service at a fraction of the former cost. Cryptocurrency has received a bad rap but the blockchain technology promises to bring greater transparency and tighter tracking of assets over the long term.

Automated advisers allow investing firms to offer advice at a low cost to most clients, permitting them to operate with lower account minimums and fees, and thereby making it easier for accountholders to keep their investment gains. Big data and artificial intelligence of that data are allowing businesses to assess the risk of serving the unbanked and other traditionally underserved markets.

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3 Proven Techniques To Reduce Chargebacks

by Stephen Hart, CEO of Cardswitcher 

First things first, what is a chargeback? Simply put, a chargebacks is a disputed transaction between a customer and a business.

If the chargeback is successful, the transaction is reversed and the customer has the money returned to his or her account.

While chargebacks were originally created to protect consumers from fraudulent usage of their cards, they are increasingly used by people who simply do not want to pay for goods or services. This is called friendly fraud.

Irish technology company Global Risk Technologies recently investigated the issue and found that an astonishing 86% of all chargebacks in the EU were placed fraudulently.

Legitimate, fraudulent and everything in between, chargebacks pose a serious threat to businesses around the world and result in millions of dollars of lost revenue every single year.

How Can I Limit Chargebacks?

Protecting your business from chargebacks isn’t a huge ordeal and neither is it overly technical. Taking a few simple steps can make a huge difference, reducing the number of chargebacks you receive to a negligible level.

Below are three techniques we recommend you use to help protect your business from the threat of chargebacks:

#1: Choose a recognisable name.

To understand why your name plays a big role in chargebacks, let’s look at US tech company, 37signals. 37signals sells a range of digital products, their most popular being a project management tool called Basecamp.

In their early days, when a customer purchased a subscription to Basecamp, they were billed under the name 37signals LLC.

This left a lot of people confused and trying to work out what the mysterious charge was actually for. Instead of researching the name, many customers decided that it was a fraudulent transaction and requested a chargeback from their bank.

By 2009, the number of chargebacks 37signals was receiving had grown to a concerning level. The company started experimenting with their statements in a bid to reduce the number of chargebacks they had to deal with.

After some trial and error, they opted to switch their billing name to a URL — 37signals-charge.com so now, when someone bought a subscription to BaseCamp, they would see 37signals-charge.com on their statement.

If a customer followed the URL, they were taken to a website that explained what 37signals was and how 37signals was the company behind the product they had just purchased.

Chargebacks fell by 30% overnight, which saved 37signals a huge amount of time and money.

The takeaway tip here is clear: Choose a statement name that your customers will actually recognise!

#2: Clearly offer refunds.

The refund process for bricks-and-mortar shops is pretty straightforward. You go back to the store, find the customer service desk and hand over your purchased items.

For online purchases, however, the process is significantly murkier. Common concerns for online merchants include:

• Who organises the return?
• Who pays for the return shipping?
• When does the merchant actually pay the refund?
• Is the original shipping refunded?

No matter how a refund is handled, it will undoubtedly take up a lot of time and cause a fair bit of stress for both the merchant and customer.

Okay, that’s all very interesting but how are refunds they linked to chargebacks?

Well, if a customer sees a more streamlined way to get their money back, they’ll probably use it. And rightly or wrongly, a lot of people see chargebacks as a hassle free alternative to clunky return processes.

It’s helpful to think about your refund process as being in direct competition to chargebacks. With that in mind, ask yourself whether it’s your returns process is attractive enough to entice your customers through an official route.

To minimise friction on the refunds process don’t ask customers to jump through hoops, don’t ask them to fill out reams of paperwork and don’t employee frontline service staff who can’t actually deal with problems.

Once your customers know that you offer stress-free refunds, they are significantly less likely to resort of chargebacks.

#3: Keep communicating.

Think back to the last time you received poor customer service — not just poor but evasive. The type of service where someone emails you the exact same canned response ten times in a row before admitting they can’t actually help you.

Remember your frustration boiling, your eyes rolling and the urge to slam down the phone?

Well, when a customer experiences that sort of awful service, can you really blame them for resorting to chargebacks?

Do the simple things well and keep communicating. Respond quickly to emails, phone calls and social media posts. Get back to people as soon as you can. Provide genuine answers to their queries.

You’ll be amazed how compliant a customer will be if they think you’re working for them rather than against them.

Average Chargeback Rates.

Industry benchmarks for chargebacks are notoriously rare and inaccurate. The best we’ve found come from Ingenico and break averages down into industries.

Industry Average Chargeback Rate
Software 0.89
Financial Services 0.79
Gaming 0.59
Gambling 0.56
Retail 0.45
Travel 0.37
Media & eContent 0.31

How does your business perform against the industry standards? Let us know in the comments.

 

CEO of Cardswitcher Stephen Hart spent years in the financial sector, working for giant companies like PwC, RBS and, most recently, WorldPay as their Chief Financial Officer.  In 2013, Stephen left his position at WorldPay and officially launched Cardswitcher, a marketplace for payment processor suppliers. Cardswitcher now saves SMEs a collosal £15,358,128 every single year.

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Startup Tips For Young Entrepreneurs

 

Are there certain traits, factors or qualities that make someone a successful entrepreneur? This is a question that many young people who are considering starting their own businesses ask.

The truth is, there is no one response that is perfect, or is a solution for everyone. In fact, older entrepreneurs have their own unique stories of how they became successful. However, there is one thing they all have in common. They all began at the bottom rung of the ladder, and worked their way up to the top.

With that in mind, there are some tips that you can keep in mind as you begin working on your start-up venture:

Idea.

The first thing that you must do is to evaluate your business idea. Is it an idea that does not only seem feasible to you, but also to society? Although you do not want to disclose your idea, you do want to do the right research and due diligence to see if the idea is practical, viable and profitable.

You need to know if consumers will be genuinely interested in the product or service you are trying to sell. The ROI (return on investment) potential must be positive.

It is also important that you determine whether your business idea is cyclical or trendy. Will it provide you with a huge ROI quickly, but then the customer base dwindles just as quickly? Take the time to research the idea thoroughly before you decide to implement it. There are some experts that say the timeframe for this is up to 5 years, but if your business idea is based on a trend, you may want to implement the plan quickly.

The Budget.

If you are truly serous about knowing how to set up a business in the US, you will need to take an honest look at how much money will be required. Unless you have cash reserves lined up, you may want to get a line of credit. Lines of credit are usually preferred over traditional loans because they do not require as much paperwork. You also do not have to anxiously wait for idea to be approved for funding.

Lines of credit can be based on collateral or no collateral. One that is based on collateral means that the borrower is responsible for any capital they borrow. However, one that is not based on collateral means that you do not have to put any personal belongings at stake if the capital is not paid.

You should also make sure that you are getting the best rate of interest available based on your credit rating, and compare this rate with other lenders.

Decide on a Business Structure.

Will your business be a sole proprietorship, corporation or partnership? Depending on any personal situations you may be dealing with, it is essential you know how the business is structured and who will be responsible for the debt.

The Name.

The name that you choose for your business needs to capture the heart of your business. What does the name or acronym mean, and why is it important enough to be your brand name? Register the name while you are in the process of handling other legal matters related to the business. Keep in mind that you cannot register a name that is already in use, so be sure the name is unique.

The above-mentioned tips will help you as you begin the journey of starting a new business. Even though everyone starts at the bottom, the right foundation will help your business stand tall.

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Will You Survive The Job-Loss Tsunami?

by Edward D. Hess and Katherine Ludwig, coauthors of “Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age“

If you think you’ve lived through a bad economy, you haven’t seen anything yet. On the horizon is a “technology tsunami” poised to destroy tens of millions of jobs due to automation. The best research to date from researchers at Oxford University predicts that 47 percent of all jobs in the United States have a high probability of being taken over by technology in the next five to fifteen years. Based on that research along with independent research, the chief economist of the Bank of England predicted in 2015 that the United States could lose upwards of 80 million jobs during that time frame.

We can and must learn how to excel at doing the skills that technology can’t do. We must improve our critical and innovative thinking, problem solving skills, and emotional intelligence (EI). We must become more creative, master our ego and emotions, and basically ‘learn how to learn.’ It surprises most people to hear that humility and EI — not high IQ, advanced degrees, great knowledge, or any other traditional predictor of success — will be the keys to survival.

If you’re skeptical about the coming tsunami, just open your eyes. The exponential convergence of technology advances in the areas of artificial intelligence, deep learning, the Internet of Things, nanotechnology, advanced robotics, 3D printing, neuroscience, driverless vehicles, virtual reality, and biotechnology should be warning enough that everything is changing — and that you need to change right along with it.

We’vee a variety of thought-provoking predictions. Here are just a few:

The loss of manufacturing jobs so far is just a warm-up.

Over the last 35 years about 7 million manufacturing jobs were lost in the United States due primarily to automation. Seven million lost manufacturing jobs pales in comparison to the likely 80 million job losses due to further technology automation that’s on the horizon.

The tech tsunami is our Industrial Revolution — but worse.

This technology tsunami has the potential of being as disruptive for us as the Industrial Revolution was for our ancestors. Techno-optimists tell us to relax. Don’t worry, they say, because technology will produce lots of new jobs to replace the destroyed jobs just like it did in the Industrial Revolution. They believe history will repeat itself. Well, not so fast. First, the human misery in the United Kingdom resulting from the Industrial Revolution lasted 60-90 years depending on the historical research. That is a long time for society to ‘right’ itself. That’s a lot of personal pain and misery.

Second, this question is real. Will technology create enough new jobs that advancing technology itself can’t do? Unlikely. That is why this time may be different from the Industrial Revolution. We are talking about a major societal challenge — the preservation of the American Dream. We are talking about the future of work in the United States and the world. And we as a society are not prepared. Many of us as individuals are not prepared.

If your job doesn’t involve higher-order thinking or EI, it’s likely going away.

Jobs at high risk include service jobs in retail and fast food, manual labor, long-haul trucking, and jobs for accountants, clerks, paralegals, security guards, telemarketers, customer service reps, construction workers, and professionals in the accounting, legal, financial, consulting, and medical professions. What jobs will be secure? That will change as technology advances.

For now, the consensus opinion is that humans will be needed to do those tasks that require higher-order critical thinking, innovation, creativity, high emotional engagement with other humans, and trade skills requiring real-time problem solving and manual dexterity. Many service jobs that don’t require high emotional engagement with humans will be automated. Professional jobs that don’t require higher-order thinking and problem solving skills or high emotional engagement will be automated.

Humans will be in a frantic footrace to stay ahead of the smart machines.

We all need to begin preparing ourselves and our families by learning how to do the skills that technology won’t be able to do well. We can do that by improving our critical thinking, problem solving, innovative/creative thinking, and our emotional intelligence skills and by learning iterative learning processes. We can learn how to manage our thinking and our emotions and how to excel at working in teams on complicated problems.

Those in service jobs can develop their emotional intelligence to a higher level and move into a job that involves the delivery of very personalized customer service directly to individuals. Those in jobs with a high probability of being displaced should start now retraining for a job that technology is not expected to do well. For example, move into jobs that require non-routine problem solving.

This technology tsunami was not seriously discussed in the recent presidential campaign.

Therefore, we need a serious national discussion about the future of work; how we can quickly educate our children to prepare them for this new world; how we deal with unemployment levels that could well exceed those levels experienced in the Great Depression; and how we define the new American Dream based on technology realities. However, this discussion may not happen, or it may happen too late. We as individuals must take charge of our own future now.

 

Edward Hess and Katherine Ludwig are the authors of the new book “Humility Is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age“, which puts forth a new model called NewSmart, designed to help humans thrive alongside technology in the Smart Machine Age.

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6 Things Every Startup Needs To Know To Attract Top Talent

by Kelly Barcelos, Jobsoid

They say ‘a company is only as good as its employees’. Every startup founder can relate to that more than anyone else as they’ve probably seen the difference a strong, enterprising team of employees can make to a business during its initial few years.

When you are still building credibility, and finding your place in a competitive market, it is especially important to hire the right employees. But, how?

The answer is simple – use our 6 recruitment hacks for startups and watch your company grow from 5 to 50! As added bonus, we’ve added quick pro tips and tricks to hack your way through the process!

1. Communicate Clearly.

Whether you are drafting a job vacancy post or taking the actual interview, as a recruiter you must be absolutely clear about who you are looking for, skills required, the current and future expectations for the vacant position as well as the culture you are striving for.

If your messaging is clear and concise, you are sure to find what you’re looking for.This is also beneficial for the candidates as they know exactly what is expected of them and you automatically filter out irrelevant applicants.

2. Hire People who are Willing to Grow.

A person’s attitude towards their job is what makes all the difference.  You can find 10 employees willing to do the job, but one out of those ten will actually have the passion and dedication to excel at that job. Being able to put in the time and work hard is most definitely a desired skill, but focusing that effort in order to get the best outcome is the kind of enterprising spirit you need to go after!

3. Choose Skills over Credentials.

Startups in particular need a lot of fresh ideas and energy to grow and flourish. By hiring younger talent, you can embrace a fresh approach which is exactly what growing startups need to succeed. Go after candidates with a proactive spirit and the desire to grow because experience and expertise can be gained through teaching and training as well.

4. Build an Effective Recruitment Pipeline.

Hiring for startups a complicated affair and can consume a lot of time. So, in order to avoid any lags during the hiring process, always be on the look-out for talent. Keep a close watch on your sourcing channels, and the traction received from them. Understand which method/channel works best for your organization and streamline your recruiting processes accordingly.

Pro Tip- Leverage technology and automate your recruitment with an Applicant Tracking System for successful employee on-boarding practices. These days there are a variety of comprehensive recruitment tools that host multiple features, ranging from sourcing & tracking applicants, interview scheduling and real time reporting all in one place, with cloud reliability nonetheless!

5. The Hiring Process should Reflect your Culture.

Engage your client right from the get-go! Beginning from a compelling job post, right up to the final offer, your communication at all times should reflect the kind of culture and value system you strive to achieve in the organization. Prompt and transparent communication at all stages it a must. All the little details make a great impact in your potential employees mind.

Pro Tip- During the interview, you can talk about your office culture and values, the various benefits your employees offer and the general work ethic of your organization to be able to showcase the focus towards overall development as opposed to simply getting the work done.

6. Offer Real Benefits.

Good talent is limited and often hard to find. It is not easy for startups to offer competitive salaries, unlike their established counterparts. Instead, you can compensate the pay difference with perks such as equity, company outings, flexible timings, ergonomic furniture, medical insurance and an attractive fun-at-work policy. Create a social media presence which reflects your company culture, enabling potential candidates a way to get a better sense of what working for you will be like, making them more likely to accept the offer.

Once you’ve found your candidate, make sure you maintain your company’s promise. Putting the expectations of your team first is crucial to maintaining a motivated and enthusiastic team. And a motivated team guarantees a healthy startup.  Build a culture you and your employees will be proud of and leverage technology wherever possible!

 

Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager specializing in HR and is responsible for leading Jobsoid’s content and social media team. She started with Jobsoid as a social media strategist and eventually took over the entire digital marketing team with her innovative approach and technical expertise.

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Questions To Ask Before Conducting An Ideation Workshop

by Diane Longmoor, Director of User Experience and a Partner at Fell Swoop

So, your organization is about to design a new product, feature or service: a design ideation workshop is a great way to generate lots of ideas early in the process, bring your project team along and set direction.

Design workshops have been in the UX toolkit for some time now and are an important part of the design process.

Ask these questions before you start to get your team ready:

#1: What do you know about your customers?

We’ve all seen the dreaded demographic presentation with slides of faceless customer data and awkwardly defined “segments.” Such presentations don’t help designers understand the customer from a human point of view. For a productive rapid ideation workshop, you need everyone on the same page regarding whom you’re designing for.

Kicking things off with an exercise discussing existing research and gaps in knowledge goes miles toward laying the foundation for relevant design ideas. As an agency, we find some clients know a great deal about their customers but many need help defining exactly who they should target. Prioritizing user groups is another key to this exercise.

There are many ways to conduct these exercises, but the main points you’re trying to gain consensus on include:

1. Who are we designing for?
2. What do we know about their motivations, opinions, characteristics?
3. What do they need from the experience?
4. Who is most important, and who is secondary?

#2: Who should attend the working session?

There’s nothing worse than after weeks of design to be set back because someone’s input wasn’t heard early on. Be sure to invite a broad group to the table – executives, designers, developers, marketers, customer service representatives, anyone who can provide input. Think about who has strong opinions that need to be heard early. Who has a valuable perspective that perhaps isn’t typically included?

It may appear logical not to bother individuals, like a lead developer, who won’t be engaged until the details are concrete, but their perspective is critical in the early stages.

#3: What’s the competition doing?

I’ll never forget the day my team sent an email to thousands of a client’s subscribers with a headline that we quickly learned was almost identical to a competitor’s slogan. After that day, we plastered the office with screenshots of every competitor’s home page and key communications. Knowing what’s happening in your client’s space is an essential part of ideation. It grounds you and challenges you to raise the bar.

#4: How will you get participants to think creatively?

Often, participants in a design ideation session fall into two groups: those with a strong perspective they want on the table, and those who are experts in what exists. Both types are well served by bringing examples outside the core business for discussion. Recently we held an ideation session with a client whose primary business is health insurance. We decided our target customers’ priority was finding the right health care plan for their individual situation. It’s valuable to look at other health plan seekers but also examples of consumers from related spaces, like retail. Such examples help participants move beyond pre-conceived ideas and makes them more receptive to new ideas.

#5: Need blue sky thinking or something more targeted?

There’s a time for blue-sky ideation. For example, you might want to brainstorm a lot of ideas around how to add more customer delight to your service. But oftentimes we need to operate within constraints, which create better design. Identifying constraints prevents your team from going “off the rails” into territory that not relevant.

#6: How much time is required?

Design ideation is a team activity but it can be challenging to line up whole-day working sessions with busy executives and even if you could, long meetings wear down the team.

A solution is to break your workshop into several segments. Schedule several two-hour sessions, with breaks; or spread the session over a week. Just remember most people have other commitments so don’t expect to get an entire day of anyone’s time.

#7: What format should your ideas take?

Low-fi sketching is a good way to communicate ideas so we typically start engagements with sketch ideation based on the outcome of a requirements workshop. It’s fast and efficient to create sketches that generate many ideas quickly We generate as many ideas as possible, then winnow them down to a few core concepts which we present to the client. Their feedback is rolled into the next phase of the project.

Other deliverables include: audience profiles, visual mood boards, a journey map, or a design pattern collection – whatever the team needs to envision the experience.

#8: Who will produce the ideas?

Some teams ask everyone to design – project managers, developers, marketers, writers, etc. But this approach is generally inefficient. Professionals flex their “design muscles” every day, while someone whose core skills lie elsewhere will find this activity challenging. However, there are exceptions. When a social media platform client wanted to explain their advertising model to small business customers we, as consultants, found it so complex that it couldn’t be explained without their help. So, we held an ideation workshop where the clients did the sketching. They presented their sketches and we took the best ideas into the design work

#9: How will you drive consensus?

Once the design team has generated some great ideas, how do you get your broader team to align with them?

Strategies vary, but these three steps take only two hours:

1. Present: Quickly remind everyone of the goals, user needs and priorities. Quickly present ALL concepts to everyone.
2. Listen: Structure the discussion to ensure everyone has an opportunity to weigh in on each concept.
3. Guide: Driving a large group to narrow the options requires a facilitator with a strong grasp of the goals, user’s needs, the competition and constraints, but also someone who listens to everyone’s concerns.

#10: How can we ensure ideas don’t “collect dust”?

It’s important to show fidelity quickly once you have a basic direction. Take four to five days to create a final storyboard to show a cohesive vision of the planned design. The key is to take the results of the workshop and continue to building on them ASAP, while your broader team is still energized.

 

Diane Longmoor is the Director of User Experience for Fell Swoop – a digital design firm in Seattle. In seventeen years as a designer and researcher, she has created highly usable, engaging experiences for clients such as Condé Nast, Facebook, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, and T-Mobile.

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Insuring Directors And Officers Through M&A And IPO Events

by Jeff Van Gulick, Senior Vice President, Commercial Lines Practice Leader, HUB International

Corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPO) bring necessary capital and resources to a growing company. But, these transactions can also be the impetus for legal recourse – a significant liability for the company’s directors and officers.

Mergers and acquisitions can be fairly contentious and not all shareholders agree that it is in their best interest for Company A to buy Company B. An even greater bone of contention can be “inadequate consideration.” While the board has done their due diligence, some shareholders may still argue they didn’t do enough – that they should have received more money from the transaction.

The M&A lawsuit has become almost a given, with excess of 95% of M&As $500 million or more currently resulting in a lawsuit. [1]

As a result, D&O insurance responds largely to defense costs only, never paying the difference in stock prices. And in the last few years, these cases have prompted D&O insurers to put specific M&A retentions into their policies.

Retention, or self-insured retention, refers to the amount of money an insured business is responsible for paying first in the event of a claim before the insurance kicks in. Retentions make insurance coverage more affordable by reducing the premium costs.

These retentions, which typically cost insured businesses a minimum of $1 million to $1.5 million, come in two forms – a standard M&A retention, which carries a broad classification and could apply to any M&A lawsuit including a breach of fiduciary responsibility or breach of contract, and a merger objection retention, which is targeted specifically to an M&A inadequate consideration suit.

Unlike an auto deductible, D&O policies feature self-insured retentions, or SIRs, that are to be paid upfront before the policy kicks in. A policy with one million dollar merger objection retention, for example, would pick up the claim only after the retention had been paid out and until policy limits have been exhausted.

A company will want the correct type of M&A retention to be utilized, applying to as few circumstances as possible.  It is up to the broker involved to ensure that the correct exclusionary language is put into the policy.

Do IPOs also necessitate an additional policy?

In 2014, IPO activity grew substantially until it reached its current rate – the highest in the last six years. The greatest liability for D&Os during an IPO comes from the prospectus document that discloses the company’s risks and financials to the public. The information in this document creates absolute liability for a company’s directors and officers and is subject to a three-year statute of limitations.

Traditional D&O coverage will include prospectus liability although a stand-alone prospectus liability policy can be purchased as well. If organizations stick with a traditional D&O policy they will want a broker to negotiate adequate endorsements to cover IPO & SOX exposures, including prospectus liability.

Buying the right limits to cover the business beyond the IPO can be another challenge, as businesses that purchase limits predicated off only the IPO could find themselves without adequate coverage. When in this situation, sit down with a broker to navigate the benchmarking that will ultimately help determine what limits will provide the necessary coverage.

Which D&O coverage option is a good fit?

In general there are three types of D&O coverage – Traditional, Side A and Independent director policies.

Traditional coverage will indemnify the company, its officers and directors.

Side A coverage covers a company’s directors and officers, but not the business itself. Big companies with lots of capital that aren’t worried about insuring the corporation will buy Side A insurance. Side A policies will cover situations where the business can’t indemnify its directors and officers.

Independent director liability (IDL) policies will cover a company’s directors exclusively. In a typical D&O claim, the directors might be concerned about D&O limits left to cover them under a traditional policy. IDL coverage enables companies to attract more experienced, high-powered directors to their board.

What limit level is appropriate?

Getting the limits right for your D&O policy is important and will require an experienced broker to explore as many indicators as possible on your behalf.  Brokers should use a variety of different benchmarking metrics – including your litigation history and your company’s market capitalization – to model potential losses and determine optimal D&O policy limits.

Do you have the right international coverage?

Companies that conduct business internationally may no longer be able to use their global master insurance program abroad. Countries like Brazil, for example, are now requiring D&O policies to be purchased locally in order to pay out funds to local executives should a D&O claim arise. These new edicts have already left directors and officers working in foreign subsidiaries high and dry in cases where the company hasn’t purchased local coverage.

[1] Cornerstone Research. Securities Class Action Filings: 2014 Year in Review

 

Jeff Van Gulick is a Senior Vice President and Commercial Lines Practice Leader for HUB International. He has more than 20 years of industry expertise.  Jeff is currently responsible for the negotiation and placement of Executive Liability products within the Southwest Region. His specialties include Public Directors & Officers Liability, Employment Practices Liability, Fiduciary, Crime, K&R, Venture Capital and Private equity programs.

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Can A Business Coach Help You To Become A Successful Entrepreneur?

One of the reasons you became an entrepreneur is because you enjoy doing things your own way. However, going solo is not always the best idea. You will face certain times in your life when you will need to get the expert opinion of someone else to make sure both you and your business can reach full potential.

This is when you may need to hire a business coach or life coach to assist you in making decisions that will benefit your business. There are several ways that a life or business coach can help you have a more successful business.

Get Motivated.

One of the best ways Prestoexperts’ counselors can help you with your entrepreneurial endeavors is to help you find motivation and get unstuck. Business owners can often get in their own way, and they can spend a lot of time thinking instead of doing. You will need someone on your side who will help you get out of your slump.

If it seems that you cannot get started on projects no matter how much motivation you have, a business coach can give you the push that you need to move past limitations and towards your goals. A coach can even give you the confirmation that you need to move forward on plans you have for your business.

Challenge You to Step Outside of Your Comfort Zone.

Concentrating on your own goals and ideas is a very comfortable place to be because you can sit back in your office all day while drowning out the outside world. It can be difficult for you to implement new ideas, network with new people or go outside of your comfort zone. This is one of the reasons why it is a good idea to have a coach working with you.

They will give you the push that you need to explore ideas, and give you tough love when you are ready to quit.

Everything that you do in life is interconnected. Your finances, your relationships and your business are connected. Some entrepreneurs hire a life coach and a business coach at the same time so they can get over financial, mental and emotional blocks that may be preventing them from being successful.

Increase Your Income While Being More Creative.

After you can move past obstacles, chances are you will experience a surge of creativity and you will be able to begin brainstorming ideas for improved services and products for your clients so you can increase sales.

A coach will give you the tools you need so you are able to move past yourself and stop placing self-imposed limitations on yourself and your business.

The coach you hire will also act as an unbiased, non-judgmental safe person who can listen to your business ideas and give you constructive feedback. It can be difficult for creative people to share accomplishments or brag about themselves. A coach can help you move past the insecurities you may have.

Support.

You will be utterly surprised at the things that you can accomplish once you know you have someone on your side who believes in you. Having someone give you a few encouraging words or supporting you can help you feel better when you are unmotivated and feeling down.

When you have a lot going on in your professional and personal lives, you can feel lonely, frustrated and even overwhelmed at times. The coach you hire will stand by your side the entire time. They will help you make the changes necessary for success.

It can be tough operating a business on your own, and it can be difficult to be successful alone. The support of an experienced coach or counselor may be the missing piece you need to move your business to another level.

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Preventing Overwork Among Remote Staff

by Tricia Sciortino, Chief Operating Officer, BELAY

There’ve been many times when I would have benefitted tremendously from the advice I’m about to give. There is truth to the adage that hindsight is 20 / 20. But that’s the beauty of experience, right? I’ve had to learn through trial and error and maturity to adjust my career practices in ways that complement my non-work life and enhance my overall well-being.

For virtual workers, the challenge is a bit tougher. I’ve been working remotely for several years. And though I’m no longer a newcomer to this space, I continue to learn about and implement strategies that keep potential pitfalls of being offsite at bay. One major risk for those whose commute is only down the hallway is that of being “on” all the time – that is, slipping into patterns that ultimately might lead to burnout.

How can we stop while we’re ahead? And, if necessary, what are some ways to reel it back in before overwork sweeps through every aspect of our lives?

Set Boundaries.

When you answer to a boss, have other team members counting on you and don’t want to rock the boat, it can be hard to raise your voice. But as a virtual employee, it’s critical to draw a line in the sand between your work life and your home life. In fact, it’s fundamental to success, performance and overall happiness.

The boundaries a worker can set are influenced in part by the culture of the employer. If the company doesn’t have an appreciation for work-life balance or integration, or if they are known as a round-the-clock operation where few ever really take time off, then creating separation may be more difficult, if not entirely impossible. In cases like that, the true solution may be to look elsewhere for a new role.

But for those who work in organizations that are reasonable in their demands – where employees are recognized as individuals with lives of their own – it is possible to set the tone for what you need and expect. First of all, team members should have a clear start time and end time, be it 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., or 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Also, they should give themselves guilt-free permission to not work nights or weekends. Turn off email notifications on the phone. Leave the laptop in your home office and shut the door. Take breaks – have lunch, go for a walk or rest in a different room in the house.

Stay in Touch.

One risk of being a remote employee is feeling isolated. The sense of being alone is often more of a perception than a reality, but that doesn’t make the sense less real for those experiencing it. Those who work from home don’t get to see and interact with coworkers in traditional ways. And this can lead to all sorts of issues. Overwork can be a symptom of feeling like one has to further prove or demonstrate their value. They may feel that they’re in competition with unseen peers, or they just may not have a fair sense of the shared workload – who’s doing what, when, how much and why.

Communication technologies can help lessen the gaps in awareness and outreach. Options available today mean people don’t have to feel like they’re in a silo or cast out. And this is important for reasons other than being in the loop. Feelings of isolation lead to employee dissatisfaction, disconnection and disengagement – all threats that can prompt their exit and lead to retention problems.

Instant messaging, video platforms, web-based meetings, employee portals and more serve as touchpoints for remote workers. It’s even more important to take extra steps to forge connections, like picking up the phone and speaking to a colleague to discuss an issue or just touch bases. Email and company social media channels also play a role. At my company, we are so intentional about this that we have two full-time staff members whose role is to create connections with our contractor community. They up the ante by hosting monthly webinars, which serve as gateways for professional development, and by sending out a monthly newsletter, too.

A Vision of Your Values.

Keeping overwork contained also goes back to what you stand for as a company. From an official perspective, this is usually found in the organization’s mission or vision statement. It’s the gauge that sets the tone for the culture of the company; it’s the internal standard that flows into all aspects of the business – the way customers are treated, the manner in which the brand is sustained and, yes, your position on employee fulfillment – personally and professionally.

Where I work, two key themes shape our values: Gratitude and Fun. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see, however, how hard it is to feel grateful about your job when your boss won’t leave you alone afterhours. At the same time, it’s even more difficult to enjoy life and have fun when the workplace always encroaches on your free time.

That’s why any perceived gaps must be filled with trust, instead of fear, denial or avoidance. Creating an atmosphere of trust allows for sincere conversation. It advances openness that will enable a team member to admit they’re working 60-plus hours a week and need to scale back. And they’ll be able to have that candor with supervisors and management without fear of discipline or losing their job. Vision, mission and values do not sit on a plaque on a wall. They are in everything we do.

 

Tricia Sciortino is the Chief Operating Officer of BELAY, a virtual solutions company that provides bookkeeping, copywriting, virtual assistant and webmaster services for growing organizations.

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