Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2016 i Entrepreneur Magazine

“Every renaissance comes to the world with a cry, the cry of the human spirit to be free.” —Anne Sullivan Right now Silicon Valley is hoarding outsize credit for innovation and disruption of the status quo. I call b.s. Innovation and disruption have gone on for eons, and they’re driven by something so obvious that we rarely talk about it: the resiliency of the human spirit in the face of life-crushing odds. It’s called survival, and through it, we innovate our way out of the abyss. I know this from experience. Three years ago, my house and all my worldly possessions burned to the ground in a swift and terrifying forest fire. After the ashes cooled, I couldn’t wait to don a hazmat mask and gloves, grab a sieve and…

IN MARCH, WE FACED FEAR. APRIL (ABOVE) SHOWED THE SPOILS OF OVERCOMING IT. Thank you for “Fear Itself” in the March issue. For the past six months, I’ve been pondering the idea of leaving my six-figure job to help my wife run our organic farm. I was looking for confirmation from someone or somewhere to take the plunge. Your article did it. Now the fear is gone and the motivation is immeasurable. Jeff Tacy LEICESTER, N.C. “Fear Itself” touched my heart. It is so…so…so…true. Especially when you said, “It felt like a horrible secret I’d have to reveal.” Me familiarize mucho con el contenido. Excelente!! Beliza Flecha HUMACAO, PUERTO RICO In one sentence, you capture the whole of your message. This time it is the simple truth “Like skiing, you…

VIRAL WEBSITES TYPICALLY follow the same life cycle: They spend a week flying around social media, make it into a late-night comedian’s monologue and then that’s it. Everyone’s had a laugh, and the site is forgotten. There was no reason to expect anything different of Ship Your Enemies Glitter, which, for about 10 bucks, would mail an envelope full of glitter to some unfortunate recipient. The site went viral last January. But then it veered off script: After a week, its creator put the site up for sale—and someone bought it for $85,000, which digital denizens treated as its own punchline. “It’s an internet fad that will die out quickly,” wrote one Reddit commenter. “The person who bought it for $85K is going to hate themselves.” But here’s the thing:…

BIG HOTEL CHAINS are going low-budget, appealing to workers for whom cost and cool are more important than cushy comfort. Hyatt’s new Hyatt House in Denver offers local art and craft beer. Marriott’s Moxy Hotels opened this April in New Orleans, with a photo booth in the lobby. And Hilton will begin rolling out Tru later this year, with rates starting at $90 per night. “The question was how to design a new hotel brand without thinking like a traditional hotel,” says Phil Cordell, Hilton’s global head of focused service. The answer: Think like a Starbucks, a community center and a modern office. So, what to expect? Here, we compare Tru to Hampton by Hilton, the brand’s next step up. HAMPTON Rooms The usual: four pillows, a white duvet and…

Q How do I negotiate salaries without my employees feeling stiffed? A Salary negotiations can be anxiety-filled on both sides—but they shouldn’t be, says Thomas Neubauer, a managing partner with The Gap Partnership, a firm that provides negotiation training and consulting services. It’s all a matter of communication. Listen to your employee’s case. A productive negotiation is based on mutual trust and respect, Neubauer says, so don’t think this is a conversation you have to win. “You want to work with them, ideally, for many years,” he says, “so you don’t want to upset them by being too competitive.” Get into your employee’s head. Understand what’s most important to the employee—because it may not be the base salary. More vacation days? A more flexible schedule? “There are different things that…

EACH YEAR, the Canadian airline one-ups its own Christmas shenanigans: In 2012, it choreographed an airport flash mob of singing elves. In 2013, a Santa asked boarding passengers for their wish lists, then scrambled to buy and wrap those items before they landed at their destination; for 2014, the airline took the idea to a village in the Dominican Republic. And last year, says Greg Hounslow, the airline’s manager of emerging media, “we realized we could create something that felt more like a movement than a moment.” All 12,000 employees were given Blue Santa hats and encouraged to perform a mini miracle on December 9 in their local community. The random acts of kindness spanned the globe—and as photos and videos were shared on social media, the do-goodery spread beyond…

EASE Victorinox Spectra 2.0 Dual-Access Global Carry-On; $350 The Red Dot Award– winning bag features a “quick access” door, so you can grab essentials on the go without destroying your perfect packing. PEACE OF MIND Bluesmart Carry-On; $400 If the airline loses it (God forbid), a quick tap on your cellphone will show exactly where this internet-connected suitcase ended up. STYLE Steamline Entrepreneur Overnighter; $250 The name says it all. This luxe leather suitcase adds old-school flair to those quick trips without taking up the entire overhead bin. LOOKING LIKE JAMES BOND Rimowa Topas Stealth 32" multiwheel; $1,560 Rimowa is rolling out its Electronic Tag technology: precheck your bag at home with your smartphone, then drop it off curbside. Whoa.…

Starwood has won praise for an aggressive slate of openings through 2020, with an emerging-markets emphasis. This may be the last chance to honor Starwood as best hotel group. The company—whose brands include St. Regis, Westin, Sheraton and Aloft—has long been beloved among business travelers for its service. Its award-winning Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program is often lauded as the finest in the business, with generous rewards, user-friendly policies and strong partnerships with Delta Airlines and American Express. Starwood has won praise, too, for an aggressive slate of openings through 2020, with an emerging-markets emphasis; it plans 127 new hotels in China, 27 in India and properties in a constellation of cities from Paro, Bhutan, to Dakar, Senegal. But its proposed merger with Marriott—which would create the world’s largest hotel…

Potato farming at the terminal: Terra Blue chips are a trademark snack on JetBlue flights, and now the airline is harvesting its own blue potatoes locally at a newly installed garden at Terminal Five in New York City’s JFK airport. On-demand, on-the-go meals: The app AirGrub lets travelers preorder and pay for meals from airport restaurants ahead of arrival—so no more missed flights. It’s being tested in San Francisco, New York City and Boston. Craft beer is the most reliably local thing in many airports. Drink the town with a Rogue Ale at Portland International Airport, a Schlafly at St. Louis Airport, a Stone Brewing varietal at San Diego International Airport and more.…

“FOLLOW YOUR PASSION” “When people hear ‘passion,’ they think ‘hobbies’—which is not helpful. Every successful entrepreneur I know has followed a sort of formula: Passion + mastery + difficult skill + value = success. Translation: Use your motivation to sustain you through hard times, become great at what you do, make something hard that your competition can’t, and focus on the benefits to your customer.” —PHIL CARAVAGGIO, CEO, PRECISION NUTRITION “GO BIG OR GO HOME” “In business, and in life, there are many ways to get results—but if you are thoughtful in your strategy, then you should pursue the execution of it relentlessly. That means getting your team onboard—that’s the “go big,” because you’re involving everyone—and give them the freedom to use their individual talents and experiences to drive to…

“Don’t rock the boat. Take the simple and safe plan.” Why I ignored it “A colleague said this years ago, as we explored turning an 11th-century castle into a luxury hotel. I didn’t love our designer’s proposal—and after much research and discussion, I decided to take the project in-house. Today, Castello Banfi Il Borgo is one of Italy’s top hotels. Surround yourself with people who believe in you, and remember: We must take the tougher path if we think it’s the right one.” —CRISTINA MARIANI MAY, co-CEO, Banfi Wines “Create plans for each phase of your business and follow them to the letter.” Why I ignored it “I learned very quickly that all the best-laid plans, from your own business growth to your client campaigns, sound ideal—but too often there…

YOU NEED TO PICK your key performance indicators, or KPIs. They’re data used to chart a business on its way to success and profits, and are often used when revenue-starved startups need to identify ways to measure progress in the absence of cash flow. But there’s a big risk: If you choose the wrong KPIs, you may drive your company to financial ruin. So, how to pick? Identify your business goals and the activities that lead directly to achieving them. Keep in mind that more often than not, bad KPIs are the result of upper management and the board deciding what to track. In my experience, you’re better off listening to line managers and frontline employees; they’ll give you more granular KPIs, to truly show how your company is doing.…

We run extreme-sports summer camps, outdoor education programs and conferences—and have very low insurance claims. So three years ago, we joined a casualty insurance group. It’s a bunch of companies with low workers-compensation and auto-insurance losses that band together to insure themselves. Our insurance policy cost is still about the same, but now unused loss funds are eventually returned—with interest! That cash adds up fast.…

CRAP! WE SIT when we do it, and we don’t want to talk about it. Neither habit is easy to change. But a brave Utah–based company called Squatty Potty is trying. Sitting puts a kink in the colon, but squatting—knees higher than the waist—is better for our bowels. The company’s footstools ($29 to $80) enable poopers to do just that, and sales last year eclipsed $15 million—but it took five years to get there. 2010 Judy Edwards suffers from constipation, and her therapist gives her a footstool. It works when she is on the toilet, but she keeps tripping over it around the bathroom. Her son Bobby has a revelation: “Let’s design a stool that goes around the toilet!” 2010 The Edwards family develops eight or nine prototypes, then commissions…

SIDHARTH OBEROI was a dreamtutor—a 17-year-oldentering his junior year at the University of Utah and teaching math on the side. “We had a good response from parents,” he says, but he didn’t love his employer’s curriculum, and there was no way to track what students were learning. Then a competitor, a local tutoring company called Zane Prep, started courting Oberoi—and after six months, the whiz tutor finally said OK. At Zane, Oberoi developed a curriculum that combined Western teaching styles with what’s called “Singapore math,” a visual and intuitive learning system used in many countries whose students rank high in science and math. But when they tested the model, something seemed missing. So Oberoi suggestedtheyincludeSTEM(science, technology, engineering and math) education—but in creative, unexpected ways. Today, Oberoi is 23 and president…

Dear Future Entrepreneur, You were born with a creative spark. Hold on to it. At some point, life is going to tell you to be “responsible” and get a job. But anyone can get a job. What you want is a calling. Your goofy quirks, your unique perspective and your crazy opinion are your most powerful tools. These along with some courage, patience and grit are the basis of greatness. Don’t trade in your dreams just to pay rent. Trust your weirdness, find your audience and inspire others. James Victore is a designer for bold believers, an advocate for creativity and an artist whose work has been exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.…

JEFF CHU For the delicate cover story on Staplehouse’s triumph over tragedy, we were lucky to have Brooklyn-based journalist Jeff Chu, author of Does Jesus Really Love Me? A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America . STEFAN RUIZ Emotionally charged settings are common for photographer Stefan Ruiz, who shot our cover story. A former painter and sculptor, Ruiz has taught art inside California’s San Quentin prison and chronicled Mexican street culture for Vice.…

Meet Us in Scottsdale, Ariz. Join us and Marcus Lemonis of CNBC’s The Profit on May 24 for a high-energy exchange including three lucky business owners who will join the famous entrepreneur for a spirited Q&A. Register at entm.ag/thought-az . Marketing Boot Camp Shape up your marketing plans, discover creative ways to engage your customers and register for soon-to-be-announced webinars in this special center created by Entrepreneur and presented by The UPS Store. entm.ag/mktgbootcamp .…

THE RULES OF E-COMMERCE are always changing—and if you don’t keep up, you’ll be left with some very outdated guidelines, which may be sending your potential customers on a shopping trip with the competition. Update yourself with these myth-busters from Kyle Duford, VP of digital for Dr. Martens, who has made a career of growing online sales. Myth: You need a trendy template. “People want to do the whiz-bang thing—flat design, parallax, long-scrolling pages, lazy loading pages,” Duford says. Trendy templates may look great, but they load slowly, risk distracting from the shopping experience and may generally just dull down your brand. “People are trying to imitate everything else,” he says, “and it’s becoming noise.” Myth: Mobile sites are built separately. As front-end code gets more flexible, a separate mobile…

Q I bought out my business partner and moved from a behind-the-scenes role to running the company. His parting gift was to tell some employees and suppliers that I’m not trustworthy. I feel betrayed and defensive, and don’t know who heard what. How can I set things right? It doesn’t matter who heard—assume everyone did, and now your team will be watching to see if what you say (or what they heard) matches up with what you do. Time for the high road: no revenge badmouthing. Your opportunity here isn’t to prove you are trustworthy; it is to consistently show up and be trustworthy. Remember, people want you to succeed. They’d prefer a good boss over a bad one. So create a community that they’re excited to be a part…

IT was love at first sight, as Jen Hidinger always tells it. Her husband, Ryan, would joke that it took him a bit longer. “Well, for me, it was love at first sight,” Jen says. They met at a grocery store in the Indianapolis suburbs. She was 17 and worked the cash register. He was 22 and a line cook at a catering company nearby. He kept coming into her store, giving her a shy wave and buying Bubblicious gum. He bought a lot of Bubblicious. Finally, one day, he asked if she was free that night. She wasn’t; she was babysitting some kids at church. But, she says, “I scribbled my beeper number on receipt paper. I thought he was smokin’ hot.” Soon they were on their first date.…

Economy fliers can buy a Skycouch—essentially, three coach seats that convert, futon-like, into the closest thing you’ll get to a lie-flat bed in cattle class on any airline. New Zealand’s national carrier knows flying can be stressful, especially when you’re heading for the farthest reaches of the Earth—like New Zealand. So it smooths your journey with more than just the country’s superb wines. Its quirky take on in-flight hospitality begins with cheeky safety- instruction videos that have featured hobbits, Bear Grylls, Betty White and, most recently, the national rugby team doing a Men in Black–inspired rap. Economy fliers can buy a Skycouch—essentially, three coach seats that convert, futon-like, into the closest thing you’ll get to a lie-flat bed in cattle class on any airline. It recently introduced facial- recognition software…

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, more business travelers are Uber-ing than renting vehicles. According to data from Certify, which surveyed more than nine million reports filed on its cloud-based travel-and-expense-report management software, Uber accounted for 41 percent of all ground transportation in the fourth quarter of 2015, versus 39 percent for car rental companies. Taxis trailed with just 20 percent. Why now? Many employers only recently added the service as an approved vendor, says Certify CEO Robert Neveau.…

NOAH KAGAN chief sumo, SumoMe Adam Gilbert told me, “Discomfort is your compass.” My story seems to revolve around missed opportunities. I was an early employee at Facebook and Mint, but left (or was fired) before massive financial gain. It’s easy to give up when you face significant adversity, and his words help me persist when I face hard challenges. ADAM GILBERT founder, MyBodyTutor.com Al Pittampalli told me, “In deciding your next step, ask one question: What can I become the best in the world at?” It helped me think about how we could be different from the billion other companies out there. We became laser-focused on being the best at helping people reach their goals—and then we had to offer something no one else did. AL PITTAMPALLI…

Until now, virtual reality footage could only be produced with one of two extremes: high-end rigs that cost thousands and require a film degree to figure out, or cheap cameras with more blur than a Britpop festival. The splash- and dust-resistant Samsung Gear 360 camera is a much-needed Goldilocks option: It’s smaller than a baseball and mixes pro-level HD video with a consumer- friendly price point, and footage is instantly editable (when paired with select Samsung smartphones, of course). Don’t be mistaken: A decent 360-degree camera for the masses is a big deal—especially when new YouTube and Facebook features also let viewers explore these videos from their web browser. “As more consumer 360 cameras become available, more content producers will bring us past the current landscape of kitsch and cliché,”…

I’m writing this while listening to audio that, I’m told, is perfect for my brain. And what does my brain need today? Apparently, waves crashing onto a beach with a helicopter hovering, like a castaway flashback. The site Brain.fm knows me, sorta: I answered 15 questions—yes, I’m easily distracted; no, I don’t have trouble sleeping—and then it made its big promise: “Every session is designed for immediate results.” But when I selected the option for “intense” focus, it produced something like Muzak from a spa, but with a foreboding tinge—as if, watch out, this massage might end badly. Distracting! But “relaxed focus” sessions are lovely, often aimless and re-verb-y. I used to rely on white noise or jazz, but the former is harsh and the latter jolts me out of…

YOUR YOUNG COMPANY just made an epic mistake—maybe your product is faulty, or a customer is just really (and rightfully) unhappy. You’re having night sweats and panic attacks. But take a deep breath and repeat four very important words: service recovery paradox theory. It’s a social science phenomenon, in which your occasional failures make customers trust you more. It helps them see you as human. But that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. “The chances of customer retaliation will be reduced if the service provider has an efficient complaint-handling policy,” says Celso Augusto de Matos, a Brazilian marketing professor who has led research into the paradox theory. Here’s what he means: You need an action plan—a way to show customers empathy, maintain an open line of communication and find the…

@jones_undra My flight to Chicago was grounded. So I decided to take a bus. Bus caught fire. Lost all luggage, my laptop and my expensive chef knives. @unhelpfulshane I took a Ryanair flight. @DanaDallal Having to share a terrible hotel room and bunk bed with my horrible boss! @rohancs Trip from Chicago to Delhi. Stuck in Paris for 7 hrs. Then routed thru Doha, Qatar. Baggage arrives in Delhi 7 days later. Sigh! @dolanej Company-rented house for weeklong mgmt event. Slept on a couch, woke up by drunk coworkers wrestling in my room. @ArnaudDarmont Almost full-day delay on travel to Canada and 7 rebookings. Finally arrived. Rental car and hotel canceled for no-show. @gilbertconsult7 Volcanic eruption in Alaska, 3 days in Anchorage airport. TELL US ABOUT IT Our Facebook fans,…

WHEN WE SMILE, WE FEEL HAPPIER. AND WHEN WE ACT ANGRY, WE FEEL ANGRIER. THERE ARE 10 or so moments in my career that make me wince when I think of them, and all but one involve a flash of anger. (The other one: an autocorrect in an email to my boss that turned an innocuous thought into “I lift you.”) There isn’t one moment at work in which I let my temper flare up that I don’t wish I could take back. Uncontrolled anger is always a mistake. It’s always regrettable. And it always reveals you to be weak even as you attempt to seem strong. But you know this. The problem is that when anger floods your head, the sticky note on your brain that says DON’T LET…

A leader should be confident, but swagger can hurt you. That’s the finding of a recent University of Iowa study, which examined the bravado levels of 3,300 CEOs. The more an exec publicly broadcasts his or her confidence, results show, the more likely they are to issue wrong earnings forecasts. Why? Overconfident leaders may think they’re more influential than they are, or are blind to oncoming trouble. Are you sure that’s not you? Are you confident?…

True & Co. has thrived as an online-only lingerie company, but it had a hard-to-shake handicap: Many women want to try on a bra before they buy. The company didn’t want to bog itself down with brick-and-mortar stores, so it launched the Try-On Truck, currently fitting women on a coast-to-coast tour. “This is not a marketing campaign for us but a full retail experience with revenue goals and sales targets,” says CEO Michelle Lam. Customers make an appointment and fill out a questionnaire, so that when they arrive, a “fit therapist” is waiting with a personalized selection of products. And it works: The average order on the truck is much higher than it is online. Here’s how the shop rolls. 1. The shop’s first roof was made of heavy wood,…

QANTAS AIRLINES Even after 19 years, Australian restaurateur Neil Perry still revamps the menu with seasonal stunners, like the new roast beet, goat’s-milk feta and Jacob’s tears (think of it as a fancy man’s barley). In 2015, Qantas introduced a 16-person team of sommeliers and mixologists. HAWAIIAN AIRLINES When the Aloha State airline invited local chefs to show off their Pacific Rim style as part of its Featured Chef series, travelers rejoiced. Chef Lee Anne Wong’s guava shoyu kalbi short ribs with mashed truffle taro root and pickled vegetables will make your taste buds say mahalo. VIRGIN AIRLINES Through a new partnership with Dean & Deluca, hungry travelers can pair their high-brow eats—like a beef bulgogi bowl made with sautéed kale, julienned carrots, watermelon radishes and a spicy gochujang sauce—with…

“A blarf—a scarf so big, it could be a blanket. It’s saved me on cold airplanes and in drafty hotel rooms, and it’s especially useful when traveling between climates.” —Jen Rubio, cofounder and co-CEO, Away “Foursquare. Every time I use it, I find non- touristy restaurants.” —Michael Pryor, CEO, Trello “My Happy Plugs earbuds protect my ears from pressure during takeoff and landing, and give me an escape from all the noise and distractions.” —Debbie Sterling, founder and CEO, GoldieBlox “Time shoes are the goddamned bomb-dot-com. They have a plush, moisture-wicking wool lining and Velcro straps, which makes taking your shoes off and on easier as you go through security.” —Michael Rothman, cofounder and CEO, Fatherly “An Ostrich pillow. It’s the easiest way to sleep on a flight.” —Ben Lerer,…

If the usual fixes—hydration, homeopathic remedies, exercise upon arrivaldon’t help, you may need a regimen tailored to your body’s rhythms. Try JetLagRooster.com, a free site and app that learns your needs and suggests a personalized hour-by-hour sleep-and-melatonin schedule. Or look to light therapy: Portable devices Lumie Zest and the Litebook Edge—each can help reset your body’s clock by simulating daylight—might do the trick. And scientists at Stanford University recently found that exposure to camera-like flashes of bright light every 10 seconds can help accelerate how quickly travelers adjust to new time zones. Good luck with that.…

Akbar Yungai started as a bellhop, working his way up to the front desk at Renaissance Atlanta Midtown Hotel, and is now on the brand’s elite Navigator program—where, instead of standing behind a desk, the 30-year-old approaches guests and encourages them to leave the well-trodden tourist paths. How do you keep up with the newest things to recommend? Before I go to work, I hit up an art gallery or a restaurant to see what it’s all about. Today I stopped by a bistro called Article 14, chatted with the owner, checked out the decor and menu. The hard thing for some people is researching stuff they’re not into—like visiting the children’s museum if you don’t have kids—but I love uncovering new gems. How do you approach guests who might…

Changi has long been famous for free city tours, offered to travelers with long layovers. But even if you don’t have time to see Singapore, there are many wonders within. Is there any torture chamber quite like the modern airport? The longer you’re in one, the more anxiety-ridden you’re likely to be, especially because the promise—and the point—is that you’re headed somewhere else. Which is what makes Singapore’s Changi International our favorite airport in the world. Changi has long been famous for its city tours, which are offered for free to any traveler with a layover of at least six hours. But even if you don’t have time to see Singapore, there are plenty of wonders within. Terminal 1 has gardens featuring cacti and water lilies as well as a…

Q I’m in the service industry. It’s crowded and I do the same thing as my competitors. How can I stand out? T.F. The short answer is: Be different, not just better. Read The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, or study what’s referred to as the “blue ocean” strategy. Create (or reinvent) a category you can dominate, rather than trying to be incrementally better in a crowded, preexisting category. If you do the same exact thing as your competitors, it’s a race to the bottom on price. No one but the largest, best-funded company will win a price war. Q How aggressive should I be with my competition? I don’t want to start a fight, but I want them off my back. T.F. Get good at pausing and thinking of…

1 BE USEFUL TO THEM, TOO. THE ENTREPRENEUR Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of WhipClip, former founder of Demand Media, Intermix THE MENTOR Gordon Crawford, media investor “A mutual friend introduced us, and so I went to his office and pitched him on my company at the time, Intermix. Gordy was an expert in media, but not tech and internet media, so I brought him up to speed and introduced him to dozens of important entrepreneurs. We became friends—and because he was more experienced building startups, I turned to him when I faced challenges and needed advice.” 2 DON’T PICK THE OBVIOUS CHOICE. THE ENTREPRENEUR Jeff Kushmerek, VP of professional services at Virgin Pulse THE MENTOR Diane Gordon, SVP of customer care at Brainshark “Many people seek out the most successful person…

“MOST PEOPLE get an energy bill and just pay it, without asking themselves what they might do to get the costs down,” says Joseph Borza. But even if an entrepreneur did ask, they’d likely not know how to find the answer. That’s why Borza cofounded his company EnergyElephant: The two-year-old, Dublin, Ireland–based startup’s software analyzes utility bills, then comes up with a plan for reducing fees based on local regulations and costs. That might involve rearranging office or factory hours to take advantage of cheaper rates, renegotiating with a utility provider or resolving billing errors. The service costs €360 (or $397) per month, which seems pricey—but some early clients say the savings outweigh the price. One customer, the professional association Engineers Ireland, says it has saved a couple thousand dollars…

RESPONDENTS’ TOP PIECE OF ADVICE: “Really think about what you want to get out of the program and work toward that, starting on the first day,” says Rebecca Liebman of LearnLux. Do you need investors? Help honing an idea? Equipment and space? Decide, then seek it out. LIGHTNING-ROUND TIPS! KEEP YOUR COOL “Seeing other companies fail and suffer makes you second-guess yourself.” —PAUL SCHREMS, TURTLECELL PACE YOURSELF “You have to come ready to give back to the community, and it can be challenging to carve out this additional time.” —NOAH LANG, STRIDE HEALTH BE OPEN-MINDED “Incubators are even more effective for people who have already built and run a great business.” —BRIAN MOYER, FRESHOP…

1. START WITH A CLEAR PURPOSE Having a motivating purpose is a critical foundation for building a successful company. It is not enough by itself, but it is an important starting point. Make sure you get your starting point down before you jump into something that doesn’t create staying power for you, your team, or your customers. 2. BUILD ON WHAT YOU KNOW A strong and motivating purpose is critical to long-term business success, but a variety of opportunities can help you fulfill that purpose. The important thing is to do something you already know a lot about that is consistent with your “Why.” Explore experiences and opportunities in your given industry, related industries, and industries you understand as a customer from frequent exposure to the products, services, and pain…

Mark wafer could fake his way through interviews. “My speech is good,” he says, so the interviewer didn’t realize that Wafer has about 85 percent hearing loss. “But once the boss found out I was deaf, I was fired. Usually quickly.” After losing many jobs this way, he finally landed a solid one, built confidence and 21 years ago bought his first coffee-and-doughnut Tim Hortons unit. Soon he hired a man with Down syndrome, who was excellent: hardworking, happy, friendly and loyal. Disabled individuals, Wafer realized, make great employees and improve the bottom line—but it’s generally believed that only about 17 percent of people with disabilities are employed, he says. So over the years, Wafer has become a public advocate and hired 125 disabled employees at his six Tim Hortons.…

WHAT DOES IT TAKE to stand out? If anyone knows, it’s the companies on our BEST OF THE BEST LIST, who not only ranked in Entrepreneur’s already competitive 2016 Franchise 500, but landed the coveted top spots in their industry categories. These 100 companies are ranked based on Entrepreneur’s objective, quantifiable criteria, including system size, growth rate and financial strength and stability. Other factors weighed: years the franchise has been in business, startup costs, litigation brought by franchisees, franchise terminations and whether financing is available. Ranking aside, please understand that these aren’t the only factors to consider when searching for the best franchise for you. This list isn’t intended as a recommendation of any one company or companies. You should always do your own research before investing in an opportunity.…

Charities have been hampered by their own approach and by societal expectations. “The things we’ve been taught to think about giving and about charity and the nonprofit sector are actually undermining the causes we love and our profound yearning to change the world,” Dan Pallotta said in his powerful 2013 TED Talk. While charities are admired for low overhead and limited marketing, they are also criticized if they spend too many resources on staff or on any item that doesn’t deliver resources to the field. Being meek in overhead creates another unintended problem. Charities aren’t able to focus on what many see as their biggest shortcoming: transparency. Scott Harrison was well aware of this obstacle when he founded charity: water. By setting up two separate bank accounts—one for field work…