Innholdsfortegnelse for Nov-15 i Entrepreneur Magazine

DISRUPTION IS something we write about every month. It’s the force we stand for, and it’s what we advocate with every story. But it’s not enough to simply talk about these ideas. We need to be part of them. So we’ve decided to turn our pages—our design, our style and our culture at large—into a lab for change and innovation. By disrupting ourselves and our logo and everything we have ever represented, we stand next to you, as one with you. It’s our riskiest move to date. So, welcome to our new look and feel. Welcome to us being one of you. We’re not just preaching, we’re doing. Just like you. We took some risks. And it was a little bit scary. The changes are obvious at first glance. For…

Masters & Mentors Seminar Learn how a few small habits can make big changes in your life and business at the final 2015 event in our series, Nov. 4 in Atlanta. Admission is free, but seating is limited. Go to entm.ag/masters  to register. GrowthCon 2015 Join Entrepreneur on Dec. 15 in Long Beach, Calif., for a day of how-to sessions and networking opportunities. You’ll come away with fresh ideas, hands-on tools, powerful insights and strategies that work. Plus, we’ll present a total of $50,000 to the winners of our Project Grow Challenge. Go to entm.ag /growth2015  to register.…

Think of your possible reactions as a series of, oh, I don’t know … notches. Determine at which notch your feelings are. Your feelings, for the sake of brevity, shall be referred to as “it.” What you want to do is take “it” down at least one notch. Three notches is best. Five is too many. Pay attention to body language. Smile. Make eye contact. Sit up straight. When in doubt: Act. Be someone else. But not for too long. And don’t lay it on thick. Stifle anger. Stifle irritation. Do not stifle a sneeze. Sneezes are fine. Don’t fake like you’re not sneezing. Because obviously you’re sneezing. I mean, just sneeze. We’re all humans here. Always stifle feeling flabbergasted. Gasted is fine. But the flabber…

While some might think that marketing to the deep-pocketed customers in the world of private aviation would be a breeze, SkyAngels CEO Steffany Kisling knows otherwise. She says there are special considerations when dealing with the extremely affluent, who expect top-notch service at all times. The key, she’s found, is to focus on providing exceptional service to fewer customers. “You cannot make any mistakes,” Kisling says. “You have to pay attention to detail. You have one opportunity, and if you don’t get it right, chances are you are not going to get called again.” Gary Davis, who was a pilot with United Airlines for 38 years before going into private aviation, says celebrity and high-end clients can be very particular. “Sometimes I’m glad flight attendants deal with those passengers, and…

WHO: Burger King commissioned Turner Duckworth, a design agency with studios in London and San Francisco, to redesign its visual identity and launch it to more than 13,000 restaurants in nearly 100 countries. WHAT: Burger King wanted fresh designs for carryout bags, burger wraps, french fry containers and cups. The new line emphasizes individuality and the uniqueness of made- to-order flame-grilled burgers. “All the packaging has a hand- printed effect reminiscent of the marks on the burgers made by flame grilling: imperfect perfection,” says a Turner Duckworth spokesperson. Burger King also wanted packaging that would foster efficiency; the new burger wrap, which can be oriented to say either “cheeseburger” or “hamburger,” has a spatula icon that helps staff center the product on the paper. WHY WE LOVE IT: Small details…

Will.i.am can’t sit still. STATIONED BEHIND THE MIXING CONSOLE AT THE HEART OF ONE OF THE FOUR RECORDING STUDIOS INSIDE HIS CENTRAL HOLLYWOOD OFFICES, HE TWISTS AND TURNS IN HIS AERON CHAIR, INSISTENTLY TAPPING HIS FOOT TO A RHYTHM ONLY HE CAN HEAR. THE MUSIC IS FILLING HIS HEAD, BUT IT MUST REMAIN THERE, AT LEAST FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER. RIGHT NOW, THERE’S OTHER BUSINESS AT HAND. Welcome to the world of i.am+, the technology startup at the intersection of will.i.am’s entertainment empire and entrepreneurial ambitions. The rapper, producer and DJ has straddled music and commerce throughout his career: Years before i.am+ launched in late 2012 with its foto.sosho camera accessory line for the iPhone, his multiplatinum hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas inked sponsorships with everyone from Apple to…

When new hires are onboarded at iCracked, a repair and reselling company that specializes in both Apple and Samsung devices, trainers share the same set of mission-critical instructions multiple times: Managers don’t want to hear, “What do you want me to do next?” but instead, “Hey, can I do this?” The distinction is subtle; the former enforces hierarchies, while the latter sparks a culture of exploration, experimentation, independence and confidence. “Our hope is that this philosophy instills in our people a sense of empowerment,” says iCracked co-founder and CEO AJ Forsythe. “We believe people learn through mistakes and decision-making. True fulfillment comes through finding solutions and implementing them.” The approach certainly resonates with employees. At last count, iCracked, which is based in Redwood City, Calif., had 130 full-time employees spread…

This group places a rigid focus on customers and suppliers—even while neglecting to be open or generous with employees or to keep up with technology. Risk-averse and old-fashioned bossy in their approach to hiring and developing talent, they pay close attention to what’s going on in their markets and do what it takes to keep customers happy. The results aren’t uniformly pretty, but in the end these somewhat inflexible companies tend to hit their growth targets. WHAT WORKS Controllers don’t grow especially fast compared to their peers, but they grow fairly steadily. Perhaps surprisingly, given their somewhat ungenerous attitude toward employees, they don’t report many problems with HR; that’s likely related to the fact that they’re not heavily competing for labor—suggesting they’re able to take advantage of labor pools serving…

These companies thumb their noses at management best practices, from taking care of employees to proactive use of data. But unlike Controllers, Contrarians seem made of Teflon, blithely gliding over the bumps and pits that trip up other companies. They keep putting up the growth numbers, and they do everything their way. WHAT WORKS Contrarians’ employees have needed skills and are fully productive, and managers usually reach a consensus. They maintain good profit margins, their departments are all able to adjust to growth and they time expansions well. Growth is readily funded from cash flow. WHAT DOESN’T WORK Nothing. Though their style is opposite that of Best Practicers, Contrarians are the only other group to be essentially problem-free. TAKEAWAY Most companies pay a substantial price for ignoring even some best…

INSTEAD OF SIMPLY taking your shows on the road, the new LG PW800 ($599) lets you bring an entire home theater along. Pulling double duty as a business tool and personal device, this 1.3-pound HD projector takes up as much room in your bag as a sandwich yet shoots out vivid, larger-than-life imagery. With a Roku stick streaming the latest Transformers epic from Netflix, the PW800 crisply projected robo-battles onto a wall across the room with a 100-inch diagonal picture size—which should alleviate any fears about how well it could handle a simple PowerPoint presentation. The 800-lumen LED lamp works well in most lighting environments (low light, semi-dark and dark), and with USB, HDMI/ MHL and RGB video input, the projector can run off a flash drive, a Chromecast laptop…

THIS PAST SUMMER, Google launched its Eddystone Bluetooth beacon system for Android, joining Apple’s iOS as a major player in the short-range messaging technology and making it accessible from either Apple or Android devices, which represent 96 percent of the world’s smartphone market. Beacons—originally regarded as a way to push real-time flash sales to shoppers’ smartphones as they stroll store aisles—are having a moment: Beyond offering digital coupons, the small wireless devices can expand loyalty efforts, provide indoor heat maps of customer engagement and conduct over-the-air transactions. Big-box stores such as Home Depot and Target love beacons, according to Steve Hegenderfer, director of developer programs at beacon marketing firm Bluetooth SIG. “The advantage these mega companies gain by installing beacons is that they seem more like a small business,” he…

Before co-founding the online T-shirt and prints marketplace TeePublic in 2013, COO Adam Schwartz knew he’d have to solve a problem, one that had bedeviled every site he’d worked on before. “You’re only converting like 2 percent of your traffic into customers,” he says. “There’s a lot of meat left on the bone with the 98 percent of people who are coming and going.” He knew he needed a way to salvage lost customers and maximize conversion. SCHWARTZ DECIDED to give Bounce Exchange a shot at boosting his conversion rates. The New York City-based marketing technology startup uses pop-up graphics to capture users’ attention and convert them into customers. Last year TeePublic embedded a few lines of code from Bounce Exchange onto its site; this allowed the platform to monitor…

The straight answer is no, he doesn’t believe in your business. Investors are all about risk and return. The more risk they see in a situation, the more return they must have. By asking for royalties in lieu of equity, the investor is telling you that your company involves more risk than he’s willing to take. Here are four reasons an investor may choose to suggest this route. • The size of the investment is not in line with what the investor usually doles out. A royalty offer could be indicative of an outsize funding request (or the opposite). • The stage of your startup doesn’t sync with the investment strategy. The investor may concentrate on angel and seed rounds, whereas your business has moved beyond that stage to selling…

When Ashley Mulcahy was earning her teaching degree at San Diego State University, she needed a little extra cash. So in 2011 she answered an ad for Tutor Doctor, an in-home education franchise. She met up with franchisee Alexandra Wilcox, and the two clicked immediately. By the end of that meeting, Mulcahy had signed up as a tutor and agreed to do administrative work as well. The job, it turned out, suited her, and over time she took on more responsibility. In fact, by the end of her first year with Tutor Doctor, Mulcahy was taking client meetings and helping parents decide the best curricula for their children. She and Wilcox won Tutor Doctor’s Rookie of the Year award and expanded from three territories to nine, covering Orange County, Calif.…

More than 5,600 veterans have become franchisees in the past four years, according to the International Franchise Association. That’s thanks in no small part to the organization’s VetFran program, through which some 650 member companies offer discounts, mentorship and training to veterans seeking to become business owners. The initiative has been a boon to the sector: Franchisors find that vets, with their leadership and teamwork skills and propensity for following a system, make ideal franchisees. On the following pages, you’ll find our list of the top 100 franchises offering incentives for veterans, listed in order of their ranking in Entrepreneur’s 2015 Franchise 500 ®  . We’ve included details on what each company offers, as well as information on the ways these franchises are honoring veterans…

The entrepreneurial spirit is marked by action—followed by mistakes and failure—then, more action. But starting is the hardest part. Too many of us are waiting to start. Waiting for permission from our boss, or for the weather to clear up or the economy to boom. Just start. There are no secret handshakes or special instructions. No one is standing in your way but you. You choose to be notorious. You choose to become the hero of your own life. Start and don’t stop—momentum is your friend. Just start. James Victore is an artist whose work has been exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, a designer for bold believers and an advocate for creativity. In addition to sporting a snappy mustache, he is a recognized voice in the entrepreneurial…

CAROLYN HORWITZ Executive editor, unsung hero and the heart and soul of the stories that get told in this magazine. She plays a lot of tennis, has edited several books and is passionate about entrepreneurship. BRANDON KAVULLA Our creative director at large is the choreographer behind all of our design changes. His ideas have challenged us to rethink what we represent and what we stand for. He inspires all of us. ROBERT MAXWELL Through costume changes, mood changes and parachute pants, the photographer captured our cover subject—the inimitable “palm tree” known as will.i.am—in all his L.A. glory. NIGEL PARRY Photographer, motorcyclist, storyteller and badass, he oversaw an inspiring day of shooting in a tiny room at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Proof that a great photographer can make anything…

WE FAKE IT in meetings. We fake it over email. We fake it when we’re envious of someone else’s success. We fake it in the elevator when we ask Kyle if he has any weekend plans. The professional world’s a stage, and we’re all actors pretending to care about how Kyle spends his free time. The question is: How much do the roles in which you cast yourself differ from who you actually are? Because if they differ a lot, you’re going to cause more problems for yourself than if you’d just behave authentically. But if they differ just a little—if you can fake it in a way that tempers your real feelings and allows you to present yourself as calm or deliberate or enthusiastic or charged up or any…

Best gym: The 40-room Soho House Chicago hosts a disproportionally large 17,000-square-foot gym with an old-fashioned boxing ring, steam rooms, lounges and group fitness classes including mixed martial arts. Take a nap: Sleep is the cause du jour among health circles. Using ear clips that emit energy waves, the spa at the Miami Beach Edition will induce a 20-minute power nap ($25); the hotel claims it is equivalent to four hours of deep relaxation. Find a friend: A social network dedicated to adventurers, Gociety introduces users to like-minded folk for activities such as rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking and kayaking. All-access pass: Members of Life Time Fitness have access to more than 115 centers around the U.S., most with swimming pools and basketball and racquet courts. Wear your trainer: The…

The generally conservative companies in this group focus on steadily pushing forward via careful planning and data analysis, and by working hard to empower employees. The reward is continued growth and solid cash flow that enables avoiding debt. Yet less aggressive growth targets and a lack of tight communication keeps them from sprinting ahead of the pack and can leave them putting out fires on all fronts. WHAT WORKS Modest growth targets and conservative management leave Data Champions more willing and able than other types of companies to eschew debt and fund growth primarily through earnings. These are steady- as-she-goes firms that do not tend to produce standout success in any category. But their focus on data may make them more aware of their challenges than their peers, and their…

Forward Thinkers surge ahead in growth and profits by being aggressive in adopting new technologies and processes, setting high targets and expanding proactively. But they can be disorganized when it comes to operations, controls and managing employees, leading to struggles with some of the basics. WHAT WORKS The big payoffs to emphasizing technology and innovation are strong growth and high margins. That high growth rate isn’t easily financed without outside funding, but Forward Thinkers seem to have little problem finding investors—which may explain why they have unusually influential boards of directors. WHAT DOESN’T WORK Most departments in a Forward Thinker company struggle to some extent to cope with the rapid growth—and those proactive expansions sometimes turn out to be ill-timed. Forward Thinkers also report trouble with management consensus and keeping…

Speed. That was the driving force behind restaurant delivery service Dashed. When CEO Phil Dumontet started the Boston-based company in 2009, he wanted it to be the fastest in the industry. It has largely achieved that goal. Revenue is up 140 percent since 2011, the company says. A key factor: diversifying delivery methods, with roughly a quarter of all deliveries handled via bicycle, scooter or smart car. “We can zip around traffic, park in commercial spots and be much more nimble with our fleet,” Dumontet says, adding that proprietary mapping technology enables drivers to find the fastest routes between stops. To keep drivers engaged (deliveries can get boring by the end of an eight-hour shift), Dashed has set up a leader board that rewards drivers in each transport category for…

For a peek at the future of the Internet of Things, check out the label on a bottle of Scotch whisky. Diageo, the global beer and spirits maker behind Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff, is experimenting with liquor bottles featuring a proprietary smart label from Thinfilm embedded with a sensor. These sensors can tell Diageo whether a bottle has been opened. By pairing the bottle with a smartphone app, Diageo gets a flood of useful data about how frequently the customer is pouring a drink and on what days and times. It’s a heady amount of data to capture and crunch—tracking millions of bottles at a time—but a hell of an opportunity. That’s where the new Evrythng platform comes in. Rather than invest in servers, software and developers to organize…

When it comes to updating your business website in a timely manner, the one rule is this: There are no rules. That’s according to Christian Riggs, president of Riggs Creative Group, a user-experience design and website development firm in San Diego. Riggs says that deciding whether to update, redesign or reengineer your site should depend entirely on your business goals, objectives and economic considerations, rather than on some superficial time frame pulled out of thin air. We asked him to explain. Q Why would I redesign the look and feel of my website but not rebuild it? A A variety of factors can make a redesign worth considering, but here are several that almost always require an update. You’ve got new branding and color standards, and you need to make…

Thanks to many years of modeling financial statements and analyzing performance ratios, I tend to think like a CFO when it comes to my personal finances. This means I have a comprehensive understanding of the ripple effect that good or bad financial decisions will have on my net worth. One role of a CFO is to ensure profitability, despite fluctuations in revenue. This starts with the essential task of identifying the proper balance between fixed and variable costs. When managing your personal income, you must do the same. I always put at least 20 percent of my take-home pay into savings; it’s a nonnegotiable expense. To do this, I limit my fixed overhead to no more than 45 percent of my income. Allocating at least 35 percent to variable costs…

Entrepreneur: Camas, Wash.-based Shane Chen was two decades into running his company, CID, when he became bored with designing electronic instruments for environmental researchers. He started toying with other inventions. Five years ago, he sold CID to devote all his time to what had been a side project called Inventist, dedicated to bringing his gadget dreams to life. “Aha” Moment Chen doesn’t see any limitations on what he can invent. Most of his creations come out of his personal life—an avid speed skater and windsurfer, he started with recreational human-transport gadgets, then moved into kitchen items, thanks to his love of cooking. “I like to come out with ideas that are completely out of the blue, completely new concepts,” he says. • His love of speed skating was the basis…

Sheri Atwood had all but run out of operating capital when she scored a meeting with Salesforce Ventures, the CRM software giant’s strategic venture fund. “I was a day away from applying for food stamps and a week away from shutting down,” says Atwood, founder and CEO of SupportPay, a child-support payment platform for separated parents. Instead, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based entrepreneur nabbed investments from Salesforce and elite Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Associates in the same week. Suddenly, she had the attention of multiple angel groups, VC firms and family offices. “The moment I could say that Tim Draper and Salesforce were in, I emailed all these people who had been sitting on the sidelines, and then everybody wanted to invest,” Atwood says. In May 2014 SupportPay closed…

FRANCHISE SYSTEMS are picky. But JDog Junk Removal & Hauling might be the most selective of all. The Berwyn, Pa.-based company sells units exclusively to military veterans and their families—no exceptions—and hires as many veterans as possible to clean out, transport and repurpose customers’ junk. It’s great marketing. When a JDog crew shows up to do a job in camouflage trucks and trailers and military-style uniforms, it’s hard not to take notice. “When these guys walk into the consumer’s home, people instantly respond and say, ‘Thank you for your service,’” says Army veteran Jerry Flanagan, who began franchising the brand in 2013 and now has 21 units operating in seven states. “It makes marketing much easier because we are able to show how we are different. We’re able to penetrate…

In 2013 Home Franchise Concepts, parent company of Budget Blinds, Tailored Living and Concrete Craft, announced its Million Dollar Franchise Event, a push to offer $1 million to military veterans in the form of $35,000 discounts on franchise and territory fees. The goal was met this year, with 30 veterans becoming franchisees. One of them is Cedric Cook, a Marine Corps vet who opened his Fulshear, Texas, unit last November. While Cook was training, Budget Blinds was already working out its next initiative: Troops in Transition, offering a bigger discount—nearly $75,000—to veterans who have left the military in the past two years or active service members planning to leave in the next two. Curious as to how the program would be received, COO Todd Jackson asked Cook for feedback. “He…

Big Love Reading the latest Entrepreneur is one of the indulgences I enjoy in pursuit of “devotion to oneself” in the marriage of work-life balance. And kudos to your staff for balancing the interests of businesses large and small. I find monthly takeaways, whether it’s for marketing insight, growth planning or time- saving tech tools that help not only me but the franchisees in my young business. In fact, I’ve got a couple of pages dog-eared from the current edition that I need to incorporate. So, time to work my passion—and thanks for having passion in the work you do. Scott McMahon, PHOENIX Big Crapple “Stop trying to be a cowboy and start trying to be a New Yorker!” I almost rolled off the toilet laughing at that line (Editor’s…

A Michigan State University professor studied a group of bus drivers, whose jobs require them to be polite to commuters. The research found that bus drivers who faked a good mood with only a smile, or “surface acting,” ended up in a worse mood and with diminished productivity. However, those who faked happiness by smiling and thinking positive thoughts, or “deep acting,” found themselves in a better mood with increased productivity. So, if you want to seem happy, get happy. Real happy.…

STEFFANY KISLING NEVER EXPECTED to get into the rarified world of private aviation. “I grew up with meager means. Even a commercial flight was a luxury,” she points out. Today Kisling, a former cabin attendant on flights and yachts, is the founder of a business that specializes in extravagance: San Francisco-based SkyAngels, which trains über-cabin attendants to see to every need of the famous or wealthy who fly high on private planes. Kisling launched the company in 2010, when recruitment for her first training class (now called SkyAcademy) netted applications from some 500 women. (To date, no men have signed on for training.) The interest came mostly through networking in the close-knit flight-operator community and through postings on LinkedIn and Craigslist. Of the initial applicants, Kisling interviewed 10 and eventually…

THE FOOD REVOLUTION has a new champion. Venture capitalists are stepping in with billions of dollars focused on agriculture and food ventures that reduce waste and use of chemicals, conserve resources, accelerate distribution and—at least theoretically—improve our health and the health of the planet. It’s a new playing field for venture firms. And startups all along the food chain—from farmers and tech companies to home cooks—are reaping huge rewards: $2.06 billion invested in the first half of 2015. That’s nearly as much as the $2.36 billion total for 2014, which was two and a half times the figure for 2013, according to AgFunder, a reporting and support service for entrepreneurs in the new food sector launched in 2013. Cultivian Sandbox of Chicago closed its first food fund for $34 million…

Sometimes an ending is also a beginning. Around 6:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2006, firetrucks from across Napa Valley raced to the Oakville, Calif., site of Silver Oak Cellars, one of the region’s oldest and most celebrated boutique wineries. Smoldering fireplace ashes discarded in a nearby dumpster had caught fire sometime before sunrise, and the flames soon engulfed Bonny’s Chai, the 7,000-square-foot erstwhile dairy barn that served as Silver Oak’s original winemaking facility in 1972, the year Ray Duncan and Justin Meyer began crafting the first vintage of their signature cabernet sauvignon. No lives were lost in the blaze, but the historic Bonny’s Chai was destroyed. The fire also claimed about 70 barrels of Silver Oak’s 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet, valued at roughly $2 million, and caused heat and smoke…

These star companies do everything evidence-based management wisdom says they should do. They set high growth targets and are confident of hitting them. They are employee champions, staying highly attuned to staff needs and input and promoting more agile, decentralized decision-making, as well as innovative and proactive action. It all pays off: These firms report not only sustained but especially rapid growth, and almost no problems in any area of management or performance. WHAT WORKS Best Practicers tend to achieve everything they’re going for. They report confidence in hitting their daunting growth targets. They attract good employees, retain them and are able to ensure that they build their skills and remain fully productive. Company cash flow tends to stay strong. They’re able to time their expansions well, and they keep…

Classics place an emphasis on sales but glue themselves to the middle of the road when it comes to most management practices. That’s why they don’t stand out much from the crowd in terms of how well they support employees, how aggressively they seek growth and how they deal with risk. The results are—surprise, surprise—average. WHAT WORKS Because of their sales focus, Classics express confidence about continuing growth, and their sales, marketing and HR teams handle the growth in stride. They cope well with the pace of change, probably helped by the fact that they aren’t technology leaders or disruptors. WHAT DOESN’T WORK Classics’ growth targets are lower than average. And as is common among sales-driven firms, they report problems finding, retaining, developing and getting high levels of productivity out…

Here is a partial list of qualified companies that completed our Entrepreneur 360 survey between January and September 2015. For the full list and details, go to Entrepreneur.com . Accord Engineering Archimedia Solutions Group Assay Depot Atlas Home Energy Solutions Baird Group Benay Enterprises BrainStorm Tutoring & Arts Burns Marketing CarGurus CircleUp ContextMedia Crowdtap Hawkins International Icontrol Networks Intelisys JAMF Software LaSalle Network MobileX Labs Mobius Consulting Myriad Mobile NatureBox Next Jump PURE Group of Insurance Companies Spectrum Aeromed Spokeo Stellarware Corp. Syndio Synduit TerraCycle Trepoint UltraTech International UniqueHR Videon Central WebDevelop.com WebpageFX Work Market…

Most hotel Wi-Fi networks will block guest access to bandwidth- hogging streaming video services. But if your company has a VPN (virtual private network) line, wise up and log in to that. Working like a wormhole that warps your data connection from your far-flung location to your office’s stable setup, a VPN is must-use technology for those looking to keep data secure. Don’t have a VPN? Don’t sweat it; online services like Buffered and ExpressVPN can set you up with one for a nominal fee.…

The ceaseless pings and alerts from your smartphone don’t need to be distractions; in fact, they can be a chance to fine-tune your ability to switch mental gears quickly. At least, that’s what Mo Bitar is betting on. The Chicago-based software developer’s 99-cent iOS app Concurrency is leveraging the emerging field of interruption training. Install the app, set your interruption preferences for every 15 minutes or every hour, and the tool will spit out a mix of short math equations for you to solve throughout the day. Consider it circuit training for your brain.…

Forty-seven percent of U.S. households contain at least five internet-connected devices such as smart-phones, tablets, PCs and smart TVs. Twenty-four percent have more than seven devices in use. It’s a sign that instead of all things digital passing through our smartphones, we’re transitioning to a world where we want and expect to tap into a variety of platforms to perform many of the same functions (email, video, browsing, social media, shopping). Source: Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2015…

Orangetheory Fitness Fitness CruiseOne Travel Painting with a Twist Paint-and-Sip Studios Sport Clips Haircuts Cruise Planners Travel ORANGETHEORY FITNESS: THE HOTTEST FITNESS FRANCHISE IN THE WORLD Orangetheory Fitness (www.orangetheoryfitness.com), ranked as one of the best workouts today by Men’s Journal and #399 on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 Fastest Growing Privately-Held Companies in the United States, is a one-of-a-kind, heart-rate based, group personal training workout broken into intervals of cardiovascular and strength training, otherwise known as HIIT (high intensity interval training). Backed by the science of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), Orangetheory’s heart-rate-monitored training is designed to maintain a target zone that stimulates metabolism and increases energy. Classes are led by skilled personal trainers that have participants using a variety of equipment including treadmills, rowing machines, TRX® suspension training…

An elevator pitch is a 30-second answer to the question “What do you do?” Often asked by a complete stranger in casual circumstances (rather than at a time when you have a captive audience and PowerPoint sales presentation to offer support), this question can be quite intimidating—unless you’ve already got a clear, to-the-point answer in your back pocket and ready to use. You should be able to clearly describe your business to someone in the time it takes to ride an elevator with them. When you’re able to clearly define the business you want to be in, you can more easily plan a marketing campaign that helps you attain your goal. Not to mention, that you never know when the person you’re speaking to is a potential customer or referral…