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thebibliomancer · 4 years ago

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Justice League Indispensable: JLA #222: Beasts II: Death Games

January, 1984

I’ve noticed over two-hundred and twenty plus posts that villains love being tall and dangling heroes from their fingers.

That tactile sensation... It must feel amazing. And a little squirmy.

Not much else to say about the cover. Except that Hawkman’s legs seem to not exist.

Anyway.

Last time on Justice League: the Justice League have been dealing with a lot of weird animal/people hybrids. Has Dr. Moreau finally been adapted into DC? Probably not. But Flash, Elongated Man, and Hawkman all get badly injured in separate locations by these Ani-Men. And Firestorm catches a catgirl named Reena robbing the Empire State Building. She asks him for sanctuary so he takes her to the JL Satellite to spill the beans on the Ani-Men.

This time: Superman is in the hilarious position of interrogating catgirl Reena who has forgotten how chairs work.

Just sitting on the table. Probably getting hair everywhere.

Firestorm tells Superman to chill out with the hardnosed animated Justice League approach (I mean, he doesn’t, but animated Superman also needed to chill out, amirite?) because Reena volunteered to help.

Reena says she has no choice but to trust the League and that she’s lived in DAILY TERROR for the past few months.

She asks if any of them have heard of Repli-Tech?

Dang, shame Batman is off having recently formed the Outsiders because I bet he knows all the companies. All of them.

Ooooorrrr Aquaman does?

Aquaman: “Repli-Tech Industries... They were one of the first of the genetics companies to go public on the stock exchange, weren’t they? I remember they made quite a splash a year ago... But I haven’t heard anything about them since.”

Oh, Aquaman, you punster, you.

So Reena lays down some exposition about how Repli-Tech was a hilariously mismanaged company, where the executives forced a rapid capital expansion beyond its market niche and how a recession just bankrupt the overextended company.

But despite the dismay and panic of the other execs, hilariously mustached CEO Rex Rogan had a daring plan to save the company!

Rex Rogan: “Dr. Lovecraft and his genetic discoveries were the basis for our initial success, developing new forms of medicine -- new fertilizers -- even new fuels! He’s come up with a way out for all of us, involving a new, experimental form of DNA manipulation. It could kill us -- but the alternative is disgrace, financial ruin, and imprisonment.”

Oh, sure. Of course. Why not trust a guy called DR. LOVECRAFT.

But due to faith in Rex Rogan, CEO, or just fear of prison, the whole board all agrees to this wild plan.

And the wild plan?

Dr. Lovecraft uses SCIENCE to put them all in cocoons where they are transformed into furries.

Rex Rogan Maximus Rex: “We are reborn -- we are above the beasts, and above mankind! We will do more than merely survive -- we will conquer -- we will rule!”

Then with company guards also enhanced by Dr. Lovecraft, Rex has them steal a whole bunch of shit which is used to protect Repli-Tech from bankruptcy.

Huh.

Uh. I don’t really get how becoming furries was an essential part of this plan.

If the plan was just to steal a bunch of shit to make up for poor financial management. But live your best lives, Repli-Tech board of directors.

Anyway, having super hunky animal powers is handy when the superheroes inevitably become involved which oops look its happening. It happened last issue and this issue so good thing they had turned themselves into furries.

(Do the Repli-Tech board of directors not have to make any public appearances? They’re a publicly traded company, apparently.)

Also, Maximus Rex buys a warehouse to turn into an arena for some death games where humans fight beast-men for the amusement of the rich and powerful like politicians and corporate executives.

Not really sure how this specifically saves the company but I think that’s more of a personal project for Maximus Rex, lion hunk.

The blood sport did make Reena start thinking that maybe Rex was the asshole.

‘Uh no shit’ chimes in Hawkgirl and Wonder Woman who determine now is a good time to interject that Reena is just as much of a monster for sitting idly by as people were killed in blood sport.

Firestorm, Superman, and Zatanna counter ‘hey lets hear the rest of the story, mkay?’

Reena grew unable to stomach all the death and as luck would have it Rowl, one of the Repli-Tech guards recently transformed into an animal hunk also found the whole situation gross.

He helped Reena escape but wound up captured himself.

He did manage to high kick a scorpion man though. So that’s something.

Anyway, Rowl getting caught is why Reena was breaking into the Repli-Tech office in the Empire State Building. She wanted to find evidence!

Hawkgirl: “I don’t believe it. Not a word. She’s obviously a plant -- she said herself, she was Rogan’s mistress, that she always did everything he told her. Why should we believe she’d turn against him?”

Firestorm: “Look at her, Hawkgirl -- me, I believe her.”

Aquaman: “We can’t ignore what she’s told us, Shayera.”

Even Superman goes yeah lets believe the catgirl. And I’m sorta wondering about all the male Justice League members believing the catgirl while two out of three of the woman leaguers are like uhn uh I don’t trust that darn cat.

But we shortly see that Reena was telling the truth about Rowl, if nothing else.

Guards at the Arena snooze gas Rowl to drag him from his cell into the Arena.

A Guard: “Y’know, I used to be friends with this guy, when he was still human. Rex gives him a chance to be something special, and he goes and blows it helping some damn cat.”

Rowl comes to in the center of the Arena with the crowd roaring for his blood.

He tries to talk to the crowd, win their sympathy by saying he used to be human like them but they’re rich dicks who want to see someone horribly murdered for their amusement.

Trying to talk to them was a non-starter. And Maximus Rex even mocks him for trying.

Maximus Rex: “Human you may have been -- but you were never like them. Smell the air: it’s so thick you can taste it -- the oily sweat of a blood-hungry mob! They want a death, Rowl... They want your death!”

Maximus Rex asks the crowd what Rowl deserves and they chant DEATH and KILL HIM so Maximus Rex jumps down to the Arena floor to see to it personally.

He’s kinda like Roman Emperor Commodus from the historically adjacent movie film Gladiator who liked to gladiate instead of just watching Gladiator gladiate.

And unlike movie Commodus, Maximus Rex is no slouch.

Right off the bat, he blocks Rowl’s ultimate technique, a jump kick.

Poor Rowl is doomed.

And he doesn’t even know it yet. He manages to hit Maximus Rex once and thinks he’s winning.

Rowl: “You’re just as you were in the boardroom -- you’ve no stomach for a real battle! We used to laugh about you, Rogan, down in the ranks! All of us -- we called you a gutless wonder!”

Maximus Rex retorts by disembowling Rowl.

Maximus Rex: “So, Rowl... Which of us has no stomach now?”

Savage af.

Then he knocks Rowl down and RIPS OFF HIS HEAD TO SHOW TO THE CROWD??

Geez! This is a gory story! I mean, we don’t see anything really except for some dark blue blood but geez!

A lion man just ripped off a jump-kicking wolfman’s head in a gladiatorial arena for the ultra rich!

You’re bonkers, superhero comic books!

RIP Rowl, Justice League #222 (1984) - Justice League #222 (1984).

Back at the Justicey part of the plot, 22,300 miles above the Earth, the League receives an emergency message from Dr. Hamid of Cairo Hospital.

Or he says he’s Dr. Hamid of Cairo Hospital.

He looks like Tony Stark, that Ironman guy from Marvel.

Anyway, he got the JL’s top secret broadcast code from a device on Hawkman’s uniform.

Yeah. Hawkman. Remember how he was attacked by a giant scorpion last issue? Well, he’s in the hospital with an acute case of too much scorpion venom in him. And Dr. Toby Stark fears he may not last the night.

Hawkgirl is understandably upset and wants to rush to his side as fast as possible. And since the League has cool teleport booths, that’s... still not that fast because the booths only go to other booths and Cairo Hospital doesn’t have a booth.

She also asks Wonder Woman to go with her.

Superman wonders if Hawkgirl is maybe too emotionally torn up to go see her scorpion’d hawkguy.

Zatanna: “I won’t stop her, Superman. Will you?”

WHILE GIVING AN EXPRESSION THATS LIKE ‘please do not drag me into drama.’

Reena tries to commiserate with Hawkgirl but Shayera is having none of that.

Hawkgirl: “Your people did this. If Katar dies -- you killed him!”

Oof.

Zatanna tries to contextualize Hawkgirl’s outburst by explaining that Hawkman and Hawkgirl are just super close but Reena says she understands because she and Rex were that close.

And that despite everything she still loves him and it makes her feel like shit.

Oof.

Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl arrive at Cairo Hospital and Dr. Hamid tells them that Hawkman isn’t the only one who got scorpion’d.

Dr. Hall and his students were attacked by giant scorpion man to rob some archaeological relics they found. Several of the students are in the hospital after being stung and two have already died.

As for Dr. Hall, why he’s just plum gone missing. (Because he’s Hawkman)

From his hospital bed, Hawkman weakly (because of getting scorpion’d) apologizes for the argument they had before he left for Cairo and Hawkgirl claims she doesn’t even remember the fight. Because nothing makes you put aside hurt feelings like possible death by scorpion.

Dr. Hamid tells Wonder Woman that Hawkman is very likely to die unless they can get some giant scorpion man venom to develop into an anti-toxin.

And while they walk by, a random janitor mopping the floor reports the presence of the Justice League members to his ring.

HMMM.

I think that I suspect that this humble janitor is in fact actually a plant for the Rex Squad.

Yup.

Yuuuup.

That janitor was up to no good.

With two Hawks down with sleep gas, its left to the Rex Squad unit leader to handle Wonder Woman.

ITS A HECKIN RHINO MAN!

Of course, a hero as strong as Wonder Woman isn’t going down to a single rhino punch.

It takes a second whole punch to knock her out.

Womp womp.

Rhino Man: “Gas her and shove her in the ‘copter with the others, Mac. The boss wants ‘em all for a little TV show he’s planning. Way I hear, it’s gonna be a ratings smash!”

Rhino puns.

About an hour later, the Justice League subteam nicknamed Sit On Their Thumbs is still in the satellite wondering why Wonder Woman hasn’t called to tell them how Hawkman is doing.

But gosh darn it, if they don’t hear from her in two more minutes in time for the regular hourly check-in, then they’ll just have to do something maybe!

But they get a signal from Hawkgirl’s code and Aquaman main screen turns on... to reveal a big sneering lion man who is not Hawkgirl at all.

Reena: “oh god... he’s found me.”

Maximus Rex, full incoming ham: “Yes, Reena, I’ve found you. When this is done, you’ll suffer the fate of all who betray me. But first, tell your new friends who they face! I am MAXIMUS REX, LEADER OF THE NEW ORDER!”

Firestorm: “Y’know... Somehow, I’d already guessed that.”

Snrrk.

But Maximus Rex warns them not to mock his lionness and has the camera swung over to reveal that he has Wonder Woman and the Hawks as his hostages.

Hawkman is definitely going to die (from being scorpion’d) but Maximus Rex is Magnanimous Rex and instead of immediately killing them, he’s going to turn them into furries too.

Maximus Rex: “I think the Amazon would make a very proper pig, don’t you?”

Man, this guy must have loved the “This Little Piggy” episode of Justice League Unlimited.

Buuuut he won’t turn them into furries and make them fight in his Arena if the Justice League do him some small favors.

First thing, turn Reena over to him.

Second thing, “I want your full cooperation with my plans.”

When Superman tells him ‘obviously no’ Maximus gets mad.

Oh, Maximus the Mad. That’s a catchy name for him.

Maximus Rex: “In the hours to come, you will regret this decision, Justice Leaguers. My new order is the future. You cannot turn the tide of destiny. It will sweep over you... Draw you under... Drown you in the sea of history! Ours will be a struggle to the death -- your death! HA HA HA HA”

He is.

Frothing a little.

And as the mad lion lad continues just belly laughing on this collect call, Superman shakes his fist determinedly.

Superman: “Enjoy it while you have it, Maximus. We’re bringing you down.”

I mean, sure, half of the League is captured or in the hospital already from tangling with these Ani-Men but the League is probably due for an upswing, right?

Or maybe they’ll all get captured and I’ll get to see what the Justice League’s fursonas are.

My guess for Superman is the noble capybara, friend to all.

Follow @justice-league-indispensible or @essential-avengers which is my real liveblog. I’m sorry, this has all been a lie. A jape. A delightful jest. An April Fool. Like and reblog maybe. The more notes this gets the more I go oh no look at what kind of response Justice League gets and I’ve backed the Avengers horse, the April Fool turns out to be me! That’ll show me.

#Justice League of America #Justice League Indispensable #Superman #Wonder Woman #Aquaman #Hawkman #Hawkgirl #Firestorm #Zatanna #Reena the catgirl #Maximus Rex and the Ani Men #indispensable dc liveblogging

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patchcreator · 3 years ago

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'It's in My DNA': A Roundtable Q&A

Impressions gets candid with a couple of females leaders in the decorated-apparel sector. The world has seen a social change in the past couple of years, with ladies in all sectors being embraced in duties varying from managers and also supervisors to C-suite execs-- and every leadership sounded on the proverbial ladder in between. As 2020 unravels, female business-leadership duties have actually hit an all-time high. According to 2019 Grant Thornton LLP research, 29% of senior-management duties are held by women, while 87% of global organizations now contend the very least one woman in a senior-management position. Consisting Of MOTORCYCLE PATCHES BUSINESS. Today, ladies are promoted as part of varied workforces that include a cornucopia of identities, personalities and ethnic cultures. Similarly as diverse are the histories as well as experience degrees these ladies leaders bring to their particular tables, and the decorated-apparel sector is no exception. For example, prior to becoming head of state of Madeira USA, Shirley Clark was the business's sales supervisor as well as had experience from various other markets. Jeanene Edwards, vice president of advertising, Fruit of the Loom/JERZEES, remained in journalism prior to operating in advertising and marketing with a national seller. Michelle Moxley, director of development, The M&R Cos., has a history in visuals arts. After working as a development musician for Nike and also the Jordan brand name, she was Gildan's Honduras R&D embellishment supervisor. Carleen Gray, CEO, GroupeSTAHL North America, has been with the company for 22 years. Wedged in between was a job in the automobile industry, where she states lessons learned in the decorated-apparel sector helped significantly. "There was a six-year period [beyond Stahls'] when I worked within the automobile market, and I never dreamed my decorated-apparel experience would help me there, but it was essential in managing the Jeep, Dodge as well as Chrysler retailing programs," she states. "My whole job has been deeply lodged in structure brands as well as assisting people expand their services with decorated clothing. Impressions just recently sat down with Clark, Edwards, Gray as well as Moxley to discuss their experiences in the market, responsibilities to future generations of women leaders and also much more. Perceptions: This sector historically has actually been viewed as well as defined as male dominated. Do you assume such a characterization is fair or real? Why or why not? Shirley Clark: Maybe it's since I grew up with 5 siblings, however I've never truly felt that assumption. My procedure has constantly merely been to finish the job. In the case of my own occupation, this has typically been to protect growth in sales, to increase the reach of a firm [as well as] to have a favorable impact on whatever market I remain in. Jeanene Edwards: I assume you could say that any kind of industry historically has been male dominated. The decorated-apparel market is much more well balanced due to the extremely individual nature of selling clothing. From individual monitoring at exhibition and representative open-house occasions, I talk to as numerous ladies as I do guys. And also regularly, it's the women who are asking thorough inquiries regarding our product line, our printability and our rates. It's apparent that they're the business proprietor or manager and also have a substantial role in its success. Carleen Gray: That characterization is absolutely changing-- a lot so that I do not also like to reply to this kind of concern. At Stahls', becoming the CEO had not been so much of a gender development-- Stahls' has actually had ladies in leadership placements from the first day. It was more about the truth that someone was promoted to this position from within the ranks, and that is what made it considerable for every person at the firm. For me, success isn't about appearing a glass ceiling or changing stereotypes; it's concerning just how well somebody does a job. Michelle Moxley: I think it's coming to be more varied each year. There are more females in dominantly male placements than ever. There is still a strong masculine aspect, yet it is definitely extra well balanced than, state, even 5 years back. Perceptions: Is it sufficient for a female to do her job and work hard in order to succeed in this market? Edwards: I've always been fortunate to work for organizations where your job performance, not your gender, identified your success. At Fruit of the Loom, our CEO is Melissa Burgess Taylor, so we've absolutely broken the glass ceiling right here. My recommendation to males and females is that if you intend to do well as well as prosper, you need to show campaign as well as exceed and past your existing work obligations. Moxley: Is it [sufficient] for anyone? Sometimes I believe I work harder than the following guy, or I have to since I am female, however various other times I assume it's since it's in my DNA to function actually hard. It's what I do, and also if my sex was various, I would certainly still do it. If your gender is interfering with you being successful, it says much more regarding the people you are helping than anything else. Discover a new path, forget the people that aren't your cheerleaders. Impacts: What challenges or barriers have you faced as a female in this industry, as well as exactly how did you overcome them? Gray: The capability to face challenges head on is much easier with the appropriate team. So much of my confidence originates from knowing the group's staminas. Company obstacles we've encountered consist of implementing new technology, financial management, policy and also compliance, recruiting top skill, locating the right approaches for growth and more. In the future I've found that sticking true to an easy tenet, such as "Get [Things] Done," is what actually works. Moxley: I remember my very first exhibition, 2003 possibly, someone commented, "You don't resemble a screen printer." It had not been till much later on I realized the comment was in reference to me being a female. I am not a figure or an underdog. Sometimes in this sector, I have actually been labeled "the lady." You manage it and also push via it. Be tough, hold true and also understand you can be as good as the next "person"-- much better, also. Impacts: Who has had the biggest influence on your job? Clark: Probably my predecessors, in every setting I've held. In each situation, they have actually established the bar, providing me an objective to go beyond and setting the stage for development and also development. It has after that depended on me to step up, develop a road map and also move a business into higher market share and sales. Edwards: My first job was benefiting Pace Membership Warehouse, a start-up subscription storehouse club that was eventually marketed to Sam's Club. Celia Swanson was the only women vice president and she was a fantastic instance of how women can lead and be valued in a male-dominated organization. She took place to end up being the first female executive vice head of state of Walmart. Gray: Ted Stahl has been a directing force, ideas as well as advisor from the beginning. Moxley: My concept has constantly been that there's no college for this. So I've always tried to find individuals that I appreciate most and also weasel my way into collaborating with them. Benefiting Larie Thomas truly subjected me to the best structure for the job selections I made. Working with Jamie McCrae educated me how to make solid industry relationships. Dealing With Beppe Quaglia has actually been a continuous ideas. Ultimately, benefiting Dave Gardner was a true emphasize of my profession. Impacts: What duty do you think you need to future generations of "glass ceiling-breaking" women, if any? Clark: I try to enable ladies and men to accomplish their roles with support and also the devices they require to prosper. I maintain an open-door policy, listening to concepts as well as suggestions. My obligation to women specifically would be to mention that-- if they have the capability as well as commitment-- there is no reason that must stop them from being successful and also making the respect of their peers. Edwards: The best recommendations I have is to take responsibility for your own growth as well as look for opportunities to show what you can do. If you feel you've hit a glass ceiling in your organization, you can make them mindful that it's there. Finally, if you're not being offered the chances or even the credit score you feel you should have, after that it could be time to seek them in other places. In today's hot job market, skilled individuals have great deals of opportunities. Gray: The largest responsibility features the understanding that you are making decisions that affect everyone in the firm. Both males and females. I have an obligation to concentrate on making the right company decisions for our customers, our firm and our employee for the long haul. Moxley: Do what you enjoy, like what you do. My responsibility to ladies in my market is to continue being me as well as do my very best. I try to pay it ahead as long as I can, yet I anticipate credibility as well as real investment from those I collaborate with. "Believe in something and also be that thing" is my adage. Impacts: What recommendations would you give to other women seeking to do well in this sector? Clark: This is an incredibly innovative industry, and also one that is pretty nurturing contrasted to others. Imagination, excellent service and product high quality are going to give one a significant edge, despite sex. Edwards: Printed garments and also promotional items are terrific job courses for ladies, as the industry relies upon connections and solution, which are areas where women often tend to stand out. Do impressive job and it will represent itself. If you provide unique items with a stress-free experience, your customers will certainly tell others, particularly in our social media-driven globe. Gray: Don't hesitate to speak up. Claim what you actually rely on. Wonder and show inspiration. Be the individual that figures it out. Moxley: Learn from those that came prior to you; constantly agree to find out something new; neglect the naysayers; and also be an initial.

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years ago

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Five Reasons Startup Boards Fail To Add Value

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/five-reasons-startup-boards-fail-to-add-value-2/

Five Reasons Startup Boards Fail To Add Value

Done right, a start-up board should help to drive growth

Ask any seasoned startup founder and they’re likely to have a horror story about managing a startup board. “I once had a board member who would come into every board meeting and argue an incredibly strong point of view,” recounts Joe Cohen, serial founder of businesses including Seatwave, who now chairs a number of fast-growth businesses. “And then the next meeting he would come in and argue the exact opposite. It was hugely disruptive, but I couldn’t get rid of him.”

Cohen’s experience is not uncommon amongst startups, most of whom start to think seriously about their board once they raise angel or seed funding. Investors are usually offered – or request – a board seat in exchange for their cash, and the increased governance brings a whole set of new responsibilities and challenges – which aren’t always welcome. Many early-stage entrepreneurs feel that they have enough on their plate already, without justifying their decisions in board meetings every month.

But done right, a board can be a huge asset for founders, giving them access to external expertise, senior experience, and skills that they may lack within their own team. It can help with decision-making, hands-on business development, and act as a driver for growth. Yet, there are a number of common mistakes that founders and directors make, which mean that boards fail to add the value that they’re capable of and, in extreme cases, actually cause more problems than they solve.

Death by reporting

A common misconception amongst founders is that the board is a forum for reporting, with no time given to discussion, insight, or planning. Boards do of course have a governance role, particularly when it comes to big decisions around fundraising, budgeting, and M&A. But their real value lies not in looking backward through reporting, but in planning for the future, solving problems, and adding value around strategy.

Scanes Bentley, an independent chairman and non-executive director, says that this is particularly the case when businesses are at a very early stage. “If they’re a smaller business they want contacts and rainmaking, along with support and advice about raising money,” he explains. “Governance is normally third or fourth on that list. They’re under no obligation to show clear documentation all the time, particularly in the early stages.”

As a result, much of the work should be done between meetings, through an ongoing dialogue with board members about challenges and strategy, while meetings are used to consolidate and finalize decisions. Furthermore, founders shouldn’t expect to introduce anything new in board meetings but should have thoroughly prepared the ground beforehand, to maximize the time they have.

“More inexperienced founders often think that decisions get made at board meetings,” says Cohen. “But actually, the meeting is just about codifying decisions that have already been made and discussing key challenges facing the business. It is never good to introduce completely new information at a board meeting, so don’t send something right before and expect a decision, because it just won’t happen.”

Board overflow

Another common issue is that startup boards are allowed to become too big and cumbersome, as founders bring in more and more investors, all of whom are offered a board seat as part of the deal.

“I’ve seen up to eight investors on a startup board, plus the two directors before they even think about having an independent non-exec,” says Bentley. “A couple of years ago it was seen as being quite cool to be on the board of a talked-about startup…. but when you’ve got an overloaded board you have a lot of egos and it’s hard to get any value out of it.”

Experts recommend that around five board members is ideal – an odd number to make voting decisive. Founders should therefore do a regular review of who will really add value as the business evolves and have an honest conversation with their board members about whether the relationship is still working for both parties. And when there isn’t space on the board, but investors are keen to be involved, a good compromise is to appoint them as observers or members of an advisory panel, to limit the number of people who have a controlling role.

“Board observers are probably the most infrequently used, prized thing that founders can do more of,” says Sujay Tyle, Co-Founder and Former CEO of the recently acquired Frontier Car Group. “You have to invite them to meetings and have them in the room, but you don’t have the complexity of them having to vote, and you still get all the value-add, more than just a typical investor. I would encourage founders to use board observers more liberally than they are probably used to doing.”

Investor “showboating”

Boards can also become a power game between egos to show who has control, rather than being used as a tool that adds real value to the business. If an investor decides to throw their weight around, founders understandably find it hard to put their foot down and this can lead to them feeling bullied and, in some cases, pressurized into making the wrong decisions for the business.

According to Bentley, this is often the consequence of having too many board members: “Everybody is trying to be the smartest person in the room, and it ends up being a quasi-management team and it’s hard for the CEO and CFO to push back against these very successful people,” he explains. “And although it’s usually done in a nice way, you often get people trying to showboat and the CEO comes out feeling beaten up, or that it’s a waste of time.”

Board members aren’t there to tell founders what to do, but instead to listen and offer advice, based on the context provided by the management team. Roelof Botha, Partner at Sequoia Capital, who currently sits on the board of Eventbrite, Evernote, and Tumblr, amongst others, had it right when he said: “A board member doesn’t have the nuanced detail, hence should be careful in terms of being prescriptive…. they should be shock absorbers, not amplifiers.”

Ulrich Schmidt, CEO of Pretty Social Media, believes the key to keeping the board under control is to ensure that roles are clearly defined at the outset: “The board should be involved in strategic decisions, for example budgeting for an expansion or a new product,” he explains. “But they shouldn’t get involved in operational or HR decisions. And if they are getting involved in execution then there needs to be clear accountability, and management needs to be in charge.”

This is something that less experienced board members sometimes struggle to grasp, so first-timers need to listen a lot and ask careful questions. The chairman or independent board member also has an important role to play in helping to control meetings, ensure discussions stay focused, and rein in anybody who oversteps the mark.

“As an independent, my role is often, initially politely and then less politely, to try to shut down unhelpful conversations,” says Cohen.

Optics over strategy

The above issue can be exacerbated by the fact that startup boards are frequently staffed by the wrong people, often because founders want a ‘name’ on their board, irrespective of how much time that person will put in or how much value they will add. As Kate Zatland, Founder and Managing Partner of Forme Partners, a board headhunting firm, says: “A lot of the time, if you look at venture-backed businesses, it’s quite a lot of optics rather than getting down to what you’re trying to achieve and what’s needed.”

Instead, startups should think about the skills and recent experience they actually need, based on what their short-term objectives are, for the next 12 months or so.

“At series A to C, you need people who are really going to help advise on a hands-on basis, rather than give a birds-eye view,” Zatland explains. “So, for instance, if you’re talking about European expansion, you wouldn’t get somebody who has global US experience with several exits under their belt. You just need to think about how you conquer Europe.”

Nina Nærby, Managing Director at Leadership Advisor Group, advises startups to map out the competencies they need in the business, based on where the current gaps are, so they can identify board members who complement the current management and investor team. “Once you’ve got your investors, map it out so you can see what competencies you have and what you are lacking. Then with the last couple of board spots you can be really specific,” she explains.

Schmidt agrees, explaining that he only takes on board members who can contribute something very specific to the company. “We always have something in mind when we’re looking for a board member, whether that’s access to the market, technical knowledge, or access to a partner network. We define a project for them to help with and agree how they will do that and how long it will take, and we hold them accountable against certain targets. We need someone who is working, and if they aren’t working, that they can at least open doors.”

Lack of diversity

Like any team, company boards benefit hugely from having a diversity of voices involved, however, research shows that 75% of companies between Seed and Series B only include management and investors, without an independent director. And while a lack of independents won’t always be an issue, particularly when founders and investors have a strong relationship, it can make it more likely that the board won’t act in the best interests of the company.

“Having an independent board director, appointed by the founders, is something I didn’t do early enough,” says Tyle. “These are folks who can bring a tremendous amount of value-add, and you can typically get an industry veteran… and they represent the founders’ interests. So, it’s another advocate for you.”

Furthermore, even when boards do include independents, there is a tendency to hire from within existing networks, without thinking about bringing in people from a diversity of backgrounds. The result is one-dimensional thinking and poorer decision-making, while Nærby argues it can also increasingly impact fundraising: “It isn’t good to have just British, white, male if you want to attract investors,” she says.

Like every aspect of starting a business, getting the maximum value out of a startup board can be a steep learning curve, and each founder, or founding team, has to develop their own style and decide what works best for them. But dedicating time to getting it right early on, and then nurturing your top team as the business evolves, will ensure you always have the right support – whether that’s in the boardroom, via Whatsapp, or on Zoom – to make your business the best it can be.

From Entrepreneurs in Perfectirishgifts

0 notes

actutrends · 5 years ago

Text

No, IBM is not the only relevant player in virtual agents

Last month, IBM General Manager of Data and Watson AI, Rob Thomas, told VentureBeat that IBM was the only major enterprise provider in the red-hot area of virtual agents.

Virtual agents are software that can chat with customers through text, voice, or web chat. “There really are no big players, except for us,” Thomas said at the time. He called the rest of the virtual agent providers “fireflies,” because they are small and there are so many of them.

After we published our interview with Thomas, we asked a few of the so-called “fireflies” what they thought of his assessment. We heard back from Zor Gorelov, CEO of Kasisto, and Ryan Lester, an exec at LogMeIn’s Bold360 unit, which builds virtual agents for enterprise companies. Here’s what they had to say.

Zor Gorelov, CEO, Kasisto:

Here are some interesting and specific examples of where we feel Rob is just missing the point.

Domain knowledge and depth is important.

IBM does not have domain specificity required to be effective in financial services. Natural language understanding (NLU) is an essential part of making an effective virtual agent. And the agent has to be well trained for the domain it will be working in. At Kasisto we believe we are able to build the most effective virtual agents for the financial services industry because we have data from 30 million utterances (growing at millions per month) collected from real users interacting with our virtual agents, making our virtual agents smarter every day.

Our platform, KAI, started its life as an advanced R&D project at SRI International, creators of Siri. Some of the most innovative and advanced AI technologies have come out of SRI over the decades. Rob might define Kasisto as a firefly, but we have the AI team and technology pedigree that many in the industry know, respect, and even admire. Eighty strong, our employees work long hours to deliver a conversational AI experience that financial institutions all over the world are adopting, with contracts extending 3-5 years and virtual agents deployed to millions of banking customers in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The assumption that chatbots are built on 1990s rules-based technology is factually incorrect.

Rob said: “I would distinguish that from chatbots, which are mostly rules-based engines. That’s not what we do with Watson Assistant. At the core of it is a model for intent classification.” KAI is built on advanced intent classification using state of the art NLU engines that leverage many of the same underlying technology and algorithms that Watson uses, and has been trained to understand precisely what customers are asking. As a matter of fact, often our customers experience 80% conversation containment rate (meaning that KAI completely serviced the conversation without any human intervention). This could never be achieved with a rules-based chatbot.

IBM isn’t the only company that can do “feature engineering.”

Rob said: “Any competitor can do hyper parameter optimization, but nobody other than us can do feature engineering. With something called AutoAI, we can automate feature engineering that cuts down 80% of the data science work.”

Feature engineering has been around for quite some time. It’s a method our industry has been using to help simplify how new AI models are created. IBM is certainly not alone in using automation for these methods. With that said, feature engineering itself has actually become somewhat antiquated and been replaced by more advanced methods enabled by the large amounts of compute power, data, and deep neural network algorithms. So where Rob feels this is state of the art for Watson, it’s no longer state of the art in the industry.

It’s not true that startups can’t handle large numbers of intents.

Rob said: “Most of the fireflies will serve, you know, 10 questions that they can teach the assistant to answer. But what happens when 10 questions becomes 500 questions? That’s when you need us.”

Some of Kasisto’s largest deployments have 2000 intents and are being used by millions of users across multiple geographies, countries, and languages. So again, call Kasisto a firefly, but we are serving larger and more complicated customer deployments than Rob is probably aware of.

Ryan Lester, Senior Director, Customer Engagement Technologies, LogMeIn

Major players like IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have all made announcements related to virtual agents — assistants that go beyond rules-based chatbots to provide more free-form interactions. And numerous smaller companies, including my own, are releasing virtual agents, too. This trend is only going to accelerate as we go into 2020.

While many of these large platform investments are exciting, they are often out of reach for companies that are not in the Fortune 1000 and lack the technical resources to build on top of these platforms. So powerful but smaller, more nimble ‘fireflies’ have a major role to fill here.

Companies should be thoughtful about how and where they use solutions from the large tech providers as they often require significant development and integration work.

And that leads me to a second trend: the expansion of access to virtual agents.

Conversational AI and virtual agents are no longer just for the enterprise. Even with investment from the largest tech companies, much of the virtual agent technology to date has been out of reach for the mid-market and smaller business, due to a lack of technical talent, insufficient data to train the systems, and the cost and time of implementation. The good news is that is no longer the case. There are numerous companies working to make AI-powered virtual agents more accessible and easier to implement, even for non-profit companies.

These projects are no longer monumental lifts, and anyone looking to implement a virtual agent should see a return on investment within a year and an implementation that takes just a few months. Things can certainly get more complex over time, and therefore more transformational to a business, but in general there are a lot of easy wins that any size business can tackle.

The latest generation of tools, many of them coming from “fireflies,” is expanding access to building and managing virtual agents to a much broader audience of users beyond developers and data scientists. They do this via three channels:

Better NLP tools that don’t require months of data training and set up

Simplified user interfaces that don’t require code writing and have pre-built connectors for third-party data and content

Analytics tools that help business and subject matter experts better understand how well the solution is working and where to focus next.

Last year was a year full of announcements that are pushing the virtual agent and chatbot industry forward, both in foundational technology and in business applications that will drive value for any size business.

The large technology platforms are delivering new functionality, but they can also eat up valuable internal development resources and can take time to build and implement. There’s often a bias to standardize a single AI technology platform for all projects, but virtual agents may be better designed on more purpose-built applications. The entire industry is making it easier to create and manage virtual agents and chatbots, so companies need to consider how customized they need their solution to be as they plan for 2020.

The post No, IBM is not the only relevant player in virtual agents appeared first on Actu Trends.

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mlmcompanies · 5 years ago

Link

You’re probably here because you’ve been dreaming about a new life… but instead of creating it you just keep passing out and waking up to the same life every day.

Burn your vision boards and trash your bucket lists. Drop the get-rich-quick schemes and “get skinny while eating pizza all day!” diets.

There’s no magic to success. It’s hard work… but that’s not all it is (although you do need to stop being lazy).

It’s about smart work. You know the old saying “80% of your success comes from 20% of your efforts”. Being more successful is about working toward your goals in a smarter way so that all of your efforts lead to success and you have more time to live your life instead of wasting away in an office.

For similar articles, check out the best online business ideas, the best small business ideas, and how to start a business.

Travel bloggers, 25 year-old CEOs, and stay-at-home-moms making six figures. It’s never been easier for just about anyone to achieve their wildest dreams. This list favors means to success that are digital, automatable, and scalable, because that’s how you squeeze the most success out of your efforts.

41. Take action now

If you want to make a change, start by taking action right now (well, after you finish this article). If you’ve ever read The Confidence Code by Claire Shipman and Katty Kay, you already know that taking action is the #1 difference between people who have confidence and people who don’t. (1)

Put down the self-improvement books and blogs every once in a while. Doing something, ANYTHING, even if you fail, will help you build the belief in your ability to succeed.

40. Quite chasing shiny objects

While you’re out there taking action, make sure you focus on one thing at a time. Too many people make absolutely no progress because they start on their cool new business idea, give up when the novelty wears off, then leap to the next cool thing.

Folks, success isn’t easy to come by. If we’re talking business have to pick one business idea and go all in on it, even when it starts to become mundane. Otherwise, you’ll never taste success.

39. Get new friends

We’ve all heard it before: “if you want to see who a person is, look at their friends.”

You don’t have to drop your old friends, but you should be looking for new ones who live their lives the way you want to. Surrounding yourself with successful people is the single most underrated key to success. You might even persuade your old friends to join you on the journey to success.

38. Develop grit

Angela Duckworth, professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, studied everything from West Point cadets to high power salespeople to national spelling bee competitors to figure out the number one predictor of success in all of these different contexts. Intelligence? Nope. Good looks? Social connections? Nope. (2)

Grit. What Duckworth defines as a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals is actually far more important than talent. And unlike IQ, it can be learned over time.

37. Network, network, network

When a high profile exec is flipping through hundreds of resumes, emails, and business pitches every day, connections are the only way to make sure your name stands out. Start by using social media (Twitter, Facebook groups, and LinkedIn are great for this) to engage with people in your industry.

36. Get out of your comfort zone

They say that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Get used to being uncomfortable because staying inside your comfort zone will doom you to a life of mediocrity.

How do you get out of your comfort zone? Do something minorly uncomfortable (but socially and legally acceptable) every day. Being uncomfortable is a sign you’re growing.

35. Get a daily routine

Now I’m not talking about going back to that 9-5 BS, but sticking to a daily routine that promotes good habits is the foundation for building bigger habits for success. Even the smallest habits, like waking up a little earlier or meditating before bed, can totally change your life.

According to Business Insider, one of the most popular habits among highly successful people from business mogul Kat Cole who became VP of the Hooters corporation at age 26 to Huffington Post founder Ariana Huffington is about as simple as it gets: drink a glass of water every morning when you wake up.

34. Get in shape and stay healthy

Hit the weights, run on the treadmill, ball on the court. Whatever you do for exercise, being fit gives you more confidence, more energy, better health, reduces stress, releases those feel-good endorphins, and it makes you look good, all of which can contribute to your success in a big way.

Plenty of rich and successful people would agree with me. (3)

33. Vet your social media feeds

Good chunks of many social media feeds are people complaining about whatever they can complain about, or showing off the highlight reels of their life. Unfollow all these people and replace the negativity by following people you look up to or strive to be like (aka successful people). You’ll get plenty of motivation and education delivered straight to your timeline every day.

It’s similar to surrounding yourself with successful people, just with your social media.

32. Don’t be afraid of failure

Part of being successful is failing a bunch of times. If you’re scared of failure, you’re never gonna get anywhere. Instead, you gotta think of failure as a chance to learn something.

It goes back to the tip at the top of this article. Don’t wait around. Act, fail, brush yourself off, and try again.

31. Trash bad habits

According to Marketing Strategist Jerome Knyszewski (4), the two most important bad habits to avoid if you want to be successful are saying yes when you should say no and not planning for the future.

While you’re at it, quit smoking, throw out the junk food, and limit yourself to one hour of TV per day.

30. Improve your emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your own and other people’s emotions. Having a high level of emotional intelligence is an asset to your success because you can understand and control your emotions well. Plus, emotionally intelligent people know how to empathize with other people, which is obviously important to creating professional relationships with others and building your network.

29. Sleep well

The most important habit to break? Quit skipping sleep. Studies show that a single night of poor sleep affects your entire work week, and the problem of bad sleep among the U.S. workforce costs our country a collective $411 billion per year. (5)

According to Harvard Medical, you should sleep for at least 7 hours, maintain a regular sleeping schedule, create a relaxing bedtime routine, avoid stimulating food and drink in the evening, and exercise regularly for optimal sleep conditions. (6)

28. Set SMART goals

We all know it’s important to set goals, but writing vague things like “get rich” and “be happy” up on your dream board aren’t going to get you anywhere.

S.M.A.R.T. goals are used by everyone from Fortune 500 companies to MIT, because they work. Make sure your goals are: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. (7) So, instead of “get rich”, write something like “make over $70,000 in 2018”, or “average $6,000 per month in 2018.”

Another piece of advice? Break these S.M.A.R.T. goals down into smaller “bite-sized” goals. Keeps you motivated when you’re hitting goals on a regular basis and before you reach that big goal.

27. Just say no

Steve Jobs was no tech genius. But he said that the one thing that made him stand out from other people and helped him succeed was an ability to focus.

According to Apple’s co-founder, focus is all about saying no. “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.” (8)

26. Quit seeking external validation

You aren’t going to get very far if you have to ask everyone around you if they approve of your ideas or actions. After all, you can’t please everybody.

Just get to work and find success in your own way. If you feel like you’re doing it right, you don’t need someone else to tell you you’re doing it right (barring your mentor, of course).

25. Growth mindset

Adopting a growth mindset means recognizing that we not fixed and are all capable of growing and changing, of shedding old habits and adopting new ones, and of learning to be successful. That person who always has “bad luck” keeps failing because they believe that those failures are an innate, permanent part of who they are, whereas the successful person sees those failures as an opportunity to change and grow.

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck explains that the growth mindset means believing “that a person’s true potential is unknown (and unknowable); that it’s impossible to foresee what can be accomplished with years of passion, toil, and training.” (9)

24. Self-improvement

In order to act on that growth mindset, successful people regularly engage in self-improvement. They read on a daily basis (kudos for reading this post today, cross that one off the list), they learn new skills, they identify their faults and weaknesses and foster their strengths.

Instead of wasting your spare time on activities that provide no return, like binge-watching Netflix for 6 hours or hitting the bar every weekend, use that time to get ahead. Read a book, take a course, hone your skills, work on your business, etc.

23. Celebrate your wins

Working hard is important, but you can’t be “on” all the time. Take a break to celebrate your wins. Not only will it keep you motivated and looking forward to accomplishing the next goal, but taking a break to do whatever you want every once in a while helps you recuperate so you can attack your work in full force.

22. Get a mentor

Ramit Sethi schools us in “Why Successful People Don’t Want to Mentor You.” (10) The answer is simple: they’re busy, and you’re wasting their time. Stop asking them generic questions and expecting them to do work for you, and start doing the work yourself.

Instead, find yourself a good mentor, do your homework on them, put some work in to show them you’re serious (maybe read their book and reference specific chapters), and ask focused, thoughtful questions. Basically, STOP BEING LAZY.

21. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

Speaking of mentors, don’t be afraid to ask for help from them and from your own network. After all, even the most “self-made” people in the world didn’t accomplish so much completely on their own.

While you’re at it, make sure to thank people who help you as well.

20. Practice delayed gratification

The classic Stanford marshmallow experiment: Back in the ‘70s, a group of children were given a marshmallow and told that if they could refrain from eating it for 15 minutes, they’d get a second one. Some kids said “screw it” and ate the marshmallow while others waited for the chance to eat two marshmallows. (11)

Well, 40 years later the researchers tracked down these same kids, and they found out that the kids who delayed their gratification for a higher reward grew up to be significantly more successful than the other kids by a number of different measures.

19. Upgrade your skills

One of the quickest ways to ensure success is to beef up your resume with some solid, in-demand skills. Here are some skills that the World Economic Forum and Bureau of Labor Statistics determined will be even more useful in the next 10 years: software development, data analysis, physical therapy, digital marketing, customer service, teaching, accounting, business analysis, and social media. (12)

Thanks to the internet, now you can learn a lot of these skills from your home for wayyy less than a college degree by taking some online courses. Khan Academy, Udemy, and Lynda are all great places to pick up skills online. (13) (14) (15)

18. Save money

The Instagram-friendly picture of lavish success, popping bottles and paying to do a photoshoot on a private jet that’s not yours (yes, that’s a thing) (16), actually just leads to debt and bankruptcy.

No more fake friends. Truly successful people live within their means and don’t overspend. They save their money for lucrative investment opportunities and top-notch business ideas.

If you really want that Instagram lifestyle, you can buy it once you actually have the money to do so.

17. Track your finances

Speaking of saving money, tracking your finances is the key to understanding your financial health. It’s important to know how much money’s coming in and going out so you can make changes to stay in the green and avoid debt.

Also, you can monitor your progress towards your financial goals by keeping track of your money.

16. Stay positive

Some things are cliche because they’re true. Self-help books can be cheesy and generic, but there’s a reason that The Power of Positive Thinking has sold over 5 million copies and is still flying off the (virtual) bookshelves almost 70 years after being published. (17)

More than talent, skill, connections, and money, attitude is the most important factor for success.

15. Learn to adapt

The world’s always changing. If you can’t learn to adapt to changing situations, you’re going to get left behind. Learn to be adaptable and take change in stride, as having this skill will help you react effectively and succeed.

After all, adaptability is what allowed us humans to go from cavemen to the highly advanced society we live in today.

14. Sales training

What’s the one goal that every single business on the planet has in common? Make money.

A reporter for Inc. Magazine asked 20 different major CEOs and business owners for the one skill that contributes to success in every single industry, and they all said the same thing: sales. (18) Without sales, you’ll never succeed in anything. With sales, you’ve got half the work done. Read up on sales and psychology, then get some training if you can afford it.

13. Real estate

This is one of those fields that has a low barrier to entry and no ceiling to how much you can earn. While you do have to get educated, licensed and trained, it’s pretty affordable and only takes about a year.

After that, the sky’s the limit if you’re good enough – just look at someone like Barbara Corcoran. Plus, thanks to websites like Airbnb, building up your own real estate empire by buying out buildings and renting them is more feasible than ever.

12. Learn to code

“Code is the new literacy,” and now you can learn to code from home for free at places like Code Academy. (19)

Whether you’re looking to work from home, create your own start-up, flex your creativity, or make lots of money, web development has all the markers of a fulfilling career. Senior software engineers are topping up at $160k/year…not bad. (20)

11. Graphic design

Sure, websites like Fiverr are dragging down graphic designer prices to lows like $5 (ouch), but clients who pay that little aren’t always great. Legit companies will pay way, way more than that for a designer who actually knows their stuff.

If you can leverage design to increase conversions, you can make big bucks, and your success won’t dry out with increasing automation because creativity is hard to copy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that top-level graphic designers can hit $78k/year. (21)

10. Project management

According to a study done by the World Economic Forum on automation, the skills that will make sure you can still succeed ten years from now are things like people management, coordinating with others, critical thinking, and project management. (22)

Start by learning your way around project management software programs like Trello, Slack, and Basecamp.

9. Start a blog

Regardless of what field you go into, blogging is still a major way to get your name out there, increase brand recognition, and ultimately paint that picture of success for yourself. For those who’ve made it, blogging is a great way to give back to aspiring mentees who want to learn about how you did it, closing up the circle of success.

Plus, blogging itself can be turned into a very lucrative online business or complement your main income stream.

8. Data analysis

Big data, SAS, web scraping, machine learning…we’ve all heard the buzzwords. Data analysis is one of those elusive skills that are actually not that hard to learn if you have some time and an analytical mind, and having the ability to understand and manipulate data is an incredibly powerful skill in all fields.

Data analysis skills like SAS (Statistical Analysis System) will get you a 17% increase in any field of work. (23)

7. Pick up photography

Photography is a great supplemental skill for furthering your success in other fields. Basic photography, photoshop, and even some video editing and web design can help you land better jobs, or they can help you make side money or get your online business idea off the ground. Working for yourself is the dream, right?

6. Start tweeting

There’s a reason most companies look at applicants’ social media profiles. A big part of success is branding yourself online. Good branding on social media rakes in the cash and, more importantly, helps you get recognized and make connections.

Twitter is great for industries like journalism, blogging, film, finance, aviation, and telecommunications, whereas Instagram is a requirement for photography, art, fashion, travel, etc.

If you’re into business, marketing, finance, or tech, hit up LinkedIn and start writing articles.

5. Digital marketing

Everything is digital. There are 7 important components to digital marketing according to Forbes: analytics, SEO, HTML, WordPress, video, basic design skills, and SQL. (24)

You don’t need to become an expert in them all, but having a basic understanding of each one will increase your chances of success in just about anything.

4. Learn SEO

Google runs the world. Learn about SEO, and you can be successful in doing just about anything online.

I’ll give you the basics: do the keyword research (tools like SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs), and create high quality, epic content that targets those keywords.

Build relationships with high-level publications, blogs, and websites that will share and link to your articles.

3. Start a vlog

If you’ve got a little video editing know-how, starting a vlog is one of the best ways to get your name out there – arguably even more than blogs.

Famous vlogger Casey Neistat uses nothing but an iPhone to make his videos, and he has over 8 million subscribers, has gotten sponsorships from companies like Burton and GoPro, and has been featured everywhere from the BBC to the New York Times. (25)

Good content is everything in business, and it’s not easy to outsource. If you can do it well, companies will pay big money. The starting salary for a copywriter is $10,000 more than the national average. (26)

2. Content writing

Improving your ability to communicate with writing translates to success in every field. A study by Grammarly shows that LinkedIn professionals with fewer grammar mistakes in their profiles have significantly higher positions and more promotions. (27)

But it’s not just grammar and spelling. Learning how to inform, persuade, and tell stories through writing is a powerful skill to have on your side.

1. Generate leads for local businesses

If you’ve been paying any attention, you’ll notice that most tips for success in today’s world involve sharpening your skills and then using them to do something digital, automatable, and scalable.

But the very best ideas are also painfully simple.

Local lead generation is about as simple as it gets without trying to sell you a BS get-rich-quick scheme. It’s got a low barrier to entry, low competition (you against a handful of local businesses instead of you against the whole internet), and the market is completely unsaturated, unlike everything else on this list.

Plus, it can be done from the comfort of your own home (or the Bahamas), and once you get it right, there’s no ceiling to what you can earn.

If you ever want to branch out, local lead generation will make you a pro at SEO (#4 on the list), and that’s a skill that can take you just about anywhere in life.

#MLM companies #network marketing companies

0 notes

antionetterparker · 5 years ago

Text

Ranking the 41 best ways to be successful in 2019

You’re probably here because you’ve been dreaming about a new life… but instead of creating it you just keep passing out and waking up to the same life every day.

Burn your vision boards and trash your bucket lists. Drop the get-rich-quick schemes and “get skinny while eating pizza all day!” diets.

There’s no magic to success. It’s hard work… but that’s not all it is (although you do need to stop being lazy).

For similar articles, check out the best online business ideas, the best small business ideas, and how to start a business.

41. Take action now

Put down the self-improvement books and blogs every once in a while. Doing something, ANYTHING, even if you fail, will help you build the belief in your ability to succeed.

40. Quite chasing shiny objects

Folks, success isn’t easy to come by. If we’re talking business have to pick one business idea and go all in on it, even when it starts to become mundane. Otherwise, you’ll never taste success.

39. Get new friends

We’ve all heard it before: “if you want to see who a person is, look at their friends.”

38. Develop grit

Grit. What Duckworth defines as a combination of passion and perseverance for long-term goals is actually far more important than talent. And unlike IQ, it can be learned over time.

37. Network, network, network

36. Get out of your comfort zone

They say that life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Get used to being uncomfortable because staying inside your comfort zone will doom you to a life of mediocrity.

How do you get out of your comfort zone? Do something minorly uncomfortable (but socially and legally acceptable) every day. Being uncomfortable is a sign you’re growing.

35. Get a daily routine

34. Get in shape and stay healthy

Plenty of rich and successful people would agree with me. (3)

33. Vet your social media feeds

It’s similar to surrounding yourself with successful people, just with your social media.

32. Don’t be afraid of failure

Part of being successful is failing a bunch of times. If you’re scared of failure, you’re never gonna get anywhere. Instead, you gotta think of failure as a chance to learn something.

It goes back to the tip at the top of this article. Don’t wait around. Act, fail, brush yourself off, and try again.

31. Trash bad habits

According to Marketing Strategist Jerome Knyszewski (4), the two most important bad habits to avoid if you want to be successful are saying yes when you should say no and not planning for the future.

While you’re at it, quit smoking, throw out the junk food, and limit yourself to one hour of TV per day.

30. Improve your emotional intelligence

29. Sleep well

28. Set SMART goals

We all know it’s important to set goals, but writing vague things like “get rich” and “be happy” up on your dream board aren’t going to get you anywhere.

Another piece of advice? Break these S.M.A.R.T. goals down into smaller “bite-sized” goals. Keeps you motivated when you’re hitting goals on a regular basis and before you reach that big goal.

27. Just say no

Steve Jobs was no tech genius. But he said that the one thing that made him stand out from other people and helped him succeed was an ability to focus.

26. Quit seeking external validation

You aren’t going to get very far if you have to ask everyone around you if they approve of your ideas or actions. After all, you can’t please everybody.

Just get to work and find success in your own way. If you feel like you’re doing it right, you don’t need someone else to tell you you’re doing it right (barring your mentor, of course).

25. Growth mindset

24. Self-improvement

23. Celebrate your wins

22. Get a mentor

21. Don’t be afraid to ask for help

While you’re at it, make sure to thank people who help you as well.

20. Practice delayed gratification

19. Upgrade your skills

18. Save money

No more fake friends. Truly successful people live within their means and don’t overspend. They save their money for lucrative investment opportunities and top-notch business ideas.

If you really want that Instagram lifestyle, you can buy it once you actually have the money to do so.

17. Track your finances

Also, you can monitor your progress towards your financial goals by keeping track of your money.

16. Stay positive

More than talent, skill, connections, and money, attitude is the most important factor for success.

15. Learn to adapt

After all, adaptability is what allowed us humans to go from cavemen to the highly advanced society we live in today.

14. Sales training

What’s the one goal that every single business on the planet has in common? Make money.

13. Real estate

12. Learn to code

“Code is the new literacy,” and now you can learn to code from home for free at places like Code Academy. (19)

11. Graphic design

10. Project management

Start by learning your way around project management software programs like Trello, Slack, and Basecamp.

9. Start a blog

Plus, blogging itself can be turned into a very lucrative online business or complement your main income stream.

8. Data analysis

Data analysis skills like SAS (Statistical Analysis System) will get you a 17% increase in any field of work. (23)

7. Pick up photography

6. Start tweeting

Twitter is great for industries like journalism, blogging, film, finance, aviation, and telecommunications, whereas Instagram is a requirement for photography, art, fashion, travel, etc.

If you’re into business, marketing, finance, or tech, hit up LinkedIn and start writing articles.

5. Digital marketing

Everything is digital. There are 7 important components to digital marketing according to Forbes: analytics, SEO, HTML, WordPress, video, basic design skills, and SQL. (24)

You don’t need to become an expert in them all, but having a basic understanding of each one will increase your chances of success in just about anything.

4. Learn SEO

Google runs the world. Learn about SEO, and you can be successful in doing just about anything online.

I’ll give you the basics: do the keyword research (tools like SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs), and create high quality, epic content that targets those keywords.

Build relationships with high-level publications, blogs, and websites that will share and link to your articles.

3. Start a vlog

If you’ve got a little video editing know-how, starting a vlog is one of the best ways to get your name out there – arguably even more than blogs.

2. Content writing

But it’s not just grammar and spelling. Learning how to inform, persuade, and tell stories through writing is a powerful skill to have on your side.

1. Generate leads for local businesses

But the very best ideas are also painfully simple.

Plus, it can be done from the comfort of your own home (or the Bahamas), and once you get it right, there’s no ceiling to what you can earn.

If you ever want to branch out, local lead generation will make you a pro at SEO (#4 on the list), and that’s a skill that can take you just about anywhere in life.

via https://mlmcompanies.org/be-successful/

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tortuga-aak · 7 years ago

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Former Google exec Vic Gundotra had a ‘painful’ two-year process working with the FDA — and other startups should pay attention (AAPL)

AliveCor makes a portable EKG reader — the kind of electric heart monitoring that's standard in hospitals — and it's been FDA-cleared.

Former Google executive and current AliveCor CEO Vic Gundotra explains what he learned during a 'painful' two-year FDA clearance process.

Vic Gundotra embarked on his health tech startup journey with the confidence of a tech industry veteran boasting years of experience.

Despite leading high-profile projects at Google and Microsoft, Gundotra got a harsh reality check when he tried to steer his startup through a foreign and challenging regulatory landscape.

"I learned that as a former Google executive I was grossly misinformed about how medicine works and had to learn some painful lessons by making some mistakes that probably doubled the process," Gundotra told Business Insider in an interview.

Gundotra's startup, AliveCor, makes a $200 wristband that connects to the Apple Watch and allows users to take a medical heart reading, or EKG test. The KardiaBand, which was released on Thursday is the first Food and Drug Administration-cleared accessory for the Apple Watch.

Getting the FDA clearance was critical. And it was a lengthy process full of stumbling blocks.

"It was about a year and a half, two years ago that we announced the KardiaBand for the Apple Watch. That first-generation product got regulatory approval in Europe but we never got regulatory FDA approval in the United States," Gundotra said.

"We've been working with the FDA building that product for two years now," he continued.

"I'll take blame myself," Gundotra said. "Those errors that cost us the extra year is my fault."

AliveCorGundotra's experience is one that may become increasingly common in Silicon Valley, as the tech industry seeks to transform new markets like healthcare and transportation. For starry-eyed tech execs accustomed to playing by their own sets of rules, the tightly regulated market where the next big business opportunities lie present a special challenge.

One key to working with the FDA is that slide decks aren't what the agency is looking for — it's looking for clinical evidence.

"They don't care about your word. They care about clinical evidence. You have to follow their process and don't fool around with them. As a tech executive, it took me a year to make some mistakes and learn. I've been humbled through the process, but hey, we did it, we got there," Gundotra said.

Another issue is that tech designers are creating products like KardiaBand and associated software that potentially have a wide range of applications, but the FDA is very specific about what it's clearing.

"Our product allows you to get the electrocardiogram and send it to your physician, and your physician can make any diagnosis they want," Gundrota said.

"Our software that automatically interprets and says 'this EKG looks like this,' that is only FDA-cleared for normal sinus rhythm and possible atrial fibrillation," Gundotra said. "If I want to say something else, I can't until I get FDA clearance. So we went after the most common arrhythmia," he continued.

Lessons for Silicon Valley

Hollis JohnsonOther Silicon Valley executives may be going through the same learing process in the next few years as tech giants look to break into the medical world.

Gundotra's old firm, Googl,e is making lots of bets on healthcare startups. And the giant that makes the platform he's building on, Apple, for example, is running large-scale medical studies using its software, and is said to be looking to handle clinical data as the first step to a real attempt to break into the medical market.

Navigating the most difficult aspects of the regulatory process seems to be a priority for Apple, according to documents obtained through FOIA by MobiHealthNews.

"[Apple COO] Jeff [Williams] has asked me to lead the thinking (or at least the conversation) on the intersection of the regulatory landscape (as it currently exists and where we hope we might be able to influence its movement) and our products and platforms,” Robin Goldstein, a special projects attorney for Apple, said in an email seen by MobiHealthNews.

In 2015, Michael O'Reilly, an Apple employee, sent an email to an FDA official asking: “I have a question about FDA approval for apps that provide a diagnosis. Do you have time for a brief call today or tomorrow?”

O'Reilly works at Apple on "health special projects" and was previously Apple's VP of medical technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.

New rules of the road

AliveCorOne of the biggest challenges for software companies eyeing the medical market may be forgetting old habits, no matter how well those habits have served them in the past.

In Silicon Valley, the most successful companies are those who have mastered the art of iterating. The idea is to ship a "minimum viable product" in order to be the first to market. Once the product is released, the companies move quickly to improve it, eradicating bugs and polishing imperfections — often based on feedback, or complaints, from users of the product.

That isn't the way medicine works. And the big tech giants may eventually need to accept that fact.

"I have learned a lot in the last two years, painfully. Medicine is not 'move fast and break things,'" Gundotra said, referring to the famous Facebook slogan.

NOW WATCH: I've been an iPhone user for 10 years — here's what happened when I switched to the Google Pixel 2 for a week

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danny321 · 7 years ago

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Improve Your B2B Marketing Strategies

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forextutor-blog · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on Forex Blog | Free Forex Tips | Forex News

!!! CLICK HERE TO READ MORE !!! http://www.forextutor.net/trump-doesnt-make-microsoft-ceo-nervous/

Trump doesn't make Microsoft CEO nervous

Microsoft’s Nadella: How Trump can work with Silicon Valley

Some CEOs are nervous at the prospect of a 6 a.m. tweet from President-elect Donald Trump, accusing their company of not doing enough to keep jobs in the U.S.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, however, is confident about Microsoft’s place as a job creator.

“We’re a U.S.-based company that operates worldwide and our predominant employment is in the United States,” Nadella told CNNTech at the DLD tech conference in Munich on Monday. “We’ve already created a tremendous amount of high-paying jobs in the U.S.”

The tech company employs more than 113,000 people worldwide, more than 64,000 of whom are in the United States, mainly in Washington state, according to Microsoft.

Trump sits down with top Silicon Valley execs

In the wake of Trump’s win, companies are eager to play up the number of Americans they employ. Companies like Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) have made very public announcements about the jobs they expect to add, with messaging that seems to be in direct response to Trump’s win.

But Nadella says Trump’s ascent hasn’t changed the roadmap much for Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30).

“If anything, we’ll double down on what we’ve always done, which is be a U.S. company that operates in the United States very responsibly, but also being a multinational company that contributes into every country that we work in.”

Alibaba’s Jack Ma met with Trump to talk jobs

Trump has primarily used his Twitter account to go after the automotive and aviation industries. So far, tech has mostly been spared.

“Companies and executives need to have a Twitter strategy” to deal with any tweets from Trump about their firms, T-Mobile (TMUS) CEO John Legere told CNNTech earlier this month at CES.

“[Trump’s singling out specific companies] is probably why a lot of CEOs are keeping their heads down, so I’ll do the same,” Dropbox COO Dennis Woodside told CNNTech at DLD. But he admitted that companies should follow Legere’s advice.

“It’s crazy, but yes. I’m not sure what that strategy would be, [but] I don’t think you want to get into a tweetstorm with Donald Trump,” Woodside advised the crowd.

Changing political winds on the other side of the Atlantic, though, have already caused tech companies like Microsoft to take action.

FCC chairman warns next administration: Don’t go backward

After the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in June, the value of the pound plummeted, leading Microsoft to hike prices on U.K. business customers by 22% on January 1.

“When there’s some fluctuations, we obviously adjust those prices,” Nadella said. “I hope there will be an equilibrium that will be established and then these price corrections are more one-time vs. continuous.”

Nadella signaled that there is a limit to how much Microsoft can raise prices in the U.K. because the company believes that it is necessary to remain accessible to a mass audience.

“The change from the European Union is something that we’re just beginning to understand, but our commitment in the U.K. is long term and will remain long term,” he said.

Trump doesn't make Microsoft CEO nervous Trump doesn't make Microsoft CEO nervous http://rss.cnn.com/rss/money_news_international.rss $inline_image

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perfectirishgifts · 4 years ago

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Five Reasons Startup Boards Fail To Add Value

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/five-reasons-startup-boards-fail-to-add-value/

Five Reasons Startup Boards Fail To Add Value

Done right, a start-up board should help to drive growth

Death by reporting

Board overflow

Another common issue is that startup boards are allowed to become too big and cumbersome, as founders bring in more and more investors, all of whom are offered a board seat as part of the deal.

Investor “showboating”

“As an independent, my role is often, initially politely and then less politely, to try to shut down unhelpful conversations,” says Cohen.

Optics over strategy

Instead, startups should think about the skills and recent experience they actually need, based on what their short-term objectives are, for the next 12 months or so.

Lack of diversity

From Venture Capital in Perfectirishgifts

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