Well into 2013 now. I hope that your energy and drive for your business/venture resolutions continue to stay strong. To help you along, here are some interesting, inspiring and thought-provoking stories from this week’s news for your weekend reading.
Big week with some big conferences / events: Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and New Media Expo (NMX) - both of which impact self-employed people, whether you happen to be in those fields or not. I’ll refrain from adding stories here related to these as all major media has been reporting on them all week. But, do check them out if you haven’t already.
Inspiring Stories:
1) The 50 Coolest New Businesses in America – This is a great list, truly. I keep going back to it and digging deeper into each one. See if at least a couple don’t jump out to you as – I wish I’d thought of that. [Note: This article came out in Dec 2012, but I just discovered it this week.]
2) Andrew Sullivan, Journalist – Freelance writers have long been worried about the proliferation of free content on the web. Even respected journalists with long-time careers are finding their publications struggling to evolve in the world of new media. Here’s a story about a journalist who’s bucking the trend – or, rather leading it, perhaps. Great points about independence and personal brand creation.
3) Something Ventured – If you’re in the US or have access to American Public Television, this is a great program about to come out nation-wide. See if you can watch it. They started showing it in the Bay Area this past weekend. And, while it does focus on Silicon Valley, the lessons and stories strike universal chords.
Business Lessons:
4) Teen Entrepreneurs Tap Their Mother’s Facebook Connections – Keepin’ it in the Family. See if it doesn’t inspire you to do something similar.
5) Learning from Instagram – There are some excellent lessons here for non-tech businesses and startups as well.
6) How Location-Based Social Networks Are Changing the Game for Businesses – So, if you’re a local business and want to see how technology is going to help you market your business better through word-of-mouth, here an idea to consider.
Financial News & How-to:
7) 11 Retirement Don’ts for 2013 – Some good ideas here for everyone – whether you’re self-employed, thinking about it or not.
8) A Call for Ethics in ETF Advertising – I like ETFs personally, especially the index-based ones. If you invest in ETFs or are thinking of doing so, this is a good post from Rick Ferri on some of the things to watch out for with all the different performance benchmarks/comparisons that you will be presented with.
9) New Bank Rule re. Liquidity – I know, you’re thinking – boy, this is not for me. But, as a self-employed person, if you rely on bank loans for your business/venture, this is a helpful article about how banks deal with liquidity issues and what the new, less-restrictive liquidity rules will mean as they phase in gradually. And, note that they’re part of a global set of banking rules called Basel 3, so not just a US thing.
Wrapping up on a lighter note…… Watch this.
Enjoy your weekend.
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