On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff discusses Google’s announcement that it will keep its employees working from home for at least the next year, until July of 2021. While Google is the first major U.S. corporation to announce such a long-term plan, it certainly will not be the last. Tune in …
Freelance designers are in a tough position. We have to create awesome work which gets us clients, and then we have to go out and market that work to make sure potential clients actually see it. We’ve all seen those designers who seem to have an overabundance of fans and …
As entrepreneurs continue to navigate the uncertainty of COVID-19, many are focused on increasing sales; however, lowering expenses is equally as important when trying to achieve or maintain profitability. Now is the time to tighten spending and prioritize necessary expenses in order to remain focused on long-term revenue and profit …
Disclaimer: This content should not be construed as legal or tax advice. Always consult an attorney or tax professional regarding your specific legal or tax situation. Consumers spent $601.75 billion online with U.S. merchants in 2019, up 14.9% from the year before, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. With …
Are you wondering whether or not investors are investing in startups during the COVID-19 crisis? On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff shares how firms like Detroit’s own Ludlow Ventures continue to invest in startups. San Francisco-based Density, a company that makes sensors to monitor the number of people entering and …
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from our friends at Weglot. Taking your WooCommerce store international can open you up to a huge potential customer base that’s interested in purchasing your products or services. If your offerings are familiar and have appeal across different countries then the benefits …
Inside Michigan Business is a new podcast co-hosted by veteran journalists John Gallagher and Jack Lessenberry. Through conversations with their guests, they explore a range of pressing issues for Michigan including entrepreneurialism, innovation, trade and technology. On today’s episode, John and Jack explore the Quicken Loans IPO with featured guests, discussing the basics of the …
The full-scale transition to remote work has created countless challenges for businesses of all sizes across the globe, from managing disparate teams to ensuring employees have the tools needed to continue work from afar. No business has been immune. After weeks, and now months, of navigating what some have called …
Hey everyone, we’re back from our Oregon road trip. Actually, it was 2 short road trips with a break at home. It was really nice to get out of town for a few days. This summer is surreal. Like many people, we have been stuck at home since March. My …
There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has set the economic tone for 2020. The pandemic has hit investor and customer confidence, forced teams across the world into their homes, and caused many businesses to close down entirely. And, although future regulations in countless countries are yet to be known as governments …
Opportunities to start a business can happen at any time, even during a pandemic. Amid COVID-19, many individuals spent their time in quarantine practicing a side hobby or developing a new offering that meets the needs of their target audience. As more people lean into entrepreneurship, some have decided not …
All creative professionals can benefit from having an online portfolio. They’re great for attracting new clients and can even provide a trip down memory lane – letting you reminisce about what you’ve learned over time. Still, it’s possible to obsess over a portfolio a little too much. For example, adding …
Even if you have a job that you are generally happy with, maintaining enthusiasm and motivation every day and in every single task is often not possible. Sometimes, you might be overwhelmed by the less pleasant parts of your work and wonder whether staying at your current job is worth …
Nowadays, more American workers than ever have a side hustle — an additional job (typically some kind of gig work or a profitable hobby) alongside their main form of employment. But in order to make it grow, understanding how to fund a side hustle is vital. Taking on extra work …
Is there anything more iconic than a T-shirt? Worn by anyone from James Dean posing as a rebel and a heartbreaker, to streetwear fashion influencers like Olivia Palermo, T-shirts are one of the most impactful pieces of clothing today. So the next time you’re preparing a design for a clothing …
It seems inevitable. Emails generated from a WordPress website stop arriving – or get thrown into a spam folder. Email, as a certain grumpy designer once said, is the worst. Still, these messages can be important. They might be from prospective clients filling out a contact form, automated security notices …
When we appeared on Shark Tank to pitch our popular Zipadee-Zip swaddle transition product, we were thrilled to receive three different offers from the sharks. We ended up striking a deal on the show with Daymond John for $200,000 in exchange for a 20 percent stake in our company, Sleeping …
E-commerce sales have been on the rise in the U.S. over the past couple of months due to the realities of the coronavirus pandemic. According to a new SpendingPulse report from Mastercard, U.S. online retail sales jumped by 92.7 percent in May and consumers spent more than $53 billion via …
Did you know that you can host static sites for free on a number of high-grade services? This doesn’t just save money, but also means you’re deploying to globally distributed CDNs and automating processes. Provided: Netlify In a previous article, we reviewed 100 Jamstack tools, APIs and services to power …
Digital businesses — from part-time side hustles selling homemade jewelry to local restaurants that started fulfilling orders online during the pandemic — have helped U.S. communities weather the economic storm caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Orders placed on such websites almost doubled between January and April, as stay-at-home edicts caused …
Join DBusiness editor, RJ King, each week as he explores the top Detroit business stories of the week, dives deep into business topics, and interviews influential newsmakers in the “How to Grow Your Business” podcast. Brainstorming with Josh Linkner and Health Care with David Farbman This week’s guests are Josh Linkner, Detroit …
Style Stage – Submit your ideas to this modern CSS showcase styled by community contributions. Three CSS Alternatives to JavaScript Navigation – Some examples of mobile navigation with no JavaScript required. WordPress Theme Showdown: Custom Built vs. Readymade – Will a readymade WordPress theme really work for your project? Use …
Maybe you want to be an entrepreneur, to make your own way, but you aren’t sure where to begin. Or perhaps you have an idea for a business and have already taken the first steps to get it off the ground, but need a little inspiration to keep going. Or …
Yesterday afternoon, TCF Bank unveiled its $1 billion loan commitment for minority- and women-owned small businesses. This announcement comes just a few months after the company pledged to take a stand in order to fight racism and social injustice. With this initiative, TCF is delivering on its promise, as these …
Yesterday afternoon, TCF Bank unveiled its $1 billion loan commitment for minority- and women-owned small businesses. This announcement comes just a few months after the company pledged to take a stand in order to fight racism and social injustice. With this initiative, TCF is delivering on its promise, as these …
If you are a parent, you probably heard about “grit.” Grit is the ability to keep going when things get tough. Studies have shown that grit is a huge factor in succeeding in life. Today, grit has replaced self-esteem as the primary desirable character trait. Having self-esteem is good, but …
SEO has become one of my least favorite topics. It’s something that I’ll begrudgingly discuss with clients, but only when I have to. And writing about it? I’d rather hide under my bed. In some ways, it feels like one of the dark arts. But here I am, attempting to …
Navigating through a global pandemic is something that no entrepreneur can prepare themselves for. Past experiences and successes go out the window once uncertainty hits and we are forced to make quick, unprecedented and ultimately risky decisions. As a founder and CEO myself, production of our flagship device was just …
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from our friends at Weglot. International SEO is the practice of translating your original site content into different (often multiple) languages and optimizing it for SEO to bring in targeted search traffic. By optimizing your site content for international SEO, you can …
We’ve explained the Jamstack, a popular new way to build secure, scalable, high-performance sites. Now we’ll introduce you to the tools, services, and APIs that power Jamstack sites. The A in Jamstack stands for API. APIs can do anything for you, from sending a form to authenticating a user, or …
Accelerate all you do with Dell Technologies during the Quarterly Business Sale, running Wednesday, July 22 through Monday, Aug. 3. To access your exclusive 10 percent StartupNation savings, visit www.Dell.com/StartupNation or call 800-757-8442 to speak with a Small Business Advisor today! Steps for Saving Visit www.Dell.com/StartupNation Click “Get Coupon” Receive …
Negative social media comments and reviews are sometimes amusing, but they can pose major problems for businesses. Many studies have explored the impact of online reviews on consumer behavior, and the general consensus is that: The majority of consumers read (and care about) online reviews. The majority of consumers pay …
The following excerpt is adapted from “Brands on a Mission.” Dr. Myriam Sidibe, author of “Brands on A Mission,” is one of the world’s leading experts on how brands can meaningfully adopt social causes to create lasting, transformative change. The strongest brands stand for something bigger than the products they …
One of the fondest memories of my career path began with watching ABC’s “The Bachelor” with my wife. I remember when contestant Andy Baldwin was named the next Bachelor. When I looked him up, I surprisingly found little information about him. That night, I spent two or three hours cataloging …
Ideas: the germs that grow into those great, award-winning designs we all want to have our names attached to. We all get dozens of ideas constantly, which typically range from fairly good to amazingly good. Ideas are an abundant commodity that we all have, as creative people. In fact, most …
With companies worldwide striving to return to “business as usual,” experts claim that marketing will be an essential part of recovery. But, as we know, the crisis has and continues to affect some industries far more than others. Businesses deemed “essential” are struggling to meet demand, while 65 percent of retailers …
Join DBusiness editor, RJ King, each week as he explores the top Detroit business stories of the week, dives deep into business topics, and interviews influential newsmakers in the “How to Grow Your Business” podcast. Business Turnarounds and How to Prevent Hackers This week’s guests are Jessica Dore, principal of Rehmann in …
Every so often, web development takes a dramatic turn for the better. In this article, we introduce the Jamstack, explaining what it is and why it’s great. Back in the day, dynamic sites exploded with the LAMP stack. Then the MEAN stack provided a foundation for the next generation of …
Sure, the thought of web developers downing caffeinated beverages by the gallon is a stereotype. But if you browse social media enough, it sure does seem like many of us partake in the ritual. You also see various homages to that liquid lightning on CodePen. Through clever use of the …
The wait is over. You can now take advantage of a faster, more modern Bulk Search tool and purchase aftermarket domains directly from the GoDaddy Investor App. First, our Domain Investor app. Now, whenever or wherever you are, you can take full advantage of GoDaddy’s Domain Auctions, giving you access …
If you’re an entrepreneur with an online business, you know there could be thousands – maybe even millions – of people in other countries who may be interested in your products or services. In this article, you’ll learn how to use country-specific domain names, giving you and your business a …
Twitter chats are an underutilized social media tool for businesses to communicate with their followers and audience, share knowledge and strategies — all while promoting their brand. If you’ve seen a Twitter chat on your feed but never ventured into this virtual activity — you are in for a treat. …
When you last shared a post or story on Instagram, did you consider how it might be perceived by a potential employer? If you didn’t, you might want to start in the near future. According to research done by The Manifest in April 2020, 90% of employers now factor in …
On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff shares recent Small Business Administration (SBA) news announcing a certification program that helps ensure that women-owned businesses are competing on a more level playing field with other companies applying for the same contracts. The certification requirement applies only to those businesses wishing to …
This episode of StartupNation Radio is brought to you by Pappas Financial On today’s episode of StartupNation Radio, Jeff is joined by frequent co-host, Norm Pappas, president and CEO of Pappas Financial. Together, they interview Ron Lisch and Paul Deters. StartupNation exclusive discounts and savings on Dell products and accessories: Learn more …
Did your dream of starting a business seem difficult even before the pandemic? During the crisis, your existing business may have been ripped from your hands in an unforeseeable and helpless manner. As a 30-year business attorney, I have seen plenty of businesses both succeed and fail. As a result, I …
Ask a dozen web designers how to build a specific feature – and you’ll likely get a dozen unique answers. That’s part of the beauty of web design. You don’t need to stick to one specific formula to achieve a desired look or functionality. However, not every solution is on …
I’m back from our short road trip to central Oregon. We had a great trip and spent most of our time outdoors. The only time we spent indoors was at our small hotel/B&B. Unfortunately, the owner was lax about the face mask. He didn’t wear his mask consistently and didn’t …
In 2019, the Business Roundtable issued an open letter called “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” in which 181 CEOs signed the letter, stating that they pledged to lead their companies to the benefit of all stakeholders. Who makes up all stakeholders? This group compromises more than just a …
15 Free Logo Reveal Templates for Adobe After Effects – Spice up your branded videos with these outstanding free templates. Wt – A web GUI library in modern C++ that lets you quickly develop highly interactive web UIs with widgets, without having to write a single line of JavaScript. FontCDN …
You’ve registered the perfect domain name and are getting close to publishing your new website. Your product list, blog or new venture is coming together nicely, and your website looks superb. But something’s missing. You may recall the term ‘SSL’ from previous conversations and research. Here’s everything you need to …
You’ve registered the perfect domain name and are getting close to publishing your new website. Your product list, blog or new venture is coming together nicely, and your website looks superb. But something’s missing. You may recall the term ‘SSL’ from previous conversations and research. Here’s everything you need to …
Like many entrepreneurs, I knew I wanted to run my own company from early on. I received an MBA, then spent several years in management consulting, which helped me learn how top executives think, what works in strategy and how to run a business. I planned to use this experience …
If your business or blog isn’t using Pinterest, you could be missing out on hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands of potential page views for your website. Pinterest has been and continues to be a huge driver of traffic. And what’s the No. 1 way to drive traffic via Pinterest? …
On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff shares an entrepreneurial success story taking place right here in Detroit: that of Ellis Island Tea, led by owner and founder, Nailah Ellis-Brown. Earlier this week, Nailah received a major investment from comedian and actor, Kevin Hart, who’s partnered with her company and …
As a food lover, I absolutely adore cookbooks. I have a ton of them – all filled with pages and pages of delicious recipes for me to try and experiment with. Perhaps some of you do as well. My favorite part of a cookbook is the visuals – mouth-watering pictures …
At its core, leveraging customer insights lets your business look into the hearts and minds of current and potential buyers. Tapping into customer insights offers a way to take the pulse of your target audience, and if used properly, these insights can help smooth the customer journey, increase sales and …
Epidemiologists are predicting a fall resurgence of COVID-19, which could lead to another shutdown, reports Yahoo Finance. Businesses should prepare now for a possible second wave of the virus by investing in an e-commerce strategy, which could become their business’ lifeline. It doesn’t take long to create a functioning e-commerce …
The state of the country’s healthcare system is constantly changing. With the population continuing to grow, it’s presenting new challenges for healthcare professionals. Not only is the volume of patients needing care increasing, but the ailments and healthcare conditions are becoming more diverse. To adequately meet the demands of this …
Instagram is one of the most popular social media platforms out there that can put your business in front of your ideal audience and help you make more money. Businesses need a strategy, though, and how to tag on Instagram should be a vital part of that. Forming a strategy …
Ahhh… The long days of summer are here. I love this time of the year in the Pacific Northwest. The sun peeks out at 5 am and sets around 9 pm. That’s a huge difference than in the winter when the sun sets around 5 pm. The temperature is perfect …
On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff discusses a study just released by Avionos, Who Wins Where, which provides lessons and insights for e-commerce brands. The study reports that the COVID-19 outbreak has accelerated changes in online shopping that are not only surprising, but also favorable to online merchants. Here’s a …
This spring has been momentous. In addition to the changing of the seasons, March, April, May and June have seen major challenges for entrepreneurs in the form of COVID-19 and calls for racial justice and change. While there is still a lot of uncertainty and challenges, we are so inspired …
Editor’s note: GoDaddy GoCentral Website Builder is now Websites + Marketing — an all-in-one solution that integrates websites, digital marketing tools for your business and eCommerce tools with the guidance needed to achieve success. Every month, we create a list of the show-stopping features you need to add to your …
The pandemic has caused the “normal” course of businesses across all industries to shift, with many companies working from home and now remotely accessing corporate networks and data. And with it, many companies are now making their precious data available remotely. Unlike the way we work, the world of cybercrime …
On today’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff shares the exciting news (initially reported in DBusiness magazine) that Detroit’s own StockX is booming, despite most brands taking a hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. StockX launched in 2016 and offers users the opportunity to buy and sell goods like sneakers, apparel, accessories and collectibles on …
Editor’s note: The following is a guest post from our friends at Weglot. Localizing your WordPress website can help you increase its visibility, improve usability, and help you reach out to new markets. The good news is that there are a number of ways you can localize your WordPress website. …
tickgit is a command-line tool and web application that helps developers do project management in their code, through the use of TODO comments and other plain-text markers. It’s a low-overhead way of managing your backlog without switching contexts. tickgit scans source code for TODO markers (and HACK, FIXME, XXX, etc.) …
Every website project has its own distinct needs. Sometimes, the look and functionality really do need to be built from the ground up. In other scenarios, time is of the essence and there simply isn’t enough of it to go fully-custom. WordPress and its community provide us with solutions for …
How many times over the past few months have you been told that you must weather the storm of this unprecedented crisis? Business leaders from across sectors have been flooding to online outlets to offer their tips on how to get through the coronavirus crisis, adapt to changing circumstances, and …
We’re back with another episode of the WJR Business Beat, and this morning, Jeff is sharing details from the recently released Brand Finance Media 25 2020 Report. Facebook has just been named the world’s most valuable media brand, according to the report, with a brand value of $79.8 billion. Other notable media …
Join DBusiness editor, RJ King, each week as he explores the top Detroit business stories of the week, dives deep into business topics, and interviews influential newsmakers in the “How to Grow Your Business” podcast. Navigating Commercial Architecture and Italian Hospitality This week’s guests are Michael Poris, principal of McIntosh Poris Associates …
Flippa is a platform for buying and selling online businesses. In this article, we’ll look at how buying an online business through Flippa compares with buying one through a broker. Digital real estate will become the next great commodity. Individuals and companies alike will buy and sell their assets as …
Auto Draft By: Eva Webster| @ Article-Writing.co Posted On: July 14, 2020 Customer experience (CX) is vital to your business success. How your customer feels after purchasing your products or services is going to impact if they stay loyal customers, so it’s a given that perfecting your CX is very …
We web designers have always been a crafty bunch. If there’s a specific look or functionality we need to achieve, we can usually piece together a solution. That’s the case even when there isn’t a specific standard or tool to guide us. This is where the concept of the web …
Are you having a good summer break? Our son’s school year wrapped up about a month ago and everyone breathed a huge sigh of relief. Homeschooling was hell at first, but we adjusted and survived 3rd grade. Summer is going relative well so far. However, this summer is completely different …
Since its announcement, Deno has generated quite a lot of interest within the JavaScript community. As a JavaScript runtime designed by the creator of Node, you might expect there to be be a lot of similarities between the two projects, and there are. However, there are also important differences, meaning …
Last year, I wrote a series of articles about where female entrepreneurs can find venture capital investments across the United States. I didn’t realize it at the time since these pieces ran in February and March, but by June 2019 data was aggregating that female-founded unicorns were being established faster than …
We are going through changing times in almost every sphere of our lives — and the workplace is no exception. While the remote working structure used to be primarily reserved for only a handful of professions, these days, more and more companies are choosing to stay open to hiring remote …
Optimizing the growth of your startup is crucial for both immediate profitability and long-term success. While tapping into the “secret formula” for lasting growth may seem like a challenge, today’s founders actually have more resources available than ever before to help drive growth. You can achieve reliable growth by tapping …
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! But don’t worry: We have you covered with a last-minute checklist of social media ideas for restaurants and bars to set the mood for your customers this year. As couples plan their romantic night out, these simple tricks can help ensure they spend their …
The use of mobile devices has increased considerably in the past decade. It has been over two years since mobile browsing took over desktop. The usability of mobile devices has exploded, too. Mobile devices now come with huge processing power. We often dismiss mobile platforms as serious workhorses for developers, …
On this morning’s WJR Business Beat, Jeff shares a newly released PwC report on venture capital. The report details that funding increased 14 percent between Q4 2019 and Q1 2020. But while total funding in dollars rose quarter-over-quarter, the amount of funding going into a broad array of startup companies …
Why would we want to eat a frozen dessert during the winter months? In 2017, food resource website Spoon University made the not-so-scientific argument that winter is actually the best season to eat ice cream. The products are in stock at the grocery store, lines are nonexistent, and there’s no …
Last year, the web development community was obsessed with vertical lines and vertical rhythm. This year, we see some interesting solutions that have originated from that tendency. The use of ultra-thin lines throughout the interface is one of them. This is an incredibly small and elegant trend. Sometimes it can …
As I write this, the lives of potentially billions of people have been altered in one way or another. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an untold amount of changes – both big and small – not to mention tragic. To be sure, this is a crisis on a global …
Looking for home business ideas? Working from home might be a dream you’ve had for quite some time. But, today, with the prevalence of the internet, more and more workers are finding success with their home-based businesses. Best of all, the startup costs for your new business can be incredibly …
Unless your job is considered “essential,” you’ve been parked at home throughout the pandemic. You’re not alone, as approximately 29 percent of the U.S. workforce have jobs that allow them to work from home. And recently, this means home life and work life are coexisting in new ways. Many entrepreneurs are …
Medicare will change its card by April 2018. This change will take about a year, and it is done for security purposes and to prevent identity theft. Fraudulent people will try to take advantage of this situation with the intention of obtaining consumers’ personal data, such as Social Security numbers, …
Small business owners who want to be discovered in their local area know the importance of an online business presence. Consumers increasingly turn to online reviews when using the internet to research local businesses. Many trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations. (How else do you choose a restaurant …
Being an entrepreneur can be hard and your time is at a premium. Who has time to jump around different accounts just to send one update to all your audiences? And how easy is it to miss updating your new hours in multiple places? Digital Marketing Suite lets you manage …
What do all startups that drive growth by embracing strategic thinking, inspiring creativity and supporting talent have in common? Team collaboration. Market competition is thick. Startups that embrace inventiveness and creativity rise, and such innovation happens when leadership and teams unify in pursuit of a shared vision within a culture that …
In this article, I’ll focus on a list of must-have VS Code extensions for JavaScript developers. Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is undoubtedly the most popular, lightweight code editor today. It does borrow heavily from other popular code editors, mostly Sublime Text and Atom. However, its success mainly comes from …
Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of the SAHD recipes. Today, I’ll share my yakisoba recipe. This is way better than the typical yakisoba at the zoo or a run of the mill teriyaki shop. However, a good Japanese restaurant can make it much better than this. You’ll have to …
If you’re an entrepreneur, you probably work all of the time. That’s because you wear many of (or even all of!) the “hats” in your business. You are the CEO, the bookkeeper, the vice president of sales, the chief marketing officer, the head of manufacturing and more. Even though your …
How are customers, employees and investors able to connect with a business? Companies have a way of coming to life, and often, it’s through the power of brand storytelling. The best businesses have a story, and the best entrepreneurs know how to weave storytelling into their brand narrative. Do you? …
This sponsored article was created by our content partner, BAW Media. Thank you for supporting the partners who make SitePoint possible. The start of a new year is always an exciting time. Everyone makes pledges to be better, to feel better, to do better. But like many New Years’ resolutions …
Responding to online reviews on sites like Facebook, Yelp, Google and TripAdvisor is extremely important to stay connected with your customers and protect your online reputation. However, many business owners have questions about responding to their reviews. They want to know how and when to respond, what tone to use …
Aspiring business owners have several choices available for how they decide to break into entrepreneurship. Two of the most common ones include starting a business from the ground up and investing in a franchise. Both allow you to be a business owner, but there are slightly different nuances in how …
As the web has evolved over time, website complexity has trended upward. Why? Technology has allowed us to do more than ever. Between content management systems (CMS), code frameworks and other technological advancements, high-end functionality is at our fingertips. This has raised the bar in not only what we can …
