On May 5, 1809, a Connecticut woman named Mary Keis made history. She became the first female inventor to secure a patent in the United States for her invention of weaving straw with silk and thread, thus laying grounds for cost-effective manufacture and paving the way for women inventors in the nineteenth century.

Over two hundred years later, as we celebrate Women’s History Month, women may have no trouble getting a patent, but we are still fighting to make our voice heard in the male-dominated leadership arena. The ice is broken. …

Business and economic experts project the future of business after COVID will be a different place than ever before. Yet within this future, the question of growing your brand and scaling business remains as poignant as ever.

The past year has hit small businesses in the non-digital space the hardest. From your favorite bakery next door to an event planner you hired for your kid’s graduation party, to niche lifestyle brands, the economic crisis leaves countless small business owners gasping for ways to grow their brand and scale business in the short and longterm.

What can these businesses and marketers…

Entrepreneurship is in many ways, a mirror to life — you start with a blank page and a head full of ideas. How you fill that page will depend on a lot of inner characteristics— vision, patience, perseverance, empathy, stubbornness. Plus, one external thing— “a dash of luck”.

This elusive “luck” is in many ways, “uncomfortable” things like privilege, background, family, connections, etc. Often enough, “luck” is the collective term for the things we don’t talk about, the things we shush.

For Black entrepreneurs, the above kind of “luck” has been so minimal — or even nonexistent — that historically…

Always on the front lines of addressing privacy concerns, Apple is launching an important security update in spring 2021. The upcoming iOS 14.5 update is expected to completely change small business advertising via social media apps.

Already causing escalating conflict between Apple and Facebook, the privacy feature to be rolled out with iOS 14.5 may come as a shock to small business owners who have only limited time to prepare for the changes.

First expected to be released with the iOS 14.4 update, Apple’s new privacy feature is now set to release with iOS 14.5.

The business-controversial App Tracking Transparency…

“All you need is love”, the Beatles song goes. In a remote work context, we can well reframe that to “all you need is peace.” However, in the past year, many of us have seen the daily frustrations of working from home with families, kids, pets, roommates, and what-not pushing the limits of our patience.

In the unthought-of remote work scenario of 2020–21, we’ve seen that a productive work from home environment is a lot different than Pinterest would have it. But what are the most nagging culprits behind our burnout? What challenges, hopes, and struggles do U.S. remote workers…

The chance to get equal education and benefits regardless of background and family privilege; owning an amazing vacation property in Tampa; doing what you love and getting a 6-figure salary for it…When we think of it, all those dreams boil down to the deepest and biggest of American dreams: becoming an entrepreneur.

If you’re over 50, it may feel like you’re late for the entrepreneurship party reserved for Millennials and GenZ. But there’s nothing further from the truth.

According to official statistics, 54% of America’s small business owners are over 50 years of age. …

With all the turbulence having shaken entrepreneurs in 2020, it’s fair to say bidding the year goodbye topped our resolution lists. If only the past year’s challenges could drop down into oblivion with the ball on Times Square!

But for that to happen, as entrepreneurs we need to overpower our struggles with something greater.

To find out that superpower, at the close of the most challenging year in recent history I asked over 100 small business owners to name the kinds of skills that helped them survive 2020 and the ones they’re embracing for the year ahead.

Here are the…

A financial model to a small business is what engineering is to a rocketship. Based on incoming data, it doesn’t just ensure smooth flight but predicts how a business will react in complicated situations.

A financial model also helps add “fuel” when necessary, so you don’t ever get stuck in the middle of nowhere. And it’s a business owner’s best radar for avoiding financial meteors.

In 2020, small business has already been bombarded with its share of trouble. The businesses that had the upper hand are the lucky ones who had a solid backup plan.

Ahead of 2021, everyone needs…