This week in small business: The economy under a microscope
There are several ways to look at the economy. Is it strong? Is it circular? Are gigs starting to dominate? Those are three of the topics explored this week. And, as usual, you’ll also find a lot of great leadership, management, and marketing advice in our collection of curated content.
Politics, government, and the economy
Writing for the World Economic Forum, Mark Esposito takes an in-depth look at “the circular economy” and what it means for global commerce.
John White covers how the rapid rise of the gig economy is changing the way many people work.
Adam Samson reports that the Fed’s anecdotal Beige Book indicates that the U.S. economy continued to expand on a “modest or moderate” pace between April and May.
Leadership, management, and productivity
It’s one thing to generally accept the idea of women in business leadership positions. It’s another thing to see them leading in industries typically associated with men, like chemicals, machines, electronics, bridges, or railways. That’s what Kathy Deehan discusses in her Europe Business Review article.
Are you up to speed on NMT, Neural Machine Translation? Probably not, so you’ll benefit from what Jeff Charles explains here.
In her Women in Business Q&A series, Laura Emily Dunn talks to Emma Bates, Head of Global Marketing and Operations at Away.
Tired of feeling like something less than even a second-class citizen when you fly? If so, take a look at J.T. Genter’s article, “How to Use Credit Cards to Defeat Basic Economy.”
There’s some good practical advice in John Rampton’s article on 25 invoicing mistakes you need to avoid.
And while we’re on the topic of mess-ups, you might want to print out these 10 mistakes to avoid as detailed by Annie Pilon and then stick it on your refrigerator.
Marketing and sales
Yuyu Chen delivers a great overview in his Digiday piece on “The state of influencer marketing.”
Anyone using Salesforce will want to read Bobby Brill’s “Quickly Identify and Clear Bottlenecks in Your Sales Process Using Sales Wave Analytics” on the Salesforce blog. In a somewhat related vein, also check out Jon Simpson’s “The Key To Marketing Success Isn’t Your Creative, It’s Your Analytics” on the Forbes site.
Need freelance clients? Abdullahi Muhammed offers four content marketing hacks he says will get the job done…or the job booked.
Could a podcast boost your marketing campaign? That’s the question Jayson DeMers asks and answers here.
You’ve probably seen these things everywhere, so there are some marketing lessons you can learn from the Fidget Spinner craze, says Braveen Kumar.
Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation
Spin your golden years into gold: “How Older Entrepreneurs Can Turn Age to Their Advantage,” by Roger St. Pierre.
Jane Flanagan of FreshBooks delivers something of a confession when she relates her past life as a small business owner and what she would do differently.