This week in small business: Power naps, superpowers, browser extensions, and more!
If you need a nap, you’ll find good justification for taking one every day in this week’s collection of curated content. Also, women entrepreneurs get a lot of coverage on both the challenges they face and the contributions they are making.
Leadership, management, and productivity
Because women-owned businesses tend to be small, JR Thorpe makes the case that they will be losers if net neutrality rules change.
Do you know what “design thinking” is? Jessica Sweet explains the concept and how it can contribute to career success.
I’m heartened by the fact that “get enough sleep” and “take a nap” are among Deep Patel’s 10 daily habits of the most productive leaders. In other good news: Jamie Mercer suggests you can increase your productivity by working fewer hours each day. (Testing these notions, starting now! Zzzzz…)
If you’re productive enough, but could use an extra dose of happiness, then you need to check out Cathy Caprino’s five pieces of advice.
Much is being written today about retail. Jennifer Schulties’ article suggests that department store woes may be tied to a sort of identity crisis.
Marketing and sales
With so many of us using the Google Chrome browser today, the five social media marketing extensions in Arachika Kapoor’s list are sure to get a lot of use.
Don’t overlook the power of direct mail. In this interview with Advantage Travel Partnership’s Carolyn Hardy, Abra Dunsby describes its advantages.
Ellie Roddy gives you 10 questions to ask yourself designed to find out if you’re doing social media right.
With the increased adoption of ad blockers, the time is right for this article by Lewis Gersh: The 7 rules of respectful marketing.
Bob McKay gives us six of the most effective social media metrics to understand your campaign’s success in his Forbes article.
Entrepreneurship, startups, and innovation
Writing for the Financial Times, Andy Bounds chronicles how a surge in female entrepreneurs is narrowing the UK’s gender gap. No doubt the 20 “Wonder Woman Traits” described in this piece by Patti Fletcher are helping this women in the UK. (Hey, if you have superpowers, use ’em!)
There’s no shortage of excellent articles on the topic of women entrepreneurs this week. I think you’ll also appreciate Gabrielle Healy’s Women In Tech On Funding, Harassment And Building A Business.
Writing in the Harvard Business Review, Francis J. Greene and Christian Hopp share research that shows how writing a business plan increases the likelihood of success for your startup.
While Muhammad Siddiqui admits that there is no fixed formula for entrepreneurial success, he offers five tips that will serve founders in every industry sector.