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To obtain a free business license in your area, start by identifying the specific licenses or permits your business type requires. Many regions don’t mandate a general business license, but certain industries may need specialized permits that can often be secured without cost. You should likewise consider applying for home occupation permits if you’re running a home-based business. Comprehending these requirements is essential, as they can vary greatly. What’s next in the process? Key Takeaways Check if a general business license is required in your area, as many locations do not mandate one in Texas. Research specific permits needed for your business type, such as sales tax permits or health department permits. For home-based businesses, apply for a home occupation permit through your local government. Utilize online resources like the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for applicable licenses and permits. Obtain your Employer Identification Number (EIN) for free through the IRS online application, as it’s often needed for business registration. Understanding Business Licenses in Texas In Texas, traversing the domain of business licenses can be straightforward if you understand the specific requirements for your type of business. Unlike some states, Texas doesn’t require a general state business license. Nonetheless, depending on what you’re doing, you may need specific permits. For instance, if you sell or lease tangible goods, you’ll need a Sales Tax Permit, which you can easily obtain online through eSystems. Food service businesses typically require local health department permits, whereas home-based businesses might need a home occupation permit. Texas Sole Proprietorships and General Partnerships In Texas, starting a sole proprietorship or general partnership is straightforward since you don’t need to register with the Secretary of State. Nevertheless, if you plan to operate under a name different from your legal name, you’ll need to file an Assumed Name Certificate with the county clerk in each county where your business operates. Keep in mind that each county has its own form and fee for this filing, so it’s crucial to check the local requirements to guarantee compliance. Filing Assumed Name Certificate To legally operate your Texas Sole Proprietorship or General Partnership under a name different from your own, filing an Assumed Name Certificate is essential. In Texas, you don’t need to register with the Secretary of State, but you must file this certificate with the county clerk in each county where you plan to do business. Each county has its own specific form and filing fee, so it’s important to check with the local county clerk’s office for details. The application typically includes your desired business name, your legal name, and your business address. Once filed, your Assumed Name Certificate allows you to legally conduct business under that name, similar to requirements for a Mississippi business license or Nevada business license and Wisconsin business licenses and permits. County Clerk Registration Requirements Comprehending the county clerk registration requirements for Texas sole proprietorships and general partnerships is crucial for operating your business legally. Here are key points to ponder: You must file an Assumed Name Certificate if your business name differs from your legal name. This certificate needs to be filed with the county clerk in each county where you operate. Each county has its own filing form and fee structure. Not filing the certificate can lead to legal issues or the inability to enforce contracts under your business name. Always check with your local county clerk’s office for specific requirements. Additionally, during your exploration of how to get a business license in Nevada, keep in mind that the processes and structures can differ, similar to how the state of NV business license operates. LLCs and Corporations When you’re considering forming an LLC or corporation, you’ll need to navigate the registration process, which involves filing a Certificate of Formation with the state. One of the main advantages of these business structures is the limited liability protection they offer, shielding your personal assets from business debts and lawsuits. Nevertheless, keep in mind that there are costs involved, including filing fees and potential ongoing compliance expenses, like annual reports and franchise taxes. Registration Process Overview Registering an LLC or corporation in Texas is a crucial step for entrepreneurs seeking limited liability protection, as it shields owners from personal responsibility for business debts and lawsuits. Unlike a sole proprietorship, Texas Secretary of State and corporations require formal registration with the Texas Secretary of State. Here’s a quick overview of the registration process: File a Certificate of Formation, costing $300 by mail or $310 online. Consider using company formation services, typically around $100 plus state fees. Be aware of ongoing compliance requirements, like annual reports and fees. Keep your business entity in good standing to maintain its legal protections. For those looking for a free business license in Nevada, remember to check local regulations for a Nevada business license. Limited Liability Benefits Limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations offer substantial protection for owners by separating personal assets from business liabilities. This means that if your business incurs debts or faces lawsuits, your personal assets, like your home and savings, are typically safe. To form an LLC or corporation in Texas, you’ll need to file a Certificate of Formation, which costs $300 by mail or $310 online. LLCs also allow flexible management and offer pass-through taxation, where profits are taxed only on your personal return, helping you avoid double taxation. Furthermore, having limited liability status can improve your business’s credibility with clients and investors, making it easier to secure funding and capitalize on opportunities during the protection of your personal finances. Cost Considerations Starting a business in Texas involves several cost considerations, especially when forming an LLC or corporation. Here are some key financial aspects you should keep in mind: Filing a Certificate of Formation costs $300 by mail or $310 online. No general business license is required, but local licensing fees vary by business type and location. Check local government websites for specific licensing costs. LLCs provide limited liability protection from business debts, potentially saving you money in the long run. Additional services for company formation can cost $100, plus state fees, which are separate from registration costs. Understanding these costs guarantees you’re prepared to budget effectively for your new business venture. Texas Sales Tax Permit If you’re planning to sell or lease tangible property or taxable services in Texas, obtaining a Texas Sales Tax Permit is essential for compliance with state regulations. This permit, also referred to as a seller’s permit, is mandatory for your business operations. You can conveniently apply for it online through the Texas Comptroller’s eSystems platform. In the application, you’ll need to provide specific information, including social security numbers and your business’s NAICS code. The good news is that there’s no fee to obtain this permit, making it cost-effective. Once issued, you must display the permit at your business location and are required to collect and remit sales tax on all taxable sales to guarantee compliance with state tax laws. How to Apply for a Texas Sales Tax Permit How can you easily apply for a Texas Sales Tax Permit? Start by visiting the Texas Comptroller’s eSystems website to complete your application online. Here’s what you’ll need: Your social security number The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for your business Basic business information, including your address The type of business structure you have No application fee, making it a cost-effective process Once you submit your application, you’ll receive your permit, which allows you to collect sales tax on taxable sales. It’s essential to renew your permit as required and stay updated on local sales tax rates to guarantee compliance with state regulations. Local Texas Business Licenses In Texas, most cities and counties don’t require a general business license, but specific industries often need local permits. If you’re starting a food service or a home-based business, you’ll likely have to check in with your local health department or zoning office for necessary permits. It’s essential to understand that licensing requirements can vary, so visiting your city or county’s website is a smart step in ensuring compliance. Licensing Requirements Overview Maneuvering the licensing requirements for starting a business in Texas can be straightforward, but it requires attention to detail. Although most cities and counties don’t require a general business license, specific licenses may be necessary depending on your business type. Here are some key points to take into account: Food service businesses need permits from the local health department. Home-based businesses may require a home occupation permit. Licensing applications and renewals can often be completed online via the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) website. Local government websites outline the specific permits and licenses required in your area. Always verify local regulations to guarantee compliance. Local Permits for Businesses What local permits do you need to operate your business in Texas? Although there’s no general business license required, specific permits depend on your business type and local regulations. For instance, if you’re starting a food service business, you’ll typically need permits from the local health department to meet health and safety standards. If you plan to run a home-based business, a home occupation permit may be necessary to operate legally from your residence. To find detailed information on the specific licensing requirements and associated fees for your business, visit your local government website. Moreover, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) provides online applications for many licenses, simplifying renewals and updates. Application Process Steps When you’re ready to apply for local business licenses in Texas, it’s crucial to follow a systematic approach to guarantee compliance with all regulations. Here are the key steps to take into account: Research your specific business type and any required licenses or permits. Visit your local government website for accurate information on local regulations. If applicable, apply for a home occupation permit for home-based businesses. Obtain necessary permits from the local health department, especially for food service businesses. Complete your application through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) online for convenience. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Resources If you’re looking to start a business in Texas, grasping the resources provided by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is essential. TDLR manages various business licenses for specific industries, acting as a central resource for application and renewal processes. You can apply for many licenses online through their website, simplifying the experience for entrepreneurs. Furthermore, TDLR offers guidance on compliance with state licensing requirements, ensuring your business operates legally. Remember, the costs for licenses vary depending on the business type and municipality, so it’s important to check the specific requirements and fees that apply. Finally, TDLR facilitates online renewal and updates of licenses, making it easier for you to maintain compliance. Does Texas Require a Business License? Starting a business in Texas can be straightforward, especially since the state doesn’t require a general business license for most operations. Nevertheless, there are some important considerations you should keep in mind: Specific industries, like food service, may need local health department permits. An Assumed Name Certificate is necessary if you operate under a name that differs from your legal name. Local regulations can vary, so always check requirements based on your business location. It’s essential to comply with any local licensing and permitting rules before launching your business. Utilize local government websites for detailed information on necessary permits and licenses. How Much Does a Business License Cost in Texas? Comprehending the costs associated with obtaining a business license in Texas can help you better prepare for your entrepreneurial expedition. Typically, Texas doesn’t require a general business license, so many entrepreneurs won’t face licensing costs. On the other hand, if you’re in a specific industry, like food service, you might need permits from local health departments, which can vary in fees. If you’re forming an LLC or corporation, expect to pay $300 for mail filings or $310 online, plus any local permits. Furthermore, each county may impose its own fees for an Assumed Name Certificate if you operate under a different name. Local business licenses and permits can vary widely in cost depending on your municipality and business type, so do your research. How Do I Get a Texas Business Tax ID? Wondering how to obtain a Texas Business Tax ID? You can get your Employer Identification Number (EIN) for free through the IRS. Here’s how: Apply online on the IRS website for immediate results. Submit Form SS-4 by mail or fax if you prefer. Make certain you have your legal business name and address ready. Identify your business structure, whether it’s a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation. Remember, this ID is essential for opening a business bank account, applying for licenses, and filing taxes. Completing the application online takes just minutes, and you’ll receive your Texas Business Tax ID instantly. It’s an important step for managing your business effectively in Texas. Ready to Start Doing Business in Texas? As you prepare to do business in Texas, it’s vital to understand the specific requirements that may apply to your venture. In addition, Texas doesn’t require a general business license, you’ll need specific licenses and permits based on your business type and location. For home-based businesses, securing a home occupation permit from your local government is critical for zoning compliance. If you operate under a different name, file an Assumed Name Certificate with the county clerk where you do business. Most businesses selling tangible goods or taxable services need a Texas Sales Tax Permit, which you can apply for online. Furthermore, food service businesses might require local health department permits, so check your city and county regulations for details. Frequently Asked Questions How Much Is a Texas Business License? In Texas, most businesses don’t require a general business license, so you mightn’t have any licensing fees. Nevertheless, if you’re in a regulated industry like food service, you’ll need permits from local health departments, which can vary in cost. Furthermore, whereas sole proprietorships and general partnerships often don’t register with the Secretary of State, they may need to file an Assumed Name Certificate, which involves a county-specific fee. How Much Does a Washington Business License Cost? In Washington State, the cost of a business license typically ranges from $0 to several hundred dollars, depending on your business type and local jurisdiction. The basic Washington State Business License Application fee is $19, granting you a master business license. Nevertheless, additional fees may apply for specific endorsements or permits. Keep in mind that some cities likewise charge their own local business license fees, which can increase your overall costs considerably. Does the State of Iowa Require a Business License? Iowa doesn’t have a state-wide business license requirement, so most businesses can operate without one. Nevertheless, if you’re in certain industries, like food service or healthcare, you might need specific permits. It’s essential to check local regulations, as municipalities may have their own licensing rules. Furthermore, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals oversees many industry-specific licenses. Always review local ordinances to guarantee compliance and avoid potential issues. What Business Does Not Require a Business License? Many businesses don’t require a business license, particularly those that provide services without selling tangible goods. Consulting, freelance writing, and certain online ventures often fall into this category. Nevertheless, local regulations can vary considerably, so it’s essential to check your city or county’s requirements. Furthermore, home-based businesses might need a home occupation permit, even when they don’t require a general business license. Always verify specific guidelines to guarantee compliance. Conclusion In summary, obtaining a free business license in Texas requires comprehension of the specific requirements for your business type. Whereas general licenses may not be necessary, certain permits, like home occupation permits, could apply. You should additionally consider applying for a Texas Sales Tax Permit if needed. By researching local regulations and following the application process, you can guarantee compliance and start your business on solid ground. Take the necessary steps to set up your business effectively and legally. Image via Google Gemini This article, "How to Obtain a Free Business License in Your Area" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

To obtain a free business license in your area, start by identifying the specific licenses or permits your business type requires. Many regions don’t mandate a general business license, but certain industries may need specialized permits that can often be secured without cost. You should likewise consider applying for home occupation permits if you’re running a home-based business. Comprehending these requirements is essential, as they can vary greatly. What’s next in the process? Key Takeaways Check if a general business license is required in your area, as many locations do not mandate one in Texas. Research specific permits needed for your business type, such as sales tax permits or health department permits. For home-based businesses, apply for a home occupation permit through your local government. Utilize online resources like the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for applicable licenses and permits. Obtain your Employer Identification Number (EIN) for free through the IRS online application, as it’s often needed for business registration. Understanding Business Licenses in Texas In Texas, traversing the domain of business licenses can be straightforward if you understand the specific requirements for your type of business. Unlike some states, Texas doesn’t require a general state business license. Nonetheless, depending on what you’re doing, you may need specific permits. For instance, if you sell or lease tangible goods, you’ll need a Sales Tax Permit, which you can easily obtain online through eSystems. Food service businesses typically require local health department permits, whereas home-based businesses might need a home occupation permit. Texas Sole Proprietorships and General Partnerships In Texas, starting a sole proprietorship or general partnership is straightforward since you don’t need to register with the Secretary of State. Nevertheless, if you plan to operate under a name different from your legal name, you’ll need to file an Assumed Name Certificate with the county clerk in each county where your business operates. Keep in mind that each county has its own form and fee for this filing, so it’s crucial to check the local requirements to guarantee compliance. Filing Assumed Name Certificate To legally operate your Texas Sole Proprietorship or General Partnership under a name different from your own, filing an Assumed Name Certificate is essential. In Texas, you don’t need to register with the Secretary of State, but you must file this certificate with the county clerk in each county where you plan to do business. Each county has its own specific form and filing fee, so it’s important to check with the local county clerk’s office for details. The application typically includes your desired business name, your legal name, and your business address. Once filed, your Assumed Name Certificate allows you to legally conduct business under that name, similar to requirements for a Mississippi business license or Nevada business license and Wisconsin business licenses and permits. County Clerk Registration Requirements Comprehending the county clerk registration requirements for Texas sole proprietorships and general partnerships is crucial for operating your business legally. Here are key points to ponder: You must file an Assumed Name Certificate if your business name differs from your legal name. This certificate needs to be filed with the county clerk in each county where you operate. Each county has its own filing form and fee structure. Not filing the certificate can lead to legal issues or the inability to enforce contracts under your business name. Always check with your local county clerk’s office for specific requirements. Additionally, during your exploration of how to get a business license in Nevada, keep in mind that the processes and structures can differ, similar to how the state of NV business license operates. LLCs and Corporations When you’re considering forming an LLC or corporation, you’ll need to navigate the registration process, which involves filing a Certificate of Formation with the state. One of the main advantages of these business structures is the limited liability protection they offer, shielding your personal assets from business debts and lawsuits. Nevertheless, keep in mind that there are costs involved, including filing fees and potential ongoing compliance expenses, like annual reports and franchise taxes. Registration Process Overview Registering an LLC or corporation in Texas is a crucial step for entrepreneurs seeking limited liability protection, as it shields owners from personal responsibility for business debts and lawsuits. Unlike a sole proprietorship, Texas Secretary of State and corporations require formal registration with the Texas Secretary of State. Here’s a quick overview of the registration process: File a Certificate of Formation, costing $300 by mail or $310 online. Consider using company formation services, typically around $100 plus state fees. Be aware of ongoing compliance requirements, like annual reports and fees. Keep your business entity in good standing to maintain its legal protections. For those looking for a free business license in Nevada, remember to check local regulations for a Nevada business license. Limited Liability Benefits Limited liability companies (LLCs) and corporations offer substantial protection for owners by separating personal assets from business liabilities. This means that if your business incurs debts or faces lawsuits, your personal assets, like your home and savings, are typically safe. To form an LLC or corporation in Texas, you’ll need to file a Certificate of Formation, which costs $300 by mail or $310 online. LLCs also allow flexible management and offer pass-through taxation, where profits are taxed only on your personal return, helping you avoid double taxation. Furthermore, having limited liability status can improve your business’s credibility with clients and investors, making it easier to secure funding and capitalize on opportunities during the protection of your personal finances. Cost Considerations Starting a business in Texas involves several cost considerations, especially when forming an LLC or corporation. Here are some key financial aspects you should keep in mind: Filing a Certificate of Formation costs $300 by mail or $310 online. No general business license is required, but local licensing fees vary by business type and location. Check local government websites for specific licensing costs. LLCs provide limited liability protection from business debts, potentially saving you money in the long run. Additional services for company formation can cost $100, plus state fees, which are separate from registration costs. Understanding these costs guarantees you’re prepared to budget effectively for your new business venture. Texas Sales Tax Permit If you’re planning to sell or lease tangible property or taxable services in Texas, obtaining a Texas Sales Tax Permit is essential for compliance with state regulations. This permit, also referred to as a seller’s permit, is mandatory for your business operations. You can conveniently apply for it online through the Texas Comptroller’s eSystems platform. In the application, you’ll need to provide specific information, including social security numbers and your business’s NAICS code. The good news is that there’s no fee to obtain this permit, making it cost-effective. Once issued, you must display the permit at your business location and are required to collect and remit sales tax on all taxable sales to guarantee compliance with state tax laws. How to Apply for a Texas Sales Tax Permit How can you easily apply for a Texas Sales Tax Permit? Start by visiting the Texas Comptroller’s eSystems website to complete your application online. Here’s what you’ll need: Your social security number The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for your business Basic business information, including your address The type of business structure you have No application fee, making it a cost-effective process Once you submit your application, you’ll receive your permit, which allows you to collect sales tax on taxable sales. It’s essential to renew your permit as required and stay updated on local sales tax rates to guarantee compliance with state regulations. Local Texas Business Licenses In Texas, most cities and counties don’t require a general business license, but specific industries often need local permits. If you’re starting a food service or a home-based business, you’ll likely have to check in with your local health department or zoning office for necessary permits. It’s essential to understand that licensing requirements can vary, so visiting your city or county’s website is a smart step in ensuring compliance. Licensing Requirements Overview Maneuvering the licensing requirements for starting a business in Texas can be straightforward, but it requires attention to detail. Although most cities and counties don’t require a general business license, specific licenses may be necessary depending on your business type. Here are some key points to take into account: Food service businesses need permits from the local health department. Home-based businesses may require a home occupation permit. Licensing applications and renewals can often be completed online via the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) website. Local government websites outline the specific permits and licenses required in your area. Always verify local regulations to guarantee compliance. Local Permits for Businesses What local permits do you need to operate your business in Texas? Although there’s no general business license required, specific permits depend on your business type and local regulations. For instance, if you’re starting a food service business, you’ll typically need permits from the local health department to meet health and safety standards. If you plan to run a home-based business, a home occupation permit may be necessary to operate legally from your residence. To find detailed information on the specific licensing requirements and associated fees for your business, visit your local government website. Moreover, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) provides online applications for many licenses, simplifying renewals and updates. Application Process Steps When you’re ready to apply for local business licenses in Texas, it’s crucial to follow a systematic approach to guarantee compliance with all regulations. Here are the key steps to take into account: Research your specific business type and any required licenses or permits. Visit your local government website for accurate information on local regulations. If applicable, apply for a home occupation permit for home-based businesses. Obtain necessary permits from the local health department, especially for food service businesses. Complete your application through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) online for convenience. Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation Resources If you’re looking to start a business in Texas, grasping the resources provided by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) is essential. TDLR manages various business licenses for specific industries, acting as a central resource for application and renewal processes. You can apply for many licenses online through their website, simplifying the experience for entrepreneurs. Furthermore, TDLR offers guidance on compliance with state licensing requirements, ensuring your business operates legally. Remember, the costs for licenses vary depending on the business type and municipality, so it’s important to check the specific requirements and fees that apply. Finally, TDLR facilitates online renewal and updates of licenses, making it easier for you to maintain compliance. Does Texas Require a Business License? Starting a business in Texas can be straightforward, especially since the state doesn’t require a general business license for most operations. Nevertheless, there are some important considerations you should keep in mind: Specific industries, like food service, may need local health department permits. An Assumed Name Certificate is necessary if you operate under a name that differs from your legal name. Local regulations can vary, so always check requirements based on your business location. It’s essential to comply with any local licensing and permitting rules before launching your business. Utilize local government websites for detailed information on necessary permits and licenses. How Much Does a Business License Cost in Texas? Comprehending the costs associated with obtaining a business license in Texas can help you better prepare for your entrepreneurial expedition. Typically, Texas doesn’t require a general business license, so many entrepreneurs won’t face licensing costs. On the other hand, if you’re in a specific industry, like food service, you might need permits from local health departments, which can vary in fees. If you’re forming an LLC or corporation, expect to pay $300 for mail filings or $310 online, plus any local permits. Furthermore, each county may impose its own fees for an Assumed Name Certificate if you operate under a different name. Local business licenses and permits can vary widely in cost depending on your municipality and business type, so do your research. How Do I Get a Texas Business Tax ID? Wondering how to obtain a Texas Business Tax ID? You can get your Employer Identification Number (EIN) for free through the IRS. Here’s how: Apply online on the IRS website for immediate results. Submit Form SS-4 by mail or fax if you prefer. Make certain you have your legal business name and address ready. Identify your business structure, whether it’s a sole proprietorship, partnership, or corporation. Remember, this ID is essential for opening a business bank account, applying for licenses, and filing taxes. Completing the application online takes just minutes, and you’ll receive your Texas Business Tax ID instantly. It’s an important step for managing your business effectively in Texas. Ready to Start Doing Business in Texas? As you prepare to do business in Texas, it’s vital to understand the specific requirements that may apply to your venture. In addition, Texas doesn’t require a general business license, you’ll need specific licenses and permits based on your business type and location. For home-based businesses, securing a home occupation permit from your local government is critical for zoning compliance. If you operate under a different name, file an Assumed Name Certificate with the county clerk where you do business. Most businesses selling tangible goods or taxable services need a Texas Sales Tax Permit, which you can apply for online. Furthermore, food service businesses might require local health department permits, so check your city and county regulations for details. Frequently Asked Questions How Much Is a Texas Business License? In Texas, most businesses don’t require a general business license, so you mightn’t have any licensing fees. Nevertheless, if you’re in a regulated industry like food service, you’ll need permits from local health departments, which can vary in cost. Furthermore, whereas sole proprietorships and general partnerships often don’t register with the Secretary of State, they may need to file an Assumed Name Certificate, which involves a county-specific fee. How Much Does a Washington Business License Cost? In Washington State, the cost of a business license typically ranges from $0 to several hundred dollars, depending on your business type and local jurisdiction. The basic Washington State Business License Application fee is $19, granting you a master business license. Nevertheless, additional fees may apply for specific endorsements or permits. Keep in mind that some cities likewise charge their own local business license fees, which can increase your overall costs considerably. Does the State of Iowa Require a Business License? Iowa doesn’t have a state-wide business license requirement, so most businesses can operate without one. Nevertheless, if you’re in certain industries, like food service or healthcare, you might need specific permits. It’s essential to check local regulations, as municipalities may have their own licensing rules. Furthermore, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals oversees many industry-specific licenses. Always review local ordinances to guarantee compliance and avoid potential issues. What Business Does Not Require a Business License? Many businesses don’t require a business license, particularly those that provide services without selling tangible goods. Consulting, freelance writing, and certain online ventures often fall into this category. Nevertheless, local regulations can vary considerably, so it’s essential to check your city or county’s requirements. Furthermore, home-based businesses might need a home occupation permit, even when they don’t require a general business license. Always verify specific guidelines to guarantee compliance. Conclusion In summary, obtaining a free business license in Texas requires comprehension of the specific requirements for your business type. Whereas general licenses may not be necessary, certain permits, like home occupation permits, could apply. You should additionally consider applying for a Texas Sales Tax Permit if needed. By researching local regulations and following the application process, you can guarantee compliance and start your business on solid ground. Take the necessary steps to set up your business effectively and legally. Image via Google Gemini This article, "How to Obtain a Free Business License in Your Area" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When I was a kid, my favorite place in the world was hunched over a sewing machine. I’d cut up old jeans, hand-stitch fabric scraps into new outfits, and dream of someday seeing my clothes walk a runway. My notebooks were full of fashion drawings. Somewhere in my teens, that dream slipped quietly into the background. Life pulled me in a different direction. But this year, thanks to AI, I finally staged my first runway show at New York Fashion Week. Okay, not at the literal Fashion Week runways in Manhattan but on social media where people are scrolling for Fashion Week content. And the wild part? I pulled it together in one Friday night using my own AI-powered fashion brand, yanabanana. The tech stack behind the catwalk The show was called The Stockholm Archipelago Collection, inspired by a trip I took to Yasuragi, a Japanese-style spa perched on the water outside Stockholm. Architectural shapes, blue kimonos, and tall pines by the water were my mental mood board as I was designing my collection. Here’s how I translated inspiration into a digital runway: Sketch to photo: I started with a rough sketch of each look. Using Google’s Nano Banana image generation model, I transformed my doodles into photos. Sometimes I generated two photos (a “start” and “end” scene) that would ultimately create a more interesting runway moment. Models on the runway: Through prompt engineering, I iterated until all my looks walked the same runway that I had decorated with my photos of the water view from Yasuragi. Static to cinematic: I turned the images into short clips with Midjourney’s video model. It worked but I’ll be experimenting with different video models next season. Runway fluidity is tricky! Custom soundtrack: Every show needs a vibe, so I used Suno to generate an original Scandinavian inspired track to set the pace. Cut & polish: Finally, I stitched it all together in iMovie, as old-school as it gets in the age of AI. The result? A minute-long AI-powered runway film that could almost pass for an indie cut of a Fashion Week show. AI is the new sewing machine What I love about this process is that AI collapsed the barrier between imagination and execution. Ten-year-old me could only dream of sourcing fabrics, hiring models, and booking a venue. Today all I need is a sketch, a stack of AI models to create virtual human models, and a little curiosity. And yet, the story didn’t stop at the digital runway. From sketch to closet At one point, I even thought about building a platform where fashion designers could sketch with AI and then manufacture their garments. That idea simmered until I stumbled on Flair, an early- stage startup already doing exactly that. I joined one of their sessions with a roomful of fashion designers during San Francisco Design Week this spring. The format was like an AI version of Project Runway. Everyone created some designs, and whichever one got the most votes on their platform over the next week would be brought to life. Mine won. I sent in my measurements, and last week a package arrived. Inside was a dress that had started as a doodle on my notebook, passed through Flair’s AI workflow, and emerged as a real garment stitched together in the physical world. Slipping it on for the first time was magic. It was the same rush I felt as a kid cutting up old jeans. Except this time the runway wasn’t just in my imagination. It was hanging in my closet. The bigger picture For me, yanabanana isn’t about building a traditional fashion house. It’s about asking what does a fashion brand born in the age of AI even look like? Maybe it doesn’t need to produce clothes at all. Maybe its runways live on Instagram, soundtracked by generative beats, designed with prompts instead of pins. And maybe, sometimes, those designs make the leap from pixels to fabric. And maybe that’s exactly what makes it fashion-forward. Yana Welinder is Head of AI at Amplitude. She was CEO and founder of Kraftful (recently acquired by Amplitude). View the full article

I've been reading and writing about productivity techniques for years now, and I continue to be shocked by the sheer variety and quantity on offer. There are so many (some admittedly more "duh" than others), and while many could easily slot right into my workflow, others led me to think, "Wow, that one wouldn't work for me at all." Obviously I don't personally use all of the methods I've written about, but it's not because I don't believe in them. The fact is that no technique will work for every person, and no one person is going to be suited to every technique. The trick is to figure out which one(s) might work for you. It's easy to learn about a technique, be persuaded to see its value, and decide to implement it, but if it's not altogether aligned with your needs, it's probably not going to work for you as advertised. Instead of picking a productivity method that sounds good, you're better off selecting one that is better suited to you and how you work. Here's what to look for. The best productivity method if you're a visual thinker...If you need to visualize something to really understand it—like if you prefer to see graphs instead of reading about statistics or numbers—there are some solid productivity techniques out there for you. The best is probably the "pickle jar" technique, which asks you to imagine your daily capacity as a jar that can hold a finite amount of rocks, pebbles, and sand. The rocks are your big tasks, pebbles are important tasks that aren't immediately necessary, and sand is the little maintenance work you do to keep your day moving along. You load in your rocks first, then your pebbles, and finally the sand, to make sure you have enough time for it all. You can draw out a little diagram to help you prioritize your to-do list this way. Essentially, the pickle jar is a simple, more visual way to work through the 1-3-5 approach, which acknowledges the fact that you can't do everything, so you have to be selective about what you do attempt. With 1-3-5, you do one major task, three medium-sized ones, and five smaller ones each day. Whether you're imagining a jar full of debris or more methodically writing out the 1-3-5 list, you might need assistance determining what a "rock"-sized task is, or what five small tasks are. That's where prioritization techniques come in—and the best one, in my opinion, is also suited to visual thinkers. Called the Eisenhower matrix, this prioritization approach helps you streamline your to-dos by creating a chart that demonstrates which of your tasks are urgent, important, not urgent, and not important. Give it a try if you're having a hard time constructing the pickle jar. The best productivity method if you need motivation to get started...With some productivity methods, you're meant to just figure out what you need to do, then get cracking on it. That doesn't work for everyone. It certainly doesn't work for me—I need to get a burst of motivation or a spark of energy to keep grinding on a to-do list. The best options for people like me, in my opinion, are eating the frog or the two-minute rule. "Eating the frog" is a weird saying, but it boils down to tackling your most demanding, dreaded, or important task before you do anything else. The two-minute rule is similar, but when you try to follow that one, you commit to doing anything that takes less than two minutes the moment it pops into your head. I stick to a combination of the two, endeavoring to accomplish my biggest to-do early in the day, but allowing myself to start any task the moment motivation strikes, provided it's doable in a shorter time frame. In my experience, eating the frog works well for me because once I have the most pressing thing out of the way, I'm so relieved and proud of myself that anything else I have to do seems easy in comparison. If I can do the terrible thing, I can do anything. On the other hand, the opposite approach can have a similar result, so try the 10-minute rule if eating the frog feels daunting but you still need a little motivational push. With this method, you blow through all those little tasks that take 10 minutes or less to do, like answering emails or folding the laundry, so you can concentrate on the bigger stuff. As minor as they are, the little things can feel overwhelming, and they're easy to put off. If you get them all done with so they're not weighing on you, you'll feel better and more prepared to do everything else. There's a slight difference between the two- and 10-minute rules, so play around with all of these to see what works for you. The best productivity method if you don't feel connected to your work...The tasks of daily life can be menial and if you're not the kind of person who just buckles down and does what needs to be done, that can be a good reason to put it all off. If you can't justify spending an afternoon cleaning up or a morning responding to emails, you might be motivated by purpose, so try the Results Planning Method (RPM), which comes from famed motivational speaker Tony Robbins, who outlined it in his Time of Your Life program and designed it to be motivational, fast, and efficient. Not only does does the acronym stand for Rapid Planning Method, but it can also serve as a guide to what your day should look like: Results-oriented, purpose-driven, and built around a "massive action plan." You have to consistently ask yourself what you want, what your purpose is, and what you need to do to achieve it. So maybe you won't clean up just because it's that time of the week to do it, but you'll be more motivated to do it if you think of a broader purpose, like having the house in shape so you can have friends over for dinner. Doing something for the sake of it just doesn't motivate everyone and that's fine. Another way you can feel connected to your tasks is by putting some extra thought into them. The Ivy Lee method calls on you to write down six tasks you have to do the next day. You should do this at the end of every work day (or at the end of the night, if the tasks are home-related). By writing them down, you get them out of your mind and know you'll get to them the next day, so you can relax in the knowledge that you already have half a plan ready to go when you wake up. When I don't feel connected to my own work, I write out a SMART goal. That means I take the time to write out a plan that is specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-bound. By doing this, I force myself to think long-term about the biggest picture goals I have, then work backward to determine what small steps I need to take to make those a reality within the time frame I've outlined. This works for me because as I start working on those steps, I keep the bigger goal in mind; that keeps me focused and connected to what I'm doing, even if it feels menial in the moment. The best productivity method if you need a detailed plan...When you're eating the frog or jotting down a few to-dos, you just kind of wing it, designating your "big task" and going for it. But sometimes, it's nice to have a detailed schedule in place. Here, I recommend the 3-3-3 method, but first, you'll need to whip out the old Eisenhower matrix I mentioned before. Once you have everything categorized, you can move over to 3-3-3, which asks you to spend the first three hours of your day engaging in deep work on your most important project, then do three other urgent tasks that don't require as much time, and finish up with three maintenance tasks. It's a combination of eating the frog and visualizing the pickle jar, but it incorporates pretty strict scheduling to keep you on task. Let's talk about deep work for a second. Deep work is what happens when you're in a flow state, focusing solely on one task with no distractions. You'll know you've achieved it when time feels like it flies by. If you struggle to sink into it, there's a technique for you. Actually, there are a few, but they're all based on the same idea. Try the Pomodoro method, which has you work for 25 minutes, take a five-minute break, then repeat that cycle until you've completed four rounds. After that, you get a bigger break. Ideally, use an app designed to time your work sessions and block your other, more distracting apps. (FocusPomo is my favorite.) If this isn't working for you, don't give up. You can and should modify your Pomodoro times to meet your own needs if you have to. There are already Pomodoro spin-offs out there, like Pomodoro 2.0 and animedoro, but feel free to fiddle around until you invent your own. The best productivity method if you're being pulled in too many directions...Your life is complex. You're not just an employee, but potentially a parent, a spouse, a friend, a volunteer, a freelance or recreational something-or-other—and that's to say nothing of what you are to yourself, whether that's someone who prioritizes the gym or someone who can't focus when the house is a mess. If you're following a traditional productivity technique throughout the day, it can be hard to determine the tasks from each area of your life that should be taken care of. Certainly, a work responsibility, family matter, or personal obligation is bound to fall through the cracks in favor of something else. If that's holding you up, consider theming your days. Mondays might be for all your maintenance tasks at work, like answering emails or having meetings. Tuesdays might be the day you set aside for cleaning your home or meal prepping. Wednesdays might be the day you work on tasks for a board you sit on or a part-time job. Within that structure, you can call on one of the techniques above, like 1-3-5, knowing that the majority of your to-dos that day will all be related to whatever the theme is. This keeps you focused and in the zone, whatever the zone is, each day, but also allows you to devote necessary time to each of the arenas in which you're involved. No, it's not perfect. Something from an off-theme day will come up eventually and need to be addressed. But the goal here isn't to be strict about it. Rather, it's to give yourself a general sense of direction throughout the week. View the full article

Today, retail giant Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) reported its third-quarter fiscal 2025 earnings. Unfortunately, for the company and its investors, the results were a continuation of what Target has been seeing for years now: declining sales. Here’s what you need to know about Target’s Q3 and the impact the earnings are having on the company’s stock price today. Target’s Q3 2025 at a glance Here’s what the big box retailer reported for its Q3 2025: Net sales: $25.3 billion (down 1.4% from the same period in 2024) Adjusted earnings per share (EPS): $1.78 (down from $1.85 in the same period in 2024) Operating income: $948 million (down 18.9%) Net earnings: $689 million (down 19.3%) To put those first two all-important metrics into perspective, net sales came in below what analysts were expecting, but the company’s adjusted earnings per share came in slightly above. As CNBC notes, LSEG analysts expected Target to post revenue of $25.32 billion and an adjusted EPS of $1.72. One bright spot in Target’s Q3 results was digital comparable sales, which increased 2.4%. Announcing the company’s Q3 2025 earnings, Target’s incoming CEO, Michael Fiddelke, who takes the helm in February, said, “Thanks to the incredible work and dedication of the Target team, our third quarter performance was in line with our expectations, despite multiple challenges continuing to face our business.” Target’s sales woes continue What are those “multiple challenges”? Most broadly, Target has seen stagnant or declining quarterly sales for years now. Some of those sales woes are driven by factors not unique to Target. For several years now, retailers of all stripes have been seeing customers who are more cautious about how and where they spend their discretionary dollars. This caution has largely been spurred by inflationary pressures leading to rising cost-of-living expenses. The company, like most retailers, is also facing significant competition from other big-box giants, including Walmart, as well as from online retailers like Amazon and, in more recent years, Temu and Shein. However, several factors unique to Target have also impacted its sales for quite some time. As Fast Company reported in May, customers had been complaining about messier layouts, long lines, and understaffed stores. This had led to a notable decline in customer service in many customers’ eyes. Finally, earlier this year, Target rolled back some of its DEI initiatives after The President came to power. This prompted backlash and a boycott from many Target customers. Target has previously said this backlash impacted sales. All eyes on the holiday quarter—and TGT stock Despite the sales decline in Q3, Target maintained its outlook for its current Q4, which includes the all-important holiday period. Yet, that’s not exactly a good thing. Target had previously forecast that it expects its Q4 to see a low single-digit sales decline, and now it has confirmed that it still expects that decline (but at least, the company might argue, the decline isn’t forecast to be any worse). What Target did adjust was its full fiscal 2025 forecast. Target previously said it had expected adjusted earnings per share for the year to come in at between $7 to $9. But now the company says it expects adjusted EPS for fiscal 2025 to be between $7 and $8. Target’s stock reacted about as well as you would expect. As of this writing, TGT shares are currently trading down about 2.97% to $85.90 per share in premarket. The company’s stock price has had a rough 2025. Since the year began, TGT shares have declined more than 34% as of yesterday’s closing price of $88.53. Looking back over the past 12 months, things are even worse. During that time, TGT shares have declined more than 43% as of yesterday’s close. View the full article

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Across nearly four decades as a teacher, principal, superintendent, funder, and now leader of a large education nonprofit organization, the experience that most shaped my view of learning wasn’t a grand reform or a shiny new program. It was a Friday physics lab in Brooklyn. My students predicted a graph that couldn’t exist—a vertical line for velocity and time. What followed was confusion, debate, trial, and error. And then discovery: Velocity requires both displacement and time. That brief struggle taught me, the teacher at the time, more about how learning really happens than any policy memo ever has. That moment endures because it represents what school should unlock every day: inquiry, persistence, and the joy of figuring something out yourself. Too often, students still move through school executing a “recipe” of steps without understanding ideas. In math, science, history, and English language arts, they follow the recipe and miss the point. That approach may be tidy, but it’s not transformative. It shortchanges imagination, curiosity, and the “a-ha!” moments that make knowledge durable. HOW TO EMPOWER STUDENTS I believe that learning is only powerful if it combines agency, purpose, curiosity, and connection to empower students for the future. What does that mean? It means that learners should pursue knowledge through action. Through choice. And through voice. They should have opportunities to develop authentic and meaningful contributions. They should explore new ideas and experiences to better understand their world. And they should make connections between ideas, experiences, and people. When students are allowed to experiment—to wrestle productively and recover from mistakes—they don’t just master content; they build the habits of mind that matter in life and work. TECHNOLOGY’S ROLE Emerging technologies hold enormous potential to make these kinds of experiences more common. They help curate simulations, prompt inquiry, and scaffold experimentation. It can create new entry points for students to explore, revise, and connect their ideas. The “little” moments of technology matter, too—like a 90-second BrainPOP animation that unlocks a tough concept. An interactive that prompts a classroom debate. A quick, purposeful game that turns practice into understanding. These are the sparks that turn a lesson into learning. Technology is not a recipe to follow; it’s a set of instruments to conduct. If we want learners who can think with and about AI, then classrooms must invite students to do what my Brooklyn High School physics class did: predict, test, argue from evidence, and revise. This last part can demonstrate the evolution in a student’s thinking processes and how they can move through conceptual phases of understanding. This requires commitments like access and teacher expertise, as well as ensuring quality over quantity. I’m heartened to see some schools rising to meet this challenge, like the Ypsilanti Community High School in Michigan, with its new AI Lab. The first-of-its-kind collaboration between the school district, leading tech companies, and nonprofits equips students with advanced tools for AI-powered learning. This includes processors designed to handle complex AI computations, audio-visual equipment, and 3D modeling software. The lab doesn’t simply build AI literacy; it allows students to explore ideas that matter to them using advanced technology. At once, they gain hands-on experiences in emerging fields while also fostering a sense of creativity and innovation. The lab challenges them to think critically, pushes them to be creative, and strengthens their real-world problem-solving skills. These are the kinds of experiences we need to provide for students to prepare them for an AI-driven world. LET STUDENTS LEARN THROUGH DOING As we increasingly integrate AI in classrooms, students must be allowed to experiment and explore with it, to argue from evidence, to fail, to productively struggle. When done right, we see the right kind of noise. That means classrooms buzzing with questions. It includes debates. And students make lifelong connections. I still remember that Brooklyn lab as if it were yesterday. Not because of the graph, but because of what it revealed: When students are trusted to do the intellectual heavy lifting, they surprise us—and themselves. Our job is to design schools where discovery is not an accident, but the plan. Jean-Claude Brizard is president and CEO of Digital Promise. View the full article

You’ve heard of a to-do list, but what you might actually need is a to-don’t list. Instead of focusing on all the tasks you have to get done, it could be beneficial for you to look at everything you don’t need to or even shouldn’t do in service of your larger goal. It sounds like a waste of time, but it’s not: Seeing clearly what shouldn’t be taking up your attention is a simple way to prioritize your time and focus on what really matters, which will lead to enhanced productivity and output. There are two kinds of to-don’t lists to employ. To-don’t 1: Bad habitsThe first kind of to-don’t list you should make is one of bad habits you want to avoid. This is all about goal-setting and is more of a plan you should adopt for your life overall if you want to improve it generally, not a technique to employ when you have a specific goal in mind (which the second kind of to-don't list, below, is better suited to). The habits that hold you back can be obvious to you or you may not realize some of them, but once you get started writing them down, more will come. Some suggestions are these: Don’t sleep more or less than you’re supposed to, meaning you go to bed on time and don’t hit snooze in the morning. Don’t put off answering emails. Don’t skip breaks or lunch. Don’t save all your work until right before it’s due or you need to leave work. Don’t work all day and night without setting boundaries for when you’re off. As you make your list, you’ll discover the trouble areas you’re facing. Set aside a time, say every Monday morning, to review and update your list, tracking the progress you made on not doing those things last week, removing any that you’ve overcome, and adding new trouble spots that you’ve run into. As simple as it seems, having it all written down gives you a roadmap and something concrete to focus on while you blast through the bad habits. If you are struggling to identify the broad, bad habits that might be holding you back, you need data. Writing down a few ideas every week may not be enough. In that case, try conducting after-action reviews at the end of each day, jotting down what went well, what didn't go well, and how you'd like to retool your efforts going forward. It will take a few days or weeks of data collection, but you will start to see patterns emerging, and you can take action on them. To-don’t 2: Tasks you don’t need to doA lot of productivity methods focus on what you, specifically, need to contribute to your workplace, team, or various responsibilities, but some of the best ones also leave space for you to delegate tasks to others. Saying “no” to requests or new tasks that you don’t have the capacity for or there’s no reason for you to be the one to do is a special talent we should all cultivate a little better. One way to do that is to keep a list of the tasks you aren’t touching. Consider making a list that includes things like the following so you can set clear boundaries and stick to them: Don’t pick up other people’s responsibilities on a group project. Don’t follow up with someone who is refusing to communicate. Don’t waste time on emails unlikely to get a response. Don’t schedule everyone’s work for them. Don’t agree to new elements of a project until existing tasks are handled. Keeping a real record of the things you are drawing a line in the sand about will help you actually stick to that line. It also helps to have and idea of what you’ll say if and when someone asks you to do something on your to-don’t list. Thanks to the existence of the list, you can simply say, “I appreciate you thinking of me for this, but I don’t have space for that right now in my current schedule. I’ll let you know when I’m done with the things I need to do.” Once you have your lists compiled, refer to them. Keep them somewhere you’ll see them, like next to your computer or in a note on your phone, and let the power of writing down what you’re not going to do guide you as you tackle the actual to-do list. There is another element to this kind of to-don't list, however. Yes, there are tasks you can delegate or avoid in a group setting, but there are also tasks you yourself can just disregard, whether at work or in your personal goals. To figure out what they are, you need to prioritize everything you have to do (or think you have to do). There are a few simple ways to do this: You can make an ABC list or opt for the more objective Eisenhower matrix. At the end, you'll see some tasks are neither urgent nor important. Those become your to-don'ts. In a hustle-focused, fast-paced world, it can be hard to remember that sometimes, you just don't have to do something. Banishing unnecessary tasks from your schedule can help keep you focused and productive, even if it's a hard habit to start. View the full article

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When Gabriela Flax left her corporate position managing 40 people to work on her career coaching businesses solo and moved from London to Sydney, the first thing she noticed was the silence. Without the constant movement, office hum, phones, and elevator dings, she says, she could finally bask in the quiet she’d always craved. But, she quickly realized, “Oh, wow, there’s no one around me.” Flax, a career coach and founder of the newsletter Pivot School, says, “I initially named my Substack No One’s in the Kitchen. I’d get off a work call super excited [because I] signed a new client . . . go to my kitchen to make a coffee, and no one’s there . . . just my dog looking back at me.” Running a business alone can feel liberating, but it can also come with a cost: a unique type of loneliness research suggests stems from acute uncertainty, resource constraints, responsibility, and time pressures. Online, subreddits, creator cohorts, and Discord groups brim with solo founders seeking to manage loneliness. “Loneliness is a mental health emergency in many cases,” says Dr. Michael A. Freeman, a San Francisco-based psychiatrist who works exclusively with entrepreneurs. Ironically perhaps, “entrepreneurs often feel quite alone despite the fact that they have very large networks and communicate with lots of people every week,” he explains, because those are largely “transactional role relationships” and solopreneurs, particularly, “are pursuing a uniquely personal vision.” “The loneliness can come from a lack of people, but it can also come from being the only person who holds your ‘why’ so tightly,” says Flax. Identifying the ‘loneliness loop’ Particularly in a venture’s early days, solopreneurs “are living and breathing their new business,” explain researchers Ashley Evenson, lecturer of creative enterprise at Goldsmiths, University of London and Beki Gowing, lecturer in fashion enterprise at London College of Fashion, who coauthored a study on entrepreneurial loneliness and burnout. Loneliness, they say, “[can be] the catalyst for other mental health difficulties, [eroding] decision-making, creativity, and emotional resilience.” Social interactions slip, overwork rises, and a “vicious and toxic cycle” takes hold. Diane Sullivan, business professor at the University of Dayton, calls this the regulatory loop of loneliness: Some founders respond by building connections and hobbies, while others withdraw, potentially making isolation worse . In Flax’s case, she had to get creative—digital lunch invites via TikTok, long-form writing for other solo-founders—to cultivate relationships in her new role and city. In what Flax describes as an “eat what you kill” field, solopreneurs can ill-afford to let loneliness derail their purpose. Here’s how experts recommend fighting it. Seek ‘deep social’ experiences Taking the first step to get out of a loneliness rut can feel awkward, but it’s key to make the effort to engage offline, even if it feels uncomfortable at first. Juliana Schroeder, associate professor in the Management of Organizations group at Berkeley Haas, says one of the major instigators of loneliness is that people are trading “deep social” experiences for “shallow social” experiences. “Shallower social experiences are those that leverage AI connection, online engagement (particularly on social media platforms), and prioritize more superficial types of interactions,” like short text-based conversations, for example, or group conversations over one-on-ones. Other potential connections, like talking with neighbors or disagreeing counterparts (say, talking across the political divide), “are starting to disappear entirely,” she says. “I suggest setting up environments that involve regular contact with community members, having recurring ‘deep’ conversations to maintain and grow friendships, and stretching outside of your social comfort zone when any opportunity arises.” And it may not be as hard we imagine. “We find that people’s psychological intuitions about some of these interactions are miscalibrated,” she explains, and the awkwardness and depletion we anticipate is often overridden by the pleasantness of the interaction and how good both parties feel afterwards. Flax recommends seeking connection outside of work: “If you go to the gym at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday, or a coffee shop at 11 a.m. on a Thursday, not everyone in those spaces is going to be self-employed or building their own thing. But . . . chances are they might not have a [traditional] nine-to-five,” she explains. “It’s hard the first five times you [introduce yourself]. By time number six, you’re like, oh, whatever.” Quality over quantity Preempting loneliness, at least initially, may also help proactively manage it, says Freeman, who recommends, “engaging in a rich set of relationships that do not involve being a leader and ultimate decision-maker.” “One of the founders I work with belongs to a football team that is part of a regional amateur league. He has many friends on the team, which he doesn’t have to lead, and the camaraderie gives him a lot of social support,” he adds. Flax agrees, noting online cohorts, while “full of a unanimous understanding of we’re all in this together,” can lose meaningful connection when they exceed six to seven people. “Don’t just put us all in a room,” she says, adding that breakout rooms on a Zoom call, for instance, help foster one-on-one connection. Back to basics, away from the drawing board Tim Michaelis, assistant professor in the department of psychology at North Carolina State University, founded and runs an annual Health in Entrepreneurship Conference. Physical activity and sleep, he says, are two big recommendations, citing additional research that “leisure activities can provide a way to detach from entrepreneurial work and improve venture performance.” “Engaging with a local university or community college can help connect with like-minded people, feel less alone, and improve wellbeing,” he adds. “A small step could be going to watch a pitch competition or email a professor to see if they need help with a guest lecture . . . Sometimes it’s a clear win-win.” Ultimately, it’s worth remembering that loneliness does not increase just because you’re a team of one. Claude Fernet, an organizational behavior professor at Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, who studies job stressors in small and medium enterprises, raises an important point. Solo founders may actually have a bit of an advantage when it comes to job stressors and loneliness. That’s because “owner-managers” (or entrepreneurs with a small team of employees) feel the additional responsibility for others’ wellbeing and salary, leading to, “the burden of shielding others from stress.” Still, he adds, “That said, the psychological toll of isolation remains a significant concern in both cases.” Flax, meanwhile, recommends thinking of loneliness in stages. “Don’t fight [it],” she says, “Because solitude is a part of building something meaningful . . . The day will come where the work you put into it is seen by others and you can create incredible community off the back of it.” View the full article

Tiny fragments of microplastics—from clothes, car tires, plastics, and other sources—slip through most water filters. But at a water treatment plant on the coast in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where plastic-filled wastewater would normally flow into the ocean, new technology has captured hundreds of millions of microplastic particles over the past year. The technology, from a startup called PolyGone, can also clean microplastic out of lakes and rivers or treat wastewater at factories. The startup spun out of research at Princeton, where the founders drew inspiration from aquatic plants that can naturally attract microplastic. The plants have fibrous roots coated in a hydrophobic gel that pulls in pollution. “We managed to imitate the geometry and hydrophobility of the aquatic plant root,” says cofounder Yidian Liu. “It has a lot of unevenness on the surface that creates little cavities for smaller pollutants to be trapped inside.” Wastewater treatment plants are a pathway for microplastic pollution to enter the ocean, which is now filled with trillions of particles. Most wastewater plants in the U.S. don’t use advanced treatment before releasing water back into nature. Of those that do, most existing filters only catch larger microplastic, between 1 and 5 millimeters. Tinier fragments, invisible to the naked eye, slip through. Another type of fine mesh filter in use in some plants captures more, but then the plastic just ends up in landfills. In lab tests, PolyGone’s system captures 98% of microplastic. After the filters are full, they can be cleaned and reused. The plastic is concentrated and sent for reuse. In Atlantic City, where the company launched its first wastewater pilot in September 2024, it has already captured more than 520 million particles of microplastic, exceeding performance targets. The plastic goes to other companies: one that turns it into chemicals, another that is beginning to use it to make fuel. The utility now plans to expand the pilot into a full-scale operational system. PolyGone, which recently raised a $4 million seed round of funding, designed a new filtration unit that automatically lowers itself into water and cleans itself on a schedule. The unit fits inside a standard shipping container, with all of the tech fully assembled inside so it can be deployed in a day at a wastewater plant. The company also designed another version of the technology that fits into wastewater pipes at factories. The first pilot of that system just launched at an industrial plant in Dubai. “This system is a very simple way for them to plug and play and get rid of microplastic before the water goes into their effluent,” says Liu. Other manufacturers are also beginning to test the technology, including clothing companies working to cut microplastic pollution from synthetic fabric. Cost varies depending on the system, but ranges from roughly $15,000 to $50,000. The technology is much less expensive than other advanced filtration, in part because the filter works passively to “dramatically reduce energy consumption compared to traditional advanced filtration systems that rely on high-pressure pumps,” Liu says. The open design avoids clogging, so it needs less maintenance. It also can easily be added to existing infrastructure, she says, rather than requiring expensive retrofits. The tech can also be used directly in nature, and the company has tested a Roomba-like robot that filters water as it moves across a lake. But funding is harder to secure for this approach. There’s more demand for industrial use, especially from brands that are trying to tackle sustainability goals. And at wastewater treatment plants, some states may soon consider new regulations that would require better pollution filtering. “California is leading on microplastic regulation,” says Liu. The state already requires microplastic testing in drinking water and is working on a new drinking water standard, though wastewater filtering isn’t mandated yet. “A huge reason is they don’t know what methodologies or systems are available for [wastewater plants] to quickly adopt for microplastic removal,” Liu says. “Our pilot is actually giving them a very good case study to understand okay, it is a problem that can be solved.” View the full article

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AI models have a voracious appetite for data. Keeping up to date with information to present to users is a challenge. And so companies at the vanguard of AI appear to have hit on an answer: crawling the web—constantly. But website owners increasingly don’t want to give AI firms free rein. So they’re regaining control by cracking down on crawlers. To do this, they’re using robots.txt, a file held on many websites that acts as a guide to how web crawlers are allowed—or not—to scrape their content. Originally designed as a signal to search engines as to whether a website wanted its pages to be indexed or not, it has gained increased importance in the AI era as some companies allegedly flout instructions. In a new study, Nicolas Steinacker-Olsztyn, a researcher at Saarland University and his colleagues analyzed how different websites treated robots.txt—and whether there was a difference between sites measured as reputable versus not reputable, specifically in terms of whether or not they allowed crawling. For many AI companies, “It’s kind of a ‘do now and ask for forgiveness later’ thing,” Steinacker-Olsztyn says. In the study, more than 4,000 sites were checked for their responses to 63 different AI-related user agents, including GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, and Google-Extended—all of which are used by AI companies in their effort to soak up information. The websites were then divided between reputable news outlets or misinformation sites, using ratings devised by Media Bias/Fact Check, an organization that categorizes news sources depending on their credibility and the factuality of their reporting. Across all 4,000 sites assessed, around 60% of those deemed to be reputable news websites blocked at least one AI crawler from accessing their information; among misinformation sites, only 9.1% did so. The average reputable site blocks more than 15 different AI agents through its robots.txt file. Misinformation sites, by contrast, tend not to shut out the crawlers at all. “The biggest takeaway is that the reputable news websites keep well up-to-date with the evolving ecosystem as it pertains to these major AI developers and their practices,” Steinacker-Olsztyn says. Over time, the gap between those who are willing to let bots crawl their sites and those that aren’t is widening. From September 2023 to May 2025, the proportion of platforms locking out crawlers increased from 23% to 60%, while the share of sites peddling misinformation stayed flat, the study found. The result, Steinacker-Olsztyn says, is that less reputable content is being hoovered up by and then spat out of AI models used routinely by hundreds of millions of people. “Increasingly these models are also being used simply for information retrieval, replacing traditionally used options such as search engines or Google,” Steinacker-Olsztyn adds. The conundrum over legitimate data For AI models to stay up-to-date on current events, they are trained on reputable sites, which is exactly what these sites don’t want. The war over copyright and access to training data between AI companies and news sites is increasingly spilling into courts—The New York Times’s lawsuit against OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, for example, carried on into last week. Those lawsuits are prompted by allegations that AI companies are illegally scraping data on news websites to act as regularly updated, ground-truth-based training data for the models powering their AI chatbots. In addition to litigating their disputes, reputable news websites are blocking AI crawlers. That’s good for their businesses and rights. But Steinacker-Olsztyn is concerned about the broader impact. “If reputable news is increasingly making this information unavailable, then this gives reason to believe this can affect the reliability of these models,” he explains. “Going forward, this is changing the percentage of legitimate data that they have access to.” In essence: It doesn’t matter to an AI crawler whether it’s viewing The New York Times or a disinformation website run out of Hoboken. They’re both training data, and if one is easier to access than the other, that’s all that matters. Not everyone is quite so certain about the negative impact of blocking crawlers. Felix Simon, a research fellow in AI and digital news at the University of Oxford-based Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, says he wasn’t surprised to learn that sites trafficking in misinformation would want to be crawled, “whereas traditional publishers have an incentive at this point to prevent such scraping.” Some of these traditional publishers, he adds, still allow some scraping “for a plethora of reasons.” Simon also cautions that just because misinformation sites are more likely to open their doors to AI crawlers, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re polluting the information space as much as we may fear. “AI developers filter and weigh data at various points of the system training process and at inference time,” he says. “One would hope that by the same means by which the authors have been able to identify untrustworthy websites, AI developers would be able to filter out such data.” View the full article

Chips giant to report financial performance in the face of market ‘angst’ about an AI bubbleView the full article

A combination of factors, including the rise of retail investing and sound assets, propelled ETF formation, with at least four issuances over the past year. View the full article

When the new year rolls around, many people will resolve to get in better shape. Last year, Americans poured $44.8 billion into the fitness industry, flocking to gyms and buying at-home fitness equipment. But it usually takes just two weeks for people to abandon their goals. Gym memberships go unused. Peloton bikes collect dust. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have found that amidst all the fitness options on the market, personal training tends to lead to better results for several reasons: It involves a personalized program, fits into the participant’s schedule, and requires being accountable to the trainer. But personal training is expensive, priced anywhere from $50 to $150 (or more) per hour for one-on-one sessions. Ray, a new AI-powered fitness app, wants to offer all the benefits of a personal trainer for a fraction of the price. (In fact, the service is free for early users, but will eventually start charging a monthly fee.) When you open the app, an AI trainer that looks and sounds like a real person will guide you through a workout. The program will be customized to your goals, your bodily limitations, the equipment you have handy, and the amount of time you have. And like a human trainer, Ray will observe your movements to help you improve your form and offer more challenging workouts as you improve. Ray will also follow up with you by text, like a real trainer, to see how the session went and to help schedule the next one. Importantly, the technology is going to keep improving as more people use Ray and as AI evolves. “The conversation’s going to get more fluid; the vision is going to get better,” says Colin Raney, Ray’s cofounder. “We’re currently working on grunt recognition, to see if we can identify how the user is doing based on the sounds they’re making.” Why Personal Training Works Ray is the brainchild of Rich Miner, cofounder of Android, and Raney, an Ideo veteran and former CMO of PillPack. Over the years, both have relied on personal trainers and found them transformative. For Raney, it was clear that there were many aspects of working with a human being that could cultivate real behavior change. “I needed the accountability of not wanting to let my trainer down by not showing up,” he says. “Or tuning the workout to me if I had a bad day, or my back wasn’t feeling right, or if it looked like I was ready to push myself that day.” Raney has thought about improving people’s health by changing their behavior. He helped build PillPack, which was designed to help people actually take their medicine by delivering it monthly in packets sorted by date and time. He believed it would be possible to get people to workout more frequently if they had access to the qualities of a personal trainer. “Our thesis was that if you build the right behavioral loop, people will workout more regularly,” he says. This aligns with research that finds that people who relied on a personal trainer lost fat and built muscle, with a lower rate of injury, compared to people who worked out alone or in groups. As Raney spoke with Miner about building a fitness tool, it became clear that AI technology was evolving to the point that it could mimic a personal trainer. Miner has been working on AI for decades, and has the patent to one of the first “wake words” for a voice-based personal assistant 35 years ago. “If you’re not a movie star or someone with a lot of money, you can’t afford to get that kind of personalized training,” he says. “But I realized that with agentic AI, you could actually start building virtual people who could watch you and talk to you naturally.” Building an AI Native Tool The fitness industry is working hard to incorporate technology into existing tools. Over the last decade, there’s been an explosion of tech-enabled machines, from Peloton and NordicTrack machines with screens that provide feedback about the workout, to weight-lifting machines like Mirror, Tempo, and Tonal that can help count your reps. Now, these companies are figuring out ways to incorporate AI into their systems, to better tailor workouts to the user. Minor and Raney began building Ray two and a half years ago. What sets it apart from many other tools on the market is that it is built on AI, rather than simply retrofitting existing technology with AI. Ray is designed to approximate a real person that can interact with the user in a natural way. “It adapts to you,” Minor says. “You don’t have to change a bunch of settings to make sure the workout is tailored to you. You can just say, “Ray, my shoulder’s hurting today.” The technology is equipped with several cutting-edge AI technologies. It has natural language processing, to create real conversations with the user. It is able to observe the user across 35 different points, and has a machine learning algorithm that identifies your body movements. It is also equipped with an AI planner that helps you dynamically plan workouts based on the user and their workout history. Ray has also incorporated a lot of highly specific data about personal training. The data is trained on the textbooks and manuals that personal trainers use to get qualified. Raney also became certified as a personal trainer to ensure the Ray experience is as realistic as possible. “Ray’s team has a huge amount of domain expertise,” he says. “We have a lot of knowledge about things like what constitutes a good workout and how to create a complete workout in a given amount of time.” Raney believes that the seamlessness of the interaction is important because one big obstacle to behavioral change is decision fatigue. “Part of what holds people back is the mental load,” he says. “You have to decide when you will do the workout, and then make a lot of decisions about what exactly you’ll do and for how long. With a personal trainer, all you need to do is to show up at the agreed upon time and do the program.” Minor believes that consumers will immediately see the difference between an AI-native fitness app, versus one that is back-solving into an existing system. He compares it to how companies started making mobile-first apps instead of just adapting their websites to mobile apps. “That’s when you got Instagram and Uber,” he says. “People rethought what an app could be if you didn’t have to rely on a legacy application. That’s what we’re trying to do with Ray.” How An AI Personal Trainer is Different Six months ago, Ray quietly launched on the app store, without any marketing. Thousands of users have already started using it. The founders say they wanted to see how users interacted with it and use this data to further train the AI. When I tried it, I was impressed by how well the program adapted to my needs. In 20 minutes, I was able to do a range of exercises in my office without any equipment. As I did push-ups and jumping jacks, my Ray trainer was encouraging, telling me that I was on the right track. It also respected the fact that I hate burpees. (You can pick whether the trainer is supportive or a little more assertive, since different users respond to different approaches.) But as with other agentic AI platforms I’ve used, I found that the interaction wasn’t perfectly seamless. I didn’t exactly feel like I was interacting with a human trainer; the AI trainer’s eyes seemed blank and unfocused. When I spoke, Ray would pause before responding to me in a way that made the conversation a little stilted. Ray’s founders say that these aspects of the interactions will only get better as the more people use the platform and the AI itself improves. But for now, Ray didn’t feel human enough that I felt bad about letting it down if I didn’t show up for a workout—the way I would if I were working with a real person. Miner acknowledges that an AI agent won’t provoke the same level of accountability that a human would, but he says that there are still benefits to creating an anthropomorphic app. “It’s more than about creating a sense of guilt about letting a person down,” he says. “A trainer guides you through what to do and they’re watching you as you workout, counting your reps and motivating you. Ray gives you all of that.” And there are some ways that a virtual personal trainer is more convenient than a human one. You can do workouts at odd hours that a human may find objectionable. You don’t have to compete with the trainer’s other clients and you can cancel at the last minute. And then there’s the price. Right now, Ray is free. But in the coming months, the founders will develop a pricing structure that is designed to be significantly less than the price of hiring a human personal trainer. Over time, the founders believe that Ray will begin to feel even more like the real thing. “Ray has improved so much over the past six months since it’s launched,” says Raney. “It’s going to feel more and more real as time goes on.” View the full article

A 220-pound, fully functional, solid-gold toilet—once offered to President Donald The President as a satirical gift—just sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $12.1 million. The commode is a work of art called America created by Maurizio Cattelan in 2016. Cattelan is most well-known for his surreal, conversation-starting, and often controversial art concepts, like the 1999 piece La Nona Ora, which depicts a life-size Pope John Paul II getting struck by a meteorite, or the infamous 2019 piece Comedian, which is, put simply, a banana taped to a wall (which sold at auction for $6.2 million). After America debuted at the Guggenheim Museum in September 2016, it became an instant subject of public fascination, inspiring dozens of think pieces and even a front cover of the New York Post. In the nine years since, the intrigue surrounding the work has only grown after it was the target of a high-profile heist. Perhaps the most enduring legacy of America, though, will be its emergence as a striking symbol for The President’s first term—a connection made even more poignant by the timing of its sale during The President’s second term, itself most visually recognizable by its glut of gilded motifs. America The storied, sometimes unbelievable history of America When it debuted to the public, America was not sequestered on a pedestal or inside a gallery space. Instead, it was located in the Guggenheim’s bathroom, where visitors were allowed five minutes each to, as one New York Post article put it at the time, “crap all over America.” In all, more than 100,000 guests lined up to do just that. At the time, the Guggenheim said that the artwork represented the American dream, with “its utility ultimately reminding us of the inescapable physical realities of our shared humanity.” Cattelan put it more bluntly to The New Yorker: “Whatever you eat, a two-hundred-dollar lunch or a two-dollar hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise,” he said. In 2019, the loo was sent to England’s Blenheim Palace, where it was to be put on view to the public for a second time. Just as the exhibition was set to open, a group of thieves broke into the palace, used sledgehammers and crowbars to pry the toilet out of the floor, and escaped in under five minutes. Two of the people involved in the theft were sentenced to prison in June of this year, but the original America has never been recovered. The America that just sold at Sotheby’s is actually a second version of the work, which Cattelan had previously alluded to but did not reveal in public until the sale. According to Sotheby’s, it’s the only other version of America in existence. America An 18-karat-gold throne In a new YouTube video about the whirlwind history of America, several Sotheby’s experts note that Cattelan’s reticence to provide much context about America is one of the reasons it became iconic. But the toilet’s connections to The President were never exactly subtle. When America arrived at the Guggenheim just two months before The President was elected in 2016, the museum’s then-blogger, Caitlin Dover, wrote in a post, “The aesthetics of this ‘throne’ recall nothing so much as the gilded excess of The President’s real-estate ventures and private residences.” When Dover asked Cattelan about the connection, he said that while The President wasn’t top of mind when he conceived the piece, “it was probably in the air.” The allusion got a lot more explicit in 2018. That year, the The President administration contacted the Guggenheim to request that the Vincent van Gogh painting Landscape With Snow be borrowed for The President’s private living quarters. According to The Washington Post, then-curator Nancy Spector, who wrote a book about Cattelan’s work in 1999, declined to lend the painting, suggesting America instead. The White House, it seems, did not respond to the subtle act of protest. A gilded symbol The President’s penchant for gold decor dates back decades. In 2004, he told reporters that the reign of Louis XIV represented his “favorite style”—and the gilded, rococo-esque aesthetic has become a visual hallmark of both his presidencies. This year alone, The President has decked out the Oval Office in golden objects, accepted a luxury jet from Qatar filled with gold furniture, and begun construction on a new White House ballroom that will be, predictably, very gold. In some ways, a golden toilet feels like the ultimate symbol of a second term in which The President has repeatedly strengthened his ties with billionaire investors while the average American is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. But when asked about the goal behind agreeing to offer America to the The President family in 2018, Cattelan told The Post that his reasoning was a bit more lighthearted. “What’s the point of our life?” he said at the time. “Everything seems absurd until we die, and then it makes sense.” America View the full article

It looks like nothing more than a bedside fan. To program it, you hit the “on” button once. But what happens next could improve your memory by 226%. This is Memory Air, a new product born from decades of science charting the relationship between our nose and our brain. Each night, Memory Air cycles through 40 different, undisclosed scents, twice. As you sleep—even though you don’t consciously smell these scents—research suggests that it can measurably improve your memory within weeks. How is that possible? As the company’s founder—UC Davis professor emeritus Michael Leon—explains, “We are functionally odor deprived.” Whereas humans evolved in a scent-filled world, where we didn’t even shower, he suggests that whatever room you’re residing in now probably smells like nothing by design. That’s difficult, as our cognition and ability to smell are closely linked. “All memory loss precedes or is accompanied closely by olfactory loss,” notes Leon, who points out many of us experienced brain fog and loss of scent during COVID-19. “In most neurological diseases it’s the first symptom.” We don’t need to completely untangle the relationship between smell and memory to understand that they affect one another. Smell is a learnable behavior—and often a re-learnable behavior. And relearning that behavior can actually improve our memory. Leon believes that smell has such a powerful effect on memory because “the olfactory system has an anatomical advantage.” It is the only sense that has a straight pathway to your hippocampal cluster, which manages memory and emotion. (Meanwhile, all other senses take a detour through your thalamus first.) By feeding this region of your brain new odors, research has found you can actually increase gray matter and neuroplasticity—generating new connections in your brain. Smells appear to be a way to exercise and strengthen the very area of your brain that handles memory. In 2023, Leon published a study demonstrating that by routinely exposing people to smells, you could improve some of their mental faculties. A randomly assorted collection of people ages 60 to 85 were exposed to one of seven smells each night for two hours over six months. After that time, his team observed that the smelling group tested with a 226% improvement in memory over a control group—and fMRI scans exhibited positive shifts in brain structures supporting memory. But Leon is quick to point out that his findings are not special; rather, they are increasingly the norm. “There are now about 20 studies that have used olfactory enrichment to improve memory,” he says, noting that the methodologies vary wildly. “I think the strength of literature as a whole is what we should look at. This is such a strong phenomenon. Who does it, and how they do it, is not as important as getting more odor to the brain.” Turning research into product To develop this science into a functional product, Leon’s team raised an undisclosed sum from a group of wealthy investors. They also tapped Christian Garnett, from Garnett Design Group, to spend three years transforming theory into intervention. For the final product, Leon wanted to mirror similar research out of South Korea, which subjected participants to a full 40 smells twice a day (and found similar gains around memory, while noting that it reduced depression and increased facilities with attention and language, too). But how do you fit 40 smells in a box? “It was probably the biggest challenge, to figure out how to turn on and off scents at will,” Garnett says. Memory Air needed to run through dozens of scents, twice, making each distinctive with no lingering odor that would blend them from one to another. That meant each had four minutes to appear and dissipate. “Most of the scent industry is optimized to do the opposite: get the most scent out and have it last as long as possible,” Garnett says with a laugh. Garnett’s team tested all sorts of ideas. It tried developing a white odor technology—think white noise but for smells—with so many frequencies that everything cancels out into nothing, blinding your nose. It tested enzymes, as used by Febreze, to break scents down to clear them out of the room. But ultimately, it landed on an idea that’s part Glade PlugIn, part machine gun. When setting up the device, you load it with a belt that looks like a bandolier. Instead of bullets, it’s filled with 40 individual essential oils—scents the team refuses to detail but insists are “nothing unusual.” (The order appears irrelevant, but the sheer number helps reduce habituation.) As the bandolier rotates through the night, it uses a bit of heat on the active oil pouch. With a phase-changing material, scent diffuses out when warmed while a large, low-speed fan quietly wafts the scent toward the sleeping person. “The same moment you feel air from the fan hit you, you get the scent. The moment the fan cuts off, you don’t smell anything,” Garnett says. “This way you get 20 to 30 seconds of scent exposure before the fan tuns off, cools, and clears the room.” This whole experience is designed to be automatic. Garnett pared back the product, removing lights and test modes to ensure anyone could use it perfectly. When you set up the Memory Air, all you do is slip in the scent belt and hit the “on” button right before bed. From there, it will know when to kick on. And while the scent belt will run out after a month, a subscription ships replacements to customers on a schedule. A UX you don’t experience The oddest part of Memory Air is that if it works as advertised, you won’t actually even know it’s working. It runs in your sleep, leaving no olfactory footprint by design. And Leon notes that smells don’t wake people up (smelling salts, incidentally, rouse people through irritation, not scent). In a way, it’s the opposite of sleep tracking. Memory Air isn’t actively measuring anything. Its UX is largely imperceptible. But its value, if it works as research suggests, is that it could vastly impact someone’s mental capacity. Leon believes users could discover other effects too: In his 2023 study, he discovered people who’d done the olfactory battery got 22 minutes more sleep per night—but he’s validating the idea before making any bold claims around Memory Air as a sleep aid. “We think there are a number of other medical conditions that may be treatable with this same approach; we’ve identified 139 different medical conditions, all accompanied by olfactory loss,” he says. Benefits of Memory Air could be significant, while the only real cost is the price itself. Memory Air is available now for $799, including the first month’s scent belt. Replacement belts cost $39 with a monthly subscription. View the full article

Advances from the Federal Home Loan Banks dipped in the third quarter, but experts do not necessarily see the dip as a sign of ample liquidity in the economy. View the full article

For those of us who earn a living publishing content on the open internet, Amazon’s lawsuit against AI startup Perplexity can seem darkly amusing. Perplexity is among the many AI companies that has spent years extracting value from the internet in exchange for little. Its crawlers have synthesized endless amounts of content from publishers, even working around publishers’ attempts to block this behavior, all so Perplexity can summarize content without having to send traffic to the websites themselves. Now Perplexity and its rivals are going a step further, with a new wave of AI browsers that can navigate pages automatically. Perplexity has Comet, OpenAI has ChatGPT Atlas, Opera has Neon, and others are on the way. The pitch is that AI “agents” will soon be able to trudge through the web on your behalf, booking your flights, buying your groceries, and shopping on sites like Amazon. Both Perplexity and OpenAI view these browsers as imperative in their goals to build AI “operating systems” that can manage your life. Amazon, which has a lot to lose if people stop accessing its website directly, is suing to stop that from happening. It’s been trying to block Perplexity, but so far to no avail. Therein lies the irony: These AI browsers promise a future where you’ll never have to visit a website again, yet that promise depends on having viable websites to crawl through in the first place. Amazon’s lawsuit is a sign that these two goals may be incompatible. Feeding the beast For companies like Perplexity and OpenAI, web browsers are suddenly important because they open the door to content and data that would otherwise be inaccessible. Consider Amazon. If you’re just using ChatGPT’s website, you might ask it to recommend a few Amazon items or summarize a product’s user reviews, but its answers wouldn’t include any personal data from Amazon’s site. By contrast, ChatGPT Atlas and Perplexity Comet can access Amazon exactly as it appears in your own browser window. That means they can crawl through your order history or weigh in on Amazon’s personalized product recommendations. Perplexity says these “agentic” browsers make for a better shopping experience, which is why Amazon should embrace them—but Perplexity also stands to benefit in other ways. By understanding things like your order history, personalized recommendations, and all the questions you asked Perplexity’s AI to arrive at a particular product, the company can build a much richer user profile for things like targeted advertising. “You’ve gone from behavior tracking to psychological modeling,” says Eamonn Maguire, who leads the machine learning team at Proton. “Where you have traditional browsers tracking what you do, AI browsers infer why you do it.” This isn’t speculation. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said on the TBPN podcast earlier this year that its browser will enable “hyper-personalized” ads by understanding more about users’ personal lives. “What are the things you’re buying, which hotels are you going to, which restaurants are you going to, what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” Srinivas said. Amazon, meanwhile, has much to lose from AI shopping agents, even if they ultimately help make a purchase. The company has its own $56 billion advertising business, fueled in part by the ads it stuffs into its shopping pages. CEO Andy Jassy has acknowledged that AI agents could disrupt that business. You may have little sympathy for Amazon in that scenario, but consider also the many smaller entities that stand to lose from an agentic web. Your favorite newsletter, for instance—one that paywalls content for its most loyal readers—may now have that content exposed within the tabs of an AI browser. Eamonn also gives the example of research papers that sit behind paywalls, or personal documents that wouldn’t exist on the web at all. The contents of emails, shopping lists, and productivity apps could all become fodder for AI to learn more about you. And while Perplexity and OpenAI have said they won’t train AI models on what people view in their web browsers, Eamonn says they could easily change that policy in the future. “Cynically speaking, it’s a smart way not only of building particularly good profiles of users but also getting more data,” Eamonn says. Why the web? Srinivas has acknowledged that AI companies need the openness of the web to provide them with all this context, because other platforms are too locked down. “The only reason we’re doing a browser is there’s no other way to build an agent with enough control over many applications simultaneously,” Srinivas said at the Upfront Summit in February. “Especially on iOS, you cannot even access another app. You don’t want to be bottlenecked by how Apple is building its ecosystem. You want to work around it, and the browser is a very good work-around in the short term for us.” OpenAI has similarly described the web browser as key to its broader ambitions. “Now that we have feedback and signals from hundreds of millions of people around the world, it’s clear ChatGPT needs to become so much more than the simple chatbot it started as,” Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, wrote in a blog post announcing the Atlas browser. “Over time, we see ChatGPT evolving to become the operating system for your life: a fully connected hub that helps you manage your day and achieve your long-term goals.” While AI companies have clear ideas of what they can do on the open web, it’s less certain whether the open web will cooperate. Lots of websites already attempt to block AI crawlers—Reddit has even cut off search engines that don’t provide compensation—but AI browsers represent yet another way around those restrictions. Amazon’s lawsuit against Perplexity could be a sign of further fights to come when attempts to block AI fail. AI companies would have you believe that these efforts are just delaying the inevitable. But that raises a bigger question of what the open web even looks like if it becomes entirely intermediated by AI. A common complaint against AI tools like ChatGPT is that they’ll erode the incentives to create new content, and that AI itself will ultimately suffer from having nothing new to train on. “Nothing really gets better unless you have content, but the content is getting worse because people are just using AI to generate this content, and then these models are getting worse because the content is getting worse,” Proton’s Maguire says. With the rise of agentic AI browsers, a similar argument could be applied to the web as a whole: What motivation will exist to design beautiful, unique websites for humans when there’s no one left to browse them? View the full article

’Tis the season for giving—and that means ’tis the season for shopping. Maybe you’ll splurge on a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, thinking, “I’ll just return it if they don’t like it.” But before you click “purchase,” it’s worth knowing that many retailers have quietly tightened their return policies in recent years. As a marketing professor, I study how retailers manage the flood of returns that follow big shopping events like these, and what it reveals about the hidden costs of convenience. Returns might seem like a routine part of doing business, but they’re anything but trivial. According to the National Retail Federation, returns cost U.S. retailers almost $890 billion each year. Part of that staggering figure comes from returns fraud, which includes everything from consumers buying and wearing items once before returning them—a practice known as “wardrobing”—to more deceptive acts such as falsely claiming an item never arrived. Returns also drain resources because they require reverse logistics: shipping, inspecting, restocking, and often repackaging items. Many returned products can’t be resold at full price or must be liquidated, leading to lost revenue. Processing returns also adds labor and operational expenses that erode profit margins. How e-commerce transformed returns While retailers have offered return options for decades, their use has expanded dramatically in recent years, reflecting how much shopping habits have changed. Before the rise of e-commerce, shopping was a sensory experience: Consumers would touch fabrics, try on clothing, and see colors in natural light before buying. If something didn’t work out, customers brought it back to the store, where an associate could quickly inspect and restock it. Online shopping changed all that. While e-commerce offers convenience and variety, it removes key sensory cues. You can’t feel the material, test the fit, or see the true color. The result is uncertainty, and with uncertainty comes higher rates of returns. One analysis by Capital One suggests that the rate for returns is almost three times higher for online purchases than for in-store purchases. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the move toward online shopping went into overdrive. Even hesitant online shoppers had to adapt. To encourage purchases, many retailers introduced or expanded generous return policies. The strategy worked to boost sales, but it also created a culture of returning. In 2020, returns accounted for 10.6% of total U.S. retail sales, nearly double the prior year, according to the National Retail Federation data. By 2021, that had climbed to 16.6%. Unable to try things on in stores, consumers began ordering multiple sizes or styles, keeping one and sending the rest back. The behavior was rational from a shopper’s perspective but devastatingly expensive for retailers. The high cost of convenience Most supply chains are designed to move in one direction: from production to consumption. Returns reverse that flow. When merchandise moves backward, it adds layers of cost and complexity. In-store returns used to be simple: A customer would take an item back to the store, the retailer would inspect the product, and, if it was in good condition, it would go right back on the shelf. Online returns, however, are far more cumbersome. Products can spend weeks in transit and often can’t be resold—by the time they arrive, they may be out of season, obsolete, or no longer in their original packaging. Logistics costs compound the problem. During the pandemic, consumers grew accustomed to free shipping. That means retailers now often pay twice: once to deliver the item and again to retrieve it. Now, in a post-pandemic world, retailers are trying to strike a balance—maintaining customer goodwill without sacrificing profitability. One solution is to raise prices, but especially today, with inflation in the headlines, shoppers are sensitive to price hikes. The other, more common approach is to tighten return policies. In practice, that’s taken several forms. Some retailers have begun charging small flat fees for returns, even when a customer mails an item back at their own expense. For example, the direct-to-consumer retailer Curvy Sense offers customers unlimited returns and exchanges of an item for an initial $2.98 fee. Others have shortened their return windows. Over the summer, for example, beauty retailers Sephora and Ulta reduced their return window from 60 days to 30. Many brands now attach large, conspicuous “do not remove” tags to prevent consumers from wearing items and then sending them back. And increasingly, retailers are offering store credit rather than cash or credit card refunds, ensuring that returned sales at least stay within their company. Few retailers advertise these changes prominently. Instead, they appear quietly in the fine print of return policies—policies that are now longer, more specific, and far less forgiving than they once were. As we head into the busiest shopping season of the year, it’s worth pausing before you click “purchase.” Ask yourself: Is this something I truly want—or am I planning to return it later? Whenever possible, shop in person and return in person. And if you’re buying online, make sure you familiarize yourself with the return policy. Lauren Beitelspacher is a professor of marketing at Babson College. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Here’s a common pattern in my house. See if it seems familiar to you. After my husband showers, he often forgets to put his dirty clothes in the hamper. This drives me batty, so I remind him to please pick them up. Again and again and again. We’ve been married for 15 years now and the result of all my nagging appears to be exactly zilch. Half the time I go in the bathroom there is a ball of socks and underwear on the floor. My husband is an otherwise thoughtful and considerate guy. So what’s going on? According to psychology research, the problem likely isn’t him. It’s my belief that nagging is an effective strategy to get another person to change their behavior. The psychology of why nagging doesn’t work “We have a perception that we won’t get what we want from the other person, so we feel we need to keep asking in order to get it,” psychologist Scott Wetzler explained to The Wall Street Journal. But rather than prompting change, nagging causes people to feel demeaned and withhold the desired behavior. The nagger then nags more and resentment builds. This dynamic can kill a romantic relationship—studies find that, unsurprisingly, a lot of nagging is associated with low relationship satisfaction—but it’s equally useless between parents and kids, cofounders, or bosses and employees. So what works better to get someone to actually change their behavior? A new study has a suggestion. But, be warned, if you’re stuck in a pattern of habitual nagging, it will probably feel counterintuitive. The jujitsu mind trick that actually changes behavior After years of low-level laundry conflict, I admit the last thing I feel inclined to do is thank my husband the one time in a dozen that his clothes end up in the hamper. But according to a new study out of the University of Toronto recently published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, when it comes to changing his behavior, gratitude would beat nagging. The research was conducted by psychologist Natalie Sisson and colleagues and consisted of three separate studies looking at the connection between expressions of gratitude and behavior change in couples. One study asked 151 couples to keep a daily diary of their interactions around some change sought by one member of the pair. These diaries showed that the more a member of the couple felt their partner was grateful for their efforts to change, the more likely they were to make further adjustments. After nine months, partners who felt their better halves were most grateful had made the biggest changes. Taken together, all the findings “suggest that, if you ask your partner to change something about themselves or their behavior, and they say they are willing to try, being grateful will help them to develop their own motivation to make that change, making it more likely to happen,” writes the British Psychological Society’s Research Digest, summing up the results. Easy to explain, harder to implement In some sense, that’s intuitive. When you praise someone for their efforts, even if they’re minimal, they feel positive about you and themselves. When you nag them, the opposite happens. Which scenario do you think is more likely to result in someone putting in more effort? But my personal experience at least suggests that, in the heat of the moment, this jujitsu mind trick—praising faint signs of improvement even when you feel like complaining—can be hard to muster. The last thing I want to do when I finally spot one of my husband’s socks in the hamper is to offer him kudos. It’s hard not to think about the hundreds I’ve had to deposit there before. If you care about effectiveness more than venting, though, psychology suggests this is the way to go. Positive reinforcement works best to train a puppy. It also apparently works best to train people. Bigging others up with gratitude is more likely to motivate them to change their behavior than tearing them down with nagging. Other tricks to help someone change their behavior What else can you do to help other people change their behavior? This isn’t the first study to dig into this question. Experts have other ideas that may complement a liberal application of gratitude. BJ Fogg, director of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford, has suggested catching a ride on the other person’s “motivational wave.” When you notice the other party seems keen to make the desired change, step up and offer them concrete support. If you want someone in your life to exercise more, that could mean going to tour gyms with them when they express an interest. Or it could mean sitting down with your perpetually disorganized employee and walking them through a new calendar system when they come to you for help. Another idea, suggested by psychologist Devon Price, is digging into what barriers or obstacles might be preventing a person from changing. If my husband’s laundry delinquency is a result of being rushed in the morning, maybe we could switch around some chores to ease his time crunch. If your colleague is putting off a task because of fear of failure, additional training or support will probably work better than scolding. Finally, time-use expert and author Laura Vanderkam says that, if you want others to change, you should first talk about your own self-improvement projects. If a direct report is struggling with time management, for instance, she advises walking them through your own diary as a way to get a conversation about tradeoffs and challenges started. Step one: Give up the nagging What all of these experts agree on is that if you really want someone to change their behavior, nagging might relieve some of your frustration. But it’s not going to actually work. Try gratitude, support, and open dialogue instead. —By Jessica Stillman The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com. This article originally appeared in Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Caralynn Nowinski Collens, Ramille Shah, and Adam Jakus spent years developing an innovative technology to regenerate injured bone. The results, they thought, were . . . okay. The company they founded, Dimension Bio, received clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its approach: providing a 3D-printed lattice or “scaffold” for new bone to grow in. However, it didn’t form new bone fast enough to compete with established treatment methods, such as transplanting a patient’s own bone tissue. But Collens, Dimension’s CEO, sees the experience as a net positive, validating the company’s technology and processes with the FDA. That could help the Chicago-based startup work toward a more-ambitious goal in about three years: building a human liver using its scaffold and donated cells. It would actually be a miniature, simplified version of the organ, meant to function well enough to keep someone alive. That could provide breathing room for an injured or diseased liver to heal, or buy time for the patient to receive a transplant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 52,222 people died of liver disease and cirrhosis in 2023. The death rate from cirrhosis increased 26.4% from 2000 to 2019, per the National Institutes of Health. (Cirrhosis is most often the result result of fat buildup, viral hepatitis B and C, or long-term alcohol abuse, though there are other causes.) “The mortality rates are very high when a patient can’t get a transplant. And so that’s where we’re looking to be able to provide [help],” Collens says. Reprinting Older Science Building a scaffold for cells to grow in is not novel, Collens concedes, nor is the material the company uses: poly lactic-co-glycolic acid. PLGA is found throughout everyday medicine, including in dissolving sutures, dermal fillers, and tiny capsules to deliver drugs to the body. Dimension Bio’s innovation is in how it utilizes 3D printing to build the PLGA scaffold, part of an overall system it’s dubbed BioNidum. “[When] we put that in the body, what happens is it gets new blood vessels very quickly, and that’s unusual,” says Collens, noting that typically the immune system walls off the foreign body and prevents blood vessels from growing easily. Collens attributes the success to a scaffold structure that provides pores of different sizes, designed to help cells move into the scaffold easily and not provoke a strong immune response. The larger pores allow the blood vessels to grow into the new tissue. The company was originally called Dimension Inx, a bit of wordplay. “We make biomaterial inks,” Collens says. The technology grew out of Northwestern University’s TEAM lab, short for tissue engineering and additive manufacturing (a fancy name for 3D printing), founded by Shah in 2010. At the time, Collens was running an advanced manufacturing innovation center in Chicago, part of a national network of institutes funded by the federal government and companies including Microsoft and Lockheed Martin. In 2015, one of the board members sent Collens an email, “and he said, ‘I just saw this rock star young faculty member present, and I think you should meet her,’” she recalls. Shah, a materials science professor at the time, and then-graduate student Jakus founded Dimension Inx in 2016, and Collens joined as a cofounder and CEO 2019. Jakus left the company in 2023. Shah serves as chief science officer. She, Collens, and three other women account for all voting members on Dimension’s board of directors. The overall staff is about “70% diverse,” Collens says. “I’ll say it’s intentional only in the fact that we have a strong belief, and it’s one of the values of the company, that diversity leads to better outcomes and better innovation.” The company raised $20.52 million through seed rounds in 2020 and 2021, and a series A in 2023. Lead investors include KdT Ventures and Prime Movers Lab. Another major investor is Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, which focuses on startups outside top investment regions and doesn’t typically fund biotech. The company is planning what it calls a series A2 funding round in 2026, with the goal of raising up to $50 million. Boning Up on the Technology CMFlex—the company’s earlier bone repair product—is considered a “medical device,” requiring a less-stringent FDA review than medications or Dimension’s upcoming mini-liver. That’s because CMFlex is just the scaffold for the patient’s own cells to grow into, rather than to introduce new cells. Bone provided the “lowest hanging fruit,” for Dimension to prove out its technology, Collens says, because it’s a naturally regenerative tissue. “We were putting this matrix or scaffold inside to serve as a guide or an instigator to get new bone.” The FDA didn’t require human trials for this medical device. Although it had success in animal studies, Dimension chose to do a pilot program in patients before making the product available. “We have lots of examples of being able to create bone in patients and in animals,” Collens says, adding, however, “We didn’t do it fast enough for the structure that’s needed—and the structure meaning the hardness to withstand the forces that bone allows you to withstand.” Dimension eventually decided working with tissue would be more impactful, and decided not to go to market with CMFlex. Moving to soft tissue and then organs was part of the original pitch deck to investors. The company is investigating restoring function in ovaries, for instance. It also succeeded in growing insulin-producing cells seeded in its scaffold in diabetic mice, which could pave the way for treating diabetes in humans. But that area was already a crowded market, Collens says. “We ended up focusing on liver failure for a variety of reasons, but probably one of the biggest reasons is it’s a huge problem with no good alternative, except for liver transplant,” she says. Dimension’s plan is to grow a small, simplified liver under the skin as a temporary fix until either the full liver can recover or the patient can get a transplant. “I think that’s a good way to go,” says James Anderson, a retired professor of pathology, macromolecular science, and biomedical engineering who taught at Case Western Reserve University for more than 40 years. Anderson, who is not associated with Dimension Bio, reviewed its research and was impressed with the methods and results. The liver, he says, is not only a worthy target for regenerative medicine; it’s also a conducive one. “They picked an organ that can reproduce itself,” he says. But even a mini-organ is much more complicated than bone. “It’s a fundamentally different type of product, when we’re talking about putting cells on a scaffold,” Collens says. In mice whose livers were deliberately damaged, the company reports that it increased the survival rate by more than 70% after seeding with liver cells from mice and humans. That required hundreds of millions of cells. But according to Collens, building the miniature human liver could require seeding the scaffold with 5 billion to 20 billion cells. For humans, Dimension will use stem cells to produce those billions of liver cells. But first come tests in rats and pigs. The company’s timetable is aggressive. It aims to start clinical trials in humans in 2028. The next question might be: Why not grow an entire liver replacement? That seems to be, at best, a very distant goal. Anderson is not sure it’s possible, given the complex structure of the full organ. Collens says Dimension Bio is not working on that lofty goal, for now. But she doesn’t rule it out. “I think we’re at a really interesting inflection point . . . of this convergence of engineering and biology, where we can actually engineer biological systems that support function that we couldn’t do before.” View the full article

You may think working hard, showing initiative, boosting your skill set, and being a team player is what it takes to be noticed to get promoted. But even with all these notable wins and strides, the call to a higher position often never comes. The reality of being repeatedly passed over is frustrating—and such a “promotion plateau” can leave you questioning what’s really within your control. To learn more about the concept, Fast Company asked three career experts for advice on how to handle a stagnant job path . . . as well as what you can do to add some momentum to your promotion game plan. What exactly is a promotion plateau? The most significant telltale sign is the feeling of stagnation with one’s career. “This can include feeling like a promotion is coming slower than anticipated, one’s skills are not improving, or that one is no longer being challenged in their role,” says Ryne Sherman, chief science officer at Hogan Assessments, a personality insights provider based in Tulsa. Typically, a promotion plateau results from the organizational structure of a business with barriers of advancement: hierarchy, red tape, poor structural systems in place, even budget constraints. In some cases, an employee’s apathy and lack of transferable skills due to these structural challenges can affect the possibility of being promoted. Whatever the reason, “if you cannot see a clear path for advancement in your organization, you may be at a promotion plateau,” Sherman says. Many large, long-standing organizations have built-in promotional structures that are reliable and predictable in nature. But if you work for smaller, midsized, or younger organizations, they may not have reliable promotional steps built into their system, says Sherman. So you might have to get a bit introspective instead. “Another place to look is in your gut,” he also says. “Ambitious employees who feel they have reached a promotional plateau will begin to feel dissatisfied with their work.” “The upside of hiring ambitious workers is that they are often highly engaged and productive,” continues Sherman. The downside? “Organizations without a plan for them will struggle to retain talent.” The warning signs Erin Pash, a Minneapolis-St. Paul-based CEO and founder of Pash Company, a social health incubator, offers the following red flags that signal you’re approaching a promotion plateau: A lack of new responsibilities or challenging assignments Annual reviews that feel like carbon copies of previous years Watching peers or junior colleagues advance more quickly Receiving no substantive discussions about career development during evaluations Feeling intellectually unchallenged and professionally stuck Minimal or no exposure to strategic company initiatives A sense of professional invisibility within the organization “It’s a persistent sense that your career has hit an invisible wall, despite your continued dedication and competence,” says Pash. Surmounting the plateau It requires a multifaceted approach, says Pash, and a commitment of effort and action is expected. Broaden your skills. Invest in your own skill set and accomplishments by pursuing relevant certifications in your field, and by taking online courses to expand technical and soft skills, Pash explains. Network—and network some more. Attend workshops and conferences to keep a pulse on your industry. These opportunities can help you develop skills that can keep you aligned with emerging industry trends, says Pash. Plus, attending such events can also build up contacts in your professional circle. Consider other internal roles. Explore lateral moves within different departments of your company which could offer more room for growth. Seek targeted feedback. Engage directly with supervisors to understand specific barriers to advancement, says Pash. “Request a comprehensive performance review that outlines precise skills and achievements needed for progression,” she continues. “This candid dialogue transforms performance conversations from passive assessments to active career development planning.” Leave when you have to. Sometimes you can do everything right and still hit a brick wall with your career. “Some companies are like old boys’ clubs where your brilliant ideas and hard work feel about as useful as a screen door on a submarine,” adds Pash.”The smartest move isn’t always fighting the system, but recognizing when it’s time to take your talents somewhere that actually values what you bring to the table. All the skills you learn to overcome the plateau will absolutely prove to be helpful in the event you begin looking to jump to another ship.” What are some ways of finding a growth-friendly organization? When evaluating whether an organization offers growth opportunities for its employees, Karen Burke, a knowledge adviser with the Society of Human Resource Management, says the following strategies are recommended: A review of a company’s organizational chart can provide valuable insights. Companies with multiple hierarchical levels, such as associate, manager, director, and vice president, typically demonstrate clear pathways for advancement, says Burke. Assess a company’s management structure. The presence of various management positions (e.g., assistant manager, manager, senior manager, assistant vice president, vice president) reflects distributed leadership and increases the likelihood of opportunities to progress into management roles, she points out. Evaluating a company’s departmental structure is helpful as well. Organizations with a broad range of departments (such as marketing, operations, and finance), including specialized sub-departments, tend to offer greater internal mobility. This structure supports both vertical and lateral career progression, outlines Burke. Consider any evidence of business expansion, such as published information regarding business growth, new initiatives, or expanded networks. Whether identified through company communications or external research, this information often signals the potential for future opportunities, she adds. Identify project-based teams. Companies that utilize project-based or rotational teams frequently facilitate rapid skill development and provide avenues for promotion, notes Burke. Monitor a company’s vacancy trends. Commonly, frequent or multiple job vacancies may indicate active hiring and suggest the possibility of upward mobility within an organization, Burke says. Or if you’re up for the challenge—start your own company But Burke also says another option, as opposed to adapting to the dynamics and timing that lead to promotions, is simply to go into business yourself—a drastic change, to be sure, but it can lead to drastic growth. That’s “especially if you find yourself in a company or industry with inherently limited growth opportunities,” says Burke. Again, sometimes growth-limiting organizational structures are simply too much for you (or anyone else) to overcome. Should you decide to explore this option, it’s recommended that comprehensive market research is conducted: evaluating your risk tolerance, and developing a strong business plan. “Starting your own business can provide a platform to pursue professional opportunities that align with your aspirations and skill set. Entrepreneurship also offers the ability to shape your own career path, respond proactively to market needs, and foster both personal and professional development. “This strategic approach will enable you to leverage your experience and expertise, resulting in greater autonomy and, possibly, career satisfaction,” she says. Unfortunately, a promotion plateau is tricky, because there can be so many different factors limiting your growth. Fortunately, though, you do have a lot of options available to you, if you’re willing to do your research and think outside the box. “Based on my experience, employees who encounter a promotion plateau typically pursue several strategies to advance their careers,” says Burke. View the full article