ResidentialBusiness

Small Business Saturday presents a vital opportunity for local entrepreneurs to win over customers and boost their community profiles. Yet, data from a recent SurveyMonkey report reveals that a significant portion of the public remains unaware of local offerings. This lack of awareness poses a challenge, but also highlights areas where small business owners can focus their marketing efforts for greater success. According to the SurveyMonkey data, 41% of respondents indicated they would not shop on Small Business Saturday due to a lack of knowledge about local businesses. The potential for small enterprises to gain traction hinges critically on increasing visibility. This finding is a clarion call for small businesses to ramp up their community engagement and outreach campaigns. “Small businesses play a crucial role in our economy, and raising awareness of their offerings is essential,” noted a SurveyMonkey spokesperson. Quite simply, if consumers don’t know about the local gems in their neighborhoods, they won’t shop there, regardless of the deals on offer. In practical terms, small business owners should consider implementing targeted local marketing strategies. Collaborating with neighboring businesses for joint promotions can create synergistic effects that attract foot traffic. Leveraging social media platforms to share customer testimonials and engage with the community can also enhance visibility. Consider holding special events or offering exclusive discounts to appeal to local shoppers on Small Business Saturday. However, small business owners must also grapple with misconceptions about their prices. SurveyMonkey found that 25% of potential shoppers are deterred by the belief that local offerings are more expensive than those from larger retailers. To counter this perception, transparent pricing strategies, showcasing value, and emphasizing the quality of local products are essential. Moreover, 19% of consumers cited inconvenient shipping options as another barrier. Small businesses can streamline logistics by offering local delivery or in-store pickup options. Promoting these services can turn perceived disadvantages into advantages that resonate with local shoppers. While challenges abound, the opportunities for small businesses to thrive on days like Small Business Saturday are bountiful. Seven in ten small businesses reported participating in the event last year, indicating a robust commitment to community engagement and sales initiatives. The proactive marketing of local products isn’t merely beneficial; it’s a necessary strategy for small businesses aiming for growth amid competition from larger chains. Nonetheless, small business owners may need to prepare for hurdles along the way. Limited marketing budgets and resources can make it challenging to establish a solid presence. Building and maintaining community relationships requires time and effort but can yield long-term rewards. The key takeaway is to view Small Business Saturday as more than a one-day event. Consistent community involvement and long-term outreach campaigns can lead to sustainable growth. Small businesses that remain actively engaged with their customer base will foster loyalty that extends beyond the holiday shopping season. As Small Business Saturday approaches, it becomes increasingly clear that the initiative’s success hinges on grassroots strategies. Increasing local awareness, addressing perceptions about pricing, and enhancing convenience are critical avenues for maximizing sales. Local entrepreneurs who adapt their marketing approaches in response to consumer feedback will be better equipped to thrive. The SurveyMonkey report’s findings serve as a valuable reminder: success in local retail hinges on both demonstrating value and fostering relationships. Small/independent businesses that invest in these efforts can carve out a dedicated customer base that appreciates the unique offerings of their community. For further insights from the SurveyMonkey report, visit the original post here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Many Avoid Small Business Saturday Due to Lack of Awareness and Price Concerns" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Small Business Saturday presents a vital opportunity for local entrepreneurs to win over customers and boost their community profiles. Yet, data from a recent SurveyMonkey report reveals that a significant portion of the public remains unaware of local offerings. This lack of awareness poses a challenge, but also highlights areas where small business owners can focus their marketing efforts for greater success. According to the SurveyMonkey data, 41% of respondents indicated they would not shop on Small Business Saturday due to a lack of knowledge about local businesses. The potential for small enterprises to gain traction hinges critically on increasing visibility. This finding is a clarion call for small businesses to ramp up their community engagement and outreach campaigns. “Small businesses play a crucial role in our economy, and raising awareness of their offerings is essential,” noted a SurveyMonkey spokesperson. Quite simply, if consumers don’t know about the local gems in their neighborhoods, they won’t shop there, regardless of the deals on offer. In practical terms, small business owners should consider implementing targeted local marketing strategies. Collaborating with neighboring businesses for joint promotions can create synergistic effects that attract foot traffic. Leveraging social media platforms to share customer testimonials and engage with the community can also enhance visibility. Consider holding special events or offering exclusive discounts to appeal to local shoppers on Small Business Saturday. However, small business owners must also grapple with misconceptions about their prices. SurveyMonkey found that 25% of potential shoppers are deterred by the belief that local offerings are more expensive than those from larger retailers. To counter this perception, transparent pricing strategies, showcasing value, and emphasizing the quality of local products are essential. Moreover, 19% of consumers cited inconvenient shipping options as another barrier. Small businesses can streamline logistics by offering local delivery or in-store pickup options. Promoting these services can turn perceived disadvantages into advantages that resonate with local shoppers. While challenges abound, the opportunities for small businesses to thrive on days like Small Business Saturday are bountiful. Seven in ten small businesses reported participating in the event last year, indicating a robust commitment to community engagement and sales initiatives. The proactive marketing of local products isn’t merely beneficial; it’s a necessary strategy for small businesses aiming for growth amid competition from larger chains. Nonetheless, small business owners may need to prepare for hurdles along the way. Limited marketing budgets and resources can make it challenging to establish a solid presence. Building and maintaining community relationships requires time and effort but can yield long-term rewards. The key takeaway is to view Small Business Saturday as more than a one-day event. Consistent community involvement and long-term outreach campaigns can lead to sustainable growth. Small businesses that remain actively engaged with their customer base will foster loyalty that extends beyond the holiday shopping season. As Small Business Saturday approaches, it becomes increasingly clear that the initiative’s success hinges on grassroots strategies. Increasing local awareness, addressing perceptions about pricing, and enhancing convenience are critical avenues for maximizing sales. Local entrepreneurs who adapt their marketing approaches in response to consumer feedback will be better equipped to thrive. The SurveyMonkey report’s findings serve as a valuable reminder: success in local retail hinges on both demonstrating value and fostering relationships. Small/independent businesses that invest in these efforts can carve out a dedicated customer base that appreciates the unique offerings of their community. For further insights from the SurveyMonkey report, visit the original post here. Image via Google Gemini This article, "Many Avoid Small Business Saturday Due to Lack of Awareness and Price Concerns" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Chief executive Gary Nagle also unveils plans to turn Swiss miner into ‘biggest copper producer in the world’View the full article

The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against some of the nation’s top food manufacturers on Tuesday, arguing that ultraprocessed food from the likes of Coca-Cola and Nestle are responsible for a public health crisis. City Attorney David Chiu named 10 companies in the lawsuit, including the makers of such popular foods as Oreo cookies, Sour Patch Kids, Kit Kat, Cheerios and Lunchables. The lawsuit argues that ultraprocessed foods are linked to diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and cancer. “They took food and made it unrecognizable and harmful to the human body,” Chiu said in a news release. “These companies engineered a public health crisis, they profited handsomely, and now they need to take responsibility for the harm they have caused.” Ultraprocessed foods include candy, chips, processed meats, sodas, energy drinks, breakfast cereals and other foods that are designed to “stimulate cravings and encourage overconsumption,” Chiu’s office said in the release. Such foods are “formulations of often chemically manipulated cheap ingredients with little if any whole food added,” Chiu wrote in the lawsuit. The other companies named in the lawsuit are PepsiCo; Kraft Heinz Company; Post Holdings; Mondelez International; General Mills; Kellogg; Mars Incorporated; and ConAgra Brands. None of the companies named in the suit immediately responded to emailed requests for comment. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been vocal about the negative impact of ultraprocessed foods and their links to chronic disease and has targeted them in his Make America Healthy Again campaign. Kennedy has pushed to ban such foods from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for low-income families. An August report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that most Americans get more than half their calories from ultraprocessed foods. In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a first-in-the-nation law to phase out certain ultraprocessed foods from school meals over the next decade. San Francisco’s lawsuit cites several scientific studies on the negative impact of ultraprocessed foods on human health. “Mounting research now links these products to serious diseases—including Type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart disease, colorectal cancer, and even depression at younger ages,” University of California, San Francisco, professor Kim Newell-Green said in the news release. The lawsuit argues that by producing and promoting ultraprocessed foods, the companies violate California’s Unfair Competition Law and public nuisance statute. It seeks a court order preventing the companies from “deceptive marketing” and requiring them to take actions such as consumer education on the health risks of ultraprocessed foods and limiting advertising and marketing of ultraprocessed foods to children. It also asks for financial penalties to help local governments with health care costs caused by the consumption of ultraprocessed foods. —Jaimie Ding, Associated Press View the full article

Solution selling is a strategic approach that focuses on comprehension and addressing the specific needs of your clients. Unlike traditional product selling, which emphasizes features and prices, solution selling prioritizes active listening and empathy to uncover pain points. This method nurtures trust and builds long-term relationships, leading to better customer satisfaction. To fully grasp how this process unfolds and its implications for your sales strategy, it’s crucial to explore its key components and benefits. Key Takeaways Solution selling is a customer-centric approach focused on understanding and addressing specific pain points to provide tailored solutions. It involves active listening and empathy to diagnose challenges effectively, fostering trust and long-term relationships. Unlike product selling, solution selling emphasizes customized recommendations rather than generic solutions, enhancing customer satisfaction. The process includes researching buyer personas, conducting discovery calls, and maintaining ongoing engagement post-sale to ensure customer success. Solution selling prioritizes delivering real value, focusing on long-term partnerships rather than immediate transactional outcomes. Understanding Solution Selling Grasping solution selling requires recognizing its foundation in customer-centricity, where the primary goal is to address specific pain points rather than merely pushing products. This solution selling methodology emphasizes comprehending customer needs through active listening and empathy, allowing you to diagnose challenges accurately. By aligning product features with these identified requirements, you create customized solutions that resonate with customers. Solution-based selling nurtures trust-based relationships, shifting the focus from transactions to long-term partnerships. Effective solution selling training equips you with the skills to conduct discovery calls, map solutions to customer needs, and stay informed about product offerings and market dynamics. In the end, mastering this approach improves your ability to engage in complex sales environments, particularly within B2B contexts. Key Differences Between Solution Selling and Product Selling When comparing solution selling to product selling, you’ll notice a clear focus on customer needs in the former versus a product-centric approach in the latter. Solution selling prioritizes building relationships through active listening and comprehension of unique challenges, whereas product selling often emphasizes pushing sales without considering individual client circumstances. This difference not merely impacts the sales process but additionally shapes the long-term connections formed with customers. Focus on Needs Focusing on customer needs is a fundamental distinction between solution selling and product selling. In solution selling, the sales solution revolves around diagnosing customer pain points and tailoring recommendations that address those specific challenges. This solution selling sales methodology emphasizes active listening and empathy, allowing sales representatives to understand client needs deeply. Conversely, product selling primarily promotes product features, often adopting a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks unique customer requirements. During solution selling aims to build long-term relationships through consultation and support, product selling tends to be transactional, lacking follow-up and ongoing engagement. Ultimately, solution selling prioritizes customer success and satisfaction, nurturing trust and loyalty, which can drive repeat business and deeper partnerships over time. Relationship Building Approach One key distinction between solution selling and product selling lies in their approach to building relationships with clients. In solution selling, the focus is on comprehending and addressing customer pain points, nurturing long-term partnerships. Here are four key differences: Consultative Interaction: Solution selling emphasizes active listening and consultation, whereas product selling focuses on pitching features. Trust Building: Sales representatives in solution selling build trust-based relationships, contrasting with product selling’s transactional nature. Tailored Recommendations: Solution selling provides customized solutions based on individual needs, in contrast to product selling promoting generic offerings. Ongoing Support: Solution selling encourages follow-up and ongoing consultation, whereas product selling often lacks after-sale engagement. For more insights, check a solution selling website to deepen your comprehension of this customer-centric approach. The Importance of Solution Selling Solution selling plays a crucial role in today’s sales environment by prioritizing the comprehension of customer pain points and needs. This method leads to customized recommendations, improving customer satisfaction and nurturing loyalty. By focusing on long-term success rather than immediate sales, you’re likely to see higher deal sizes and improved retention rates. Solution selling encourages trust-based relationships, with 80% of sales reps recognizing the importance of ongoing customer connections throughout the sales funnel. It likewise forms deeper partnerships with clients, allowing for continuous feedback and adaptations to meet evolving needs. In the end, this approach aligns with the sales culture shift from “Always be closing” to “Always be helpful,” which boosts the overall sales experience through genuine value delivery. Steps in the Solution Selling Process Effective implementation of solution selling requires a structured approach that emphasizes grasp of the customer and their unique needs. Follow these crucial steps to streamline your process: Grasp the Customer: Research buyer personas and their specific industry needs to tailor your recommendations effectively. Conduct Discovery Calls: Ask leading questions to uncover customer priorities, pain points, and desired outcomes, ensuring you’re aligned with their needs. Grasp Product Features: Gain deep knowledge of how your product features address the identified customer challenges and needs. Build Knowledge: Regularly update your grasp through demos, recorded calls, and note-taking, allowing you to offer relevant solutions at every stage. Pros and Cons of Solution Selling When considering solution selling, it’s important to weigh both its advantages and challenges. On the plus side, this approach nurtures long-term customer relationships and offers customized solutions that directly address individual needs, often leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. Nonetheless, the implementation can be resource-intensive, requiring significant time and training to build the necessary rapport and comprehension of customer pain points. Advantages of Solution Selling Focusing on individualized customer needs, solution selling nurtures lasting relationships that lead to higher customer satisfaction and repeat engagement. This approach emphasizes long-term customer success and growth, cultivating deeper partnerships that benefit both parties. Here are four key advantages: Customized Solutions: Customized recommendations address specific customer pain points, enhancing relevance. Trust Building: By prioritizing customer needs, you create trust, leading to mutual benefits. Higher Retention Rates: Satisfied customers are more likely to return, promoting loyalty and ongoing business. Increased Deal Sizes: Comprehending client challenges often results in larger, more valuable contracts. Challenges in Implementation Implementing solution selling comes with its own set of challenges that can impact its effectiveness and adoption within sales teams. First, the method demands a significant time investment for building relationships and comprehending customer needs, which can prolong sales cycles. You also need to possess in-depth product knowledge and strong active listening skills, requiring extensive training that can strain resources. Moreover, solution selling may not provide immediate short-term gains, as it focuses on customized solutions rather than quick sales. Finally, adapting to a predictable sales process can be difficult, necessitating flexibility and adaptability from sales representatives. These challenges can hinder the successful integration of solution selling into your sales strategy, affecting overall results and team morale. Building Trust and Relationships Through Solution Selling Building trust and relationships through solution selling is essential for achieving long-term success in today’s competitive sales environment. This approach emphasizes comprehension and aligning with customer goals, which promotes deeper connections. Here are key elements to reflect on: Active Listening: Engage with your customers by truly hearing their needs and pain points. Ongoing Engagement: Maintain relationships post-sale, as 92% of evaluations depend on customer value and retention. Value Delivery: Shift the focus from “Always be closing” to “Always be helpful,” ensuring you provide real value throughout the sales process. Customer-Centric Approach: Prioritize customer needs over mere product functionality to improve the overall sales experience and nurture long-term partnerships. Frequently Asked Questions What Is an Example of Solution Selling? An example of solution selling is when a telecommunications provider assesses a company’s communication inefficiencies. You might find they conduct thorough discussions to identify specific challenges, such as poor call quality or missed calls. Then, they recommend a personalized VoIP solution designed to address those issues during the process of improving productivity. This approach focuses on comprehending your needs and delivering a solution that boosts your overall communication capabilities rather than just selling a standard product. What Are the Four Steps of Solution Selling? To effectively engage in solution selling, you’ll follow four crucial steps. First, comprehend your customer by researching their needs and goals. Next, conduct discovery calls to ask open-ended questions that reveal their pain points. Then, map solutions by aligning your product features with these identified challenges, demonstrating how they can alleviate the issues. Finally, build knowledge by continually updating your awareness of both the product and the customer’s evolving needs. What Does Solution Sales Do? Solution sales focuses on comprehending and addressing specific customer pain points through customized recommendations. It involves actively listening to clients, conducting discovery calls, and mapping solutions that align with their needs. By emphasizing a consultative approach, you build trust and nurture long-term relationships. This method prioritizes the return on investment for clients rather than merely promoting product features, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction and ongoing engagement in complex sales environments. How to Do Solution Selling? To effectively engage in solution selling, start by comprehending your customer’s specific pain points and needs. Use active listening during discovery calls to ask open-ended questions that encourage dialogue. Map your product features to the identified challenges, guaranteeing your recommendations are customized. Maintain a focus on building trust and long-term relationships, and don’t forget to follow up post-sale to assure customer satisfaction, which nurtures loyalty and repeat business over time. Conclusion In conclusion, solution selling is an effective approach that emphasizes comprehending customer needs and aligning products to address those specific challenges. By focusing on building trust and nurturing relationships, this method cultivates long-term partnerships over simple transactions. As it has distinct advantages, such as increased customer satisfaction and larger deal sizes, it requires time and effort. In the end, excelling in solution selling can greatly improve your sales effectiveness in complex B2B environments, leading to better outcomes for both you and your clients. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is Solution Selling and How Does It Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

Solution selling is a strategic approach that focuses on comprehension and addressing the specific needs of your clients. Unlike traditional product selling, which emphasizes features and prices, solution selling prioritizes active listening and empathy to uncover pain points. This method nurtures trust and builds long-term relationships, leading to better customer satisfaction. To fully grasp how this process unfolds and its implications for your sales strategy, it’s crucial to explore its key components and benefits. Key Takeaways Solution selling is a customer-centric approach focused on understanding and addressing specific pain points to provide tailored solutions. It involves active listening and empathy to diagnose challenges effectively, fostering trust and long-term relationships. Unlike product selling, solution selling emphasizes customized recommendations rather than generic solutions, enhancing customer satisfaction. The process includes researching buyer personas, conducting discovery calls, and maintaining ongoing engagement post-sale to ensure customer success. Solution selling prioritizes delivering real value, focusing on long-term partnerships rather than immediate transactional outcomes. Understanding Solution Selling Grasping solution selling requires recognizing its foundation in customer-centricity, where the primary goal is to address specific pain points rather than merely pushing products. This solution selling methodology emphasizes comprehending customer needs through active listening and empathy, allowing you to diagnose challenges accurately. By aligning product features with these identified requirements, you create customized solutions that resonate with customers. Solution-based selling nurtures trust-based relationships, shifting the focus from transactions to long-term partnerships. Effective solution selling training equips you with the skills to conduct discovery calls, map solutions to customer needs, and stay informed about product offerings and market dynamics. In the end, mastering this approach improves your ability to engage in complex sales environments, particularly within B2B contexts. Key Differences Between Solution Selling and Product Selling When comparing solution selling to product selling, you’ll notice a clear focus on customer needs in the former versus a product-centric approach in the latter. Solution selling prioritizes building relationships through active listening and comprehension of unique challenges, whereas product selling often emphasizes pushing sales without considering individual client circumstances. This difference not merely impacts the sales process but additionally shapes the long-term connections formed with customers. Focus on Needs Focusing on customer needs is a fundamental distinction between solution selling and product selling. In solution selling, the sales solution revolves around diagnosing customer pain points and tailoring recommendations that address those specific challenges. This solution selling sales methodology emphasizes active listening and empathy, allowing sales representatives to understand client needs deeply. Conversely, product selling primarily promotes product features, often adopting a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks unique customer requirements. During solution selling aims to build long-term relationships through consultation and support, product selling tends to be transactional, lacking follow-up and ongoing engagement. Ultimately, solution selling prioritizes customer success and satisfaction, nurturing trust and loyalty, which can drive repeat business and deeper partnerships over time. Relationship Building Approach One key distinction between solution selling and product selling lies in their approach to building relationships with clients. In solution selling, the focus is on comprehending and addressing customer pain points, nurturing long-term partnerships. Here are four key differences: Consultative Interaction: Solution selling emphasizes active listening and consultation, whereas product selling focuses on pitching features. Trust Building: Sales representatives in solution selling build trust-based relationships, contrasting with product selling’s transactional nature. Tailored Recommendations: Solution selling provides customized solutions based on individual needs, in contrast to product selling promoting generic offerings. Ongoing Support: Solution selling encourages follow-up and ongoing consultation, whereas product selling often lacks after-sale engagement. For more insights, check a solution selling website to deepen your comprehension of this customer-centric approach. The Importance of Solution Selling Solution selling plays a crucial role in today’s sales environment by prioritizing the comprehension of customer pain points and needs. This method leads to customized recommendations, improving customer satisfaction and nurturing loyalty. By focusing on long-term success rather than immediate sales, you’re likely to see higher deal sizes and improved retention rates. Solution selling encourages trust-based relationships, with 80% of sales reps recognizing the importance of ongoing customer connections throughout the sales funnel. It likewise forms deeper partnerships with clients, allowing for continuous feedback and adaptations to meet evolving needs. In the end, this approach aligns with the sales culture shift from “Always be closing” to “Always be helpful,” which boosts the overall sales experience through genuine value delivery. Steps in the Solution Selling Process Effective implementation of solution selling requires a structured approach that emphasizes grasp of the customer and their unique needs. Follow these crucial steps to streamline your process: Grasp the Customer: Research buyer personas and their specific industry needs to tailor your recommendations effectively. Conduct Discovery Calls: Ask leading questions to uncover customer priorities, pain points, and desired outcomes, ensuring you’re aligned with their needs. Grasp Product Features: Gain deep knowledge of how your product features address the identified customer challenges and needs. Build Knowledge: Regularly update your grasp through demos, recorded calls, and note-taking, allowing you to offer relevant solutions at every stage. Pros and Cons of Solution Selling When considering solution selling, it’s important to weigh both its advantages and challenges. On the plus side, this approach nurtures long-term customer relationships and offers customized solutions that directly address individual needs, often leading to higher satisfaction and retention rates. Nonetheless, the implementation can be resource-intensive, requiring significant time and training to build the necessary rapport and comprehension of customer pain points. Advantages of Solution Selling Focusing on individualized customer needs, solution selling nurtures lasting relationships that lead to higher customer satisfaction and repeat engagement. This approach emphasizes long-term customer success and growth, cultivating deeper partnerships that benefit both parties. Here are four key advantages: Customized Solutions: Customized recommendations address specific customer pain points, enhancing relevance. Trust Building: By prioritizing customer needs, you create trust, leading to mutual benefits. Higher Retention Rates: Satisfied customers are more likely to return, promoting loyalty and ongoing business. Increased Deal Sizes: Comprehending client challenges often results in larger, more valuable contracts. Challenges in Implementation Implementing solution selling comes with its own set of challenges that can impact its effectiveness and adoption within sales teams. First, the method demands a significant time investment for building relationships and comprehending customer needs, which can prolong sales cycles. You also need to possess in-depth product knowledge and strong active listening skills, requiring extensive training that can strain resources. Moreover, solution selling may not provide immediate short-term gains, as it focuses on customized solutions rather than quick sales. Finally, adapting to a predictable sales process can be difficult, necessitating flexibility and adaptability from sales representatives. These challenges can hinder the successful integration of solution selling into your sales strategy, affecting overall results and team morale. Building Trust and Relationships Through Solution Selling Building trust and relationships through solution selling is essential for achieving long-term success in today’s competitive sales environment. This approach emphasizes comprehension and aligning with customer goals, which promotes deeper connections. Here are key elements to reflect on: Active Listening: Engage with your customers by truly hearing their needs and pain points. Ongoing Engagement: Maintain relationships post-sale, as 92% of evaluations depend on customer value and retention. Value Delivery: Shift the focus from “Always be closing” to “Always be helpful,” ensuring you provide real value throughout the sales process. Customer-Centric Approach: Prioritize customer needs over mere product functionality to improve the overall sales experience and nurture long-term partnerships. Frequently Asked Questions What Is an Example of Solution Selling? An example of solution selling is when a telecommunications provider assesses a company’s communication inefficiencies. You might find they conduct thorough discussions to identify specific challenges, such as poor call quality or missed calls. Then, they recommend a personalized VoIP solution designed to address those issues during the process of improving productivity. This approach focuses on comprehending your needs and delivering a solution that boosts your overall communication capabilities rather than just selling a standard product. What Are the Four Steps of Solution Selling? To effectively engage in solution selling, you’ll follow four crucial steps. First, comprehend your customer by researching their needs and goals. Next, conduct discovery calls to ask open-ended questions that reveal their pain points. Then, map solutions by aligning your product features with these identified challenges, demonstrating how they can alleviate the issues. Finally, build knowledge by continually updating your awareness of both the product and the customer’s evolving needs. What Does Solution Sales Do? Solution sales focuses on comprehending and addressing specific customer pain points through customized recommendations. It involves actively listening to clients, conducting discovery calls, and mapping solutions that align with their needs. By emphasizing a consultative approach, you build trust and nurture long-term relationships. This method prioritizes the return on investment for clients rather than merely promoting product features, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction and ongoing engagement in complex sales environments. How to Do Solution Selling? To effectively engage in solution selling, start by comprehending your customer’s specific pain points and needs. Use active listening during discovery calls to ask open-ended questions that encourage dialogue. Map your product features to the identified challenges, guaranteeing your recommendations are customized. Maintain a focus on building trust and long-term relationships, and don’t forget to follow up post-sale to assure customer satisfaction, which nurtures loyalty and repeat business over time. Conclusion In conclusion, solution selling is an effective approach that emphasizes comprehending customer needs and aligning products to address those specific challenges. By focusing on building trust and nurturing relationships, this method cultivates long-term partnerships over simple transactions. As it has distinct advantages, such as increased customer satisfaction and larger deal sizes, it requires time and effort. In the end, excelling in solution selling can greatly improve your sales effectiveness in complex B2B environments, leading to better outcomes for both you and your clients. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is Solution Selling and How Does It Work?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

AI is everywhere! Writing essays, editing photos, producing social-media slop, doing your browsing for you, making plenty of mistakes—and now, if you've installed the latest Android 16 update (currently rolling out to Pixel phones), summarizing your notifications so you have less text and fewer alerts to wade through. The new summarization feature, as per Google, will "help you cut through the clutter and stay focused," and give you "quick understanding and context at a glance." I'm all for cutting through the clutter, so as soon as the update landed on my own Pixel device, I decided to enable the feature and see how useful it really is. How AI summaries work, and how to turn them on Enabling the feature on an Android phone. Credit: Lifehacker AI notification summaries won't automatically take over your phone, after the update—you need to enable them manually. From Settings, head to Notifications, then tap Notification summaries to turn this on. The same screen lets you choose which apps you want notifications summarized for. There are actually two parts to the new update: the actual notification summaries, and what Google is calling a "notification organizer." This organizer is designed to group and silence lower-priority notifications (including social alerts and promotional messages), though there doesn't appear to be a separate toggle switch for this. Of course, other Android phone makers will be able to implement this in whatever way they choose. It looks as though Samsung is testing the feature with the One UI 8.5, which should be launching in beta any day now. A full release of the software is expected early next year, alongside the Galaxy S26 phones. Using AI notification summaries for 24 hoursReady to banish notification clutter from my life, I turned on AI summaries for all my apps to see exactly how this worked. For a start, it doesn't apply to all apps, at least not yet: My Snapchat and Instagram alerts remained the same as always, so further updates will be needed from Google and app developers before this is something you see everywhere. The apps I saw summaries for most often were Google Chat, WhatsApp, and Slack—almost always in group conversations, and some of the time for single messages (the length of the message seems to affect this somehow). And the summaries were ... mostly okay. They tended to catch the gist of who had said what, and in that sense were an accurate recap of what I was missing by not actually opening these apps. The summaries work, up to a point. Credit: Lifehacker These summaries did update as more messages were added, but the summary preview window is only a couple of lines long—so once multiple people start piling into a group chat, the summary isn't going to be able to cover everything. From the lock screen and pull-down notification shade, it's possible to expand notifications to see full messages (as usual), and then minimize them back to the summary view again. There was one occasion when the AI notification summaries got confused by the Lifehacker slack and by the various @mentions included—attributing a message to the person who had been tagged in a message, rather than the person who had sent it. On the whole, though, there were no obvious mistakes, just certain details left out from summaries of longer chats that I would've liked to have known about. Now I've tested this out, I'm going to turn it off again, for a couple of reasons—and inaccuracy isn't really one of them (though that might certainly creep in). First, given the small size of the preview window, I'm not sure an AI summary is any more useful than the first couple of lines of text you get as standard anyway. That's usually enough for me to tell whether or not a message is important before opening it. This Slack summary wasn't fully accurate—and Snapchat alerts weren't affected. Credit: Lifehacker Second, I'm not sure I really want my messages and group chats summarized—at least not the important ones. If a friend, family member, or work colleague has something to tell me, I'd like to know exactly what it is, rather than reading a précis. It feels like AI is being used just for the sake of it—and not for the first time. I didn't see any evidence of the notification organizer in action, by the way, perhaps because of the way I've got my Android notifications set up—there are now a host of granular options for alerts in Android, for silencing and dismissing notifications. This feature sounds vaguely useful, but again, I'm not sure I'm ready to hand over the job of judging how important notifications are over to AI just yet. View the full article

Earlier phaseout dates to be set for liquefied natural gas and short-term supply contractsView the full article

Spotify Wrapped 2025 is here, and it’s inspired by mixtapes, DIY aesthetics, and all things pre-internet. After plenty of anticipation, Wrapped has now debuted for the eleventh year in a row. As public interest in Wrapped has mounted exponentially each year—and other brands have flocked to dupe the format—Spotify has been compelled to continuously up the ante on its own design concept, and this year is no exception. Wrapped 2025 comes with 12 brand new features, each intended to make the experience more personalized than years past. In the music world (and everywhere else), 2025 has been a year dominated by conversation around the explosion of AI technology. In September, Spotify itself issued new policies around AI-generated music, explaining that while it won’t ban AI-generated songs or AI tools, it is focused on removing what it calls “AI slop” from the platform. At the time, Spotify said it had already removed 75 million spammy AI tracks from the site in just 12 months. Now, it appears Spotify is going full anti-AI in the design of Wrapped. “If brands are looking to the future or to AI for inspiration, we did the opposite,” Payman Kassaie, Spotify’s director of brand and creative, said in a press conference ahead of the launch. This year, Wrapped is rooted in the world of mixtape culture—and it’s a refreshing change from last year’s Wrapped, which was widely critiqued for embracing AI. How Spotify Wrapped became a marketing hit Since debuting in 2014, Wrapped has become a massive hit for Spotify. In 2023, the campaign drew in more than 225 million monthly active users and increased engagement by 40% year-over-year across 170 markets, according to an earnings report from the company. And that’s not even counting the free marketing that Spotify rakes in annually through the thousands of user-generated, organic posts from Spotify’s user base of 700 million, who share their Wrapped results with followers across socials. To meet the hype, Spotify has slowly turned Wrapped into a design-centric extravaganza, debuting an entirely fresh look and feel for the review each year. In 2021, the brand introduced “Audio Aura,” a color analysis of users’ top musical moods. In 2022, it tried out a zodiac-esque feature called “Listening Personality” alongside a psychedelic design. And last year, it opted for a techy, glitchy aesthetic to complement a new add-on called “Music Evolution,” which tracked users’ musical eras over the course of the year, and an AI-generated podcast feature that narrated users’ listening history (but somehow did not include top album or genre stats). While typically an easy brand win, last year’s launch was broadly panned. Spotify Wrapped 2025 embraces a retro aesthetic To appease those critiques, Spotify appears to be doing a full 180 with this year’s design. The techy aesthetic has been traded for a look that calls to mind an era when listening to music was a physical process—from building a mixtape to burning your own CD or even putting together a scrapbook of your favorite artists. “We looked back at the way people used to share music before Wrapped existed, and that led us to rooting our visual identity this year in the world of mixtape culture,” Kassaie said. “I may be dating myself a bit here, but if you’ve ever burned a CD for a friend, you know that each one becomes its own little canvas for the creator. That’s kind of the feeling we wanted to capture with this year’s design.” Every visual, he added, is made to feel handmade, with cutouts, images, doodles, and various textures lending the platform a DIY quality. The design is grounded in a palette of black and white, with pops of color reserved for key moments like artist images and album covers. On the data side, Spotify’s team went back to the drawing board to differentiate itself from competitors. This year, it will offer a top album list for the first time ever. In addition, it’s introducing 12 entirely new data-driven features, including “Listening Age,” which analyzes the five year span of music that users engaged with more than others in their age group; “Wrapped Clubs,” which sorts users into one of six clubs based on listening style; and “Wrapped Party,” which lets groups of friends compare their Wrapped data in a real-time, interactive setting. Spotify hasn’t entirely forgone AI in this process, either. “Listening Archive” is an AI-powered feature that spotlights certain days throughout the year, like a user’s biggest discovery day or most nostalgic day. Still, the overall vibe of Spotify Wrapped 2025 is less a celebration of AI, and more a return to the fundamentals that make sharing music fun. View the full article

The contract rate on a 30-year mortgage dropped 8 basis points to 6.32% in the week ended Nov. 28, which included the Thanksgiving holiday, according to Mortgage Bankers Association data released Wednesday. View the full article

Less than five months have passed since American Eagle’s controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign, which led to accusations ranging from cluelessness to Nazi propaganda. While the mall mainstay defended the campaign and has escaped relatively unscathed, a new quarterly earnings report shows the success of its sister-brand Aerie is buoying its financial results. On Tuesday, December 2, apparel retail company American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) shared its third-quarter earnings for fiscal 2025, including $1.36 billion in revenue. The 6% increase year-over-year (YOY) beat Wall Street’s predicted $1.32 billion in revenue, according to consensus estimates cited by CNBC. The company also reported earnings per share of 53 cents, compared to 44 cents expected. American Eagle’s namesake brand—and home to the “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” advertisements—can’t claim much responsibility for the jump. Its comparable sales grew by only 1% YOY, while Aerie’s comparable sales jumped 11% YOY. “Resurgence in intimates” Looking at the fiscal year to date, Aerie also reported higher revenue than last year, while the American Eagle brand lagged behind itself YOY. In an earnings call, president and executive creative director of American Eagle and Aerie, Jennifer Foyle, pointed to a “resurgence in intimates” and “strength” across all of the brand’s offerings, as key to Aerie’s success. Foyle added that the brand has seen an “acceleration in demand” since the spring. In October, Aerie made an anti-AI pledge, promising not to use the technology to generate bodies or people in its ads, staying “100% Aerie real.” AEO has raised its fourth-quarter guidance, with CEO Jay Schottenstein sharing that the company had a “record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend led by an acceleration in demand across brands and channels and underscored by outstanding growth at Aerie and Offline.” Offline is an activewear brand opened by American Eagle in 2020. The company now predicts $155 to $160 million in operating income for the fourth quarter, up from $125 to $130 million, and an 8% to 9% increase in comparable sales. Its operating income guidance for the fiscal year also rose, jumping from between $255 and $265 million to $303 to $308 million. Investors responded with glee to the news. American Eagle shares (NYSE:AEO) rose more than 14% after-hours and into premarket trading on Wednesday. The stock is up more than 21% year to date. View the full article

The The President administration is pausing all immigration applications such as requests for green cards for people from 19 countries banned from travel earlier this year, as part of sweeping immigration changes in the wake of the shooting of two National Guard troops. The changes were outlined in a policy memo posted Tuesday on the website of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency tasked with processing and approving all requests for immigration benefits. The pause puts on hold a wide range of immigration-related decisions such as green card applications or naturalizations for immigrants from those 19 countries that the The President administration has described as high-risk. It’s up to the agency’s director, Joseph Edlow, on when to lift the pause, the memo said. The administration in June banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns. The ban applied to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen while the restricted access applied to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. At the time, no action was taken against immigrants from those countries who were already in the U.S. before the travel ban went into effect. But now the news from USCIS means those people already in the U.S. — regardless of when they arrived — will come under extra scrutiny. The agency said it would conduct a comprehensive review of all “approved benefit requests” for immigrants who entered the country during the Biden administration. The agency cited the shooting of two National Guard troops by a suspect who is an Afghan national as a reason for the pause and heightened scrutiny for people from those countries. One National Guard soldier was killed and another wounded in the Thanksgiving week shooting near the White House. “In light of identified concerns and the threat to the American people, USCIS has determined that a comprehensive re-review, potential interview, and re-interview of all aliens from high-risk countries of concern who entered the United States on or after January 20, 2021 is necessary,” the agency said. The agency said in the Tuesday memo that within 90 days it would create a prioritized list of immigrants for review and if necessary, referral to immigration enforcement or other law enforcement agencies. Since the shooting, the administration has announced a flurry of decisions it was taking to scrutinize immigrants already in the country and those seeking to come to the U.S. Last week, the director of USCIS said in a social media post that his agency would be reexamining green card applications for people from countries “of concern.” But the policy directive Tuesday goes further and lays out in more detail the scope of who will be affected. USCIS also said last week that it was pausing all asylum decisions, and the State Department said it was halting visas for Afghans who assisted the U.S. war effort. Days before the shooting, USCIS said in a separate memo that the administration would review the cases of all refugees who entered the U.S. during the Biden administration. Critics have said that the The President administration’s actions have amounted to collective punishment for immigrants. —Rebecca Santana, Associated Press View the full article

The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is warning consumers about a type of fraud in which threat actors pretend to be from trusted financial institutions in order to obtain login credentials and gain access to financial and personal data. The consequences are high: With stolen credentials, scammers can gain full control of your accounts and your money. According to the FBI advisory, criminals will quickly wire funds from your bank to cryptocurrency wallets, making the money nearly impossible to trace and recover, and lock you out of your account in the process. Here's how account takeover scams work—and how to avoid becoming a victim. Account takeover scams may impersonate your bankMost account takeover scams use social engineering: a series of tactics designed to manipulate you into giving up personal information, downloading malware, or paying money to bad actors. Scammers impersonate financial institution employees as well as customer support and technical support staff and reach out to targets via text, call, or email to say that their account has been compromised in some way. They may tell you that there have been fraudulent charges on your account and send you a link to report the fraud—but this is actually a phishing site designed to harvest your login credentials. They may ask directly for your username, password, or multi-factor authentication (MFA) code over the phone. In some cases, they may even claim that your information was used to buy firearms and pass you off to a second scammer impersonating law enforcement. They're counting on you to feel fear and confusion and act quickly to "resolve" the issue by handing over your information. The FBI has also identified a version of account takeover using search engine optimization (SEO) poisoning, in which scammers buy ads that appear to be for legitimate businesses but actually allow them to place malicious links to spoofed bank websites higher in search results. How to avoid falling for account takeover scamsWhile being targeted for an account takeover may be unavoidable, there are a few red flags that can help you identify the fraud before it goes south. First, you should always be wary of calls, texts, emails, and other communication (such as social media messages) from someone claiming to be from your bank or creditor, especially if they ask for personal information like your username, password, or time-based one-time password (TOTP). Reputable institutions will not contact you to request your credentials or other sensitive data—so these are almost certainly phishing attempts. You should also be wary of trusting websites that look like they belong to your financial institution, especially if you click to them from a browser search. Cybercriminals can easily build convincing (but spoofed) websites and place the malicious links at the top of search results. Bookmark the trusted link rather than going through a search engine, or use the verified app on your mobile device. Always avoid clicking directly from unsolicited communication, and check URLs and email addresses carefully, as scammers can also use homographs to hide malicious links. Finally, protect your personal information. Use complex, unique passwords stored securely (such as in a password manager), enable a stronger form of MFA (and never give away codes), and limit what you share online. Scammers may use what you've posted—like your date of birth, pet's name, or information about family members—to get past your security questions, guess your password, or make an impersonation attempt sound more convincing. The IC3 also recommends monitoring your financial accounts for irregularities, such as unauthorized withdrawals or transfers, which may be a sign of an account takeover. Consider setting up transaction alerts with your financial institutions to be notified immediately of any suspicious activity. View the full article

Weaker than expected figures from payroll processor ADP highlight weakness in labour marketView the full article

An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a popular business structure in the USA that offers a blend of liability protection and tax benefits. When you form an LLC, your personal assets are typically shielded from the company’s debts, which is a significant advantage. This structure allows for an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities. Comprehending how to start an LLC and its unique characteristics can help you make informed decisions about your business. Key Takeaways An LLC (Limited Liability Company) combines liability protection and pass-through taxation, safeguarding members’ personal assets from business debts. LLCs can have an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities, promoting diverse ownership. Ownership interests in an LLC are represented by membership interests, not shares of stock, allowing for flexible investment structures. To form an LLC, Articles of Organization must be filed with the state, and a registered agent must be designated. LLCs benefit from fewer formalities and regulations compared to corporations, offering management flexibility and simplicity in operation. Definition and Characteristics of an LLC When you consider starting a business, one option you might explore is forming a limited liability company, or LLC. An LLC in the USA combines the liability protection of a corporation with the pass-through taxation advantages of a partnership. As a member of an LLC, you’re not personally liable for the company’s debts, which means your personal assets remain protected. This type of company in the United States allows for an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities, without citizenship restrictions. Instead of shares of stock, ownership interests in an LLC are represented by membership interests, offering flexibility in profit and loss allocations. Each state has specific regulations for forming and operating an LLC, so it’s crucial to comply with local laws. Tax Advantages of an LLC Comprehending the tax advantages of an LLC can considerably impact your business’s financial health. Here are some key benefits you should know about forming an LLC en USA: Pass-through taxation means profits and losses appear on your personal tax returns, avoiding double taxation. Single-member LLCs are disregarded entities, letting you report income on Schedule C without filing a separate tax return. Multi-member LLCs file IRS Form 1065, reporting income and deductions like a partnership. Tax flexibility allows LLCs to elect corporate status, enabling taxation as a C or S corporation if advantageous. Understanding these advantages will help you make informed decisions that can improve your business’s profitability and tax efficiency. How to Start an LLC Starting an LLC can be a straightforward process, especially once you understand the key steps involved. First, choose a unique business name that meets your state’s requirements and check its availability in the state’s database. Next, file the Articles of Organization with your state’s Secretary of State, including details like the business name, principal address, and registered agent information, along with the required filing fee. Designate a registered agent with a physical address in your state to receive legal documents. Although not mandatory in all states, consider creating an operating agreement to define management structure and profit-sharing. After forming your LLC, obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS and comply with ongoing state requirements, such as annual reports. Pros and Cons of an LLC Comprehending the pros and cons of forming an LLC is crucial for anyone considering this business structure. Here’s what you need to know: Limited Personal Liability: Your personal assets are typically protected from business debts. Pass-Through Taxation: Profits and losses are reported on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. Flexible Structure: LLCs require less formal structure and paperwork than corporations, simplifying setup and maintenance. Self-Employment Taxes: You may face self-employment taxes on profits, and raising capital can be tougher compared to corporations. While there are significant benefits, be aware of potential drawbacks like varying state regulations and compliance costs that can impact your overall expenses. Grasping both sides helps you make informed decisions about your business. Differences Between LLCs, Partnerships, and Corporations When deciding on a business structure, it’s important to understand the differences between LLCs, partnerships, and corporations, as each offers unique benefits and drawbacks. LLCs provide limited liability protection, shielding your personal assets from business debts. Conversely, partnerships expose you to personal liability for business obligations. Tax-wise, LLCs enjoy pass-through taxation, avoiding the double taxation faced by corporations. Management flexibility is another advantage for LLCs, allowing for member-managed or manager-managed structures, unlike the rigid hierarchy of corporations. Furthermore, forming a partnership doesn’t require formal filing, whereas LLCs must file Articles of Organization. Finally, LLCs can have an unlimited number of members without citizenship restrictions, whereas partnerships and corporations have specific regulations governing ownership. Variations of LLCs Comprehending the various types of Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) available can considerably impact how you structure your business. Here are four significant variations to evaluate: Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC): Customized for licensed professionals like doctors and lawyers, offering liability protection during compliance with specific state regulations. Series LLC: Allows multiple divisions within one LLC, each with its own assets and liabilities, enhancing protection against liability. Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C): Merges for-profit and social enterprise goals, enabling you to pursue charitable objectives as you generate profit. Anonymous LLC: Conceals member identities from public disclosure, appealing to those who prioritize privacy in ownership. Keep in mind that state regulations dictate the characteristics and benefits of each type, so research is crucial. Legal Considerations for LLCs When forming an LLC, comprehension of the legal considerations is vital for protecting your interests and ensuring smooth operations. An operating agreement, although not always required, is important as it defines how your LLC will be managed and can help avoid conflicts among members. Furthermore, enjoying limited liability protection allows you to separate your personal assets from the company’s debts, making it imperative to adhere to state regulations and compliance requirements. Operating Agreement Importance An operating agreement is an essential document for any Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the USA, as it clearly defines the management structure, member responsibilities, and operational procedures. Although not required in every state, having one is highly recommended to solidify your LLC’s separate existence and protect its limited liability status. A well-crafted operating agreement can help prevent disputes and misunderstandings among members. Here are some key elements to reflect on: Capital contributions: Clarifies how much each member invests. Profit distribution: Outlines how profits will be shared. Member management: Details each member’s responsibilities. Adding/removing members: Establishes processes for changes in membership. Limited Liability Protection Limited liability protection is one of the primary advantages of forming an LLC, as it effectively separates your personal assets from the business’s debts and liabilities. This means that your home, savings, and other personal property are typically shielded from claims against the business, providing you peace of mind. The “LLC veil” is more challenging to pierce than in other business structures, ensuring that you maintain this protection as long as you don’t mix personal and business funds. Nonetheless, be cautious; courts can hold you personally liable if fraud or misconduct occurs. Furthermore, a well-drafted operating agreement is crucial for governance, helping to prevent disputes and reinforcing your limited liability status, safeguarding your interests in the LLC. Membership Flexibility Options Ownership in an LLC is marked by significant flexibility, offering various options for membership that cater to different needs and preferences. Here are some key features of LLC membership flexibility: You can include a diverse range of members, like individuals, corporations, or other entities, with no citizenship restrictions. Membership interests can be customized in units or percentages, allowing you to personalize ownership distribution. There’s no limit on the number of members, which promotes unlimited participation in ownership and management. Operating agreements, whether written, oral, or implied, dictate how your LLC operates, helping to prevent disputes among members. This flexibility accommodates both passive investors and active managers, ensuring that the structure meets your specific goals. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Purpose of Having an LLC? The purpose of having an LLC is primarily to limit your personal liability for business debts, protecting your assets from business-related risks. It furthermore provides pass-through taxation, so profits and losses appear on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. In addition, an LLC offers a flexible ownership structure, allowing various entities to be members. This can improve your business’s credibility and streamline management through defined roles in an operating agreement. What Is US LLC and How Does It Work? An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, functions as a hybrid structure that protects your personal assets from business debts. It allows you to report profits and losses on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. To form an LLC, you file Articles of Organization with your state, detailing your business name and registered agent. You can choose a flexible management structure, either member-managed or manager-managed, based on your operational preferences. Does an LLC Have to Pay Its Owner? An LLC doesn’t pay its owners directly like a corporation does. Instead, profits pass through to your personal tax return, where you report income. You can take distributions based on your LLC’s operating agreement, which details how profits are shared. If you’re a single-member LLC, you report everything on your tax return without a separate filing. Multi-member LLCs require IRS Form 1065, and each member receives a Schedule K-1 for their share of income. Do LLCS Get Money Back? LLCs themselves don’t receive money back as they’re not taxed at the entity level. Instead, profits pass through to you, impacting your personal tax return. If you’ve overpaid your taxes, you might receive a refund based on your individual situation. Furthermore, expenses and deductions can lower taxable income, which could lead to refunds if your withholdings exceed your tax liability. Always consult a tax professional to understand your specific circumstances better. Conclusion In conclusion, an LLC is a flexible business structure that offers liability protection and tax benefits, making it a popular choice for many entrepreneurs. By comprehending its characteristics, advantages, and how to establish one, you can make informed decisions about your business. Remember to reflect on the differences between LLCs, partnerships, and corporations to choose the best structure for your needs. With careful planning and adherence to legal requirements, you can successfully navigate the process of forming an LLC. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is an LLC in the USA?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, is a popular business structure in the USA that offers a blend of liability protection and tax benefits. When you form an LLC, your personal assets are typically shielded from the company’s debts, which is a significant advantage. This structure allows for an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities. Comprehending how to start an LLC and its unique characteristics can help you make informed decisions about your business. Key Takeaways An LLC (Limited Liability Company) combines liability protection and pass-through taxation, safeguarding members’ personal assets from business debts. LLCs can have an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities, promoting diverse ownership. Ownership interests in an LLC are represented by membership interests, not shares of stock, allowing for flexible investment structures. To form an LLC, Articles of Organization must be filed with the state, and a registered agent must be designated. LLCs benefit from fewer formalities and regulations compared to corporations, offering management flexibility and simplicity in operation. Definition and Characteristics of an LLC When you consider starting a business, one option you might explore is forming a limited liability company, or LLC. An LLC in the USA combines the liability protection of a corporation with the pass-through taxation advantages of a partnership. As a member of an LLC, you’re not personally liable for the company’s debts, which means your personal assets remain protected. This type of company in the United States allows for an unlimited number of members, including individuals and foreign entities, without citizenship restrictions. Instead of shares of stock, ownership interests in an LLC are represented by membership interests, offering flexibility in profit and loss allocations. Each state has specific regulations for forming and operating an LLC, so it’s crucial to comply with local laws. Tax Advantages of an LLC Comprehending the tax advantages of an LLC can considerably impact your business’s financial health. Here are some key benefits you should know about forming an LLC en USA: Pass-through taxation means profits and losses appear on your personal tax returns, avoiding double taxation. Single-member LLCs are disregarded entities, letting you report income on Schedule C without filing a separate tax return. Multi-member LLCs file IRS Form 1065, reporting income and deductions like a partnership. Tax flexibility allows LLCs to elect corporate status, enabling taxation as a C or S corporation if advantageous. Understanding these advantages will help you make informed decisions that can improve your business’s profitability and tax efficiency. How to Start an LLC Starting an LLC can be a straightforward process, especially once you understand the key steps involved. First, choose a unique business name that meets your state’s requirements and check its availability in the state’s database. Next, file the Articles of Organization with your state’s Secretary of State, including details like the business name, principal address, and registered agent information, along with the required filing fee. Designate a registered agent with a physical address in your state to receive legal documents. Although not mandatory in all states, consider creating an operating agreement to define management structure and profit-sharing. After forming your LLC, obtain an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS and comply with ongoing state requirements, such as annual reports. Pros and Cons of an LLC Comprehending the pros and cons of forming an LLC is crucial for anyone considering this business structure. Here’s what you need to know: Limited Personal Liability: Your personal assets are typically protected from business debts. Pass-Through Taxation: Profits and losses are reported on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. Flexible Structure: LLCs require less formal structure and paperwork than corporations, simplifying setup and maintenance. Self-Employment Taxes: You may face self-employment taxes on profits, and raising capital can be tougher compared to corporations. While there are significant benefits, be aware of potential drawbacks like varying state regulations and compliance costs that can impact your overall expenses. Grasping both sides helps you make informed decisions about your business. Differences Between LLCs, Partnerships, and Corporations When deciding on a business structure, it’s important to understand the differences between LLCs, partnerships, and corporations, as each offers unique benefits and drawbacks. LLCs provide limited liability protection, shielding your personal assets from business debts. Conversely, partnerships expose you to personal liability for business obligations. Tax-wise, LLCs enjoy pass-through taxation, avoiding the double taxation faced by corporations. Management flexibility is another advantage for LLCs, allowing for member-managed or manager-managed structures, unlike the rigid hierarchy of corporations. Furthermore, forming a partnership doesn’t require formal filing, whereas LLCs must file Articles of Organization. Finally, LLCs can have an unlimited number of members without citizenship restrictions, whereas partnerships and corporations have specific regulations governing ownership. Variations of LLCs Comprehending the various types of Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) available can considerably impact how you structure your business. Here are four significant variations to evaluate: Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC): Customized for licensed professionals like doctors and lawyers, offering liability protection during compliance with specific state regulations. Series LLC: Allows multiple divisions within one LLC, each with its own assets and liabilities, enhancing protection against liability. Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C): Merges for-profit and social enterprise goals, enabling you to pursue charitable objectives as you generate profit. Anonymous LLC: Conceals member identities from public disclosure, appealing to those who prioritize privacy in ownership. Keep in mind that state regulations dictate the characteristics and benefits of each type, so research is crucial. Legal Considerations for LLCs When forming an LLC, comprehension of the legal considerations is vital for protecting your interests and ensuring smooth operations. An operating agreement, although not always required, is important as it defines how your LLC will be managed and can help avoid conflicts among members. Furthermore, enjoying limited liability protection allows you to separate your personal assets from the company’s debts, making it imperative to adhere to state regulations and compliance requirements. Operating Agreement Importance An operating agreement is an essential document for any Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the USA, as it clearly defines the management structure, member responsibilities, and operational procedures. Although not required in every state, having one is highly recommended to solidify your LLC’s separate existence and protect its limited liability status. A well-crafted operating agreement can help prevent disputes and misunderstandings among members. Here are some key elements to reflect on: Capital contributions: Clarifies how much each member invests. Profit distribution: Outlines how profits will be shared. Member management: Details each member’s responsibilities. Adding/removing members: Establishes processes for changes in membership. Limited Liability Protection Limited liability protection is one of the primary advantages of forming an LLC, as it effectively separates your personal assets from the business’s debts and liabilities. This means that your home, savings, and other personal property are typically shielded from claims against the business, providing you peace of mind. The “LLC veil” is more challenging to pierce than in other business structures, ensuring that you maintain this protection as long as you don’t mix personal and business funds. Nonetheless, be cautious; courts can hold you personally liable if fraud or misconduct occurs. Furthermore, a well-drafted operating agreement is crucial for governance, helping to prevent disputes and reinforcing your limited liability status, safeguarding your interests in the LLC. Membership Flexibility Options Ownership in an LLC is marked by significant flexibility, offering various options for membership that cater to different needs and preferences. Here are some key features of LLC membership flexibility: You can include a diverse range of members, like individuals, corporations, or other entities, with no citizenship restrictions. Membership interests can be customized in units or percentages, allowing you to personalize ownership distribution. There’s no limit on the number of members, which promotes unlimited participation in ownership and management. Operating agreements, whether written, oral, or implied, dictate how your LLC operates, helping to prevent disputes among members. This flexibility accommodates both passive investors and active managers, ensuring that the structure meets your specific goals. Frequently Asked Questions What Is the Purpose of Having an LLC? The purpose of having an LLC is primarily to limit your personal liability for business debts, protecting your assets from business-related risks. It furthermore provides pass-through taxation, so profits and losses appear on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. In addition, an LLC offers a flexible ownership structure, allowing various entities to be members. This can improve your business’s credibility and streamline management through defined roles in an operating agreement. What Is US LLC and How Does It Work? An LLC, or Limited Liability Company, functions as a hybrid structure that protects your personal assets from business debts. It allows you to report profits and losses on your personal tax return, avoiding double taxation. To form an LLC, you file Articles of Organization with your state, detailing your business name and registered agent. You can choose a flexible management structure, either member-managed or manager-managed, based on your operational preferences. Does an LLC Have to Pay Its Owner? An LLC doesn’t pay its owners directly like a corporation does. Instead, profits pass through to your personal tax return, where you report income. You can take distributions based on your LLC’s operating agreement, which details how profits are shared. If you’re a single-member LLC, you report everything on your tax return without a separate filing. Multi-member LLCs require IRS Form 1065, and each member receives a Schedule K-1 for their share of income. Do LLCS Get Money Back? LLCs themselves don’t receive money back as they’re not taxed at the entity level. Instead, profits pass through to you, impacting your personal tax return. If you’ve overpaid your taxes, you might receive a refund based on your individual situation. Furthermore, expenses and deductions can lower taxable income, which could lead to refunds if your withholdings exceed your tax liability. Always consult a tax professional to understand your specific circumstances better. Conclusion In conclusion, an LLC is a flexible business structure that offers liability protection and tax benefits, making it a popular choice for many entrepreneurs. By comprehending its characteristics, advantages, and how to establish one, you can make informed decisions about your business. Remember to reflect on the differences between LLCs, partnerships, and corporations to choose the best structure for your needs. With careful planning and adherence to legal requirements, you can successfully navigate the process of forming an LLC. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is an LLC in the USA?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 is currently down to $759.99 on Amazon, down from $859.99. Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 256GB Wi-Fi 11" Tablet With S Pen (Gray) $759.99 at Amazon $859.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $759.99 at Amazon $859.99 Save $100.00 For those in the market for a premium Android tablet that leans into both productivity and entertainment, this might be one to consider. It has the same polished design and high-quality build Samsung brings to its flagship phones, with a sturdy Armor Aluminum frame, water and dust resistance (IP68), and a bright 11-inch Dynamic AMOLED display that’s crisp, color-rich, and plenty bright even outdoors. It also comes with the redesigned S Pen included at no extra charge, unlike the Apple Pencil. In terms of performance, the Tab S11 holds its own. It’s powered by MediaTek’s 9400+ chip with 12GB RAM and Android 16, which keeps things snappy across multitasking and Samsung’s DeX mode (basically a desktop experience on a tablet). You get 256GB of onboard storage, expandable up to 2TB with a microSD card, which is handy for offline media or large files. Battery life clocked in around 9.5 hours in PCMag’s rundown test, which means real-world use lands somewhere in the all-day range unless you keep brightness maxed out. As for the audio, the stereo speakers are loud and clear enough for small rooms, but the bass is underwhelming—if audio quality matters to you, a solid pair of wireless headphones or earbuds might be a better bet. Camera-wise, the 13MP rear camera and 12MP front cam handle video calls and quick snapshots fine, but don’t expect smartphone-level sharpness or dynamic range. The real edge lies in the software: Samsung’s One UI 8.0 and Galaxy AI tools like Notes Assist, Transcript Assist, and Circle to Search help streamline everyday use. Add seven years of promised updates, and you’ve got long-term support locked in. Our Best Editor-Vetted Tech Deals Right Now Apple AirPods Pro 3 Noise Cancelling Heart Rate Wireless Earbuds — $249.00 (List Price $249.00) Apple iPad 11" 128GB A16 WiFi Tablet (Blue, 2025) — $353.00 (List Price $353.00) Amazon Fire HD 10 (2023) — $69.99 (List Price $139.99) Sony WH-1000XM5 — $278.00 (List Price $399.99) Blink Outdoor 4 1080p Wireless Security Camera (5-Pack) — $399.99 (List Price $399.99) Ring Floodlight Cam Wired Plus 1080p Security Camera (White) — $99.99 (List Price $179.99) Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus — $24.99 (List Price $49.99) NEW Bose Quiet Comfort Ultra Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones — (List Price $410.24) Shark AI Ultra Matrix Clean Mapping Voice Control Robot Vacuum with XL Self-Empty Base — $249.99 (List Price $599.00) Apple Watch Series 11 (GPS, 42mm, S/M Black Sport Band) — $329.00 (List Price $399.00) Deals are selected by our commerce team View the full article

Chanel’s new showman, Matthieu Blazy, took his designs on the road Tuesday — or rather, underground, with a buzzy New York runway show staged on an actual subway platform. The designer, just weeks after his splashy Paris debut for Chanel in October, took over a decommissioned part of Manhattan’s Bowery station for his first Métiers d’Art collection. The annual show, which takes place in a different city each year, celebrates the craftsmanship of the artisans that partner with Chanel. In this case, it was two shows—one in the afternoon and one in the evening. And befitting the first Chanel shows in New York since 2018, there were VIPs aplenty: A$AP Rocky, Tilda Swinton, Ayo Edebiri, Rose Byrne, Kristen Stewart, Sofia Coppola, Lupita Nyong’o, Jessie Buckley, Margaret Qualley, Bowen Yang, Jon Bon Jovi, and many others. The location had been a closely held secret. Guests entered via a doorway at 168 Bowery, and at first, it seemed like Chanel had perhaps decorated an event space to resemble a subway station, complete with tiled walls, turnstiles and a newsstand (with its own bespoke newspapers). But down a flight of stairs was the real platform. Guests settled into bleacher seats resembling subway benches. “Stand clear of the closing doors!” came the announcement on the soundtrack, familiar to New Yorkers. Then a train came rolling in, and out of the cars came the models. The show was a marked contrast in vibe with the last Métiers d’Art collection in New York in 2018, when the late designer Karl Lagerfeld took over the Egyptian Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for what felt like a mini-Met Gala, with clothes channeling the luxury of Egyptian royalty. Blazy was inspired not by royalty but by ordinary urban commuters, of different ages and types, coming together in a mashup of styles from different eras, from the 1920s onward. “The New York subway belongs to all,” the designer said in his show notes. “Everyone uses it. There are students and game-changers, statesmen and teenagers. It is a place full of wonderful encounters, a clash of pop archetypes.” His models strolled the platform, some checking for arriving trains—feigning annoyance at their lateness—or leaning against a post as they waited. Their numbers increased until, by the end, there was a virtual rush hour of fashion, with the eclectic soundtrack playing the Happy Days theme song as a finale. Some of these commuters wore classic Chanel suits—perhaps with an “I (Heart) NY” T-shirt—and others, tweed coats, flowing black capes or brightly patterned skirts. All were intended to show off the craftsmanship involved. “This felt like breaking the system,” said Stewart, speaking after the afternoon show. “I genuinely had an emotional response to the show. I felt like I just saw so many different versions of a person walking. It wasn’t one woman.” Stewart, like others, had no idea going in what the show’s theme would be, and thought the subway environment felt like “a flurry of fleeting caught moments.” “Like, ‘Where is she going?’ I wanted to go with them,” Stewart said. “I believed in it. All of this is artifice, but when you do a really good impression of the truth, you find your own. This felt real to me.” It was real enough that Chanel had printed its own “newspaper”—called La Gazette—to accompany the show, with articles and interviews. An interview with Blazy quoted the designer as saying the collection was inspired partly by the 1931 visit to New York of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. And he sang the praises of the subway. “It’s almost like it’s the vortex of the city,” Blazy said. “It connects everything.” —Jocelyn Noveck, AP National Writer View the full article

Many major platforms provide personalized “year in review” features that highlight how users have spent their time over the past year. Spotify Wrapped is the most popular of these summaries, but Apple Music, Snapchat, Deezer, and others also offer them. And now, internet users have a new year-in-review feature to check out this year: YouTube Recap. Here’s what you need to know about the video site’s year-in-review and how to access it—especially if you’re looking to kill some time while waiting for Spotify Wrapped 2025 to come out. What is YouTube Recap? YouTube Recap is Google’s just-announced year-in-review feature for its YouTube platform. The personalized recap displays various metrics about your YouTube viewing habits over the past year. The Recap feature takes the form of a Story, or YouTube Short. As YouTube explained in a blog post, “You’ll get a set of up to 12 different cards that spotlight your top channels, interests, and even the evolution of your viewing habits, or which personality type you fall into based on the videos you loved to watch!” Cards include your top interests, your top channels, and your interests based on video views. If you listen to a lot of music on YouTube, your YouTube Recap will also display your top artists and top songs from YouTube Music. One interesting bit of information comes from a disclaimer that the YouTube Recap displays when you view it. That disclaimer reads “AI can make mistakes.” This suggests that Google is relying on artificial intelligence to curate and assemble YouTube Recap videos. Discover your YouTube personality Your YouTube Recap video may also feature a “personality” card that YouTube says reveals what type of personality you have based on your YouTube watch history. The full list of possible personalities includes: The Adventurer: You’re drawn to content that takes you on an exciting journey. The Challenger: You’re drawn to content that shows competition and rising to the challenge. The Changemaker: You’re drawn to content that inspires positive change in the world. The Connector: You’re drawn to content that sparks conversation and builds community. The Creative Spirit: You’re drawn to content that inspires self-expression. The Curious Mind: You’re drawn to educational content that helps you understand the world. The Dreamer: You’re drawn to content that fuels your imagination. The Philosopher: You’re drawn to content that explores the deeper meaning of things. The Self-Improver: You’re drawn to content that helps you grow and reach your potential. The Serenity Seeker: You’re drawn to content that helps you relax and find your inner peace. The Skill Builder: You’re drawn to content that helps you develop skills. The Sunshiner: You’re drawn to content that spreads positivity and good vibes. The Trailblazer: You’re drawn to content that’s original and challenges the norm. The Wonder Seeker: You’re drawn to awe-inspiring content that shows extraordinary skills. In its blog post, YouTube says the most common personalities are the Connector, the Sunshiner, and the Wonder Seeker. The least common personalities are the Dreamer and the Philosopher, which YouTube says are “more elusive and rare personas.” How to access your YouTube Recap 2025 on the web YouTube provides two ways users can access their YouTube Recap. The first is by using any web browser. To access your YouTube 2025 Recap on the web: Go to www.youtube.com/recap and make sure you are signed in. You’ll find a “Your 2025 Recap is here!” banner at the top of the page. Click it. Your YouTube Recap video will open on the same webpage. How to access your YouTube Recap 2025 in the YouTube app You can also access your YouTube Recap directly in the YouTube app on iPhone and Android. Here’s how: Open the YouTube app. Tap the “You” tab. You’ll find a “Your 2025 Recap is here!” banner at the top of the page. Tap it. Your YouTube Recap video will now open in the YouTube app on your smartphone. How to share your YouTube Recap video While people love viewing their year-in-review roundups, many also enjoy sharing them with friends and family. And YouTube makes it easy to share your YouTube Recap video. The caveat here, however, is that you need to share it from the YouTube app. Sharing of your YouTube Recap video from a web browser does not seem to be supported at this time. To share your YouTube Recap video: Open the YouTube app. Tap the “You” tab. You’ll find a “Your 2025 Recap is here!” banner at the top of the page. Tap it. As the video plays, you’ll see a “Share” button at the bottom of the video. Tap it. From the pop-up menu, select the person or app you want to share a link to your personalized YouTube Recap video with. YouTube Recap is available now to users in North America. It will roll out to users worldwide this week. View the full article

Contentious proposal to fund Ukraine would mark watershed moment for EUView the full article

First visit by UK prime minister since 2018 expected to come after London approves Beijing’s ‘mega’ embassy plansView the full article

On birth rates, the lockdown and above all Brexit, the right is out of touch with the public View the full article

It’s not a Christmas miracle, I’m afraidView the full article

Generic store brand groceries can increasingly be found in the pantries, fridges, and freezers of Americans across all income groups. Once designed to communicate value and affordability, a new generation of private labels designed for high earners is driving sales. Among households earning more than $100,000 a year, 82% say they’ve increased the frequency of buying store-brand groceries “often” or “very often,” according to a report from Alvarez & Marsal Global, a consulting firm. That’s compared to 74% of households earnings less than $100,000 a year who also say they’ve increased their store-brand grocery purchases. Grocers have rebranded and grown their portfolio of private label brands over the past several years to cater to consumers pressed by inflation, and it’s paid off as the highest-earning shoppers make up an increasingly large share of the economy. The report attributed the steep increase among the highest-earning Americans to “improvements made in private label products.” Nowhere is this more true than Walmart, the leading grocer since 2019, which launched a new private label called Bettergoods in 2024 that includes products that are plant-based, organic, or gluten-free. These products intentionally cater to the Whole Foods shopper with bright, well-designed packaging. The company reported quarterly revenue of $179.5 billion, up 5.8%, and said high-income households were part of the reason why. “We continue to benefit from higher-income families choosing to shop with us more often,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on the company’s earnings call late last month. Upgraded, design-ified generic brands aren’t just boosting high-income shopping, though. The report found 68% of shoppers across all income groups believe store brands offer quality that is as good or better than national brands, and switching to store brands was the No. 1 way shoppers said they cut their grocery bill. Those trends are shaping the industry. Albertson’s says it’s aiming for private labels to eventually account for 30% of its business, Aldi put its name on all its products for the first time, and Amazon debuted a new branded online grocery store with packaging that makes good use of its new font, bright colors, and white space. With high-income households driving so much spending, industries from airlines to produce are especially catering to the shoppers with high-end products and premium experiences. At the grocery store, though, the success of private labels proves that when it comes to cooking dinner, even the highest-earning among us are looking for a good deal. View the full article

Route 66. The name alone evokes nostalgia for a simpler, freer time in American history, when roadies stopped for a hot dog with ketchup, then drove into ocher sunsets suspended over the Mojave desert. Ever since it was built in 1926, the “Mother Road” has gained mythical status, drawing millions of visitors from around the world yearning for a taste of old America—the one before the interstate highway system favored speed over experience. For Rhys Martin, who has spent years on the road with his camera, this isn’t what Route 66 is about. Yes, you can travel back in time and get a glimpse of Americana, but the route isn’t fossilized in the past. It’s very much still breathing. “Route 66 is more than just this 1950s sanitized version of American history,” he says. “It’s diverse, it’s evolving, and I like to say that no matter who you are or where you’re from, somewhere on Route 66, you’ll find your reflection.” Martin, who manages the Preserve Route 66 program at the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is part of a group of advocates and preservationists who want to change the narrative around Route 66 from one that paints the road as a mirror into the past to one that reflects the present, where many communities still live and people still work. His team’s mission has now culminated in Route 66 Rewind: a browser-based experience that lets users drive across 33 landmarks along the route from their own (virtual) vintage car or motorcycle. You can steer the wheel, pick a radio station, and see how the Midpoint Cafe or the U-Drop Inn looked in previous decades. The experience was codeveloped by Google Arts & Culture with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is part of a larger storytelling hub that lives on the Google Arts & Culture platform. The team turned archival photographs into videos using Google’s AI video generator Veo, composed the radio music using music generation model Lyria, and wrote the radio commentary using Gemini. The result is a sim road trip that uses AI in the best possible way: to direct the narrative back to people, and highlight the human experience that continues to shape the route today. Route 66: A “corridor of stories” Martin first saw the road through the lens of a camera. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he’d heard of Route 66, but he knew only the broad strokes. Then one day in 2013, he hopped into his late father’s Mustang and drove to Miami, Oklahoma, to photograph the Coleman Theatre—a 1929 vaudeville theater with a facade “so ornate it had no business being in the town of Miami,” he recalls. The surprising discovery had him wondering: What else was on the highway? Martin’s curiosity led him on a two-year road trip across Route 66 that grew into a decade-long love affair with the people he met along the way. “Eventually I realized it’s a corridor of stories,” he says. One of the biggest misconceptions about Route 66 is that the destinations along its route have faded into ghost towns. The construction of the interstate highway system in the ’50s and ’60s, followed by the decommissioning of the route in 1985, no doubt stripped many of these towns of their purpose. As travel evolved and car speeds got faster, the need for frequent gas stations and motels diminished. The government divested. People left towns. But not everyone left. In Tulsa, entrepreneurs like Mary Beth Babcock have spent years revitalizing stretches of the road. In 2019, she transformed the historic Pemco gas station into a souvenir shop called Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios, complete with two very on-brand, 20-foot-tall mascots that double as roadside attractions. That same year, Dutch entrepreneur Sebastiaan de Boorder and his wife, Anna Marie Gonzalez, renovated the 1919 Aztec Motel in Seligman, Arizona, which reopened as the Aztec Motel & Creative Space in 2021. “There is so much development still coming to Route 66, and most of it is mom and pops who’ve always dreamed of having a business on Route 66,” Martin says. Today, the American dream that once defined Route 66 looks different. Some might say it doesn’t exist at all. But for Martin, it lives on along the Mother Road. “I agree that the American dream doesn’t quite hit like it used to,” he tells me, “but on Route 66, you still find people who have bought into the cliché that Route 66 means freedom, and they are adding their story to this highway that’s now entering its second century.” AI fills “the gaps of archival memory” Route 66 is now approaching its centennial. Next year, various destinations along the route will burst into caravans and car parades to celebrate the route’s legacy. But for the team behind Route 66 Rewind, the goal isn’t just to celebrate the past but to galvanize the next generation. “Preservation creates,” says Martin, noting that anytime a building is preserved, it activates the connection people had with it while helping young people engage with the conversation. “That’s how you inspire the next generation to add their story to this long history.” With its AI-powered features and fun UX, Route 66 Rewind presented itself as a way to make history exciting for younger people. But when the team sat down to convey said history, they realized they didn’t know how many of these places looked in their heyday, beyond a few archival photographs. AI became a way to fill in what Amit Sood, the founder and director of Google Arts & Culture, calls “the gaps of archival memory.” The Google team worked with the National Trust team to collect black-and-white photos and written accounts they could use to prompt AI, cross-referencing each output with experts at the Trust. The resulting videos act as miniature time capsules of a bygone era. In Collinsville, Illinois, you can follow ketchup bottles stream past on a conveyor belt inside the now-defunct Brooks Foods ketchup factory. In Lebanon, Missouri, you can peek inside the now-closed Munger Moss Motel, its iconic neon sign flickering under a 1960s sun. But as Sood points out, these dreamy snapshots inspire you to preserve, too. The hope is that the AI-powered vision of, say, the Threatt Filling Station—the only Black-owned-and-operated gas station during the Jim Crow era—will pique your interest enough for you to visit the storytelling hub and learn about the craftsmen who are now working to restore the building’s “giraffe-stone” exterior. Next year, Route 66 is likely to be designated a National Historic Trail. The designation, which is being championed by members of both the U.S. House and Senate, could help preserve the historic route, boost tourism, and support local economies ahead of the highway’s centennial celebration. In the meantime, perhaps the AI-powered platform will galvanize tourists both domestically and from abroad to get on the road and see how the myth lives on. “The goal is to keep the car rolling down the street and get more people engaged,” Martin says. “It’s going to be a big party [next year], but that’s definitely not the end. It’s the start of the next 100 years.” View the full article