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Ministers’ plan to attract more cash into London-listed stocks could fall short, it saysView the full article

As of this writing, shares in Quantum Computing Inc. (Nasdaq: QUBT) are spiking in premarket trading, with the stock price up over 15%. That’s a relatively large swing, even for a quantum computing firm, where stocks have been especially volatile this year. Here’s what to know: Why is QUBT rising today? While quantum computing stocks have been volatile this year due in part to the speculative nature of the space, the main reason for Quantum Computing’s share price surge this morning seems more to do with the company’s finances than just standard run-of-the-mill quantum speculation. On Friday, Quantum Computing Inc. released its third-quarter 2025 financials—and the company announced an unexpected earnings and revenue beat. As noted by Investor’s Business Daily, Quantum Computing reported earnings per share of 1 cent. Investors had been expecting the company to post a 6-cent-per-share loss. The company also reported revenue for the quarter of $384,000. Analysts had been expecting revenue of just $100,000. In a press release announcing its revenue beat, Quantum Computing said that the revenue increase “is primarily due to increases in the number of, size of and level of effort performed on research and development services and custom hardware contracts.” Stock’s reaction underscores quantum computing volatility A quarterly revenue of just $384,000 might not excite investors in many other companies, but the revenue jump at Quantum Computing Inc. seems to have sparked a rally. A little good news sent QUBT shares surging 15% this morning in premarket—good for QUBT shareholders. Yet those same moves also highlight the volatility of QUBT shares—and quantum computing stocks in general. While QUBT is getting a boost today, as of Friday’s close, the stock’s price was down nearly 36% year to date. And yet, that included a nearly 19% gain over the last six months and also a nearly 51% drop over the past month. Those highs and lows underscore quantum computing’s volatility as Wall Street digests day-to-day news about the industry and navigates varying opinions on whether the technology will usher in the computing revolution that many exerts believe it will. But today, at least in premarket, it seems like QUBT is experiencing what most investors would consider “good” volatility, with its 15% gains. But where the stock goes from here is anyone’s guess. Over the last year, the stock has risen more than 140%. View the full article

A Company Registration Number (CRN) is a unique identifier that every registered company receives, serving as its legal identity. This number is vital for various operations, including protecting you from personal liability and ensuring compliance with tax regulations. It furthermore establishes credibility with banks and other financial institutions. Comprehending how to obtain and utilize your CRN can greatly impact your business’s success. So, what are the specific steps to secure this fundamental number? Key Takeaways A Company Registration Number (CRN) is a unique identifier assigned to a registered company, ensuring its legal identity and existence. The CRN protects owners from personal liability for business debts and is essential for fulfilling tax obligations. It is necessary for opening business bank accounts and establishing financial credibility, facilitating smoother banking operations. The CRN enhances transparency by allowing public access to company information, safeguarding the exclusivity of the business name. Verification tools help confirm a company’s status using the CRN, mitigating risks associated with fraudulent entities in business transactions. What Is a Company Registration Number? When you start a business, one of the first things you’ll encounter is the Company Registration Number (CRN), which is vital for establishing your company’s legal identity. This unique identifier, also referred to as your company reg number or commercial registration number, is assigned by regulatory authorities like Companies House in the UK upon legal registration. Your CRN remains constant throughout your company’s life, even though other details change. It typically appears as either 8 digits or a combination of 2 letters followed by 6 digits, depending on jurisdiction. Having a CRN is fundamental for various legal tasks, such as tax registrations and opening business bank accounts, and you must display it on all business stationery to comply with legal requirements. Importance of a Company Registration Number A Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for any business, as it provides a unique legal identity that helps protect owners from personal liability for the company’s debts and obligations. This registration number is critical for fulfilling tax obligations and is required for legal transactions. It likewise allows you to open business bank accounts and build financial credibility, which is key for securing credit and partnerships. The CRN guarantees protection and exclusivity of your business name, preventing others from using it. Furthermore, this commercial register number improves transparency, granting public access to your company information, thereby building trust with investors and customers. Benefit Description Importance Legal Protection Shields personal assets from company debts Reduces personal risk Tax Compliance Vital for fulfilling tax obligations Avoids legal issues Financial Credibility Needed for opening bank accounts Facilitates credit access Name Protection Prevents others from registering the same name Maintains brand identity Transparency Public access to company information Builds trust with stakeholders Types of Company Registration Numbers Comprehension of the types of Company Registration Numbers (CRNs) is important for any business owner. A CRN is a unique identifier assigned upon incorporation, serving as proof of a company’s legal existence. Different jurisdictions have distinct formats; for example, UK companies typically receive an 8-character CRN, which may include letters or digits. Types of CRNs vary based on business structures; Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) receive specific CRNs from regulatory bodies like Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development (DED) in the UAE. Grasping what’s a registered company number helps you navigate legal transactions, tax filings, and compliance, ensuring your business operates smoothly throughout its lifecycle. How to Obtain a Company Registration Number To obtain a Company Registration Number (CRN), you need to gather specific documents and pay the required fees, which can vary by location. You’ll follow a series of application steps, ensuring your company name meets local regulations to avoid any delays. Once submitted, the timeline for approval can differ, so it’s essential to stay informed about the processing times in your area. Required Documentation and Fees Obtaining a Company Registration Number (CRN) involves several important steps and specific documentation. First, you’ll need to prepare formation documents, such as Articles of Incorporation or an LLC Operating Agreement, based on your business structure. Next, file these documents with the Secretary of State or relevant authority, which can often be done online for convenience. Don’t forget about state-specific registration fees; these vary depending on your jurisdiction and the type of business entity you’re forming. Furthermore, appointing a registered agent is vital, as this person or entity will receive legal documents on your company’s behalf. After you submit your application and pay the fees, you’ll typically wait for state approval to receive your unique Company Registration Number. Application Process Steps After you’ve gathered your documentation and paid the necessary fees, the application process for obtaining a Company Registration Number (CRN) can begin. First, decide on your business structure, such as a limited company or limited liability partnership. Make certain your chosen name meets naming regulations. Next, prepare and submit the required formation documents, like the Articles of Incorporation or Limited Liability Company Operating Agreement, to the relevant authority, such as Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development in the UAE. You’ll additionally need to appoint a registered agent to receive legal documents on your behalf. Finally, submit your application and wait for approval. Once registered, you’ll receive your unique CRN, which serves as your business’s official identifier. Timeline for Approval Once you’ve submitted your application for a Company Registration Number (CRN), the timeline for approval largely depends on the specific regulatory authority and your business structure. Typically, you’ll submit your application online to the relevant authority, like Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development (DED) in the UAE. Expect varying processing times: In the UK, online applications usually take about 24 hours. In the UAE, it may take several days, depending on your business complexity. Verify all documents and fees are accurate to avoid delays. Follow naming regulations and local activity approvals closely. Once approved, your CRN becomes a unique identifier for your business. Company Registration Number Format Grasping the format of a Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential for anyone looking to navigate the business environment. Typically, a CRN is 8 characters long, which can be either 8 digits or 2 letters followed by 6 digits, depending on your jurisdiction. For example, in England and Wales, CRNs start with a digit (0 or 1), whereas Scottish companies use ‘SC’ followed by 6 digits. Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) begin with ‘OC,’ and companies in Northern Ireland start with ‘NI.’ This number is generated digitally by Companies House and remains unchanged throughout the company’s life. Jurisdiction CRN Format England and Wales 0 or 1 followed by 6 digits Scotland SC followed by 6 digits Limited Liability Partnerships OC followed by 6 digits Northern Ireland NI followed by 6 digits General 8 digits or 2 letters + 6 digits Where to Find Your Company Registration Number Finding your Company Registration Number (CRN) is a straightforward process, as it’s typically listed on key documents related to your business. Here are some common places to look: Your certificate of incorporation from Companies House or the relevant authority Official communications like annual returns and confirmation statements The public business register on the Companies House website or other regulatory agency portals Correspondence from your company formation agent or accountant If your business has undergone changes, keep in mind that the CRN remains the same. You can easily retrieve it from your company records available online through governmental databases. Keeping this number accessible is crucial for various regulatory and operational purposes. Making Changes to Your Company Registration Number When you’re looking to make changes to your company’s registration details, grasping the role of your Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential. Your CRN uniquely identifies your business and must be included in any documentation submitted to Companies House when you alter company information, like adding or removing directors or changing your registered address. It’s important to bear in mind that your CRN remains the same, even though your company undergoes structural modifications or name changes, ensuring consistent identification. Failing to provide the correct CRN can cause delays or also rejections in processing your changes, potentially impacting your company’s legal standing. Additionally, displaying your CRN on all official stationery is required to maintain compliance and improve transparency. Dealing With HMRC and Regulatory Bodies After making changes to your company registration details, you’ll need to effectively manage your relationship with HMRC and other regulatory bodies. Your Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for this process. Make certain to: Quote your CRN when submitting tax returns. Use it for any changes to your company details. Provide it in all communications with HMRC. Guarantee compliance to avoid complications. HMRC relies on your CRN to track your compliance with tax obligations, helping to maintain accountability in your business operations. Failure to provide a CRN can lead to penalties or legal issues, so it’s important to keep it handy and make sure it’s accurately reported in all dealings with regulatory authorities. Using Your Company Registration Number With Banks When you’re opening a business account or applying for loans, your Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital. Banks require this unique identifier to confirm your company’s legal existence and assess its credibility for financial transactions. Without a valid CRN, you might face delays or even rejections, highlighting its significant role in your business’s banking operations. Opening Business Accounts Opening a business bank account is a crucial step in establishing your company’s financial foundation, especially since banks require a Company Registration Number (CRN) to verify your business’s legal existence. The CRN acts as an official identifier, streamlining the process of opening accounts. Here’s why it’s important: It confirms your business’s registration with governmental authorities. Banks use it to assess the legitimacy of your application. Providing a CRN can speed up the application process. It improves your company’s credibility in financial transactions. Having a CRN not just helps you establish a banking relationship but also lays the groundwork for future credit opportunities. Always make sure your CRN is ready when approaching banks for your business needs. Applying for Loans Applying for a business loan often requires a Company Registration Number (CRN) since it serves as proof of your company’s legal existence and regulatory compliance. Banks use the CRN to verify your business’s credibility and stability, which are vital factors in the loan approval process. When you provide a CRN, it helps establish your business’s identity and legitimacy, nurturing trust with financial institutions. Many banks mandate that the CRN be included in your loan documentation to guarantee proper tracking and adherence to regulatory standards. Moreover, the CRN promotes transparency in financial dealings, allowing banks to confirm your company’s registration status and review its financial history, both of which are fundamental for evaluating your loan application. How a Company Registration Number Affects Business Operations A Company Registration Number (CRN) plays a pivotal role in shaping your business operations, as it serves as the official identifier for your company in legal and commercial contexts. Here’s how a CRN impacts your daily activities: It’s crucial for legally identifying your business, enabling official transactions and establishing credibility with clients and suppliers. You’ll need a CRN to open business bank accounts, as banks require it to verify your company’s legal existence. The CRN helps in fulfilling tax obligations, as government agencies use it to track your tax filings and payments. Any changes to company details, like directors or address, require your CRN when filing with regulatory bodies. Maintaining a valid CRN guarantees compliance with local laws, preventing potential penalties. What Happens to a Company Registration Number When a Company Closes? When a company closes, its Company Registration Number (CRN) doesn’t simply vanish; instead, it remains fixed and inactive in public records. This CRN is essential for maintaining historical records, guaranteeing that even after dissolution, the number is not reused for new entities. Government agencies may use the CRN to track past compliance and tax obligations of the now-defunct company. Furthermore, the CRN serves as proof of the company’s legal existence and can be necessary for historical legal inquiries. Aspect Status Importance CRN Existence Inactive Maintains historical records Government Tracking Ongoing Guarantees compliance accountability Legal Proof Required Necessary for future legal inquiries Business Reference Available Useful for responding to audits Verifying a Company Registration Number Verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential for ensuring that you’re dealing with a legitimate business. This process involves checking the CRN against public registers to confirm the company’s status, name, and registered address for accuracy. Utilizing automated verification tools can streamline this task, helping you minimize errors and improve compliance in your business dealings. Verification Process Overview To guarantee a company’s legitimacy, the process of verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN) is crucial. You can easily check a CRN through public registries available online, allowing you to confirm a company’s legal status. Here are some key steps in the verification process: Access public registries, like Companies House in the UK, to search by name or CRN. Review official documents where companies display their CRN for legitimacy. Utilize automated systems, such as third-party Know Your Business (KYB) solutions, to reduce manual effort. Regularly verify CRNs to maintain trust and compliance with legal standards. Importance of Accuracy Verifying the accuracy of a Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for establishing a business’s credibility and safeguarding stakeholders from potential risks. Confirming a CRN affirms the legitimacy of a business, protecting you from fraud and financial loss. Accurate CRNs are important for meeting tax obligations, as any discrepancies can result in penalties or legal troubles with tax authorities. Furthermore, a verified CRN is needed for opening business bank accounts and securing credit, since financial institutions depend on this information for due diligence. In addition, maintaining an accurate CRN helps guarantee compliance with regulatory requirements, allowing your business to stay in good standing with government agencies. Verification processes minimize risks, enhancing trust in your business relationships and transactions. Tools for Verification In the domain of verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN), several effective tools can help streamline the process. You’ll find that utilizing these resources not merely saves time but also improves accuracy. Consider these options: NoticeNinja: Tools like NoticeNinja automate the verification process, reducing manual errors. Frequently Asked Questions What Is a Company Registration Number? A company registration number (CRN) is a unique identifier assigned to a business when it’s legally registered. This number, issued by government authorities, serves as an official record of the company’s existence. It typically consists of digits or alphanumeric characters, varying by jurisdiction. The CRN is vital for legal transactions, tax obligations, and compliance, and it must be displayed on official documents to maintain transparency and trust with clients and regulatory bodies. Is an EIN the Same as a Company Registration Number? No, an EIN isn’t the same as a Company Registration Number. An EIN, issued by the IRS, is essential for tax reporting and payroll, whereas a Company Registration Number, assigned by state authorities, identifies your business’s legal existence. You’ll need an EIN if you have employees or operate as a corporation or partnership. Conversely, not all businesses require a CRN, which is primarily for state compliance and legal documentation. What Is My LLC Company Registration Number? To find your LLC company registration number, check the official documents you received during registration, like your certificate of incorporation. This unique identifier is assigned by your state and remains unchanged throughout your business’s life. If you can’t locate these documents, visit your state’s Secretary of State website, where you can usually search by your business name. Verify you have the correct name and details for a successful search. Is a Business Registration Number the Same as a License Number? No, a business registration number (BRN) isn’t the same as a license number. The BRN serves as a unique identifier for your business, ensuring legal recognition and compliance with tax obligations. Conversely, a license number indicates that you’ve obtained permission to operate in specific industries. Although most businesses need a BRN, not all require a license number, and the license can change or expire based on regulatory requirements. Conclusion In conclusion, a Company Registration Number is crucial for establishing your business’s legal identity and ensuring compliance with various regulations. It protects your personal assets, facilitates banking relationships, and promotes credibility with stakeholders. Comprehending the significance of obtaining and using your CRN properly can streamline your business operations and maintain transparency. Whether you’re starting a new venture or managing an existing one, keeping your CRN at the forefront will help you navigate the intricacies of business ownership effectively. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Company Registration Number and Its Importance?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

A Company Registration Number (CRN) is a unique identifier that every registered company receives, serving as its legal identity. This number is vital for various operations, including protecting you from personal liability and ensuring compliance with tax regulations. It furthermore establishes credibility with banks and other financial institutions. Comprehending how to obtain and utilize your CRN can greatly impact your business’s success. So, what are the specific steps to secure this fundamental number? Key Takeaways A Company Registration Number (CRN) is a unique identifier assigned to a registered company, ensuring its legal identity and existence. The CRN protects owners from personal liability for business debts and is essential for fulfilling tax obligations. It is necessary for opening business bank accounts and establishing financial credibility, facilitating smoother banking operations. The CRN enhances transparency by allowing public access to company information, safeguarding the exclusivity of the business name. Verification tools help confirm a company’s status using the CRN, mitigating risks associated with fraudulent entities in business transactions. What Is a Company Registration Number? When you start a business, one of the first things you’ll encounter is the Company Registration Number (CRN), which is vital for establishing your company’s legal identity. This unique identifier, also referred to as your company reg number or commercial registration number, is assigned by regulatory authorities like Companies House in the UK upon legal registration. Your CRN remains constant throughout your company’s life, even though other details change. It typically appears as either 8 digits or a combination of 2 letters followed by 6 digits, depending on jurisdiction. Having a CRN is fundamental for various legal tasks, such as tax registrations and opening business bank accounts, and you must display it on all business stationery to comply with legal requirements. Importance of a Company Registration Number A Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for any business, as it provides a unique legal identity that helps protect owners from personal liability for the company’s debts and obligations. This registration number is critical for fulfilling tax obligations and is required for legal transactions. It likewise allows you to open business bank accounts and build financial credibility, which is key for securing credit and partnerships. The CRN guarantees protection and exclusivity of your business name, preventing others from using it. Furthermore, this commercial register number improves transparency, granting public access to your company information, thereby building trust with investors and customers. Benefit Description Importance Legal Protection Shields personal assets from company debts Reduces personal risk Tax Compliance Vital for fulfilling tax obligations Avoids legal issues Financial Credibility Needed for opening bank accounts Facilitates credit access Name Protection Prevents others from registering the same name Maintains brand identity Transparency Public access to company information Builds trust with stakeholders Types of Company Registration Numbers Comprehension of the types of Company Registration Numbers (CRNs) is important for any business owner. A CRN is a unique identifier assigned upon incorporation, serving as proof of a company’s legal existence. Different jurisdictions have distinct formats; for example, UK companies typically receive an 8-character CRN, which may include letters or digits. Types of CRNs vary based on business structures; Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) receive specific CRNs from regulatory bodies like Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development (DED) in the UAE. Grasping what’s a registered company number helps you navigate legal transactions, tax filings, and compliance, ensuring your business operates smoothly throughout its lifecycle. How to Obtain a Company Registration Number To obtain a Company Registration Number (CRN), you need to gather specific documents and pay the required fees, which can vary by location. You’ll follow a series of application steps, ensuring your company name meets local regulations to avoid any delays. Once submitted, the timeline for approval can differ, so it’s essential to stay informed about the processing times in your area. Required Documentation and Fees Obtaining a Company Registration Number (CRN) involves several important steps and specific documentation. First, you’ll need to prepare formation documents, such as Articles of Incorporation or an LLC Operating Agreement, based on your business structure. Next, file these documents with the Secretary of State or relevant authority, which can often be done online for convenience. Don’t forget about state-specific registration fees; these vary depending on your jurisdiction and the type of business entity you’re forming. Furthermore, appointing a registered agent is vital, as this person or entity will receive legal documents on your company’s behalf. After you submit your application and pay the fees, you’ll typically wait for state approval to receive your unique Company Registration Number. Application Process Steps After you’ve gathered your documentation and paid the necessary fees, the application process for obtaining a Company Registration Number (CRN) can begin. First, decide on your business structure, such as a limited company or limited liability partnership. Make certain your chosen name meets naming regulations. Next, prepare and submit the required formation documents, like the Articles of Incorporation or Limited Liability Company Operating Agreement, to the relevant authority, such as Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development in the UAE. You’ll additionally need to appoint a registered agent to receive legal documents on your behalf. Finally, submit your application and wait for approval. Once registered, you’ll receive your unique CRN, which serves as your business’s official identifier. Timeline for Approval Once you’ve submitted your application for a Company Registration Number (CRN), the timeline for approval largely depends on the specific regulatory authority and your business structure. Typically, you’ll submit your application online to the relevant authority, like Companies House in the UK or the Department of Economic Development (DED) in the UAE. Expect varying processing times: In the UK, online applications usually take about 24 hours. In the UAE, it may take several days, depending on your business complexity. Verify all documents and fees are accurate to avoid delays. Follow naming regulations and local activity approvals closely. Once approved, your CRN becomes a unique identifier for your business. Company Registration Number Format Grasping the format of a Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential for anyone looking to navigate the business environment. Typically, a CRN is 8 characters long, which can be either 8 digits or 2 letters followed by 6 digits, depending on your jurisdiction. For example, in England and Wales, CRNs start with a digit (0 or 1), whereas Scottish companies use ‘SC’ followed by 6 digits. Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) begin with ‘OC,’ and companies in Northern Ireland start with ‘NI.’ This number is generated digitally by Companies House and remains unchanged throughout the company’s life. Jurisdiction CRN Format England and Wales 0 or 1 followed by 6 digits Scotland SC followed by 6 digits Limited Liability Partnerships OC followed by 6 digits Northern Ireland NI followed by 6 digits General 8 digits or 2 letters + 6 digits Where to Find Your Company Registration Number Finding your Company Registration Number (CRN) is a straightforward process, as it’s typically listed on key documents related to your business. Here are some common places to look: Your certificate of incorporation from Companies House or the relevant authority Official communications like annual returns and confirmation statements The public business register on the Companies House website or other regulatory agency portals Correspondence from your company formation agent or accountant If your business has undergone changes, keep in mind that the CRN remains the same. You can easily retrieve it from your company records available online through governmental databases. Keeping this number accessible is crucial for various regulatory and operational purposes. Making Changes to Your Company Registration Number When you’re looking to make changes to your company’s registration details, grasping the role of your Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential. Your CRN uniquely identifies your business and must be included in any documentation submitted to Companies House when you alter company information, like adding or removing directors or changing your registered address. It’s important to bear in mind that your CRN remains the same, even though your company undergoes structural modifications or name changes, ensuring consistent identification. Failing to provide the correct CRN can cause delays or also rejections in processing your changes, potentially impacting your company’s legal standing. Additionally, displaying your CRN on all official stationery is required to maintain compliance and improve transparency. Dealing With HMRC and Regulatory Bodies After making changes to your company registration details, you’ll need to effectively manage your relationship with HMRC and other regulatory bodies. Your Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for this process. Make certain to: Quote your CRN when submitting tax returns. Use it for any changes to your company details. Provide it in all communications with HMRC. Guarantee compliance to avoid complications. HMRC relies on your CRN to track your compliance with tax obligations, helping to maintain accountability in your business operations. Failure to provide a CRN can lead to penalties or legal issues, so it’s important to keep it handy and make sure it’s accurately reported in all dealings with regulatory authorities. Using Your Company Registration Number With Banks When you’re opening a business account or applying for loans, your Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital. Banks require this unique identifier to confirm your company’s legal existence and assess its credibility for financial transactions. Without a valid CRN, you might face delays or even rejections, highlighting its significant role in your business’s banking operations. Opening Business Accounts Opening a business bank account is a crucial step in establishing your company’s financial foundation, especially since banks require a Company Registration Number (CRN) to verify your business’s legal existence. The CRN acts as an official identifier, streamlining the process of opening accounts. Here’s why it’s important: It confirms your business’s registration with governmental authorities. Banks use it to assess the legitimacy of your application. Providing a CRN can speed up the application process. It improves your company’s credibility in financial transactions. Having a CRN not just helps you establish a banking relationship but also lays the groundwork for future credit opportunities. Always make sure your CRN is ready when approaching banks for your business needs. Applying for Loans Applying for a business loan often requires a Company Registration Number (CRN) since it serves as proof of your company’s legal existence and regulatory compliance. Banks use the CRN to verify your business’s credibility and stability, which are vital factors in the loan approval process. When you provide a CRN, it helps establish your business’s identity and legitimacy, nurturing trust with financial institutions. Many banks mandate that the CRN be included in your loan documentation to guarantee proper tracking and adherence to regulatory standards. Moreover, the CRN promotes transparency in financial dealings, allowing banks to confirm your company’s registration status and review its financial history, both of which are fundamental for evaluating your loan application. How a Company Registration Number Affects Business Operations A Company Registration Number (CRN) plays a pivotal role in shaping your business operations, as it serves as the official identifier for your company in legal and commercial contexts. Here’s how a CRN impacts your daily activities: It’s crucial for legally identifying your business, enabling official transactions and establishing credibility with clients and suppliers. You’ll need a CRN to open business bank accounts, as banks require it to verify your company’s legal existence. The CRN helps in fulfilling tax obligations, as government agencies use it to track your tax filings and payments. Any changes to company details, like directors or address, require your CRN when filing with regulatory bodies. Maintaining a valid CRN guarantees compliance with local laws, preventing potential penalties. What Happens to a Company Registration Number When a Company Closes? When a company closes, its Company Registration Number (CRN) doesn’t simply vanish; instead, it remains fixed and inactive in public records. This CRN is essential for maintaining historical records, guaranteeing that even after dissolution, the number is not reused for new entities. Government agencies may use the CRN to track past compliance and tax obligations of the now-defunct company. Furthermore, the CRN serves as proof of the company’s legal existence and can be necessary for historical legal inquiries. Aspect Status Importance CRN Existence Inactive Maintains historical records Government Tracking Ongoing Guarantees compliance accountability Legal Proof Required Necessary for future legal inquiries Business Reference Available Useful for responding to audits Verifying a Company Registration Number Verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN) is essential for ensuring that you’re dealing with a legitimate business. This process involves checking the CRN against public registers to confirm the company’s status, name, and registered address for accuracy. Utilizing automated verification tools can streamline this task, helping you minimize errors and improve compliance in your business dealings. Verification Process Overview To guarantee a company’s legitimacy, the process of verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN) is crucial. You can easily check a CRN through public registries available online, allowing you to confirm a company’s legal status. Here are some key steps in the verification process: Access public registries, like Companies House in the UK, to search by name or CRN. Review official documents where companies display their CRN for legitimacy. Utilize automated systems, such as third-party Know Your Business (KYB) solutions, to reduce manual effort. Regularly verify CRNs to maintain trust and compliance with legal standards. Importance of Accuracy Verifying the accuracy of a Company Registration Number (CRN) is vital for establishing a business’s credibility and safeguarding stakeholders from potential risks. Confirming a CRN affirms the legitimacy of a business, protecting you from fraud and financial loss. Accurate CRNs are important for meeting tax obligations, as any discrepancies can result in penalties or legal troubles with tax authorities. Furthermore, a verified CRN is needed for opening business bank accounts and securing credit, since financial institutions depend on this information for due diligence. In addition, maintaining an accurate CRN helps guarantee compliance with regulatory requirements, allowing your business to stay in good standing with government agencies. Verification processes minimize risks, enhancing trust in your business relationships and transactions. Tools for Verification In the domain of verifying a Company Registration Number (CRN), several effective tools can help streamline the process. You’ll find that utilizing these resources not merely saves time but also improves accuracy. Consider these options: NoticeNinja: Tools like NoticeNinja automate the verification process, reducing manual errors. Frequently Asked Questions What Is a Company Registration Number? A company registration number (CRN) is a unique identifier assigned to a business when it’s legally registered. This number, issued by government authorities, serves as an official record of the company’s existence. It typically consists of digits or alphanumeric characters, varying by jurisdiction. The CRN is vital for legal transactions, tax obligations, and compliance, and it must be displayed on official documents to maintain transparency and trust with clients and regulatory bodies. Is an EIN the Same as a Company Registration Number? No, an EIN isn’t the same as a Company Registration Number. An EIN, issued by the IRS, is essential for tax reporting and payroll, whereas a Company Registration Number, assigned by state authorities, identifies your business’s legal existence. You’ll need an EIN if you have employees or operate as a corporation or partnership. Conversely, not all businesses require a CRN, which is primarily for state compliance and legal documentation. What Is My LLC Company Registration Number? To find your LLC company registration number, check the official documents you received during registration, like your certificate of incorporation. This unique identifier is assigned by your state and remains unchanged throughout your business’s life. If you can’t locate these documents, visit your state’s Secretary of State website, where you can usually search by your business name. Verify you have the correct name and details for a successful search. Is a Business Registration Number the Same as a License Number? No, a business registration number (BRN) isn’t the same as a license number. The BRN serves as a unique identifier for your business, ensuring legal recognition and compliance with tax obligations. Conversely, a license number indicates that you’ve obtained permission to operate in specific industries. Although most businesses need a BRN, not all require a license number, and the license can change or expire based on regulatory requirements. Conclusion In conclusion, a Company Registration Number is crucial for establishing your business’s legal identity and ensuring compliance with various regulations. It protects your personal assets, facilitates banking relationships, and promotes credibility with stakeholders. Comprehending the significance of obtaining and using your CRN properly can streamline your business operations and maintain transparency. Whether you’re starting a new venture or managing an existing one, keeping your CRN at the forefront will help you navigate the intricacies of business ownership effectively. Image via Google Gemini This article, "What Is a Company Registration Number and Its Importance?" was first published on Small Business Trends View the full article

When it comes to productivity hacks, there are two things I love: the tried-and-true classics, like the Pomodoro method, and shaking them up with a few customizations. I've written before about other ways to mold Pomodoro to match what you need, but today's idea, Pomodoro 2.0, is one of the easiest and most effective adaptations. What do I mean by "Pomodoro 2.0?"First, a refresher on what the Pomodoro technique even is. When you're using this technique to focus and be productive, you set an alarm for 25 minutes, work for that time, then take a five-minute break. You complete that cycle four times, then give yourself a longer break at the end, up to half an hour, before starting again. That's it. It works because you spend those relatively short bursts concentrating on the task at hand, knowing a reprieve is coming. Since they're not too long, it doesn't feel insurmountable. It also works because those breaks play an important role. Taking periodic breaks can make you more productive, both because they give your brain a rest and because they stop you from toiling to the point that your output gets shoddy. I saw the idea of "Pomodoro 2.0" mentioned on a forum a while back and started Googling. What I found impressed me—it addresses one of the main critiques I have of the original, which is that 25 minutes isn't always enough time to get into a state of deep work, or work that is uninterrupted, purely focused, and effortless enough that time seems to be flowing by. Over at Beyond Productivity, Dr. Christian Poensgen recommends starting the Pomodoro session with a 30-minute work block, then adding more time to it after the break, tacking on between 15 or 60 minutes. I recommend doing this incrementally, adding 15 every time, so you work for 30, then 45, then 60, and finally 75 minutes before your big break. Adding too much too soon—or working in too-large chunks all the way through—defeats one of the main purposes of the technique, which is to not get overwhelmed, so taking it slower and easier while still adding on time is the best bet. If you're not sure how much time to add on, familiarize yourself with the concept of flowtime. Also known as "flowmodoro," the idea here is that you should track how long you can work on a given task before you feel drained, track how long your breaks need to be to make you feel reenergized, and start creating custom, Pomodoro-esque work and rest blocks for every kind of task you do in a given day. It takes a bit of data collection and planning, but it can help you master the general technique while still prioritizing deep work and breaks. Why use Pomodoro 2.0?The Pomodoro technique shines (and has been so popular for so long) because it helps you ease into your work, motivated by the small work sprints and promise of rewards. It's absolutely true that you need to take breaks to keep your productivity up, so that part should never be altered or skipped, but sometimes, 25-minute grind sessions just aren't enough and five minutes to reset isn't, either. Getting into a state of deep work takes time. Repeatedly stopping yourself before you hit that point is counter-productive. Giving yourself more time to work on harder, more complex tasks is critical in some instances, just like taking breaks. Adding time to the work blocks in increments helps you settle in and get more done without overwhelming yourself. You should consider this alteration if you have a major project that demands a lot of resources or energy, letting yourself build up to the hard parts as you add minutes to your timer. If you're trying this out and not getting the results you want, you can shake it up another way, too. Remember the idea of "eating the frog," or tackling your biggest to-do list item first thing in the morning? Consider eating the frog in Pomodoro 2.0, starting with your 75-minute block and working backward to 60, 45, and 30. Remember, none of these rules are hard and fast; you can make changes that match your needs and personal preferences. If you're someone who doesn't get overwhelmed and has the ability to jump in on long-term work, this structure could suit you, as the promise of shorter and shorter work sessions can feel like a motivator of its own. View the full article

As the EU struggles to defend its interests, outside powers play divide and ruleView the full article

The shift to AI search is testing every brand’s technical foundation, and only those tackling SEO debt head-on will survive. The post The Technical SEO Debt That Will Destroy Your AI Visibility appeared first on Search Engine Journal. View the full article

“Work smarter, not harder” isn’t just a catchy phrase – it’s a survival tactic for content marketers. Keeping up with a full content calendar can feel relentless, and constantly creating new material is a fast track to burnout. That’s where content repurposing comes in, helping you get more mileage out of what you already have. Sure, there are plenty of familiar ways to repurpose content – breaking long blog posts into social snippets, turning video transcripts into articles, and so on. You’ve likely done them all. So what about the lesser-known approaches? The methods that few marketers think to use but should? That’s what we’re going to cover here. If you’re ready to tap into your creativity and squeeze even more value from your content, read on. 1. Enable Pinterest Rich Pins with Tailwind The idea of enabling Rich Pins for Pinterest always surprises me because few know about it. Perhaps that’s because the strategy originated in the blogging world, which doesn’t often intersect with B2B marketing circles. In any case, it’s gold for content repurposing. Rich Pins automatically sync metadata from your website to your pinned content. When you enable them, Pinterest pulls details like page titles, prices, author names, and ingredients directly from your pages through Open Graph or Schema markup. This enriches your Pins visually and contextually, improving their visibility in Pinterest. And Pinterest is a massive search engine with more than 587 million monthly users. First, you’ll need to enable Rich Pins on your website. To do that, follow these steps: Sign up for a Business Pinterest account. During the setup, be sure to claim your website in Pinterest settings (this verifies you own it). Make sure your blog articles have optimized metadata. Use Open Graph or Schema.org to “tag” the elements on your pages (article, product, or recipe). Make sure all titles, descriptions, and other details are accurate and up to date. Next, validate your Pin. Go to Pinterest’s Rich Pin Validator, enter a URL from your site, and click Validate. Apply for approval (if prompted). Any new or existing Pins that link to your site will automatically show Rich Pin info. Note that Pinterest may take a little time to sync and display the extra details. Now, enabling Rich Pins alone is not a repurposing technique. You’ll need to actually post and re-share your Pins. This is where Tailwind comes in. Tailwind is an app that shares your Rich Pins to other users’ collections, called boards. This essentially pushes your Pins out to more users. The more your Pins are circulated, the more often they are seen, and the more traffic you can get. This is an amazing repurposing strategy because: Tailwind is automated, so you don’t need to manually keep re-sharing. Your Pins’ presence on multiple boards can generate traffic for years. The screenshot above is from my own business Pinterest account and shows that even without posting anything new for almost a year, my existing Pins generated more than 15,000 impressions and 464 clicks in the last 30 days. After implementing this strategy for clients, Pinterest became their No. 1 or No. 2 organic traffic channel behind Google. Few content marketers expect something as seemingly niche as Pinterest to outperform other platforms, but it does – and with strong results. I recommend enabling Rich Pins across all of your blog posts, old and new, and automating reposting with Tailwind to unlock a major organic traffic channel. It’s easy, inexpensive, and fast. Dig deeper: Pinterest SEO: Your guide to brand discovery 2. Utilize audience-specific repurposing Most content marketers know to repurpose content in different formats across channels: Images for social. Videos for YouTube. And so on. Fewer think to segment content by audience type, which means we often miss highly targeted opportunities to adapt what we already have to different user interests. Take a high-performing blog article like “10 best social media marketing tactics for 2025.” It’s strong, current, and performs well across channels. But the title is broad. It doesn’t specify who the tactics are for or address industry-specific use cases. As a result, a business owner looking for niche advice might scroll past it. Consider doing this content repurposing approach: List the audience types you want to reach. If you run a marketing agency, that might include lawyers, hairstylists, restaurant owners, and other business owners who might need your services. Validate interest in audience-specific topics using an SEO tool like Semrush to check search volume for terms such as “social media strategies for lawyers” or “social media strategist for stylists.” This isn’t just about SEO. You’re confirming there’s some audience demand. Even without SEO as the goal, tailoring the content will increase clicks on social, email, and other channels. Rewrite your existing article by updating the title to call out the audience and adjusting examples, stats, or recommendations to make them relevant to that group. You’ll end up with tailored versions such as: 10 best social media marketing tactics for lawyers [2025 guide] 10 best social media marketing tactics for stylists [2025 guide] 10 best social media marketing tactics for restaurants [2025 guide] Then promote each version where that audience spends time, such as LinkedIn groups, Facebook communities, email lists, or niche newsletters. If you’re doing this for SEO, ensure each version is rewritten enough to avoid duplicate content issues and is hyper-specific to the target keyword. If your main goal is engagement from social or email, light customization works. With a few tweaks, one strong article can become a full series that speaks directly to every audience you serve. Optimizing titles this way can increase CTR by 20%-50%. 3. Launch mini courses When we talk about content repurposing, we usually focus on visibility – impressions, shares, and clicks. We talk less about turning that content into new revenue streams. We all want more clients and sales, but your existing content may be able to make money in other ways. Coursera came onto my radar through a promotional email. I’d purchased courses there before but hadn’t considered creating one myself. Coursera is designed to help creators earn from their courses, and you don’t need to build something from scratch. You can repurpose what you already have into a paid educational product. Here’s how to use courses to make more money with your content: Identify existing blog posts or ebooks that already teach a process (e.g., “How to Manage Online Reviews” or “SEO Basics for Small Businesses”). Alternatively, look for old slide decks or a series of YouTube videos that could be compiled into a course. Try to pick a topic that gets consistent traffic or questions. These make for the most enticing courses. Come up with a title for your course based on the suggested outcome. If the blog article is, “How to Respond to Negative Google Reviews”, a compelling course title could be something like, “Reputation Management 101: How to Master Your Online Reputation to Win New Customers”. Next, group your content into course modules. Try to organize it logically, like so: Introduction: You can pull this from most blog introductions. Core lessons: Turn your in-depth articles into lesson scripts. Case studies: Use real client stories (anonymized). Templates or tools: Reuse checklists, worksheets, or swipe files. Action steps: Build simple quizzes or “apply this now” prompts. If there are gaps in your course, you can fill them in by recording an intro and outro, adding a voiceover, or adding a few slides. These courses do not need to be long by any means. A short course could be under 30 minutes long and cost $10. If you have a lot of existing content to use, it can take several hours and cost more. Use whatever you have. Each lesson should focus on one key idea and stay under 10 minutes. Many existing YouTube videos already fit this format. Then sign up with Coursera or a similar platform. Coursera works with institutions and independent creators, and their Business and Partner Application pages often accept domain experts and credible brands. If you want faster monetization, platforms like Udemy or Skillshare are more open-entry. Users can find your courses organically on any of these platforms, giving your business an additional revenue stream. Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. See terms. 4. Display UGC in local ads User-generated content (UGC) gives your brand strong social proof, yet most marketers limit it to digital content and ads. UGC can also shine in local advertising – bus ads, billboards, event signage, and in-store displays. If a brand has a local presence and invests in these formats, UGC belongs there. It makes the brand feel more human and trusted. Here are a few examples: Transit ads: Feature customer photos and quotes on buses or bus shelters (e.g., “‘Best coffee in town.’ – @localjavafan”). Billboards: Highlight user Instagram posts and testimonials with short captions on billboards (e.g., “Loved by locals like @foodiejenna.”). Event signage: Display customer photos and reviews at trade shows or community events. In-store displays: Use printed UGC (e.g., selfies, testimonials, or star reviews) near checkout or product shelves. Posters and flyers: Add customer quotes or photos in local handouts and window ads. A smart approach is to align local ads with your digital campaigns. For example, if you’re running Meta ads promoting a new cafe location, mirror those visuals and quotes in nearby posters so customers recognize the brand both online and around town. I also encourage clients to maintain a UGC archive in Google Drive. We repurpose this content across blog posts, ads, emails, and local campaigns, building credibility and reinforcing social proof again and again. Dig deeper: Social and UGC: The trust engines powering search everywhere 5. Grant access to exclusive swipe files Don’t be afraid to give away the “secret sauce” – especially when the sauce can drive clicks. I would bet that your brand or client is sitting on a treasure trove of “internal” content, like: SOPs. Templates. Sales scripts. And so on. Most of this content doesn’t see the light of day unless used during new employee training. Repurposing this content into public-facing swipe files instantly transforms your internal knowledge into shareable content assets (or even lead magnets). Dig through your Drive and see what you’ve got. Look for templates, scripts, or SOPs that simplify a process for your audience/customer base. Strip out client names, private data, or competitive info. Keep only the structure or logic. Turn the material into downloadable PDFs, Google Docs, Notion templates, or Canva templates. Gate or ungate it. You can offer your swipe file as a free lead magnet to capture emails, or make it ungated for pure thought leadership and shareability. Share it across your channels. You can create short clips, carousels, or screenshots teasing “what’s inside” to drive traffic from social platforms. People love this kind of content because it feels like a “peek behind the curtain.” It lets customers see your process, understand your expertise, and trust you more when it’s time to hire or buy. Sharing a small part of your system only amplifies your value in their eyes. Sometimes the best content isn’t on your blog or socials – it’s in your internal Drive. There may be creative ways to use that material to your advantage. 6. ChatGPT to FAQ pipeline LLMs like ChatGPT and Notebook LM are great tools for content marketing, but they’re most often used for content creation, rewriting, and similar tasks. I’ve found them especially useful for building a “knowledge base” that consolidates a brand’s existing materials into content customers can actually use. I have an arborist client that offers emergency tree removal services. Their site is full of content – blog articles and service pages – but it’s a lot for customers to sift through. The brand noticed people were asking the same questions repeatedly, and answering them became time-consuming. We could have brainstormed FAQs or asked ChatGPT to generate ideas, but we didn’t. Instead, I created a knowledge base in Notebook LM, uploaded copies of their service pages, and prompted it to crawl the blog. Once everything was consolidated, I asked Notebook LM to generate FAQs and answer them accurately based on the site’s existing content. The result was a concise, accurate, fully sourced FAQ set that: Focused on the most relevant questions for prospective clients. Matched the brand’s existing messaging. Linked directly to the original blog posts or service pages. We published it as a central FAQ page, featured prominently and cross-linked throughout the site. The outcome was simple but effective: customers now had one destination for their most common questions. By reformatting what already existed, the brand extended the lifespan and usefulness of its content, turning it into a practical self-service tool. It also created a fully “fed” knowledge base we now use to fact-check new content, ensure consistent messaging, and identify existing material worth linking to. Reuse, recycle, revive We can all appreciate finding new, economical ways to repurpose existing content. Some of these strategies are highly effective but don’t get the airtime they deserve. I’m glad to share them, as they’ve delivered meaningful results for my clients and cost almost nothing to implement. If you’re looking for unique ways to repurpose your content, give a few of these strategies a try. View the full article

We may earn a commission from links on this page. The Pomodoro technique—so named for the tomato-shaped timer its originator used to track his own work schedule—is widely considered one of the best productivity techniques out there. That's why I've recommended it a lot in the past and why it regularly appears on best-of lists of productivity methods. It's simple: Set a timer for 25 minutes (or use a specially designed app) and work on a task for that amount of time, then take a five-minute break before setting the timer and working again. After four 25-minute cycles, you get a longer break. In theory, this keeps you both motivated and clear-headed. Beloved as it is, it doesn't work for everyone. Nothing does. But don't lose hope. You can—and should!—modify it to fit your needs. Why the Pomodoro technique works—and why it sometimes doesn'tThe idea behind Pomodoro is a good one. Generally, two factors dramatically improve productivity: Taking periodic breaks and diving into focused, deep work on one task without doing a bunch of other stuff at the same time. Since focused work and breaks are built into this technique, it can push you to get a lot done in those 25-minute bursts, whether you're grinding away on a work project, studying for a test, cleaning the house, or answering emails. Sinking into the zone of "deep work" is easier for some people than others, though, which is why Pomodoro fans sometimes report that the 25-minute allotments just aren't enough. In other cases, 25 minutes may be too long for knocking out simple tasks, leading you to get distracted. Just because something is considered the gold standard doesn't mean it works at the gold-medal level for everybody. There are times when you can't work, for instance, and you're forced into a period of inactivity (which you should embrace). Other times, it's a lack of motivation, not resources, that stalls you. For me, whether Pomodoro works in its standard format is dependent entirely on what I'm doing and engaged I am. Some people can lock in for 25 minutes on even the most tedious task, but I am not one of them. In fact, when it comes to productivity, the approach that works best for me is the two-minute rule, or doing something the moment I think of it. Today, I had to do a uniquely unpleasant cleaning task. The urge hit me at 7 a.m., so I got right to it; had I been preoccupied with a set schedule, I would have procrastinated. I couldn't have done that task for a sustained 25 minutes, but I was able to chip away in five- and 10-minute blocks with gratuitous Instagram breaks in between. Instead of getting down on myself for being unable or unwilling to follow the most tried-and-true structure in the productivity world, I was proud of myself for doing the thing, no matter what the process looked like. Give yourself similar grace as you endeavor to modify Pomodoro to suit your needs, even if they differ from task to task. How to modify the Pomodoro techniqueDon't toss out the concept altogether if you're not finding it effective for you. Instead, modify it. I recommend spending a few weeks diligently tracking your time. You can use time-tracking software or a plain old spreadsheet, but as you're working through your to-do list, keep notes on when you feel like you've entered a deep work phase. You'll know it's happening when working is feeling smooth, you're not distracted by anything, and time is flowing by as you're getting results. Also keep track of when you start to feel distracted, as well as how much you actually got done at the end of each 25-minute Pomodoro set. Finally, keep track of how you feel during and after your break times. Doing all this helps you with a concept called "flowtime," also known as "flowmodoro." There's more to it than that, but tracking your work time, and the feelings you experience during it, is the first step. After a few weeks, go through your data and look for patterns. Did you struggle to get into the zone when cleaning your kitchen every time that task came up? Did you find you only hit a "deep work" phase 15 minutes into your work time, leaving you with only 10 minutes to truly get things done before your timer went off? Did you feel ready for a break when one rolled around, or did you spend your five minutes of off time distracted by everything you still had to do? Did you feel rejuvenated when it was time to get back to work or was the idea unappealing? Ideally, you should be in a flow state for those 25 minutes, be able to enjoy your break time with little anxiety, and feel eager to get back to being productive when it's time to reset the timer. If those things aren't true, you can modify the technique. If it takes you longer to get into the zone, give yourself more work time. If you can't get comfy during your breaks, make those longer. As you make adjustments, keep tracking your time, feelings, and output until you find a work-break balance that works. For an example of how one person managed this, consider animedoro, a Pomodoro spin-off invented by a college student who sought to work longer so he could take breaks long enough to finish an episode of anime. Using your own personal motivators as a guide can be helpful. Again, the core tenets of this technique—focused work and consistent breaks—are proven to be effective for productivity. It's the 25-minute blocks that can be a little subjective and arbitrary; that part is just based on what worked for the guy who invented this, so if he could pick time blocks that worked for him, why can't you? As long as you're committed to doing deep work and giving yourself breaks, it doesn't actually matter how long you're allotting for yourself to do either. Just keep in mind that working too long can make you unproductive, so do try not to give yourself too much time there. View the full article

Audit your brand’s trust signals to find ways to boost AI visibility and earn more citations. View the full article

Unsuspecting Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) investors might be startled this morning if they glance at a stock price chart for shares in the TV streamer. As of the time of this writing, popular stock tracking sites like Yahoo Finance and apps like Apple Stocks are showing that Netflix’s shares dropped more than 90% on Friday, when they began the day trading at more than $1,100. Those same charts now show that NFLX shares are trading at “just” around $111 each. But don’t panic. Netflix’s shares haven’t actually lost 90% of their value. NFLX stock just split. Here’s what you need to know. Why are Netflix shares trading so ‘low’? Netflix shares are currently trading at around $111 in premarket. That’s roughly 90% less than where the stock was trading when the bell closed on Friday. So what’s happened? Netflix shares did indeed trade at over $1,100 on Friday (the company’s shares have traded in the four-digits for months). But when markets closed on Friday, Netflix initiated its previously planned 10-for-1 stock split. As Fast Company previously reported, Netflix announced in October that it would split its stock 10-for-1 after the close of the market on Friday, November 14. NFLX shares would begin trading at their new split-adjusted price when markets opened on Monday, November 17, which is today. So that dramatic stock price “fall” that you are seeing on some financial charts this morning isn’t actually a fall in the value of Netflix’s stock. It’s just a temporary display of the difference between the pre- and post-split adjustment in Netflix’s share price. And even though Netlfix’s shares are trading at 90% less than they were on Friday, qualifying investors who owned the shares that day will find they now have nine additional NFLX shares for each one they previously had, meaning the total value of their Netflix shares are the same (provided they did not sell any between then and now, and adjusting for any early-morning trading increase or decrease today, of course). Why did Netflix split its stock? Companies split their shares for a variety of reasons. In Netflix’s case, when the streaming TV giant announced its share price split on October 30, it said it was doing so to “reset the market price of the Company’s common stock to a range that will be more accessible to employees who participate in the Company’s stock option program.” Many large companies offer employee stock purchase plans that let their employees buy shares at a slight discount on a monthly or quarterly basis. When employees buy stock in the company they work for, it generally incentivizes them to ensure the company performs as well as possible, so their personal shares increase in value. The problem for Netflix was that its shares were trading at over $1,000 apiece and, even with its employee purchase plan discounts, that put even a single share of the company out of reach for many employees. But with the stock now trading at around $111 per share, a single share is much more affordable to the average employee. Could Netflix’s stock split benefit its share price? It’s important to note that stock splits don’t change the fundamental value of a company. A company with 10 shares valued at $1,000 each is worth the same when it is composed of 100 outstanding shares valued at $100 each. The total value of all the company’s shares remains the same pre- and post-split. However, the lower value of a post-split share can make the stock more attractive to retail investors, who normally might balk at (or be unable to afford) a single share valued at $1,000. Those same investors may decide, or now be able to afford for the first time, to pick up shares in the same company if a single share now costs only a few hundred dollars. And if more retail investors start buying shares post-split because the individual share price is now more affordable, that could boost the company’s stock price. In this way, share splits can potentially benefit a company’s stock price—not because of the split itself, but because investors react to the stock’s now lower price. Whether that potential benefit actually materializes in Netflix’s stock remains to be seen. View the full article

Google Ads may be introducing a new bidding type named Journey Aware bidding in 2026. This will be reportedly for search campaigns using Target CPA.View the full article

Transitioning to a new industry often seems like a daunting prospect if you feel like you have to start from scratch, but that’s not necessarily the case. There are numerous strategies you can employ to navigate career changes, including translating existing achievements into relevant terms, finding unique opportunity gaps, and leveraging transferable skills in meaningful ways. Take it from professionals who have personally experienced this transition (or have helped others through it): you can build forward from experience rather than starting over. Build Forward From Experience, Not From Scratch When I was transitioning from more than 20 years in corporate roles to launching my own business, I told a colleague I felt like I was starting over. “Why couldn’t I have done this at 20,” I said, “before spending decades building all this other experience? It feels like I’ve hit reset on my career momentum, and the mountain ahead looks huge.” She smiled. “You’re facing your version of Everest,” she said. “But you’re starting at base camp, thousands of feet above where others begin.” She was right. I wasn’t starting from scratch. I was starting from experience. Every skill I’d developed working for others was still mine to use. I’ve remembered that reframe ever since and share it with clients who are shifting into something new. When you move into a different industry, start by looking at what still applies. Connect the dots between where you’ve been and where you’re going. Ask yourself: What problems or structures feel familiar? How do the revenue models, customer relationships, or supply chain challenges overlap? Which of your strengths will transfer naturally into this new space? Do your homework. Use AI to gather insights about your new industry. Talk to people who’ve made a similar jump. You’ll discover that what you know remains relevant—you just need to translate it. When I moved from an HR leadership role in healthcare software to one in petroleum distribution, I quickly realized the challenges were similar. Different products, same human dynamics. A client made a successful transition from investment banker to graduate career adviser for international finance students by leaning into his most transferable (and enjoyable) expertise—decades living in Asia, fluency in Mandarin, passion for mentoring, knowledge of the banking world. He’s at a premier university and loves his work. Another client leapt from corporate program manager to nonprofit executive by trusting her strengths—strategic alignment, stakeholder management, resource prioritization, and risk and issue management. Skills she learned at a huge organization applied differently—with phenomenal results. Bottom line: you’re not starting over. You’re building forward. Ground yourself in where you’ve been, learn what’s ahead, and construct bridges between the two. That’s how you climb your next mountain, starting from base camp and not from scratch. Tina Robinson, Founder and CEO, WorkJoy Gain Industry Access Through Consulting Projects First To not start completely from scratch in a new industry, I’d advise doing a little side-gig or consulting project within the new industry before pursuing full-time roles. For example, if you are a finance executive who wants to break into climate tech but keeps getting rejected because of the lack of relevant industry experience, you could try to get a freelance role first. For instance, offer to do a 90-day cash flow optimization project for a climate startup. Such an experience will help you see how the new industry operates from inside out, learn all insider terminology, see the unique problems that you can help solve, and make some useful connections who can then advocate for your work. This can change everything about your job search: you are no longer an outsider trying to get in; you’re already on the inside solving real problems. Many companies will take a risk on a consultant they wouldn’t take on as a permanent hire, and once you’re in, the “industry experience” barrier disappears. Jan Hendrik Von Ahlen, Managing Director & Cofounder, Career Coach, JobLeads Join Digital Communities to Connect Skills Meaningfully Join a digital community, talk with professionals in that industry, and connect the dots from your skills to their needs. I have 15-plus years of marketing and communications management experience, and somewhere along the way, I realized that my team leadership skills and passions in developing communicators and leaders overlaps with the field of L&D (learning and development). I joined an L&D Slack community, which opened myriad doors for me. Through the community, I signed up for their mentorship program and started working with a fantastic mentor to understand how my skills could transfer; I joined a book club, where I could share insights with L&D professionals; I signed up for coffee chats, where I listened to their pain points and discussed possible solutions; and I joined the digital conversations, adding my thoughts or asking questions and collaborating with colleagues in the space. In that way, I listened to stories, learned the ins and outs of the function, and gained valuable insight that helped me connect the dots from my skills and passions to this new function and all it encompassed. In this way, instead of starting from scratch, you can leverage your skills in ways that are meaningful based on empirical evidence. You can also leverage your new network to identify solutions you didn’t know you could provide and to explore opportunities you didn’t know existed. I can’t say enough good things about all the value digital communities have added to my professional career. As I’ve meandered through functions and industries for nearly two decades, communities have made all the difference. Laura Goldstone, Senior Director of Communications and Branding Strategy, AdDaptive Intelligence Inc. Make Skills Company and Industry Agnostic The dawn of AI has many professionals worried about their current careers and considering, if not pursuing, a career shift. First, realize that the days of an entire career with a single company, or even a single industry, are gone for most people, regardless of your education level, geography, or industry. Second, realize that much of your knowledge and many of your skills are company and industry agnostic. Start by making a comprehensive list of your knowledge, skills, and experience. Are you a good writer? Are you a Microsoft Excel expert? Do you have any certifications like “Project Management Professional” or “Six Sigma Black Belt?” Have you managed people? Take your time and be thorough. Note everything on the list that is useful outside of your current or last company and industry. Next, rewrite your résumé to be company and industry agnostic, using your list as a guide. Again, take your time and focus on your audience, who does not know your company or industry specifics, acronyms, etc. Be sure anyone could read the résumé and understand your competencies and their value in any company. Lastly, practice interviewing and answering common interview questions. Here, AI can be very helpful in identifying industries and companies in “hiring mode” and generating likely interview questions. Use a family member or friend for “role play” interviews to practice your responses. Even though you may have used AI to generate the likely interview questions, do NOT use AI to generate the best responses. The responses must be yours and must be genuine. Just be you. Interviewers can smell AI-generated and/or “boiler plate” responses within a few words. While this strategy may seem “old school” to some, I can attest that it still works as well as ever. I have a client who transitioned from financial services to healthcare analytics. Their core principles of data interpretation, regulatory compliance, and stakeholder communication used in finance translated well to the healthcare industry. They used this strategy, while also enrolling in a short online course to gain familiarity with healthcare-specific terminology and regulations. Because they could demonstrate how their existing skill set aligned with the new role’s requirements, they were able to secure a mid-level position instead of starting in a junior role. Don’t underestimate the value of your hard-earned knowledge, skills, and experience. Joe Palmer, Managing Partner, Prosperity Partners Consulting, Inc. Map Your Strengths to Find Transferable Joy Write down your primary work responsibilities and rate them on a scale of 1–5, with 5 being the tasks you do with ease, excellence, and joy. Consider what the high scores tell you about your performance, thought process, relationship building skills, motivations, and work style. This gives you a road map of the type of work you would enjoy in the new industry and examples of the responsibilities and skills you hold that transfer over. When I coached someone using this strategy, she quickly realized why she was burned out as an attorney. She quit not too long after and found success transferring her legal knowledge to the nonprofit space. Jaclynn Robinson, Founder | Organizational Consultant and Executive Coach, Nine Muses Consulting, LLC Find Opportunity Gaps Others Miss One of the main operating strategies I brought with me when I transitioned from executive production into successfully founding my own company in the world of brand strategy is, “Hit it where they ain’t,” a quote popularized by baseball hall of famer Willie Keeler. If you adopt this strategy, everything else you do will ladder up to it. This is a transferable skill. It’s true of baseball, advertising, and business in general. I’ve fine-tuned this skill, like a strategic curiosity looking for the useful gaps, throughout my career shifts and growth, and it’s served me well. For example: we live in a highly digital world. Where most entrepreneurs I know are focused on winning in the digital space, we’re focused on finding real-world, offline opportunities to connect. We’ve joined a number of business development councils and networking groups that have taken our business to the next level. Segmenting 10% of my week to making meaningful connections within my space through both potential clients and competitors has been transformative for us as a business, and me as a leader. The world around you is built by people who, in any realm, decided their 24 hours would be put towards building the world around them in their own vision, not someone else’s. “Hitting it where they ain’t” is about having the courage to dream big, taking a big swing, and making sure to follow through. Andrew Stadelberger, Founder, Player/Coach Leverage Executive Advising for Leadership Positions One of the most overlooked transferable skills is executive advising. Consultants learn early how to communicate with and earn the trust of senior leaders. Their ability to distill complexity, identify what truly matters to the business, and operate with executive presence uniquely positions them for leadership roles. Several of my clients have leveraged this skill to step into senior positions—a senior manager became a department head leading 25 people, and another advanced straight from manager to director of partnerships—without having to start over. Cydnee DeToy, Career Coach, Cydnee DeToy Coaching Translate Achievements into Target Role Language Start by picking one target role and gather 10 job posts for that role so you can see the same tasks and words repeating. Then translate your current achievements or roles into that language on a single page that lists three results you’ve delivered that match those tasks, written in plain terms with the metric that field is using. Build two small proofs of work that fit the role, such as a sample analysis, a short teardown, or a simple workflow built from public data, and keep them tight enough that a busy manager can read them in five minutes. While you build those pieces, talk to five people who do the job today. Connect using LinkedIn, politely ask how they spend a normal week, what gets them judged, and what a good first 90 days looks like, then adjust your proofs to mirror what they told you. This gives you a clear story, real information, and the right words, which is what hiring managers need to see when you come from somewhere else. Jeff Mains, Founder and CEO, Champion Leadership Group Showcase Expertise Through Content Creation Platforms One great way to make a smooth transition into a new industry is by tapping into your transferable skills through writing on Substack. I’ve used this platform to share insights from my teaching experience in careers and personal development, which have helped me pivot into a new career as a coach. By emphasizing the skills I already possessed and picking up new skills such as writing and marketing along the way, I have managed to connect the dots between education and entrepreneurship. Writing not only gave me a platform to showcase my expertise but also allowed me to engage with an audience that appreciated my viewpoint, making the whole transition feel like a natural evolution instead of having to start from square one. Katharine Gallagher, Founder, Personal and Professional Growth, katharinegallagher.com Take Small Steps Before Making Big Leaps When you know you want to transition into a new industry, you should focus on starting small and doing it step by step. You cannot simply drop everything, leave your company, and expect to get hired by a new company for a senior position. The best approach in my opinion is starting by listening to podcasts, interviews, and webinars from industry experts. Transferable skills like good adaptation, project management, and attention to details will be your biggest allies because the soft skills are always important, and you need to learn just the hard skills. I’ve been working in the HR industry, and when I knew I wanted to change my career, I started working on it eight months before. I read magazines about digital marketing, started following industry leaders, and launched my small side-hustle project, which worked like a playground for testing my new skills and knowledge. Jan Kawecki, Cofounder, Kontra Outsider Perspective Becomes Your Greatest Advantage Every industry is drowning in sameness, so even though it may seem counterintuitive, you should lean into the fact that you’re an outsider. The fact that you don’t come from that world is your leverage. You have a different perspective, a different mindset, a different network even. A lot of people complain about imposter syndrome, and that’s a very real phenomenon, even with people who have been in the industry for ages. So I don’t think the advice of “fake it till you make it” is really practical. It’s better when you look at yourself as the fresh variable in a system that’s been running on the same formula for too long. And it also allows you to be more authentic. That honesty translates and people respond to it because it doesn’t feel rehearsed. Paul Carlson, CPA & Managing Partner, Law Firm Velocity Strong Communication Skills Outweigh Technical Experience Developing one’s interpersonal and communication abilities is a highly effective strategy to avoid starting from scratch when transitioning between industries. Oftentimes, companies believe it is easier to teach employees technical skills than social skills. Therefore, displaying strong interpersonal skills can be viewed as highly advantageous for employers and can compensate for having minimal or no experience within a specific industry. As a clinical psychologist, when working with clients who are looking to pivot between job industries or are starting fresh without a prior employment history, a major focus of our work is on strengthening their interpersonal and communication skills. Examples of these skills, which can be developed through a range of practices, include speaking confidently, maintaining strong eye contact, practicing empathic and reflective listening, and displaying relatable body language. Kimberly Glazier Leonte, PhD, Psychologist, Break The Cycle, LLC; Clearview Horizons, PLLC View the full article

There have been several complaints over the past week about Google showing searchers its old Google Search design. Some of those search results seem to lead to a broken interface, while others just look like they are from a decade or so ago.View the full article

Google added a carousel to the top of the image tab within some Google Search apps, I think it might be a test. The carousel lets you scroll through some ideas to get you started with your image search.View the full article

Custom annotations are finally live within Google Search Console’s performance reports. You can now annotate reports directly within Search Console to avoid forgetting important key events; such as coding changes, algorithm updates, bugs on your website or more. What are custom annotations. Google explained that custom annotations are “Notes you create yourself to mark important events specific to your property, such as when you launch a new feature, or fix a bug on your website.” Google began testing this feature back in May 2025 and it is now live. What they look like. Here is a screenshot of a custom annotation in Search Console: How does it work. You can add custom annotations in the performance reports with these steps: Open the Performance report. Right-click the chart on the specific date you want to annotate. Select a date using the date picker. Type your note in the text field (up to 120 characters). Click Add. You can add up to 200 annotations on a single property, To delete annotations: Click the annotation marker on the chart to see the note. Select DELETE in the annotation pop-up window. Select Cancel or Delete on the following screen to cancel/confirm. You cannot edit annotations and annotations older than 500 days are automatically deleted. Why we care. Annotations can be a great way to be reminded of what you changed on your website while looking at these performance reports. As Google noted, “Annotations in Search Console help you understand changes in your data by providing context on your charts.” Google added these additional reasons to add annotations. Infrastructure changes like updating a template or a site migration SEO efforts like implementing a new plugin or hiring an agency Changing content to focus on different user intents External events that affect your business like a holiday Please note that annotations are visible to anyone who has access to those properties, so be careful what you post. View the full article

We know Google has been using machine learning and more recently, AI, to generate search result snippets descriptions. Well, here is an example of Google getting a snippet not just wrong, but downright insulting. View the full article

Discussions came as Colm Kelleher tries to pressure Swiss government to back down over proposed capital rulesView the full article

Google Ads top combinations report now has a Top Combinations option for PMax campaigns. This report should be able to quickly show you your top performing assets including logos, headlines, descriptions, images, sitelinks, and other assets.View the full article

AI search evolves every month. This constant flux is reshaping which brands get visibility and which sources AI models trust most. We now have three months of data in the AI Visibility Index, tracking ChatGPT and Google AI Mode. The key takeaway: AI search is volatile. This is likely to be normal for the immediate future. The brands that win are monitoring and adapting to these changes in real-time. The research tracks 2,500 real-world prompts across five key verticals: Business & Professional Services, Digital Technology & Software, Consumer Electronics, Fashion & Apparel, and Finance. revealing seismic shifts in source diversity, brand mentions, and model behavior that no marketer can afford to ignore. What changed at a model level? ChatGPT: Unique brand mentions fluctuated. Meanwhile, sources cited by ChatGPT surged 80% in October alone – a fundamental shift toward greater source diversity. Google AI Mode: Brand mentions dropped 4% from August to October, suggesting tighter controls on recommendations. Source diversity increased more moderately at 13%, indicating a more conservative approach than ChatGPT. Key trends over three months Reddit’s correction and resurgence: ChatGPT reduced Reddit citations by 82% between August and October. However, it remains the fourth most-cited source in ChatGPT. During the same period, Google AI Mode increased Reddit usage by 75%, making it the second most-used source. The platforms are converging on Reddit’s value, just from opposite directions. Brand diversity varies by vertical and model: In ChatGPT, Consumer Electronics saw a 20% increase in unique brands mentioned, while Finance dropped 15%. Google AI Mode showed universal declines across almost every vertical. More proof that each model requires its own approach. Top brands remain relatively stable: Among the top 100 brands, there were 25 new entrants over three months—but only two broke into the top 50. For leading brands, changes in visibility stayed within a ~20% range, much narrower than the broader market volatility. Source strategies must be model-specific: ChatGPT and Google AI Mode agree on which brands to mention 67% of the time, but only 30% of the time on which sources to use. Wikipedia, Forbes, and Amazon dominate ChatGPT, while Amazon and YouTube lead in Google AI Mode. The update confirms that AI visibility requires constant monitoring. Both platforms are experimenting with diversity, correcting for overreliance, and refining their approaches. What this means for your strategy In AI search, yesterday’s visibility doesn’t guarantee tomorrow’s. Sixty-one of the top 100 brands appear in both ChatGPT and Google AI Mode’s results, showing high brand similarity. But source similarity is much lower and actually decreased from August to October. Translation: build your brand visibility across both platforms, but tailor your source strategy to each model individually. Explore the AI Visibility Index to discover the complete rankings, interactive leaderboards, and deeper trends across all five industries. Then download the proven tactics to build visibility in this rapidly evolving landscape. All for free. View the full article

Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. Performance assessment matters: Research from McKinsey & Co. maintains that companies with a focus on employee performance see 30% higher revenue growth and lower attrition rates than their peers. In the past, though, top executives seemed to care mostly about the results of employee reviews: GE chief Jack Welch, for example, famously used performance appraisals to rank employees and fired those scoring in the bottom 10%. Performance reviews reviewed Dan Springer, CEO of Ironclad, makes the case that CEOs who care about culture should also dig into the quality of employee reviews. When he joined the 650+-person AI contract-management-software company, employees praised the culture but, he says, indicated that manager evaluation of their work was often lacking. “When you asked if they were getting the kind of feedback that they needed to do their jobs, they didn’t say ‘no,’ but they were sort of bemused by the question,” he recalls. Springer conducted a training session on how to do performance reviews, going as far as role-playing a review with chief financial officer Helen Wang, who delivered an unvarnished assessment of Springer’s first few months on the job. (“Helen’s tough,” Springer says. “I think people really enjoyed seeing the CEO get reviewed.”) The CEO then read one written midyear review from every frontline manager—about 80 in total. He says about 20% were outstanding. Another 60% were solid—clear, metrics-driven, with specific examples. But roughly 20% missed the mark. Some featured long narratives that showed care for the employee but lacked actionable guidance. Others were short and vague. Springer tapped these managers for further training on how to give effective feedback. “We really did try to make it fun and not boring,” he says. A chance to fill in the gaps With a résumé that includes CEO roles at Docusign and Responsys, Springer notes that at Ironclad and many other tech companies first-time managers sometimes get promoted without proper training. “The great news is, our people are really smart,” he says. “Some people had not been trained on these best practices.” He says he believes Ironclad’s efforts to improve the quality of reviews will lead to better feedback in the long run and also send a powerful message to the organization. “A number of employees feel that Ironclad has a kind and understanding culture, and while we have great company performance, they wanted to see our leaders raise the bar on addressing low [performance] and rewarding high performance,” he says. “So as CEO, I want to ‘up’ the sense that we’re a performance culture by demonstrating that any chance I get.” Privately held Ironclad says its annual recurring revenue is north of $150 million, and top line is growing about 40% a year. Springer says he aspires to take the company to “another level.” Why better reviews matter While Springer joined Ironclad in April, he opted not to rewrite corporate goals midyear. Now, he is focused on finalizing goals for the company’s next fiscal year, which starts in February 2026. Springer says corporate goals will be centered on customer success, business and financial performance, innovation (particularly around AI), and employee success. Once they’re established, managers and employees will create objectives and key results that align with the company’s priorities. “It’s a challenge to give good feedback if you don’t have clear goals to talk about,” he says. I asked Springer why he’s been so engaged in performance management and why other CEOs might want to invest time in making sure their employees are dispensing constructive feedback. “There are only two reasons why, I think, a CEO should really care,” he says. “One is that they want to have a high-performance company, and two, they want to develop their talent. Those are pretty important reasons.” How are you raising the bar? How does your organization approach performance management? Are there ways your CEO is directly involved in the process? Share your insights with me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com, and we’ll include some of the best reader feedback in a future newsletter. Read and watch more: feedback loop • How top CEOs get better at giving feedback • Can AI make performance reviews less terrible? • Executives, here’s the one question your employees should ask during reviews View the full article

Over the summer, Bogg bags were ubiquitous at beaches and parks. This year alone, it has sold more than $100 million of these plastic totes full of holes that come in a rainbow of colors. But now, the brand is trying to get you to bring your Bogg bag to dinner at a fancy restaurant, or the office, or a hot date. Today, Bogg releases its newest line, which it is describing with a delightfully tongue-in-cheek name: Bougie Quilted Collection. The structure of the bag hasn’t changed much; it is still made of plastic and has plenty of holes on it. But it also has a quilted texture, reminiscent of the surface of a Chanel flap purse or a nylon Prada bag. And it comes with an array of accessories, like chain, pom-poms, and pearls, designed to elevate the bag. The question is: Will Bogg fans buy this as an everyday bag for the winter, before they’re ready to head back to the beach again? Kim Vaccarella, Bogg’s founder and CEO, believes they will. Over the past few years, she’s identified a very devoted customer who tends to buy the bag in many colors, collecting them in the same way people collected Stanley tumblers. But given that the bag was designed for the beach, Bogg sees a big dip in sales after the summer. The Bougie bag is designed to test customers’ appetite for an everyday bag that they can carry throughout the winter. The bag comes in the same three sizes as the original, from the enormous tote to the ‘bitty’ which is more like a small purse. “We know we’re not a fashion bag,” says Vaccarella. “But we wanted to create a bag that is more fashionable, so you can use it in more places, especially when you don’t want to be carrying your Gucci or Chanel purse.” Bogg has grown exponentially over the last few years. Vacarella first came up with the design of the original bag back in 2011. She was looking for a solid beach bag that would carry everything she needed for the day while also being easy to clean out. The company was a tiny operation for years; it only had two employees as recently as 2018. But something happened in the pandemic. For a brief period, canvas and cloth bags were considered problematic because they carried germs, so nurses and teachers turned to Bogg to carry their stuff to work, and would hose them down afterwards. This was also a time when people were flocking to parks and beaches to get out of the house while remaining socially distanced. The Bogg bag suddenly became a useful accessory. In the years that followed, Bogg bags—with their distinct Crocs-like aesthetic—began showing up everywhere, and word of mouth spread. They are particularly popular in families with school age children. Customers quickly found that there were many use cases for the bag outside the beach, from sports practice and school events to tailgating. “They keep finding new uses for them,” says Vacarella. “Kids are using them to bring their stuff to school. Over Halloween and Easter, kids are using them to collect candy.” Every year, Bogg has doubled in size. And this year, Bogg will generate $100 million in revenue, which is as much as it has made in total since 2011. Now, Vacarella is keen to continue building momentum. It’s a conundrum that other brands have faced. Consider Crocs and Birkenstock —both of which are highly functional, unique looking shoes that suddenly became ubiquitous in the mid-2000s. These brands have tried to continue growing by producing a constant stream of new products, including regular collaborations with other brands. Since they are both summer shoes, they’ve both come up with shearling-lined closed toed shoes that can be worn during the colder months. This strategy has worked: Crocs generated more than $4 billion in revenue last year, while Birkenstock made more than $2 billion. Will the Bougie bag help Bogg achieve its next level of growth? Over the last few years, Vacarella has made the bags in a wide range of colors and patterns, and she’s noticed customers coordinating the bags with their outfits. Now, she’s giving them even more options. When she designed the Bougie bag, she decided it was important to keep the holes, since they have become Bogg’s defining feature. “In the past, when I created prototypes of bags without holes, customers said they just didn’t look like Bogg,” she says. Still, the quilted texture gives the bags a slightly different, trendier aesthetic. Will Bogg’s customers take a cue from the bag’s name and bring it to bougie places? We’ll have to wait and see. View the full article

Ask yourself one question: Is your incentive plan changing employee behavior in a way that drives better business outcomes? If the answer is no, it’s time to rethink your strategy. Profit sharing, stock options, and employee ownership are popular tools, and in many cases they’re useful. Employees generally appreciate them. But here’s the catch: Appreciation doesn’t equal action. And more importantly, satisfaction isn’t engagement. Too often, these programs fail to move the needle where it matters most: day-to-day performance. If your performance compensation doesn’t change performance, it’s not performance compensation. Over the past three decades, working with hundreds of companies, we’ve uncovered a proven path to building incentive plans that don’t just look good on paper—they energize employees and fuel real, measurable growth. Here’s what you need to do. 1. Define the right team Business is a team sport. And, like any sport, performance hinges on clearly defined teams. For small companies, this often means everyone is part of one incentive group. For larger companies—think several hundred employees or more—the game changes. Here, success lies in breaking the business into smaller, functional units—branches, departments, value streams, or what appliance company Haier refers to as “microenterprises.” Once defined, each team can be treated like its own business, with an incentive structure tailored to its unique goals and challenges. 2. Do the homework—with everyone The best incentive plans begin with a 360-degree understanding of your business. That means gathering: Customer insights. What do your customers truly value? Asking them this question directly, in a real conversation, deepens relationships and boosts repeat and referral business. Employee input. What opportunities or roadblocks do they see on the front line? This step transforms employees from task-doers to trusted partners. Manager perspectives. Do their views align with employees’? If not, that’s a conversation worth having, and having often. Financial trends. Review the last five years to spot patterns in profit, debt, and cash flow. Your numbers will tell a story. Listen closely. 3. Identify the right metric to rally around Once the homework’s done, form a working group of leaders to interpret the data. What’s the one performance metric that best defines success for your business right now? If you’re in survival mode (drowning in debt or bleeding cash), then liquidity becomes the metric. But most often, the focus is operational: cost per ton in a mine, job margin dollars in landscaping, or throughput in a bottlenecked department. Whatever it is, it must be specific, measurable, and universally understood by the team. It should be something they already have their hands on every day. 4. Build a scoreboard everyone can read How can you win if you don’t know the score? Once your team has a metric, you need a visual scoreboard that updates frequently and clearly communicates progress. When people can see the real-time impact of their efforts, engagement soars. Tap into your existing systems whenever possible. Your scoreboard should do three things: Show current performance versus baseline and budget Make it obvious whether the team is winning or not Include a forecast element to encourage forward-thinking Here’s an example: It’s clear when this team is winning—that is, beating prior performance and budget. There should be ongoing discussions as to why and how. You’ll also note the forecast line: This motivates everyone to see what can be done to improve future performance. 5. Craft a self-funding incentive plan With your metric and scoreboard in place, it’s time to build the plan. Start by calculating the value of improved performance. If a department boosts output or gross margin, what is that worth in dollars? This becomes your bonus pool. We recommend a simple, equitable formula: 33% to employees (the incentive) 33% reinvested in the company 33% set aside for taxes This is what we mean by “self-funding.” Everyone wins—employees, leadership, and the business itself. Next, decide how to distribute the bonus. A commonly effective approach is to base it on a percentage of each employee’s base pay. It’s transparent, scalable, and easy to explain. Express payouts in terms employees understand, like hours of pay, to boost resonance and clarity. Don’t forget edge cases. How will bonuses work for those on extended leave? Address these details upfront to prevent confusion later. 6. Roll it out and rally the group Once the plan is ready, bring your people together. Thank them for their contributions and explain how the performance metric was chosen based on current challenges and opportunities. Walk through the scoreboard and incentive structure. And then, perhaps most importantly, challenge every employee—including managers—to submit one idea they believe could improve performance (and their bonus) in the next two weeks. Remove names, share the ideas, and spotlight the most promising ones. This creates a culture of continuous improvement. 7. Work the plan, week in and week out Incentive plans are not “set it and forget it” tools. They’re living systems. Leaders must stay close to the action—tracking performance, celebrating wins, learning from missteps, and keeping everyone’s eyes on the scoreboard. When done right, these plans do more than move numbers. They reshape culture. They turn passive employees into active business partners. They provide a sense of purpose and psychological ownership, making work feel like a shared mission—not just a job. If you’re ready to build a culture of what we call Economic Engagement, start with the steps above. And when the results start showing up—in your numbers, your morale, and your momentum—don’t forget to share your success story. Make sure to celebrate with your employees, a.k.a. your trusted partners. After all, they’ve earned it. —Julia Banks Julia Banks, a former Harvard Business School research associate, is the director of research at management consulting firm Economic Engagement. The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com. This article originally appeared on Fast Company’s sister publication, Inc. Inc. is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy. View the full article

Google seems to be rolling out the annotations feature within Google Search Console's performance reports. This was a feature Google began testing in May and now it seems to be rolling out. I see it, so do many others in our community - do you see it?View the full article

Deal comes despite Donald The President targeting Perkins Coie with executive order that posed ‘existential risk’ View the full article