ReportWire

Tag: Entrepreneur

  • How a missing Colorado woman’s son hopes AI can solve her 18-year-old cold case

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    Shaida Ghaemi was last seen Sept. 9, 2007, in Wheat Ridge. (Photo courtesy Colorado Bureau of Investigation)

    Arash Ghaemi has wondered for 18 years what happened to his mother after she disappeared from a Wheat Ridge motel.

    So Ghaemi, an artificial intelligence developer and entrepreneur, turned his profession into his passion.

    “What if I can get the case files and run it through AI?” he said of the police investigation into his mother’s disappearance. “Maybe it will show me something and make the connections. If I could build it to solve my mom’s case, I could likely build it to solve other cases.”

    Ghaemi launched CrimeOwl, an AI program that searches cold-case files to generate new leads for investigators, last year.

    So far, the AI platform is in the hands of a few private investigators who are using it to chase leads on behalf of families searching for missing loved ones. Ghaemi hopes one day the program will have its big break in solving a case, and maybe — just maybe — it will help figure out what happened to his mother, Shaida Ghaemi, when she disappeared in 2007.

    Ghaemi, who goes by “Ash,” on Tuesday met with investigators, information-technology staff and commanders at the Wheat Ridge Police Department to show off his AI tool and to ask for an update on his mother’s case.

    For now, Wheat Ridge police say CrimeOwl is too unproven to use in the department’s investigations, including Shaida Ghaemi’s disappearance.

    And they are tight-lipped about her case.

    “We were really happy to meet with Ash. It’s part of our philosophy of relationship policing,” said Alex Rose, a Wheat Ridge police spokesman. “It was a twofold meeting to explain what we could about the case and to give some professional insight on the AI tool so it can become more widespread and of use to agencies across the country.”

    ‘Still trying to make sense of it’

    When Arash Ghaemi was growing up, his mother was almost too good a mother, he said, describing her as “almost overbearing” in taking care of him and his older sister.

    But when Arash was 17, his parents divorced, and everything changed.

    Shaida Ghaemi became distant from her children. She left home a lot.

    “It was weird,” he said. “She went from always needing to be in contact with me and my sister to she could take it or leave it.”

    Shaida Ghaemi did not have a permanent home and did not have a job, her son, now 40, said. She traveled between Colorado and Maryland, where her parents lived.

    In 2007 — five years after the divorce — she moved into the American Motel in Wheat Ridge with her boyfriend, Jude Peters.

    “I am still trying to make sense of it,” he said of the changes in his mother’s behavior.

    Arash Ghaemi was a 22-year-old server at a Red Robin restaurant in Highlands Ranch when his grandfather called from Maryland on a September night and told him they were unable to reach his mother. He asked his grandson to call the police.

    Shaida Ghaemi, then 44, was last seen on Sept. 9, 2007, by Peters. Drops of her blood were found in their motel room. At the time, Peters told 9News it was menstrual blood and that Ghaemi often left for months at a time.

    Wheat Ridge police still consider her disappearance a missing-person case, and there is no “clear indication of foul play,” Rose said. “Jude is not considered a person of interest in this investigation at this time,” Rose said of Peters.

    “They still don’t know where she’s at and they don’t have any trace of her,” Ghaemi said.

    ‘True value’ of AI

    Artificial intelligence is gaining ground as a law enforcement tool. Multiple police departments across Colorado are using the technology, most commonly for converting body-worn camera footage into written crime reports. It’s also being used to track license plates and to scan people’s faces.

    The Wheat Ridge Police Department uses Axon’s Draft One to help write police reports, based on their body-worn camera footage.

    “Our officers know they’re accountable for every single word,” Rose said. “It gives them a who, what, when and where and can save them time, but it’s not a substitution for good police work.”

    Ghaemi launched CrimeOwl about six months ago. He is also developing AI programs for the dental industry and a new sports statistics program that could eventually be used by the NBA.

    He programmed CrimeOwl to sort through all of the documents in a case file and build a map of the people connected to the missing person, such as partners, family, close friends and neighbors. The AI also creates a timeline of events leading to the disappearance or death and then maps all of the geographic locations connected to the crime, he said.

    The platform has a chat function so investigators can ask the AI to sift through files to find answers to their questions.

    While CrimeOwl was designed to help with missing-persons cases, Ghaemi said he hopes it can be used to solve other crimes.

    No police departments have bought the product so far.

    Ghaemi, who lives in Miami, said he tested CrimeOwl on a solved cold case in Florida and, after uploading the police case file into his program, the AI created a list of credible suspects within 30 minutes, he said. Police confirmed it had identified the actual perpetrator, he said.

    “It took me 30 minutes to do what it could have taken them weeks or months to do,” Ghaemi said. “That’s the true value here.”

    Not ready for police use

    CrimeOwl, however, is not ready for active law enforcement investigations, Rose said.

    The CrimeOwl platform would need to be secure so no one could tamper with the evidence once it is uploaded, Rose said. It would need to receive various certifications before any law enforcement agency used it, he said.

    It would also need to be vetted by lawyers so any leads it generated would hold up at trial, he said.

    “There are a lot of details and a lot of hypotheticals that would need to be heavily vetted for AI technology in a real-world police setting,” Rose said.

    Still, Wheat Ridge police are intrigued by Ghaemi’s AI tool and were more than willing to offer advice and expertise, he said.

    “We’re always going to applaud somebody who is trying to use technology to find ways to help,” Rose said.

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  • Why Reliability Is the Real Growth Strategy

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    Every founder feels pressure to reinvent, to launch something new, move faster, or chase the next big idea. But in my experience building Piece of Cake Moving, the most reliable path to growth isn’t constant reinvention; it’s consistent execution. When products and pricing look similar, execution becomes the defining differentiator. Small operational details compound into a noticeably better customer experience. 

    Obsessing over every touchpoint 

    The difference between a forgettable experience and a remarkable one often comes down to the smallest moments. Reliability isn’t a brand attribute you declare. It’s a strategy you practice daily. When customers know exactly what to expect and you deliver on that promise every time, trust compounds. Trust, more than novelty, is what turns businesses into brands that last and grow over time. 

    From the very first greeting, whether by phone, email, or in person, to the follow‑up after the service is completed, treat every interaction as an opportunity to reinforce reliability. Because moving is inherently stressful, we emphasize cheerfulness, seamlessness and a “no problem” attitude across all communications. 

    For example, after the crew has completed each move right before they leave, they ask the customer, “Is there anything else we can do?” It sounds simple, but it leaves the lasting impression that we’re always ready to help, even after the job has been completed. Our back office then follows up with the customer by phone the day of, and these touchpoints consistently generate valuable feedback and deepen customer relationships. This kind of service matters: 80% of consumers consider their experience with a company to be as important as its products or services. 

    Training teams to see details 

    Great execution starts with a team that understands what matters. It’s critical to invest in training that emphasizes noticing and perfecting operational details. Don’t just talk to employees about customer service – model it too. The way we communicate with our team mirrors how we expect them to interact with customers. When our team reaches out for help, we react right away. We want to deliver the Piece of Cake experience for our employees, then it’s passed on to how they interact with customers. 

    Consistency comes from clear expectations and repetition. Whether answering a phone call, replying to an email, or while the service is being performed, empower the team to deliver experiences that align with your brand promise. It’s not about following a checklist. Instead, it’s about embodying a mindset that the small things are the big things. In a service landscape where 78% of consumers will abandon a business relationship due to poor service, being reliable at every stage matters deeply. 

    Reliability before reinvention 

    Customers form opinions long before they ever interact with your team. When people encounter a new brand, they rely on visual cues to decide whether it feels credible, professional, and trustworthy, with 94% of first impressions related to design. In a split second, your brand is already communicating, through color, consistency, and attention to detail, without a single word exchanged. 

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Voyo Popovic

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  • A CEO Once Told Me His Company Was Stable. Turns Out, He Was Wrong

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    He wasn’t arrogant. He was calm. Confident, even. The numbers were solid. The products were respected. Customers seemed loyal. From the inside, everything felt fine, and that was the problem. Stability is not the same thing as longevity anymore—not even close. 

    According to global consultancy EY, the average lifespan of a U.S. S&P 500 company has dropped from about 67 years to roughly 15. That’s not a blip. That’s a warning. Markets move faster, customers change their minds quicker, and yesterday’s advantage becomes today’s assumption. Companies don’t fail because leaders aren’t smart. They fail because leaders wait too long to matter again. 

    Why great products aren’t enough anymore 

    You can build something excellent and still fade. In today’s high-velocity marketplace, success doesn’t come from protecting what works. It comes from anticipating disruption and acting before you’re forced to. The companies that last don’t just sell products—they solve urgent problems in ways that make them the obvious choice. 

    In my experience, whether leaders were building something new or pulling an organization back from the edge, the ones who succeeded shared a handful of traits—not flashy ones, but practical and human ones. They showed up long before a crisis made them necessary.  

    How to build a sustainable company

    Here are seven leadership moves that help companies last when everything else changes: 

    1. Choose optimism on purpose. Belief in the future isn’t naïve. It’s fuel. People work harder when they believe the effort leads somewhere. 
    2. Disrupt yourself—out loud. Challenge your own assumptions in front of others. It gives them permission to do the same. 
    3. Ask better questions, not faster ones. Data is everywhere. Perspective is not. Focus on what should change, not just what can. 
    4. Invite options instead of defenses. Stop asking people to justify the current plan. Ask what else might work. 
    5. Live where the truth is uncomfortable. Know your supply chain. Know your customers. Know where things break. Then deal with it directly. 
    6. Respond like a human, not a brand. Transparency beats spin—every time. 
    7. Amplify progress instead of protecting control. Share value. Build ecosystems. Abundance compounds faster than scarcity ever did. 

    Longevity belongs to leaders who make their companies matter 

    You can’t slow progress. You can only decide whether it runs you over or carries you forward. The leaders who build companies that last don’t cling to business as usual. They challenge it, speed up change when others hesitate, and create relevance, not just results. 

    The best part? This isn’t reserved for unicorn founders or massive enterprises. Any leader, right where you are, can develop these traits. The question isn’t whether disruption is coming. It’s whether you’ll lead it. 

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Peter Economy

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  • 3 Ways Founders Can Choose the Right Sales Channel, According to a CEO

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    Choosing the right first sales channel can shape everything that follows for a small business. Many founders get stuck debating whether to start online, in retail, or selling wholesale. According to recent data, e-commerce now represents about 16.3% of all U.S. retail sales as of Q2 2025. Meanwhile, among small businesses, 44% now sell online only, 16% sell in-person only, and 41% combine online and in-person sales—showing a clear shift toward hybrid or fully digital sales models. 

    Founders often rush into online, wholesale, or retail without understanding where their customers are looking for them. Yet, success happens only when you stay focused on what you uniquely contribute. Business leaders must match their sales channel to real demand and take action when momentum hits. 

    On a recent episode of The Big Idea from Yahoo Finance, I sat down with Baked by Melissa founder and CEO Melissa Ben-Ishay to explore how early sales channel decisions shape a company’s ability to grow. Ben-Ishay built a nationwide brand from her New York City apartment after getting fired from her job, eventually becoming CEO of a company that sells through events, retail, e-commerce, and a thriving social media engine. Her perspective is grounded in lived experience, from getting fired to going viral, and her three lessons for choosing the right sales channel are practical for any industry.  

    1. Focus on what you uniquely bring, and delegate everything else. 

    Ben-Ishay’s first tip for small business owners is simple: Stop trying to do every job yourself. “Get people to do everything that you don’t need to do,” she advised. “Those areas where I can uniquely add value, that’s the only place I should focus my time.” 

    For founders choosing their first sales channel, this means being realistic about capacity. If your strength is product quality, not logistics, you need the right support before scaling e-commerce. If your strength is brand, not operations, make sure someone else owns fulfillment and accounting. Channel strategy only works when the founder is not spread so thin that nothing gets done well. 

    2. Let customer demand determine where you sell. 

    The clearest theme in Ben-Ishay’s story is that the customers always point to the next channel. Her early growth was not planned. It was reactive to demand. Her friend brought cupcakes to a PR agency and that relationship produced her first revenue channel.  

    From there, tastings led to retail. Then, customers began asking for delivery. Event sales were driven by demand. Retail came from a retailer who approached her. E-commerce began because customers asked for it. Her channels expanded naturally because she listened. 

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Elizabeth Gore

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  • Why Mastering Alignment in Marketing Is The Key to Scaling Smarter

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    This article was written by Jim Mitte, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization member in Detroit. Mitte is also the founder and CEO of Turtlehut, which provides internet marketing solutions that focus on empowering multiple location services businesses and franchise groups with growth, scalability, and consistency. Mitte shared why marketing infrastructure is the key to alignment and optimizing performance.

    Every private equity (PE) investment is made on the premise of future returns. In many cases, those investments pay off in spades. However, what if weaknesses in your marketing structures are quietly cutting into your future gains? Even when returns are good, could they be better?  

    Whether you’re a founder seeking investment before exiting or a PE firm looking to maximize profit, assessing the efficiency of your systems or those of your acquisition targets is critical to optimizing performance.  

    When done well, PE-funded service brand portfolios supercharge gains by injecting capital for expansion, while combining it with increased operational efficiencies that yield outsized growth. The model works well when organization-wide systems are in place to bring expertise and scale to enterprises that don’t have the means to achieve those gains on their own. With sellers looking to maximize their valuations and PE groups amping up for major returns, there is a lot at stake in those systems.  

    When not everything goes as planned: The breakdown in leads and scalability  

    One of the greatest challenges in scaling any multi-brand enterprise is dealing with the inefficiencies and disorder that creep in as staff and operations grow. A major culprit is the patchwork of marketing systems inherited from independent brands. Disparate tech stacks, disconnected data, and inconsistent brand execution make it nearly impossible to measure performance or replicate success.  

    The result? Lost gains, opaque data, slower scaling, and a decline in brand momentum once local owners step away. The good news is that these issues aren’t inevitable. They’re structural and fixable.  

    Here’s how private equity leaders can create a marketing infrastructure that scales as intelligently as their capital.  

    Go inside one interesting founder-led company each day to find out how its strategy works, and what risk factors it faces. Sign up for 1 Smart Business Story from Inc. on Beehiiv.

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    Entrepreneurs’ Organization

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  • The Communication Rule Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos Always Followed—and Most People Ignore

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    Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos talked, so people listened. 

    Customers don’t care about “speeds and feeds,” Jobs would remind his teams at Apple. “People don’t just want to buy computers. They want to know what they can do with them.” 

    Jobs instinctively understood the key to effective presentations: Put the audience at the center of the story. Your listener will care about your ideas if you talk about what they care about. 

    In my communication classes at Harvard Executive Education, I introduce “audience-centric” communication as a system where the speaker puts the listener first. If you’re watching a boring PowerPoint, there’s a good chance the speaker is too focused on the information they want to get across rather than the content you’re most interested in. 

    Don’t be the boring speaker. Follow these four principles of audience-centric communication. 

    1. Start with the audience and work backward. 

    “Our fundamental approach is to start with customers and work backwards,” Jeff Bezos wrote in his 2009 Amazon shareholder letter. The principle of working backwards has stuck at Amazon ever since. 

    When I was researching my book, The Bezos Blueprint, I learned that nearly every major product or feature Amazon released—from Kindle to Prime—started life as a press release. The press release exercise will change the flow and the content of your presentations. When most people prepare presentations, they create slides, add data, and decide what they want to say. Does this sound familiar? 

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    Carmine Gallo

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  • Small Business Saturday brings crowds and community spirit

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    Central Florida shoppers kicked off Small Business Saturday with the sights, sounds and smells of the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.It’s where local vendors say the day offers a critical boost heading into the holiday season.The annual shopping event encourages residents to spend their dollars locally.It is something business owners say directly supports the families and entrepreneurs who give Orlando’s neighborhoods their character.”It’s all about the local community,” said Chris Rivera, who owns Thirsty Husky Coffee with her husband, Eddie.Vendors at the market said shoppers can find items that stand out from big-box shelves.”We all have wonderful, unique items to offer the public that they can’t find in the supermarket or anywhere,” said Anna Marie Mele, owner of Pesto Diva.Small Business Saturday, founded by American Express in 2010 and co-sponsored nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, has become one of the busiest shopping days of the season for independent retailers. The SBA says more than 36 million small businesses operate nationwide.Rivera said customers should know their purchases matter.”The money that you are spending on local businesses is going back to the community, really,” she said.For many vendors, the day’s foot traffic can help set the tone and the revenue for the rest of the holidays.”We are all here for you, rain or shine, and we are happy to be able to offer you our services and our products,” Mele said.Just a few blocks away, Park Avenue was buzzing as shoppers browsed boutiques and cafés that are part of the city’s long-standing small business ecosystem.”This is the best street to shop and it has a lot of little boutiques,” said shopper Karen Miles-Miller. “If we want them to survive, we have to support them. It’s pure economics.”Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer encouraged residents to keep that mindset going beyond the weekend.”Let’s make an effort to frequent our city’s small businesses during the entire holiday season,” Dyer said in a statement. “By shopping and eating small, we support entrepreneurs and their employees who play a big role in making Orlando more vibrant.”Dyer highlighted several events in the city’s 12 Main Street Districts, including:Ship, Shop & Score — Curry Ford WestWe Sell — Small Business Saturday — Thornton Park DistrictShop Small Sip and Stroll — Audubon Park Garden DistrictResidents can follow @orlandomainstreets and @dwntwn_orlando on Instagram for updated deals and promotions heading into Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.For shoppers looking to participate nationally, the SBA offers a Small Business Saturday directory and marketing materials for business owners.Whether at a farmers’ market stand or a longtime storefront, small business owners say the support they receive this weekend means everything and for the community they help shape.

    WINTER PARK, Fla. —

    Central Florida shoppers kicked off Small Business Saturday with the sights, sounds and smells of the Winter Park Farmers’ Market.

    It’s where local vendors say the day offers a critical boost heading into the holiday season.

    The annual shopping event encourages residents to spend their dollars locally.

    It is something business owners say directly supports the families and entrepreneurs who give Orlando’s neighborhoods their character.

    “It’s all about the local community,” said Chris Rivera, who owns Thirsty Husky Coffee with her husband, Eddie.

    Vendors at the market said shoppers can find items that stand out from big-box shelves.

    “We all have wonderful, unique items to offer the public that they can’t find in the supermarket or anywhere,” said Anna Marie Mele, owner of Pesto Diva.

    Small Business Saturday, founded by American Express in 2010 and co-sponsored nationally by the U.S. Small Business Administration since 2011, has become one of the busiest shopping days of the season for independent retailers. The SBA says more than 36 million small businesses operate nationwide.

    Rivera said customers should know their purchases matter.

    “The money that you are spending on local businesses is going back to the community, really,” she said.

    For many vendors, the day’s foot traffic can help set the tone and the revenue for the rest of the holidays.

    “We are all here for you, rain or shine, and we are happy to be able to offer you our services and our products,” Mele said.

    Just a few blocks away, Park Avenue was buzzing as shoppers browsed boutiques and cafés that are part of the city’s long-standing small business ecosystem.

    “This is the best street to shop and it has a lot of little boutiques,” said shopper Karen Miles-Miller. “If we want them to survive, we have to support them. It’s pure economics.”

    Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer encouraged residents to keep that mindset going beyond the weekend.

    “Let’s make an effort to frequent our city’s small businesses during the entire holiday season,” Dyer said in a statement. “By shopping and eating small, we support entrepreneurs and their employees who play a big role in making Orlando more vibrant.”

    Dyer highlighted several events in the city’s 12 Main Street Districts, including:

    Residents can follow @orlandomainstreets and @dwntwn_orlando on Instagram for updated deals and promotions heading into Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.

    For shoppers looking to participate nationally, the SBA offers a Small Business Saturday directory and marketing materials for business owners.

    Whether at a farmers’ market stand or a longtime storefront, small business owners say the support they receive this weekend means everything and for the community they help shape.

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  • 5 Entrepreneurship Lessons From Milking Yaks in Mongolia

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    In 2010, I quit my job to take a year-long solo backpacking trip through South America and Asia. Mongolia was not on my original itinerary, and entrepreneurship was not part of my professional plan. Yet, both are defining chapters of my story. 

    Through a series of unplanned turns, I found myself living on a yak farm near Lake Khovsgol in northern Mongolia, just across the border from Siberia. For weeks, I rode horses, milked yaks, herded goats, and learned to live in conditions I was wildly unprepared for. My tent leaked. My sneakers were waterproofed with duct tape and plastic bags. Plus I had no access to the outside world. 

    It was chaotic, uncomfortable, and life-changing. In hindsight, the unforgiving landscape prepared me for entrepreneurship far better than any classroom or previous job. This is what I learned: 

    1. Perfection is a myth 

    To reach Lake Khovsgol, I crammed into a Russian van built for 12 people but carrying 18. My “seat” was a half-cushion, just enough for one butt cheek, while the man in front of me leaned against my knees because his seat was broken. The 27-hour ride across the muddy Mongolian steppe was loud, smelly, and uncomfortable. When we arrived my plan was questionable: Join a British traveler and follow my Mongolian seat-mate to his family’s farm where we could hire horses, a guide, and borrow a pot for cooking over fires. 

    In business, ideal conditions are rare, if they exist at all. Progress comes from moving forward with the resources you have, even when cramped and poorly planned. 

    2. Trust is earned 

    I earned trust working alongside my Mongolian hosts. Herding, milking, cooking, and hauling water became our shared language. I made plenty of mistakes (milking a yak is hard), but I kept showing up and trying. Over time, frustration turned to pride. 

    Leadership grows stronger through shared experiences. Rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work creates trust faster and more deeply than any credentials or reputation. Today’s mistakes may become tomorrow’s victories. 

    3. Adaptability is survival 

    Mongolians live nomadically for a reason. They thrive by packing up their gers (yurts) and relocating as each season shifts. Moving ensures fresh pastures, healthier animals, and stronger and bigger communities.  

    Entrepreneurship necessitates adaptability. Markets shift. Teams evolve. Technology, like AI, reshapes how we work. Leaders need to pivot and reset as conditions change, often trading resilience for growth. 

    4. Gut over graphs 

    The Mongolian steppe left me vulnerable, exposed, and often afraid. At night, I would lie awake shivering and listening to wolves, sometimes finding their tracks circling my tent in the morning. Survival meant trusting strangers and learning to understand without speaking their language. Basic needs such as potable drinking water are compromised in a survival environment. I had to rely on my instincts and remain vigilant. I scanned my surroundings for predators or dangers at all times. 

    Data and metrics are essential, but analysis can slow you down. In a startup environment, survival depends on listening to your gut and acting decisively before threats become reality.  

    5. Community is everything 

    What ultimately sustained me in Mongolia were the people I trusted along the way. Kids became my translators, and a family welcomed me into their home, sharing their food and teaching me how to survive in their climate. Strangers provided me with supplies, skills, and safety, bringing my focus to the essential: being deeply present and focused on the critical human needs with each passing minute. 

    A supportive network and a tight-knit team provide the foundation for thriving through every season, good or bad. Invest deeply in your community. Give more than you take. And celebrate the incremental progress each day brings. 

    Final thought 

    Mongolia taught me unexpected lessons: Keep moving even when conditions are less than perfect, earn trust through shared work, adapt constantly, and invest deeply in community. Fourteen years later, the lessons I learned from the steppe continue to shape my path personally and professionally. 

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Katie Schibler Conn

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  • Before You Buy a Franchise, Crunch These Numbers

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    Franchising is booming.  

    The International Franchise Association estimates that the industry will hit nearly $1 trillion in total output this year. And you aren’t imagining that there seems to be a Jersey Mike’s, an Ace Hardware, or a McDonald’s on every corner.  

    The pitch is a good one. Franchises are ready-made, proven brands with the potential to make millions. Franchises may have a sightly higher success rate (5 to 6 percent over two years) than a typical small business, and there are a lot of happy owners who would tell you to go for it. On the surface, franchising is a shortcut to entrepreneurship. 

    Understand the challenges 

    However, not all buyers are prepared for how unforgiving the franchise model can be. Far from set-it-and-forget-it, owners face a long list of responsibilities. For example, Burger King tells franchisees to expect tasks as diverse as working with suppliers, human resources, marketing, accounting and operations to take up the bulk of the day. RockBox Fitness warns that owners can expect long hours, unpredictable profits, and potential debt at first. Market forces like inflation and labor shortages can impact franchises more than independent businesses, since franchise fees don’t go away when the economy gets tough. In extreme cases, franchisees may find themselves the victim of unscrupulous business models or even fraud, like the New York Bagel Enterprises scam in 2022.  

    I’m not saying franchising can’t be a smart investment, but as the CEO of BookSmarts Accounting & Bookkeeping, I’ve seen the inside of enough franchise profit and loss (P&L) statements to know that there is more to owning and operating a franchise than writing a check. There’s a lot of complex math that goes into how successful (or not) your business will be.  

    Here’s the franchise math I use with clients to help them decide if the benefits outweigh the risks (and that helps them run a smooth operation once they take the plunge). 

    Sticker price + hidden costs = The real buy-in 

    All franchisors are required to provide prospective buyers with a Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD), which has 23 line items outlining required fees, litigation, and bankruptcy history, contract information, and more. It gives you some good numbers to work off, but it’s a beginning, not a safety net.  

    You need to consider every cost that will go into starting your business. Build-outs or tenant improvements vary wildly by concept and location. Total startup investments routinely climb into the millions. Contractors, change orders, code or landlord surprises can mean a higher-than-expected spend on fixtures and consumables. And that can quickly turn a neat brochure number into a cash crisis. 

    The fix? Build a SKU-level spreadsheet listing every piece of equipment, every supplier-required item, every buildout cost, and the expected timing of payments. Then add a 20 percent to 30 percent contingency. If the venture doesn’t work on paper with that cushion, walk away. 

    Promised profits ≠ Reality 

    Franchisors often provide sample P&Ls in the FDD, but those numbers rarely tell the full story. Top-performing locations skew averages, so a single high-revenue unit can make a struggling franchise look like a sure thing.  

    Don’t rely on these examples; go straight to the source. Ask for P&Ls from at least five franchisees in diverse markets, and reconcile them to invoices and receipts wherever possible. Interview a mix of top, median, and struggling owners to understand the range of outcomes and the reasons behind them. Then plot those ranges in your budget projections to see if the math works out even at a struggling rate.  

    True daily burn = Labor + consumables 

    Two of the biggest business costs are labor and supplies. Almost every first-time owner underestimates them. The only way to know the real numbers is to watch a store in action. Sit in for full shifts. Track staff hours and what they’re paid, and note everything that gets used, from tech tools to lightbulbs. This is your burn rate. The FDD includes broad estimates of these costs, not specific numbers. A gap of even a few percentage points, repeated week after week, can be enough to erase your profits. 

    I once worked with a franchise owner who skipped this step. Imagine the shock of discovering extra equipment and supply costs after buy-in that weren’t included in the FDD. It hurt that owner’s bottom line, and it will hurt yours. Run the numbers over several days at more than one location to see what the burn rate really is. If your budget doesn’t hold up with those totals, don’t count on it working once you open. 

    Initial ROI – margin shifts = True projected ROI 

    Franchises aren’t static. Menus get updated, technology fees are added, and operational requirements can shift. Each change chips away at the return you modeled when you first crunched the numbers. A 5 percent drop in gross margin can shave a full percentage point off your projected ROI, translating into a loss of thousands of dollars.  

    Account for these types of changes before you commit. Ask multiple, current franchisees how often tweaks happen, and how those adjustments have affected their margins. Then plug those numbers into your financial model. By stress-testing your ROI for potential shifts, you’ll have a more realistic sense of the franchise’s viability over time. 

    The bottom line 

    Buying a franchise can be a great move, but it isn’t a quick win or a passive income stream. Before you write a check, dig into the numbers, talk to real owners, and pressure test your budget and assumptions. Owners who rush in on promises are the ones most likely to stumble. 

    Consult an accountant even before you buy in, and meticulously track your books from the first day of build out. Professional help doesn’t have to break the bank. Go for fractional bookkeeping support over hiring full-time staff in the beginning. Skipping it might feel like saving money, but it will cost you in the long run. 

    The franchise boom? It’s not going anywhere. Making it work for you? That’s not about ambition, it’s about arithmetic.  

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Jenny Groberg

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  • How to transform burnout to breakthrough

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    The modern workplace runs on a dangerous myth: that constant motion equals maximum productivity. We’ve built entire corporate cultures around this fallacy, glorifying the “always on” mentality while our teams quietly unravel. The result? A burnout crisis that’s costing companies billions in turnover, absenteeism, and lost innovation.

    But here’s what the data—and our own exhausted bodies—are trying to tell us: emotional recovery isn’t a luxury. It’s the most strategic investment a leader can make.

    The Real Cost of Running on Empty

    Burnout isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s a systematic depletion that manifests as cynicism, detachment, and plummeting professional efficacy. When leaders and teams operate without adequate recovery, they’re not just less productive—they’re fundamentally less capable of the creative thinking and empathetic connection that drives innovation.

    The science is clear: failing to detach from work triggers rumination, which prevents the replenishment of our cognitive and emotional resources. It’s like trying to run a marathon on an empty tank—eventually, the system fails. And when it does, the costs are staggering: disengaged teams, toxic cultures, and the loss of top talent who refuse to sacrifice their well-being for outdated notions of “commitment.”

    Enter Move. Think. Rest: Your Operating System for Human Sustainability

    The move, think, rest, or MTR framework I developed—pronounced “motor”—offers a refreshingly simple yet scientifically grounded approach to emotional recovery. The MTR framework recognizes that our bodies and minds operate as an integrated system, where physical movement, cognitive engagement, and intentional rest work together to create resilience.

    Here’s how each element powers recovery:

    Movement recalibrates your system. Physical activity doesn’t just burn off stress—it fundamentally changes your biochemistry. Exercise reduces cortisol while flooding your system with mood-enhancing endorphins. But this isn’t about mandatory gym memberships or corporate fitness challenges. It’s about recognizing that even simple movement—a walk around the block, stretching between meetings, taking the stairs instead of the elevator—helps reset our nervous system and prepares us for deeper rest.

    Thought creates internal space. Reflection and mindfulness aren’t just wellness buzzwords—they’re tools for strengthening attention and emotional regulation. When we create space for intentional thinking, we develop the self-awareness needed to recognize depletion before it becomes a crisis. This cognitive recovery is where insights emerge and where we reconnect with the purpose that initially drew us to our work.

    Rest is where integration happens. Here’s the counterintuitive truth: some of our most productive work happens when we’re doing nothing. Rest provides the liminal space where our minds process, integrate, and make connections that conscious effort can’t force. It’s not laziness—it’s essential maintenance. Sometimes doing less really is doing better.

    From Surviving to Flourishing

    The goal of MTR isn’t just to prevent burnout—it’s to enable flourishing. This is the state where productivity becomes a natural byproduct of being fully engaged and authentically yourself. It’s where innovation thrives, where teams genuinely collaborate, and where the “unlimited potential of the Imagination Era” actually becomes accessible.

    This shift from survival to flourishing isn’t just good for employees, it’s also a competitive advantage. In an AI-driven economy where routine tasks are increasingly automated, the uniquely human capacities for creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking become paramount. But these capacities only emerge when people have the emotional bandwidth to access them.

    Making Recovery Real: Your Action Plan

    If you are ready to transform your organization’s approach to emotional recovery, here’s where to start. Keep in mind that it’s not a linear process—it is situational and integrated throughout the work day, week, and year.:

    1. Institute Strategic Microbreaks Build recovery into the rhythm of the workday, not just the weekend. Implement 15-minute “reset breaks” between back-to-back meetings. Create “No Meeting Thursday Mornings” to give teams uninterrupted time for deep work—and genuine rest. Research shows these small reprieves sustain performance far better than pushing through exhaustion.

    2. Lead with Visible Vulnerability Recovery will only become culturally acceptable when leaders model it. Take your vacation days—all of them! Talk openly about your own emotional recovery practices in team meetings. Share when you’re taking a walk to clear your head or blocking time for reflection. When senior leaders demonstrate that recovery is valued, not penalized, it gives everyone permission to prioritize their well-being.

    3. Measure What Matters Beyond Output Expand your performance metrics to include recovery indicators. Track when teams are taking breaks, using PTO, and maintaining sustainable work rhythms. Celebrate leaders who help their teams achieve results while maintaining healthy boundaries. What gets measured gets managed—so start measuring recovery as rigorously as you measure revenue.

    The Bottom Line

    The organizations that will thrive in the coming decades won’t be those that extract the most from their people—they’ll be those that invest most wisely in their people’s capacity to think, create, and connect. MTR isn’t just a framework for emotional recovery; it’s a blueprint for building companies where human potential can actually flourish.

    The hustle culture isn’t just outdated, it’s actively undermining your most valuable asset: the full humanity of your workforce. It’s time to build a new model, one that recognizes that our best work emerges not from relentless grinding, but from the dynamic interplay of movement, thought, and rest.

    The recovery revolution starts now. Are you ready to power down so you can truly power up?

    By Natalie Nixon

    This article originally appeared in Inc.’s sister publication, Fast Company.

    Fast Company is the world’s leading business media brand, with an editorial focus on innovation in technology, leadership, world changing ideas, creativity, and design. Written for and about the most progressive business leaders, Fast Company inspires readers to think expansively, lead with purpose, embrace change, and shape the future of business.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Fast Company

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  • Tea Tariffs Once Sparked a Revolution. Now They Are Creating Angst

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    A tax on tea once sparked rebellion. This time, it’s just causing headaches.

    Importers of the prized leaves have watched costs climb, orders stall and margins shrink under the weight of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Now, even after Trump has given them a reprieve, tea traders say it won’t immediately undo the damage.

    “It took a while to work its way through the system, these tariffs, and it will take a while for it to work its way out of the system,” says Bruce Richardson, a celebrated tea master, tea historian and purveyor of teas at his shop, Elmwood Inn Fine Teas, in Danville, Kentucky. “That tariffed tea is still working its way out of our warehouses.”

    While a handful of bigger firms are behind the biggest supermarket brands, the premium tea market is largely the work of smaller businesses, from family farms to specialty importers to a web of little tea shops, tea rooms and tea cafes across the U.S. Amid an onslaught of tariffs, they have become showcases for the levies’ effects.

    On their shelves, selection has narrowed, with some teas now missing because they’re no longer viable products to stock with steep levies on top. In their warehouses, managers are consumed with uncertainty and operational headaches, including calculating what a blend really costs, with ingredients from multiple countries on a roller coaster of tariffs. And in backrooms where the wafting scent of fresh tea permeates, owners have been forced to put off job postings, raises, advertising and other investments so they can have cash available to pay duties when their containers arrive at U.S. ports.

    “If I were to add up all the money I’ve spent on tariffs that weren’t there a year ago, it could equal a new employee,” says Hartley Johnson, who owns the Mark T. Wendell Tea Company in Acton, Massachusetts.

    Johnson’s prices used to stay static for a year or longer. He ate the tariff costs before being forced to respond. His most popular tea, a smoky Taiwanese one called Hu-Kwa, has steadily risen from $26 to $46 a pound.

    He knows some customers are reconsidering.

    “Where is that tipping point?” Johnson asks. “I’m kind of finding that tipping point is happening now.”

    Though Trump backed off some tariffs on agricultural products last week, many in the tea trade are wary of celebrating too soon and caution tea drinkers shouldn’t either. Much of next year’s supply has already been imported and tariffed and the full impact of those duties may not have fully spilled downhill.

    Meantime, other tariff-driven price hikes persist. All sorts of other products tea businesses import, from teapots to infusers, remain subject to levies, and costs for some American-made items, like tins for packaging, have spiked because they rely on foreign materials.

    “The canisters, the bamboo boxes, the matcha whisks, everything that we import, everything that we sell has been affected by tariffs,” says Gilbert Tsang, owner of MEM Tea Imports in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

    Though globally, tea reigns supreme, imbibed more than anything but water, it has long been overshadowed by coffee in the U.S. Still, tea is entwined in American history from the very beginning, even before colonists angry with tariffs dumped tons of it in Boston Harbor.

    Boston may run on Dunkin’ today, but it was born on tea.

    The 1773 revolt that became known as the Boston Tea Party rose out of the British Parliament’s implementation of tea tariffs on colonists, who rejected taxation without representation in government. After an independent United States was born, one of the new government’s first major acts, the Tariff Act of 1789, ironically set in law import taxes on a range of products including tea. In time, though, trade policy came to include carve-outs for many products Americans rely on but don’t produce.

    For more than 150 years, most tea has passed through U.S. ports with little to no duties.

    That began to change in Trump’s first term with his hardline approach to China. But nothing compared to what came with his return to the White House.

    In July, the most recent month for which the U.S. International Trade Commission has tallied tariff numbers, tea was taxed at an average rate of over 12 percent, a huge increase from a year earlier when it was just under one-tenth of a percent. In that single month, American businesses and consumers paid more than $6 million in tea import taxes, amassing in just 31 days more tariffs than any previous full year on record.

    “All over again, taxation without representation,” says Richardson, an adviser to the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. “Our wants and needs and our voices are not being represented because Congress is avoiding the issue by simply allowing the president to act like George III.”

    All told, tea importers paid about $19.6 million in tariffs in the first seven months of 2025, nearly seven times as much as the same period last year.

    It’s all been confounding to those steeped in the world of tea, on which the U.S. depends on foreign countries for nearly all of the billions of pounds Americans brew each year. Though a number of small tea farms exist in the U.S., they can’t fill Americans’ cups for more than a few hours of the year.

    “We don’t have an industry and we can’t produce one overnight,” says Angela McDonald, president of the United States League of Tea Growers.

    Trump’s suspension of tea tariffs came too late for some businesses, including Los Angeles-based International Tea Importers Inc., for which tariffs created an untenable cash-flow crunch.

    “We just became over-leveraged financing not just the inventory, but also the tariffs,” says the company’s CEO, Brendan Shah.

    Tariffs weren’t the only thing the 35-year-old business was facing, but without them, Shah says it may have survived.

    “Unpredictable tariff policies,” he wrote to customers in announcing the company’s closure, “have created the final, insurmountable barrier.”

    Copyright 2025. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

    The final deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, December 12, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Associated Press

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  • 9 Common Behaviors of Bad Bosses, According to the Harris Poll

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    It’s hard not to notice when a toxic coworker comes barreling through the office door. However, that’s the least frequent part of a workplace dynamic. Bad boss behavior is much more common than you might realize. According to a survey conducted by the Harris Poll, 71% of American workers report that they have had at least one toxic boss during their career. Another 31% report that they have a toxic boss right now. 

    When bosses break the rules 

    Despite keeping a confident professional veneer, even high-level leaders are guilty of straying from the line of acceptable workplace behavior from time to time. Due to their positional power, bosses can be more comfortable breaking the rules—a practice undoubtedly frustrating for the employees who report to them. 

    The truth is, bosses should be setting an example, not displaying bad behavior themselves. If you’re a boss, you should be acting as a role model for your employees. But what if you’re not? And if you’re not, how can you be sure?  

    The most common behaviors of bad bosses 

    According to the Harris Poll survey, these are the most common bad boss behaviors. Do you recognize any in yourself? 

    1. Sets unreasonable expectations – 51% 
    2. Gets too involved in the details of an employee’s job when it isn’t necessary – 49% 
    3. Gives unfair preferential treatment to certain team members – 49% 
    4. Gives an impression of being unapproachable – 49% 
    5. Does not give credit to team members when appropriate – 48% 
    6. Takes credit for the ideas of others – 45% 
    7. Engages in unprofessional behavior, e.g., inappropriate language – 45% 
    8. Assigns blame to others to protect themselves – 43% 
    9. Discriminates against employees for specific characteristics – 33% 

    What this means for leaders 

    To the chagrin of workers everywhere, it seems that the individuals in positions of authority are—more often than you might like to think—guilty of not always behaving well themselves. Unfortunately, if you engage in any of these behaviors as a leader, you’re being more than a minor annoyance to your people—you’re chipping away at the trust and respect they have for you. 

    If you’re a leader, this list should serve as a bit of a mirror. Employees notice everything. When you set the standard high for others, you need to practice what you preach. Remember: Just because you see your own boss doing something, it doesn’t mean it’s OK for you to do it too. Your integrity is what will keep people following you in the long run. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Peter Economy

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  • If You Want a Business That’s Built to Last, Start With Your ‘Why’

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    Is it time for you to find a heroic mission? Do you want to create and lead a business worth fighting for—one that’s built to last? I’m for any entrepreneur, the answer is an emphatic yes! However, while it’s easy to write your business’s mission statement, finding one that will actually move the needle on performance takes some work. Here’s how to figure out the “why” behind your business and why that matters. 

    Start with your ‘why.’ 

    When you’re buried in the day-to-day of running a business, it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. However, to build a remarkable business, you need to work backward. You need to find the unifying emotion that underpins everything you do. 

    Your “why” isn’t your product, your service, or your brand. It’s the higher purpose that gets you up at 5 a.m. when everyone else is still in bed. It’s the thing that will keep you going when the chips are down, when everyone else is ready to throw in the towel. 

    As the leader of your business, finding your “why” means having a direct line of sight to your reason for being. You wake up every day believing that the business you’re building is important and worthwhile. That belief guides how you think, how you act, how you move through the world. 

    Make yourself essential. 

    Here’s a simple test I would like you to consider: If you shut your doors tomorrow, then would anyone really miss you? The answer must be an unequivocal “yes.” 

    To build a business that people miss, you have to deliver something special. You have to offer them something unique, unlike what everyone else is offering. It has to be something that they literally cannot get anywhere else. 

    You don’t need to be different for the sake of being different. You need to be special and become a category of one. Your business must be so good at something and uncommon that your customers don’t just become buyers. Instead, they become raving fans. 

    Before every day begins, ask yourself, “Why do I do what I do?” Don’t just think it. Own it. Anchor yourself in it. Then, make everything else you do roll off that rock-solid foundation. 

    Beyond the job description 

    In a fast-moving world of exponentially increasing complexity, you need to focus on where people will want to work, where they will want to spend their money, and where they will want to put their energy. Your “why” is an answer to the question of what you do and why you do it. It’s powerful because it’s simple. 

    The most remarkable businesses are not necessarily the ones with the largest budgets or the most innovative marketing. The ones that really stand out are built by people who aren’t willing to compromise on their mission. That conviction becomes a magnet that attracts customers who don’t just buy from you—they believe in what you’re building. 

    In a sea of sameness, your “why” is your greatest competitive advantage. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Peter Economy

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  • Why Entrepreneurs Must Master These 5 Financial Basics or Struggle to Succeed

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    This article was written by Jennifer Barnes, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member in San Diego who is the CEO and Founder of Optima Office, which provides part-time controllers, CFOs, bookkeeping, and HR services to clients nationwide. The company has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list three times and was included to the 2025 Inc. Best Workplaces list. Below, she shares the strategic financial indicators every entrepreneur must understand to succeed.

    I’ve spent two decades working with entrepreneurs, and I’ve noticed something: The ones who scale successfully can answer five specific financial questions without hesitation. The ones who struggle? They wait for their accountant to tell them the answers. 

    With International Accounting Day coming up on November 10, let’s flip the usual narrative. Your certified public accountant firm is essential, but they’re historians, not fortune tellers. They tell you what happened in the past. You need to know what’s happening right now—and what’s about to happen next. 

    Your ability to answer the following accounting questions is fundamental to maintaining a healthy, well-run business. 

    1. Your cash runway  

    “How many months can your business operate at current burn rate before running out of cash?” 

    If you can’t answer this within 30 seconds, you’re flying blind. Your bank might show $200,000 today, but if you’re burning $75,000 a month with $150,000 in payables due next week, your runway isn’t “almost three months.” It’s weeks. 

    Your CPA can tell you what you spent last quarter. However, knowing your runway requires real-time visibility. This is where a controller or fractional CFO becomes invaluable. They’re tracking this daily, not quarterly. 

    2. Your true gross margin 

    “What does it actually cost you to deliver your product or service?”

    I’ve met countless entrepreneurs who think they have 60 percent margins when they have 35 percent. They forget to factor in their fulfillment costs, returns, customer service time, or sales commissions. 

    Your gross margin tells you if your business model actually works. Below 50 percent in services or 40 percent in products? Scaling will be painful. Your accountant categorizes expenses correctly, but understanding what truly belongs in your Cost of Goods Sold calculation requires someone who understands your business model deeply and tracks these numbers monthly. 

    3. Your customer acquisition cost versus lifetime value 

    “How much does it cost to acquire a customer, and how much will they spend with you over time?”

    If it costs you $500 to acquire a customer who spends $400 with you once, you don’t have a business: You have an expensive hobby. 

    Calculating true CAC (including all marketing, sales salaries, and tools) and projecting lifetime value (factoring in churn and repeat purchases) requires ongoing analysis. This is what a good fractional CFO does, and it’s the difference between growing profitably and just growing. 

    4. Your operating cash conversion cycle 

    “How long from when you spend cash on inventory or labor to when you collect from customers?”

    If you’re paying vendors in 30 days, holding inventory for 45 days, and customers pay you in 60 days, you’ve got a 105-day cycle. Growth requires constant cash infusion. You’re funding your customers’ operations with your cash. 

    Most entrepreneurs discover this when they land a big contract and realize they can’t afford to fulfill it. Your accountant produces your balance sheet, but understanding the interplay between payables, receivables, and inventory requires someone looking at these numbers regularly with strategic eyes.  

    5. Your break-even point 

    “How much revenue do you need to cover all your fixed costs?”

    Not approximately—exactly. And are you tracking toward it each month? Too many entrepreneurs vaguely know they need “around $100,000 per month” without understanding their fixed versus variable costs. When you know you need $87,500 to break even and you’re at $82,000 with a week left in the month, you make different decisions than when you’re guessing. 

    The real point 

    If you can’t answer these five questions confidently, it’s not your fault, and it’s not your CPA’s fault. It’s structural. Your CPA firm does essential compliance work, but they’re not designed to be your real-time financial dashboard. 

    This is where the right financial infrastructure changes everything. A controller, even a part-time one, creates the systems necessary to track these metrics. A fractional CFO interprets them and helps you make better decisions. Together, they make your relationship with your CPA firm more productive because everyone is playing the correct role. 

    The entrepreneurs who scale successfully aren’t necessarily smarter; they just have better information architecture. They’ve built financial systems that give them visibility before they desperately need it. 

    So, on International Accounting Day, celebrate your accountant. They’re crucial. However, also ask yourself: Do you have the financial infrastructure that empowers you to know your numbers without waiting for them? In entrepreneurship, the difference between knowing your numbers monthly versus daily is often the difference between thriving and surviving. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Entrepreneurs’ Organization

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  • 5 Takeaways for Business Owners from Tuesday’s Blue Wave Election Results

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    Election Day 2025 was a sweeping victory for Democrats, with major wins in two gubernatorial races and the New York City mayoral contest, along with California voters approving a ballot measure to redraw congressional districts, which could give Democrats an advantage in the House of Representatives starting in 2026. It could also be a learning experience for business owners.

    While political experts will be sifting through the results for days, trying to discern what this means for next year’s midterm elections and the overall state of the Democratic and Republican parties, there are also lessons to be found for entrepreneurs.

    Affordability is everything

    The economy was the driving force of the 2025 election. Exit polls found that in the New York City mayor race, both the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races and the Proposition 50 battle in California, voters cited the economy as the most important issue. That likely doesn’t come as a shock to business owners. Plenty of holiday sales predictions have underlined it as well. (Deloitte, for example, forecasts U.S. consumers will spend 10% less than they did in 2024.) There’s a fine line between maintaining your company’s profitability and offering your customers a deal, but the electorate’s laser focus on their own financial situation underscores just how critical it is to thread that needle.

    It’s time to learn more about Democratic Socialism

    Despite opposition from big business and billionaires, Zohran Mamdani easily won the mayoral race in New York City, getting the most votes of any candidate since the 1960s. Mamdani is a democratic socialist, who made campaign promises that included free child care, free buses, and a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments.

    Bernie Sanders has been the face of democratic socialism until now, helping raise awareness of the party, but democratic socialists are still a small fraction of the overall voter population. As Tuesday showed, though, interest is growing fast. Voters are growing disenfranchised with their parties and looking for alternatives. Mamdani has emphasized more regulatory breaks for small businesses and fewer breaks for corporations, which could help him win over an even larger base. 

    Small businesses that can figure out how to communicate with and interact with that audience could find a loyal customer base. As Mamdani demonstrated, the political movement isn’t afraid to do battle with corporate entities.

    There’s power in the youth market

    Mamdani’s victory was fueled by the youth vote. Two-thirds of people under the age of 45 supported his campaign, according to exit polls. Young voters were also driven to the polls in California to vote on Prop 50. It was, in many ways, the first election where Generation Z had a major influence on results.

    Smart business owners have had Gen Z on their radar for a while. The group makes up nearly one-fifth of the workforce and is expected to have a spending power of $12 trillion by 2030. The 2025 election underlines that they’re a market that needs to be taken seriously.

    While traditional polls didn’t blow it quite as bad as they did in the 2024 elections, several made some of the high-level races seem a lot closer than they turned out to be when voting ended. Prediction markets, however, didn’t miss. That will almost certainly boost their reputation as political predictors, but business owners who study them could also get advance looks at evolving trends and coming waves. That could give them time to adapt and be ready to ride new waves in everything from tech to culture to the economy over the months and years to come.

    Sometimes you have to throw out the playbook

    Even with Tuesday’s victories, the Democratic party is still in the midst of an identity crisis. Mamdani’s victory could signal a change in how voters want to approach things. And California governor Gavin Newsom’s win on Prop 50 came after weeks of social media posts meant to mock Trump’s style. Whether these approaches will work on a more national level remains to be seen, but both were different than what voters were used to seeing. Both politicians saw that the status quo wasn’t working and gambled on something new, a lesson that business owners can learn from.

    Just because you create a new playbook, it doesn’t mean you have to completely do away with what has worked before, however. New Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger and New Jersey governor-elect Mikie Sherrill took a more centrist approach in their campaigns and still scored victories.

    The early-rate deadline for the 2026 Inc. Regionals Awards is Friday, November 14, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply now.

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    Chris Morris

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  • How Fit Are You? 3 Simple Tests to Evaluate Your Strength, Endurance, and Cardiovascular Fitness

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    Most entrepreneurs are familiar with diminishing returns: how, when other variables stay constant, at some point putting in additional time and effort results in increasingly smaller results. Since resources are always limited, figuring out where to spend your entrepreneurial time so it delivers the best bang per hour is critical.

    That same premise extends to health and fitness. If you’re like many entrepreneurs, you try to stay reasonably fit not just because it’s good for you, but because exercise helps you perform better under stress. Can elevate your mood for up to 12 hours. Can even make you a little smarter.

    Still: how healthy and fit… is healthy and fit enough? 

    If you want to run a marathon, your definition of “fit” will differ from most. But if you want to compare yourself with other people and see where you currently stand — and, more important, get a sense of where you would like to stand — here are three simple tests you can do at home.

    If you fall in the “average” range, that’s good. If you fall closer to the “excellent” range, that’s great — and may be a sign that doing more in an attempt to increase your score might push you into the land of diminishing returns.

    So with all that said, here are the three tests.

    Lower Body Strength

    To conduct this test, find a chair that, when you sit on it, puts your thighs at a 90-degree angle to your lower legs. Then put your hands on your hips, lower yourself until your bottom grazes the chair, and then straighten back up.

    Then do as many reps as you can, without resting, until you run out of (leg) gas.

    Here’s a graph so you can see where you stand. (All images are courtesy of research scientist Schalk Cloete; for more, check out his deep dive into the subject.)

    Want to be able to do more? Like many things, increasing the number of squats you can do is just a matter of time and effort: do four or five sets of squats to failure three times a week, and in three weeks you’ll definitely be stronger. 

    And with a great outcome: squats can strengthen your lower body and core, improve your flexibility, and reduce your risk of injury.

    Upper Body Strength

    The American College of Sports Medicine recommends using a pushup test to assess upper body strength and endurance.

    To do pushups their way, start at the top, go down to the 90-degree mark, and push back up without locking out at the top. Women can do plank-version pushups or modified (from the knees) pushups.

    Then just count how many you can do in one set. (A few couple-second rest breaks at the top are okay.)

    Here’s the results graph:

    Screen Shot 2021-04-09 at 9.29.00 AM

    Comparing yourself with others provides a reasonable sense-check.

    But also keep this in mind: a Harvard study shows that men (unsure why they didn’t include women) who could do 40 or more pushups were 96 percent less likely to experience a cardiovascular event than those who could only do 10 or less.

    In fact, pushup capacity was more strongly associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk than aerobic capacity.

    So if you want to increase the number of pushups you can do, here’s a simple process you can follow (scroll down to “How many pushups do you want to do?”). Do that routine three times a week for 10 minutes, and after three weeks you’ll definitely be stronger.

    Cardiovascular Fitness

    Since there are a variety of ways to evaluate cardiovascular fitness, this one’s a little trickier. There are stress tests. Exertion/heart rate tests. Whether you can run a mile, and if so how fast you can run it, is a valid test.

    Another is VO2 max, the maximal volume of oxygen that can be inhaled and absorbed by a body. Generally speaking, the higher your VO2 max, the better your cardiovascular fitness (within genetic reason, of course.)

    One way to estimate your VO2 max is to use a fitness calculator like this. Answer a few questions and you’ll learn your “expected” VO2 max (based largely on things like age) and your estimated VO2 max (based on activity levels, resting hear rate, and waist size.)

    Or you do the 1-mile walk test as described here. 

    Then see how you stack up:

    Screen Shot 2021-04-09 at 9.17.20 AM

    There are a number of ways to improve your cardiovascular fitness. Walking (briskly) is a great start. So is jogging. So is cycling, rowing, elliptical training… or if you want to double-dip and get some strength gains at the same time, consider doing HIIT workouts. Research shows that 11 (intense) minutes a day can make a meaningful difference.

    Which is where diminishing returns come into play. If you want to enjoy the benefits of reasonable — not extreme, just reasonable — fitness, you don’t have to spend hours on a treadmill. You don’t have to spend hours at the gym.

    You just need to do a few key things that make a big impact… and then do them consistently.

    Which is surely the same approach you take to running your business.

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Jeff Haden

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  • This 1 Skill Is the Most Important for the AI Era, Say Leaders From LinkedIn, Meta, and Box

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    Artificial intelligence is already redefining the workplace. That was driven home this week by Amazon and Chegg, which both announced substantial layoffs. Amazon plans to cut 14,000 jobs as it invests more in AI, while Chegg said it was laying off 45 percent of its workforce as it confronts what it calls “the new realities of AI.”

    For workers and business owners, that’s a pair of warning shots highlighting the uncertainty and volatility of the years to come. Box CEO Aaron Levie, LinkedIn’s chief economic opportunity officer Aneesh Raman, and Clara Shih, Meta’s head of business AI, were recent guests at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco to discuss the rise of AI and the changes it will bring.

    Entrepreneurs, said Shih, could be the people who are best suited to maximize AI’s productivity, thanks to their ability to pivot quickly and their near-obsessive tracking of what’s up and coming.

    Asked which skill will be most needed in the AI era, Shih said, “I think entrepreneurship, which is defined by pursuit of opportunity without regard to resource constraint, because the underlying substrate of our resources is continually shifting. And so we have to be constantly … on our toes, literally, just to pay attention to these trends and continually reinvent ourselves and our companies.”

    Raman expanded on that thinking, saying he believed curiosity would be the most valuable skill, while still namechecking the rest of the five Cs that represent critical soft skills in business leadership: curiosity, compassion, creativity, courage, and communication.

    “We all have to get better at all of those,” he said. “And then you have the sort of habits of resilience, adaptability, learn how to learn quick, learn how to fail fast.”

    While this week’s news of layoffs was discouraging, Levie said he’s optimistic about the long-term employment outlook as AI expands. Ultimately, he believes, AI will result in more hiring, since businesses can get a higher return on investment from each worker.

    He points to the evolution of the advertising agency as an analogy. In the 1980s, he said, it could take weeks to draw, print and scale an ad. The rise of Photoshop slashed that turnaround time, though. Had people in the ‘80s known what it could do, they would have feared massive layoffs in their field. The industry, of course, continues to thrive–and companies that previously couldn’t afford to advertise found themselves able to, thanks to lower costs.

    Levie says he suspects the impact of AI will be much the same, only on a broader scale. The technology, he says, will broaden the playing field, giving companies that don’t have the budget for many of the experts and tools that larger businesses do a chance to compete at the same level. 

    “Each organization will look different, but … just imagine, let’s say, the small businesses that always have a structural disadvantage versus large companies because of their lack of access to talent and resources,” he said. “If you imagine them all being weaponized with the same expert lawyer and expert marketing and expert product development and software engineer as any kind of mid or large size company, what’s going to happen next is you’re going to have just a tremendous amount of growth of new organizations emerge with lots more productivity in a number of categories.”

    Additionally, he said, AI is still a work in progress. So despite the technology’s evangelists talking about the changes it will bring, it has few functional uses at the moment for many businesses. That gives owners and workers time to prepare for changes to come, learning complimentary skills and becoming familiar with AI’s abilities—and how to maximize its potential.

    “The reality is that if you drop AI into today’s business process, it’s going to actually do very little,” Levie said. “It’s not world-changing. … We thought AI would work how we do. It turns out it might be the case that we have to work how AI does, and we have to be actually in service of the agent to make it most productive.”

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    Chris Morris

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  • Why I Don’t Save for Retirement (and Neither Should You) 

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    The smartest financial move I ever made was to stop contributing to retirement savings. It may sound counterintuitive, even reckless. Dave Ramsey would have stress dreams about this article, but it may be time to get a divorce from your 401(k).

    Here’s the truth: You actually don’t need millions to retire.

    Those retirement calculators love to spit out impossible numbers: $3 million, $5 million, sometimes more. Numbers so big they make financial freedom feel like a five-decade slog.

    Here’s the part they leave out. Most people following the “save for 40 years” script never hit those numbers. They keep working and waiting, but they’re aiming for a moving goalpost.

    And this isn’t about only money. It’s about decades of your life you don’t get back.

    The real shift isn’t stockpiling a fortune someday, but creating passive income now. You don’t need millions. You need cash flow. Changing your perspective on that changes everything.

    Why the “retirement number” is a mirage

    Here’s the dirty secret about those retirement calculators: They’re built on a foundation of mediocre returns.

    Financial advisers love showing you diversified portfolios earning 2 percent on treasuries, 4 percent on bonds, maybe 8 percent to 10 percent on index funds if you’re lucky. Then they compound those small numbers over 40 years and tell you that’s the path to freedom.

    But what if I told you I routinely invest in small businesses earning annual returns of 32 percent or more? Same dollars, radically different outcome.

    The $3 million to $5 million magic number isn’t magic at all. It’s a moving target designed to keep you paying fees to Wall Street. Inflation pushes it higher. Lifestyle creep makes it bigger. Market volatility makes it unpredictable.

    And here’s the part Wall Street doesn’t mention: The longer your money stays parked in their products, the more fees they collect. It’s not a conspiracy; it’s a business model. Their incentive is to keep your money locked up for decades.

    What $120,000 taught me about real wealth

    Early in my investing journey, I had a choice with my $120,000 of life savings. I could do what most people do: Put it into bonds or index funds, let it grow slowly, and maybe, decades later, it would turn into something meaningful. At 4 percent, that money would earn about $400 per month. I’d be waiting 30 years before I could really use it.

    Instead, I bought a small business that was already earning $150,000 a year. I made a few simple changes, tightened operations, hired a virtual assistant, improved SEO, and that same business had grown by nearly 40 percent.

    That one decision changed how I think about investing forever. Once you see cash flow hitting your bank account in real time, “waiting for retirement” at 6 percent earnings stops making sense. A few investments pay back your income entirely.

    Since then, I’ve repeated and improved that model over and over, not just with my own capital but with investors I work with. We buy existing businesses selling for three to four times earnings, translating to annual returns of 32 percent or more. And unlike stocks or bonds, those returns don’t sit on a statement. They generate cash flow starting in year one.

    Compress 40 years into five

    Here’s the most important lesson I’ve learned: The difference between traditional investing and high return cash flow investing isn’t the return, it’s the time.

    Traditional retirement thinking locks you into a 50-year plan. You keep saving, hoping compound interest will eventually catch up with your life goals. Cash flow flips that script. It lets you start living off your investments almost immediately.

    I started this approach back in 2017 and bought, merged, and managed eight companies. After perfecting the process, I helped other investors and operators do the same. None of us waited for a magical retirement number. We built predictable income streams that paid our expenses, and with those returns financial freedom is available in under five years.

    What surprises most people is this: You don’t need hundreds of businesses to create substantial passive income or diversification. A portfolio of eight to 10 uncorrelated small businesses can deliver 60 to 80 percent of the diversification benefits of thousands of stocks, without watering down returns.

    The future of financial freedom

    Building wealth isn’t about chasing a number. A net worth target is a someday goal, and “someday” often never comes.

    Cash flow is about today. It’s about building predictable income that pays your bills and funds your lifestyle now. It’s about having the freedom to pursue meaningful work while you’re still young enough to make an impact.

    Financial freedom isn’t a number on a screen. It’s a system that pays you month after month and gives you back the decades most people trade away.

    The retirement lie costs you 30 years. Cash flow gives them back.

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    Joseph Drups

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  • How to Run a Family Business Without Driving One Another Crazy 

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    About a quarter of all businesses in the U.S. are family businesses—but that doesn’t mean working with family members is easy. “A lot of people aren’t built for it,” said Allison Ellsworth, chief brand officer of Poppi, the soda brand she co-founded with her husband, Stephen, and sold to PepsiCo for $1.95 billion in May. 

    “Any successful business relationship or marriage is really based on trust,” Stephen added. “If you have the ability to trust them and you’re committed 100 percent, I think that’s where the magic really happens.” 

    The Ellsworths joined Diego and Natalia Boneta, the brother-and-sister team behind the film and TV production company Three Amigos, on stage at the Inc. 5000 Conference in Phoenix last week. Three Amigos, which signed a first-look deal with Amazon Prime Video in 2022, recently produced Killing Castro, which stars Diego as Fidel Castro and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. 

    “The number-one rule that we established from the get-go was family first,” said Diego. “If anything happened to the business, if there was a big decision that we really disagreed on that was detrimental to our personal relationship, we would always pick our relationship with siblings.” 

    In conversation with Sammi Cohen, the CEO of Social Currency Media, the panelists laid out a few more ground rules they’ve learned along the way for building and scaling a successful family business. 

    1. Set Midyear Relationship Reviews 

    Allison Ellsworth said that in the early years of Poppi, they were “a little bit wild and chaotic as entrepreneurs and just kind of swung from the hip.” But as Austin-based Poppi became one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the country, the Ellsworths realized they needed to put formal processes in place. 

    Allison says she and Stephen settled on a system of sitting down a couple of times a year to align their goals for their family and business and set a schedule for the year. “For the longest time, it was just business and kids. We kind of forgot about, oh, we’re married. We need to work on that and have those conversations,” Allison said. “Taking a step back and working on [how] personal life can align with professional life was a really big game changer for us during those growth years.” 

    2. Check in as Family First 

    When Diego and Natalia Boneta are working in different cities, they check in about once a week on the status of their projects—but they don’t neglect their relationship as siblings.  

    “We have a simple rule: If the house isn’t on fire, we first ask how each other is doing personally,” Natalia said. “Take care of the personal, and then you can take care of the business 10 times better. If one of our lives is in shambles, then we need to be able to really step in and help each other out and be good teammates to one another.” 

    But, Diego added, they keep that support behind the scenes. If he were to step in as the “protective older brother,” he said he felt that he could undermine Natalia professionally. 

    3. Let Each Person’s Strengths Shine 

    “I’ve learned three magic words: You’re the boss,” Diego Boneta said, explaining that he and his sister have complementary strengths.  

    “I cannot multitask for my life,” he added. “But damn, I’m a great perfectionist and I’ll focus on one thing … That’s where I think we win, knowing and trusting each other in that regard—and also being able to have fun.” 

    Allison and Stephen Ellsworth agreed that allowing each person to focus on the areas in which they excel was the key to a successful family business. When they launched Poppi, Allison took charge of the creative and branding, while Stephen ran the supply chain and product innovation.  

    “We realized what our superpowers were really early on,” Allison said. “I was the person who was jumping off the cliff as he was trying to catch me, while building the business plan while trusting me to next time jump higher.”  

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    Jennifer Conrad

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  • 7 Powerful Habits That Will Help Leaders Motivate Themselves

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    If you’re a leader, I’ll bet you spend a lot of time motivating others—employees, customers, investors, and other stakeholders. Sometimes it’s important to remember that the person who needs motivation the most is you. You can’t be a self-starter or a doer for long without a healthy dose of motivation along the way. Here are seven habits that will consistently help you motivate yourself. 

    1. Be specific about your goals. 

    Goals that are clear and specific are more effective than a general “do your best” instruction. If you want more energy, clarity, excitement, and efficiency in achieving your goals, they must be CLEAR goals—collaborative, limited, emotional, appreciable, and refinable. 

    2. Work on what you’re passionate about. 

    This might seem obvious, but if you find your motivation tanking a lot, finding your passion could be a good way to reverse it. The simple truth is, you’re going to be more motivated to do work you like. 

    3. Practice being an optimist. 

    You probably tend to think of yourself as a realist, as in you see things as they are. However, in fact, it’s easy to constantly look at the world as a glass half-empty instead of one that is half-full. My suggestion to you is to be a glass-half-full kind of person and always expect the best. This makes it more likely you will act in ways that will lead to the best outcomes. 

    4. Choose your priorities wisely. 

    Trying to do too much at once is a surefire way to do nothing well. In my experience, I’ve found that you should only have one or two priorities at a time. Any more than that and your day will be ruled by the things that are most urgent, not most important. Choose one or two focus areas that you want to give your all to, and you will be more motivated to do well. 

    5. Surround yourself with motivated people. 

    When you are around motivated people, this will in turn make you more motivated. It’s as if their positivity rubs off on you, and in a way it does. So do your best to stay in the company of motivated people and keep unmotivated people out of your life. 

    6. Anticipate having to try repeatedly. 

    While you should hope for the best, you should always plan for the worst. Expect to try again before you succeed at whatever task it is you’re working to accomplish. Don’t get discouraged when you have to try more than once. It’s part of the process. Don’t take it as a sign that you’ve failed. Instead, take it as data on what needs to be improved. 

    7. Reward your motivated behavior. 

    Motivation expert Bob Nelson, years ago discovered this simple axiom of motivation: You get what you reward. So, if you want to build a habit of self-motivation, you need to reward yourself for doing it. Reinforce your motivated behavior by taking your team out for a nice lunch or ordering pizzas and bask in the knowledge that you’re on the right path for achieving even your greatest goals. 

    The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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    Peter Economy

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