5 Things Small Business Owners Need To Know This Week

Five Things To Know This?Week:

1) Motivating Your Gen Z Employees

2) What is Web 3.0?

3) Should You Buy a New MacBook Pro?

4) How 3rd?Party Twitter Apps Helped Twitter

5)?Business Owner Spotlight: Harlem Chocolate Factory

Happy Tuesday, January 31st!

Where does the time go? How is it possible that the first month of 2023 is about to be a memory?

As I think about the speed and importance of time, I am reminded of a beautiful poem by Henry Van Dyke, an American poet and author from the late 1800s. He wrote about the importance of living in the present moment because that is all we have:

The Sun-Dial at Wells College

“The shadow by my finger cast

Divides the future from the past:

Before it, sleeps the unborn hour,

In darkness, and beyond thy power.

Behind its unreturning line,

The vanished hour, no longer thine:

One hour alone is in thy hands,

The NOW on which the shadow stands.”

Whatever you decide to do with the hour in front of you, the one in which the shadow stands, make the most of it!

See you next week, and thanks for your emails and comments on social media. I appreciate all of them.

Brian

1. Motivating Your Gen Z Employees

A post in the Harvard Business Review cites research?that shows that Gen Z may be struggling with engagement at work. For example, a 2022 Gallup Poll reveals that 54% of Gen Z employees are ambivalent or not engaged at work—which is higher than employees from other generations.

The authors say you need to create “a team dynamic of collaboration, commitment, and sustained motivation.” How? It’s all about establishing “transparent, consistent, two-way communication channels” to quell their “fear of uncertainty and help them feel” in control.

Learn more about engaging your Gen Z employees.

2. What is Web 3.0?

There’s a lot of talk about Web 3.0, but few small business owners know exactly what it is and why they should care, including me.

According to a tutorial on Simplilearn, Web 3.0 is semantically-based (words instead of numbers) and “has the potential to be just as disruptive and usher in a significant paradigm shift as Web 2.0 did. Web 3.0, often known as Web 3, is the next step in the development of the internet.”

Learn more about Web 3.0 to keep up with the latest technology.

3. Should You Buy a New MacBook Pro?

There’s been a lot of buzz (both good and neutral) about Apple’s recent release of new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros?with M2 Pro and M2 Max processors.

Some critics same the new computers aren’t all that exciting since they have the same display and design.

Macworld maintains there are several reasons that make the new laptops worth buying. For instance, if your business involves a lot of graphic work or if you need more memory or longer battery life.

Learn more about Apple’s newest laptops.

4. How 3rd?Party Twitter Apps Helped Twitter

As many of you know, I’m a big Twitter fan and user. I know everyone likes to consume Twitter their own way: some prefer the Twitter app, while others use desktops/laptops. My friend Rieva Lesonsky swears by 3rd?party Twitter apps, which Twitter recently disabled.

TechCrunch recently posted an article explaining the numerous contributions made by 3rd?party apps, like how the word ‘tweet’ wasn’t “really a part of the company’s vocabulary early on.” Biz Stone, one of Twitter’s founders, emailed Twitter users using “words like ‘Twitter-ers’ and ‘Twittering’.” Rieva’s favorite app, Twitterrific, started using the term “Twit” in 2007. A Twitter engineer saw the word and “suggested the name change from ‘Twit’ to ‘Tweet’.”

Read more about how 3rd?party apps helped Twitter grow.

5. Business Owner Spotlight: Harlem Chocolate Factory

Based in Harlem, NY, Jessica Spaulding and her Spelman College sister, Asha Dixon, founded the artisan chocolate company Harlem Chocolate Factory in 2015. Their weekends were spent wrapping chocolate bars in their living room, preparing them for local markets, which quickly sold out. They soon attracted the attention of corporate clients by providing gifts for Chase bank, Kate Spade, and Sam Adams, to name a few.

They opened their flagship retail and production kitchen in Harlem’s historic Striver's Row district in 2018 to rave reviews and have since gotten a slew of local and national press. Faced with COVID-19, they pivoted to ensure they remained a destination for Harlem and chocolate lovers everywhere.?

Thanks to QuickBooks for introducing me to?Harlem Chocolate Factory!

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