?? Audits, amphibians, and oh, the audacity.

"The National Park Service wants humans to stop licking this toad."?Forget midterm elections or inflation. If you want to know the?true state?of these United States, this?news headline?sums it up pretty well. ???? ♂?

WHAT’S ON TAP THIS WEEK? ??

• Knock-knock. Who's there? The IRS...unless you pay close attention to this week's Lesson with Luigi.????? ??
• Who would?pay that much money?to be that dirty? ???(We're talkin' showering in space, pervs.)
• ???Kermit was right;?it ain't easy being green -?especially if you're a ketchup bottle.
• Quantum processing is for the birds?- or at least,?named after them. ????
• Looking for the next hot travel destination??Commercial air service is finally returning to Delaware. (Delaware is a State, BTW.)
• Both children and adults agree...this toy is lit!?(Just for very different reasons.) ??
• What goes up must come down ?? - and then written out in detail, like this deep dive on?the rise and fall of General Electric.
• Mo Money, Mo Problems. ???Just kidding.?Read why you need?Mo Money?now more than ever in this week’s Money Minute.
• Does your company struggle with professional development??You're going to want to check out?this week's episode?of The Liquid Lunch Project podcast.
• And from ???Around the Web, Grow Your Own Nose ????, Pack Your Own Lunch??, and Get Your Own Butt-Shaped Robot-Tested Device ??.

THE CLASSROOM

Decorate Your Tax Return with these Red Flags and Get Audited! ????

By Luigi “The Professor” Rosabianca

There is no foolproof way to avoid being audited. The IRS makes most of its selections either because the filer is part of a targeted group or because a computer program picked out the tax return.

However, even though many of the returns are chosen randomly, certain red flags make a return more likely to be audited. If you do not want the IRS knocking on your door, avoid these red flags: Keep Reading

HEARD ON THE STREET

???? Zero Gravity Hygiene

Now that you’ve saved up that cool?400K to take that trip into outer orbit, we want to make sure you take?good care of your hygiene.?The?proper hygiene in space stuff?turns out to be a?bit like camping, a?bit like being on a submarine, and?a lot like throwing your used clothes and dirty dishes out the window.?Appreciating the lengths one must take to stay clean in space may keep most germophobes landbound.

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? Catsup, Ketchup, WTF!

Good design is critical to the user experience.?Take, for example, Heinz's squeezable upside-down ketchup bottle. The plastic cap is designed to dispense a standard blob of sauce without spilling. It works -?but it can't be recycled easily.?Enter Kraft Heinz Company. They decided to?design an alternative,?and after nine years and 185K hours of product development, $1.2M in investment, and 45 different iterations,?a new design will be rolling out in the U.K. within the next couple of months. Can you say R+D Tax Credit?!?This lengthy redesign process is an ideal example of companies' difficulty in maintaining high eco-friendly standards.

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?? The Need For Speed

The slow yet steady march toward a quantum processor with real-world applications continues.?IBM announced the launch of its?Osprey quantum processor,?which features 433 qubits,?up from the 127 qubits of its 2021 Eagle processor.?IBM’s quantum roadmap includes two additional avian-themed stages: the 1,121-qubit Condor and 1,386-qubit Flamingo processors in 2023 and 2024 -- before it plans to hit the 4,000-qubit stage with its Kookaburra processor in 2025. We would have opted for naming it the?‘Roadrunner’?Meep, meep!?Modern real-time developments like VR, EV, high-encryption accounts, machine robotics, and medicinal research will rely on these bird brains.

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? And This Little Pinky…

Delaware is currently the only state without commercial air service - but not for long.?Ultra-low-cost startup Avelo Airlines?is not only?launching five new routes from the state's Wilmington Airport (ILG), but it's also opening a crew base. Avelo's move restores air service to the First State…and allows Americans the ability to go kiss the ring of Uncle Joe.

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?? Elite Accolades for Lite-Brite

The Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester?recently hosted the annual Toy Hall of Fame Ceremony.?Among the new winners was an iconic art set whose medium is colorful pegs.?Hasbro’s Lite-Brite has maintained its popularity for more than 50 years after being introduced in 1966. Marketed as a “magic light box,” the toy encourages kids to create glowing pictures by pushing colorful pegs into an illuminated black background.?For our youthful audience, imagine a fat iPad with spiny thorns that light up in different colors.?It may now make a comeback within the CBD community.

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?? Required Reading?

General Electric, the storied 130-year-old conglomerate that originated with Thomas Edison, has seen the cyclical ebbs and flows of success. William D. Cohan’s new book, ‘Power Failure,’?takes a deep dive into the rise and fall of GE, once the world’s most valuable company.?The early history of GE is fascinating not only for how it mirrors the dynamics between founders and funders in modern startups but also for how the company’s history repeats itself.?Power Failure?details the negotiations behind the many acquisitions and spinoffs that?fueled GE’s growth, such as its on-again-off-again?relationship with NBC?over the decades and the?complicated role of GE Capital. As conglomerates today are spun off into lesser parts,?this tale is a must-read for entrepreneurs?regardless of where they find themselves in their success cycle.

THE MONEY MINUTE WITH MRM

Why You Should Focus on Cash Flow?Right Now

with Matthew R. Meehan

The holidays -?and a (likely) recession?- are in the air.

Many small business owners already feel the squeeze, and unfortunately, it will probably get worse before it gets better.?That's why having ample cash flow and cash reserves is so important.?You need that wiggle room in the budget to account for times of economic upheaval.?If you want to keep the lights on, stay operational, purchase inventory and supplies, and retain employees - you need the funds to pay for it.

For a detailed breakdown of everything related to cash flow,?check out this article from business.org. And if you have funding-related questions, check out our programs and get in touch with us over at?Shield Advisory Group.

?? LAST CALL WITH THE LIQUID LUNCH PROJECT PODCAST

???Ep 78: Professional Development Solutions with Steve Gilman

Professional development opportunities: It doesn’t matter if you’re running a three-person operation or have hundreds of people on the payroll -?this is something every business and corporation should offer to their employees.

But all that takes time, energy, and resources. Enter today’s guest, Steve Gilman.?Steve is co-founder and CEO of OneRange, a professional development platform that helps business owners retain and grow top talent.?Their cloud-based application is a central hub where employees can access any training resource they want. It not only gives employees more freedom to discover what they are interested in and passionate about - but also helps employers identify potentially hidden strengths and opportunities for growth in their workers.?It’s a win-win for all parties involved.

What you’ll learn:

• Why retaining top talent is critical for your bottom line and productivity
• How OneRange simplifies and streamlines the training process
• How their data-driven system is changing the game in professional development
• How Steve’s background (military, professional ball, startups) influenced his current venture
• …and much more!

Listen Here

AROUND THE WEB

• That's one way to source locally.?A French woman is the recipient of a brand new nose?after doctors grew it...?on her arm.????? And yes - there are photos.
• The audacity.?Elon is scrapping free lunches AND remote work?(for most, anyway), and people?have a LOT to say...on the platform they all swore they were leaving.?To the Twitter employees who subscribe to The Weekly, here's a?helpful article??? about coping with this change. (We kid. Sorta.)
• If you want an example of product testing done right,?take a page out of Samsung's playbook. ???They used butt-shaped robots?(clad in jeans, we might add)?to "sit" on their phones to make sure they could take the pressure.