4/5/2024 How Can Startups Leverage Social Media for Brand Building? (Entrepreneur) “A proven method of leveraging social media for brand building is to have members of your team join and engage in relevant Facebook groups.”

3/27/2024 An 18-point playbook to combat age discrimination at work (Fast Company, Jen Emmons) “The best way to reduce generational tension is by treating people as individuals rather than according to age-related or other stereotypes. Approach each situation as if everyone intends to bring value, and enjoy learning about their unique perspectives.”

3/13/2024 How Are Editors Using AI in 2024? (Entrepreneur) “I love to use generative AI to help with crafting engaging article titles.”

8/31/2023 Nearly 60% of Americans Dream of Quitting Their Jobs To Become Entrepreneurs, Survey Finds (GoBankingRates, Syndicated to Yahoo Finance, AOL, Nasdaq, MSN, Angela Mae) “Life is about purpose. Often people think they’re unhappy because they’re not making enough money, but the truth is they’re unhappy because their lives don’t feel purposeful.”

7/18/2023 AI Tools Can Help You Job Hunt—And Quit, Severance Pay And Using Emojis At Work (Forbes Careers Newsletter, Emmy Lucas) “Add these books and videos to your to-do list: In Back After Burnout, author Dennis Consorte pulls from his own career and life experiences as well as leadership experts and psychologists to outline the MASHPLAY framework to help workers recover from burnout.”

5/22/2023 The Top Fears and Dangers of Generative AI — and What to Do About Them (Entrepreneur) Here are a few of the biggest reasons people fear generative AI and potential solutions for each.

4/22/2023 12 Clever Ways to Maintain Brand Awareness Throughout the Year (All Business) “A content calendar is a powerful PR tool, and when you layer in the four seasons, it keeps you mindful of changing mindsets, interests, and activities.”

4/17/2023 10 things you should never do as a first-time manager (Fast Company) “Today, my time is more valuable working on what I excel at. But that is grounded in the humility that I will ask no one to do anything that I wouldn’t do myself.”

3/13/2023 Workers worried about a ‘looming recession’ pick up more side hustles (Yahoo Finance, Vera Gibbons) “There’s a cultural shift going on, and this shift toward multiple gigs is an indicator of what’s ahead as we get deeper into recession.”

1/16/2023 How to Outrank AI-Generated Content With Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness (Entrepreneur) You can leverage Google EAT (now, EEAT) and other tactics to outrank AI-generated content, spammers and your competition.

1/3/2022 Offered a company buyout? How long should you think about it? (WTOP, Jeff Clabaugh) Interview regarding a Resume Builder study on voluntary separation. “Employees typically give companies two weeks. It should be the same for the employer.”
Listen to the audio here

11/15/2022 1 in 20 workers will quit if transparency laws reveal they are paid less than co-workers (Resume Builder)

11/15/2022 4 in 10 Asian Americans say affirmative action is racist (Intelligent.com) “The debate is over whether equity, rather than equality, is the best way to give historically marginalized groups better access to opportunities like higher education.”

10/30/2022 How to Become an Entrepreneur: Tips From Meal Prep on Fleek Founder Nick Quintero (Fee.org, Joshua Glawson) “One challenge with entrepreneurship is staying motivated after the initial excitement about an idea wears off.”

10/25/2022 Expert advice on landing the salary you want (Fast Company, Brett Farmiloe) “When people feel threatened, the natural response is to get defensive. So, framing a request for a salary increase in this way is unlikely to be persuasive and may work against you.”

10/17/2022 Level Up Your Publicity Campaign in Just a Few Steps With This Alternative Method (Entrepreneur) How can you get critical media placements amidst all the noise? One way is by crafting and promoting data stories. Here’s how to do it.

10/28/2022 Use data to tell stories that communicate complex information to a broad audience (YouGov, syndicated from Entrepreneur)

10/28/2022 50 Core Values Examples to Help You Build a Strong Company Culture (ClickUp, Leila Cruz) “Our core values of hope, community, empowerment, and transformation make this success much more likely to happen.”

10/17/2022 The RTO Battle: 9 in 10 Companies Will Fire Non-Compliers, While Half of Workers Say They’ll Quit if Forced (Digital.com) “You have to decide on your company culture, and weigh the risks and benefits of bringing people back to the office.”

10/5/2022 Quiet Firing Is the Passive-Aggressive Response to Quiet Quitting — Here’s Why It Fails (Entrepreneur) Don’t use tactics like constructive dismissal to pressure people into leaving your organization. Improve your company culture with these techniques instead.

10/4/2022 E-commerce CRO Agencies Guide: How to Win Clients Without Promising (Ridiculous) Uplifts (Convert.com) “When it comes to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), math can be very persuasive. Ask your e-commerce client to share some metrics including traffic volume, the current conversion rate, the average order value, and the average lifetime value of a customer. Plug these numbers into a spreadsheet with a few formulas. Then show them the effect of an increase in the conversion rate by a fraction of a percent, or the average order value by a few dollars.”

10/4/2022 How to Overcome Burnout If You’re Thinking of Quiet Quitting (The Frisky, Wendy Stokes) “If you’re feeling fatigued, irritable, and find yourself frequently missing deadlines or delivering work that’s below your own standards, you could be experiencing professional burnout.”

9/15/2022 How local governments are surveilling workers (daily dot, Camryn Garza) “Instead of measuring the hours that people work, it’s much more effective to measure the value they produce.”

9/9/2022 12 Decision-Making Strengths and Blind Spots from Startup Leaders (Startup Blogpost) Learn to apply empathy to data-driven business decisions.

9/8/2022 1 in 3 managers have responded to ‘quiet quitting’ with ‘quiet firing’ (Resume Builder) To find out how managers view quiet quitting, ResumeBuilder.com surveyed 1,000 managers with at least one direct report, in September.

9/1/2022 The 3 Cs of Content Creation That Will Make You Stand Out Online (Entrepreneur, Dennis Consorte) Create the ultimate link magnet to drive your domain authority and rank better.

8/24/2022 Traveling While Working Can Prevent Burnout. Here’s How to Do It Right. (Entrepreneur, Dennis Consorte) If you want to travel while working, your goal should be to maximize enjoyment while minimizing disruptions. Try these tips to plan your next workcation.

8/19/2022 Reverse Mentoring for Businesses (Hubspot/The Hustle, Saphia Lanier) “Start with a team meeting to brainstorm your core values and give younger members a platform to express their ideas. Tell them why their voice matters and ask open-ended questions that get people talking. Ask for stories and then draw conclusions as a group.”

8/15/2022 1 in 10 Workers Laid Off in 2022 Plan to Start Their Own Business (Digital.com) “The right connections will help you to get the right resources for your business, and will open doors to a new career if things don’t work out with your startup.”

7/12/2022 Beyond Crypto: The Tech Behind the Blockchain And How to Invest in It (Nasdaq, Ari Zoldan) “Pay attention to the utility of blockchain technology in new spaces. For example, Web 3.0 is a movement towards a decentralized web. I would take a hard look at companies that use blockchain technology to connect people in new ways.”

6/27/2022 Inflation may force 2 in 3 small businesses to close in 2022 (Digital.com) “Small businesses have struggled to survive two years of COVID lockdowns. Many of those that made it through are likely to be low on the resources and energy required to now survive the highest levels of inflation in 40 years.”

6/6/2022 12 Tips for Changing Marketing Careers (American Marketing Association, Colorado) “When you want to switch careers within marketing, start by leveraging your existing relationships.”

6/1/2022 17% of 2022 college grads run their own businesses; another 43% plan to follow suit (Intelligent.com) “The gig economy is booming, decentralization is entering every aspect of our lives, and in our mobile-first society, young people are wired for life on the go. Business ownership will enable this generation of workers to maintain flexibility while exploring their passions in ways they couldn’t previously.”

5/21/2022 A psychologist explains why negativity dominates your daily thoughts, and what to do about it (Fast Company, Merilee A. Kern) “The media sensationalizes stories to drive clicks and views. Negative people often project their negativity on the rest of us, too, both in person and over social media. When this happens, it’s best to focus on those things that are within your control to get the positive outcomes you want.”

5/2/2022 Are You For a Four Day Work Week? (WKHM) “The five-day work-week is a remnant of the industrial era.”

3/31/2022 Pain At The Pump: How Companies Are Helping Employees Offset Surging Gas Prices (Forbes, Emmy Lucas) Dennis Consorte, a small business consultant at review website Digital.com, says the record-high gas prices have taken the greatest toll on small businesses and lower-income workers, who “have the most barriers to success.”

3/29/2022 SMBs Lack Cyber Protection, Many Think They’re Too Small To Need It, Study Finds (MediaPost, Ray Schultz) Dennis Consorte says: “Customer data is valuable, and bad actors will stop at nothing to get it. In fact, they may target SMBs because they have less budget for protecting their customers’ information and are therefore softer targets.”

3/27/2022 Study: SMBs At Risk For Cyberattacks (Biz Report, Kristina Knight) “Companies of all sizes should take cybersecurity seriously,” said Dennis Consorte, a small business consultant.

3/22/2022 51% of small business admit to leaving customer data unsecure (Digital.com) “Customers trust companies more when there is transparency. If you are the victim of a cyberattack, you need to let your customers know promptly. Tell them what happened, what steps you will take to remedy the problem, and what they need to do to secure their logins, finances, and other personal information.”

3/15/2022 62% of Businesses Moving Toward a 4-Day Workweek (Digital.com) “The five-day work-week is a remnant of the industrial era. It was a way to reduce people’s shifts from even longer work-weeks, partly for religious reasons. I would argue that it was also due to better technology that required less human activity.”

3/9/2022 Is Black History Month marketing offensive? (Yahoo, Maiysha Kai) – link only – A survey of 1,300 Black Americans found many feel the answer is the latter; one in five respondents said they find Black History Month marketing offensive, causing them to question the motives of brands that participate in them, reports Digital.com.

2/2/2022 How to Invest in NFTs (Nasdaq, Ari Zoldan) “The next frontier for ecommerce is the metaverse. Luxury brands like Louis Vuitton are already inserting RFID chips into their products, making every item unique. Once brands cross over into the NFT space, they’ll be able to sell non-fungible products that have digital counterparts in the metaverse with special characteristics.”

1/31/2022 Dreaming of starting your own business? You’re not alone. (Crain’s Chicago Business, H. Lee Murphy) “If you’re working from home, your overhead is low and that makes the jump to starting up your own business easy. Technology has made it all possible.”

1/31/2022 The Pandemic’s Toll on Retirement Accounts (Nasdaq, ETF Trends) Dennis Consorte, a small business expert, cautions, “with two in five Americans planning on starting a business this year, a good portion will likely pull from their retirement accounts to fund these ventures.”

1/30/2022 Great Resignation could fuel more withdrawals from retirement accounts (Yahoo Money, Vera Gibbons) “With two in five Americans planning on starting a business this year, a good portion will likely pull from their retirement accounts to fund these ventures.”

1/25/2022 The Most Common Small Business Mistakes (Forbes, Caroline Castrillon) “One of the drivers for The Great Resignation is that people want to feel a sense of purpose. Business ownership can give you the flexibility to pursue what matters to you in a way you believe will be most meaningful and impactful.”

1/25/2022 Americans Starting New Businesses (Veronica Carter, Alpha Media USA, aired on 207 radio stations in 44 regional markets across the country) We moved a lot during the pandemic, we quit our jobs, and we want to start our own business.  43% of Americans plan to open up their own shop….many for the first time.   That’s what DIGITAL.COM found in a new survey.  Spokesman Dennis Consorte: people have always dreamed about owning a business, but the number of people actually doing it has skyrocketed.  (note: I meant 500k business registrations per month, not per year) Listen to the audio clip here

1/24/2022 2 in 5 Americans Plan on Starting a Business in 2022 (Digital.com) “It’s not surprising that retail is at the top of the list. The product is tangible and easy to conceptualize, especially for visually-oriented people,” Consorte says.

3/1/2022 1 in 5 Black Americans Find Black History Month Promotions Offensive (Digital.com) “Intentions and outcomes both matter. The Conscious Capitalism movement centers on four pillars: purpose, culture, stakeholders, and leadership. Within this framework, you can celebrate Black History Month as a company to produce both profits and positive social outcomes.”

12/2/2021 Companies are pocketing their fattest profits in more than 70 years, even as they complain about inflation (Business Insider) “Businesses are inflating already inflated prices in order to turn a bigger profit amid people’s fears over uncertain times.”

11/30/2021 More than half of retail businesses are using inflation to price gouge (Digital.com)”What’s interesting about our findings is that more than half of respondents say that while they used inflation as a reason for price increases, they expect higher profits as a result.”

11/16/2021 The Importance of a Business Web Presence with Dennis Consorte (52 TV stations) Interviewed by Andy Hirschfeld. Business Brief is carried on 52 NewsNet TV stations affiliated with ABC, CBS, CW, and FOX, including KTBY Fox 4 Anchorage, CW – WISH-TV Indianapolis, and WLJP/NJNN in NJ with an audience reach of 2.6 million.

11/13/2021 Many remote workers are also working a 2nd job (WTOP, Jeff Clabaugh) “We need to change our mindsets to one that is more outcome driven and less output driven. And if they can create that value in fewer hours, as long as they are meeting expectations, it shouldn’t be a problem.” Listen to the Audio Clip Here

11/8/2021 ‘The Great Resignation’ is creating more entrepreneurs, side hustlers, and freelancers (Yahoo Finance, Vera Gibbons) “Some (companies) are even giving employees ultimatums if they don’t come back, they’re going to get fired. I think this will result in more people reaching their tipping point and throwing their hat into the entrepreneurial ring.”

11/8/2021 Many remote workers are also working a 2nd job (WTOP, Jeff Clabaugh) “We need to change our mindsets to one that is more outcome driven and less output driven. And if they can create that value in fewer hours, as long as they are meeting expectations, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

10/18/2021 Working remotely? Your boss may still be looking over your shoulder (WTOP, Jeff Clabaugh) “When you decide to use monitoring software and when you monitor peoples’ behavior, it creates a level of anxiety. It makes a really negative environment because they are not being more productive because they want to be. They are being more productive because they’re fearful of the repercussions.” Listen to the Audio on WTOP here

10/8/2021 5 Things You Need To Know To Create A Highly Successful E-commerce Business (Authority Magazine) In this interview and accompanying video, I share some of my background, and several tips for starting and running an ecommerce business. Although some of this touches on KPIs, marketing, and operations, my focus is on helping you to develop a great mindset.