Small Businesses Turn to Alternative Funding for Loans |  |
- Small Businesses Turn to Alternative Funding for Loans
- Blackberry Introduces Smartphone with 5-Inch Screen
- 60 Plus Tools for Today’s Innovator
- What Makes My Application Slow: The Pipe or the Packet?
- 14 Ways to Boost Employee Morale
| Small Businesses Turn to Alternative Funding for Loans Posted: 19 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT
People are always looking for ways to invest their money so that they can get a positive return. But when it comes to opportunities, most people tend to stay on the traditional path; putting their money into stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money markets or CD's. But there are other ways, however, that a person can invest their money for a solid return. In 2013, peer-to-peer lending is one of the hot investment strategies that Wall Street is starting to take notice of. The reason is that it's expected that over $2 billion in loans will originate from peer-to-peer lending leader LendingTree this year and that number will likely double in 2014. Others are getting into the game as well. By 2016, peer-to-peer lenders in the U.S. will be originating $20 billion in loans annually, claims Jason Jones, an organizer of the LendIt Conference and partner at New York-based Disruption Credit, an investment firm focused on online lending. Renaud Laplanche, founder and CEO of LendingClub, stated in a speech to investors:
The attractive returns come from algorithms that screen prospective borrowers for risk; rejecting 90 percent of them. While the rejection rate may seem high, it was done to help reduce the default rates, which hovered around 17 percent at one time, that scared investors away. LendingTree also has no physical branches to help keep operating costs low. How Peer-to-Peer Lending WorksLike any loan, the interest rates the borrower gets are based primarily on their credit. The borrower fills out their application for the amount, usually up to $35,000, and purpose of the loan which they place online. Lenders then put money towards the loan; sometimes as little as $25 based on the interest rate set by the lending service and by the borrowers application. When a collective group of peers meets the borrowers amount, the loan is granted and is then paid back just like a traditional loan. Lenders who are savvy with this investment strategy have learned to spread their loans out to many borrowers, capitalizing on the higher-risk, high-reward borrowers who are assigned the higher interest rates while balancing out their lending portfolio with safer bets on borrowers who are more likely to pay everything back. And if the lenders and borrowers from one service can't agree, there are many others to choose from. Loans are often used for personal reasons, but more and more small businesses are starting to take advantage of peer-to-peer lending as a way to fund expansion or pay off debts. Since some businesses might need more than the typical $35,000 maximum, some peer-to-peer lending companies, like Dealstruck, decided to focus solely on the small business market offering loans between $100,000 to $1 million for two to five 3 year terms with interest rates between five and 15 percent. Says Dealstruck co-founder Ethan Senturia:
With no government backing, many financial insiders wonder how long peer-to-peer lending will remain a viable alternative for investors and borrowers alike. But as long as people continue to make money from it, the loans will most likely continue to be approved. Lending Photo via Shutterstock Correction: The name of LendingClub was inaccurately identified originally. The post Small Businesses Turn to Alternative Funding for Loans appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| Blackberry Introduces Smartphone with 5-Inch Screen Posted: 19 Sep 2013 01:30 PM PDT
The company that many first associated with mobile business communications has unveiled its latest answer to the smartphone market. The Blackberry Z30 includes a five-inch display screen, touch-screen keyboard and a battery the company claims can maintain power for up to 25 hours depending upon use. A video touting the new device (see below) shows emphasis on business use that includes video conferencing and a high level of mobile functionality over long periods. Specifically, Blackberry boasts a screen-size, video display and audio quality the company says will make participants on a video call feel as if they are in the same room. The company also says its projections on the device’s battery life are based on a mix of uses including networking and application use. In a prepared statement, Carlo Chiarello, Executive Vice President for Products at BlackBerry, said:
Other Blackberry Z30 FeaturesOther features, according to Blackberry, include:
The new phone is expected to be available as early as next week in the UK and Middle East. But users in the United States will have to wait until the Holiday season to get their hands on the device. Image: Blackberry The post Blackberry Introduces Smartphone with 5-Inch Screen appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 60 Plus Tools for Today’s Innovator Posted: 19 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Almost everyone wants to be known as innovative, to be an innovator. Companies and individuals seek to demonstrate that they are capable of “out of the box” thinking, as the saying goes. I have recently worked on some projects around innovation for companies like Verizon and Qualcomm and it got me to thinking – what about innovation tools to help my fellow small business owners to brainstorm, to create new products, to get rid of the innovation cramp and get the ideas flowing? Below are 60 plus innovation tools and sites that today’s innovators should check out. Innovation Tools1. Try the Visual Thesaurus to help stimulate your ideas in a visual way. You type in a word and it creates a web of links to synonyms. It encourages lateral thinking. There is a free 14-day trial.
2. Check out Visual Teams: Graphic Tools for Commitment, Innovation, and High Performance. This book is filled with visual ideas, including how to conduct innovation meetings in non-traditional places. 3. If you want to innovate by real-time whiteboarding-type drawing, try PabloDraw. It's at the MAC App store but has a cross-platform framework. 4. Jive is a tool that will allow you to collaborate with others in an online platform. It helps with internal collaboration, marketing, sales, and customer care. 5. Although not as eye appealing as some other online collaboration sites, Zoho combines collaboration applications with a suite of other applications. 6. Monitor your customer experience and what customers are saying about you with Google alerts. I use this to find out about my clients' competitors. 7. Along these lines, I like to search for #hashtags on Twitter or even on Google. Oftentimes, the tweet itself will reveal loads of other tags or terms that I missed. 8. Looking for an innovative new website design? Get inspired at Pattern Tap. It allows you to focus only on the elements of the website you are struggling with such as the header or navigation. Think of it as a search engine for designers — input a term and it showcases great design for that.
9. SyncSpace allows you to sketch with others in a whiteboard format but also lets you zoom in or out on certain parts of the sketch while doing it. 10. Quora is a forum for asking and answering questions. You list your interests and get to see all the questions and answers related to those interests. 11. Many of you have probably already participated in LinkedIn and there are some good innovation and small business communities. Check out our very own, too: Small Business Trends on LinkedIn. 12. Innovate with word clouds–text formed shapes–and see what others have created on Wordle. 13. Use Mindjet to help with your mind mapping collaboration. It acts as a whiteboard, project management, and collaboration base. 14. You can create diagrams through online collaboration or work entirely offline with creately. 15. Adobe Kuler allows you to create your own color schemes. Beginner tutorial Designing with Kuler is a must-watch.
16. Looking for new ways to get your group innovating together? Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers gives you about 80 games to get your crew on the right track. 17. Just about everyone has heard of Skype. The platform does audio and video, plus you can track your calls in an organized manner. 18. You can have your work proofed quickly and easily using ProofHQ. Create a proof for a variety of file types and your team will have the tools they need to review it. 19. Lucidchart not only offers mind mapping and diagramming software, but it enables users to collaborate on software prototypes, website wireframes, and UML designs. All accounts can collaborate, but each user is limited by his account features with free accounts getting very few. 20. For online collaboration, consider fmyi. Unlike other social networks, this one is private and allows you to track contacts, gather data, manage projects, and share your innovation files (or any file, really). 21. Turn brainstorming into a random game. Use these Harvey cards to help stimulate your innovation process. 22. Spiderscribe allows you to capture ideas and connect them in your mind map. It helps combine planning, visualizing, and organizing. 23. Make HP Virtual Rooms your virtual meeting place where you can share and store files for your meetings. 24. Do you want to achieve golden dimensions? Type one dimension into the Phiculator and it will give you the other dimension needed to achieve the golden ratio. Download only for the Mac OS. 25. 101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization – well-reviewed book on Amazon that describes different tools you can use to help drive innovation. 26. TitanFile is an online file sharing and collaboration cloud-based service that boasts tight security. 27. If you want mind mapping software that provides you with many features, sharing abilities, and styles, try iMindMap. 28. You can perform a variety of 3D modeling effects including animation with LightWave. This software costs depending on the features you need. 29. On the 3D modeling and scanning front, check out the Autodesk app: 123D Catch for iPad. Rockstar program. Look for their other free apps listed on the site.
30. For more a powerful, dedicated 3D scanner, then check out the folks at NextEngine 3D Scanner. I saw a very cool Jimi Hendrix statue that was scanned and 3D printed at a community college using their scanner. 31. Vyew is online whiteboarding that allows you to collaborate in an ad-supported version for free. It supports multiple formats and screen sharing. 32. Create charts, wireframes, and technical drawings using gliffy. I have mentioned this web-based software before and it is pretty awesome. 33. To innovate with prototypes across the Internet on Web, mobile, and enterprise applications, try pidoco. Think wireframes. 34. If you thought matching wine to a meal was tough, try font pairing. The folks at bonfx have the Big Book of Font Combinations available for sale. Overall, it is a good site for graphic design types. 35. If you are looking for free interactive whiteboard software, try Open-Sankore. It adapts to any device and files can be saved as a PDF. 36. Balsamiq allows you to collaborate with others using wireframes on a platform that is similar to a whiteboard. 37. If you find regular mind mapping to be boring and uninspiring, try Pinball. It is a unique way that challenges you to look differently at what you are creating. 38. Tagxedo allows you to innovate with word clouds and the put your designs on T-shirts, totes, and mugs. 39. If you want more interactivity in your conference room, try Luidia's eBeam. The hardware is a little pricey, but it can bring a truly collaborative whiteboard to your meeting. 40. DAZ3D is a unique 3D modeling software that is free, but the catch is you pay to buy content for the ad-ons such as clothing, figures, and environments. 41. Find innovation through controlled Web surfing. StumbleUpon is a website that connects you with websites that fit your interests. 42. Tired of mind maps with straight lines? Use Connected Mind from Google Chrome to create more organic mind maps. 43. Looking for a unified workspace with task management capabilities where you can stash all those ideas? Try Ubidesk. 44. You can use XMind to create unique mind maps that are well-organized and show relationships. 45. ScreenCastOMatic allows you to record your screen or webcam and create a mini-movie to share. Some of the tools are only offered through a $15/year subscription. The free service limits recording time to 15 minutes. 46. Solvr allows you to collaborate in real time with others you invite on a specific problem. 47. To animate 3D renderings, Blender offers free software that has made many improvements in the quality of designs it produces. 48. If you need to mashup a bunch of photos or videos into a hip music video (sorta), then you have to play with Animoto. Love their service.
49. Dropbox allows any files (data, video, text, and sound) to be shared across computers and with colleagues and clients. They offer a free two-week trial. 50. Freeplane is found on a wiki but offers mind mapping functions including post-its, password protection, ad-ons, and tasking. 51. Look at 12 real business models and get access to more from Board of Innovation. Some great downloadable tools for paper prototyping, posters, and brainstorming kits. Mostly free stuff. 52. A slightly odd innovation tool is called Personality Poker: The Playing Card Tool for Driving High Performance, Teamwork, and Innovation. This game helps identify personality types and shows how everyone can contribute to the team effort. One deck/book works for up to 6 people. Five star reviews on Amazon. 53. If you decide you need a lot more people in your innovation jam session, then check out the paid version of join.me which allows you to hold an online meeting with up to 250 participants. 54. SkyDrive Pro is a Microsoft product that allows you to sync files between Office SharePoint users. Get your share on. 55. Sometimes, you want a unique font for that special project. You find it, but have no idea what it is called. Try submitting it to WhatTheFont. If the automated search doesn't work, you can post it for other people to identify. 56. Microsoft OneNote is part of the Office Suite. It acts as a whiteboard and allows you to share through SkyDrive and SharePoint. I also love using Evernote with the Skitch add-on app. 57. Comapping uses mind mapping to manage and share information through files, notes, and organizational tools. It keeps everyone on the same page. 58. Another 3D rendering software that is free to download and use is Art of Illusion. 59. If you are looking for a secure private social network, you can try Yammer. It uses Internet domain addresses to identify the computers you want to collaborate on your project. 60. Intellinote allows you to take and organize notes on any device, collaborate, share files, and execute projects. 61. Metasequoia is 3D modeling software with both freeware and shareware versions. The advanced version gives you the ability to print to a 3D printer. 62. The Brain is mind-mapping software that allows you to access quickly the information you need. 63. You may find that all these innovation-type sites have made you batty and maybe just a bit frustrated with being "innovative." I highly recommend you download and play Fruit Ninja, then. Share your favorite innovation tools for keeping it creative in the comments. The post 60 Plus Tools for Today’s Innovator appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| What Makes My Application Slow: The Pipe or the Packet? Posted: 19 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Sponsored Post
It’s a common problem. Whether you are using your company's VPN (virtual private network) or you're having trouble with your IP telephone, or some other reason — the application you are using seems to be slow and sluggish. It frustrates end users, because the speed of these applications also changes at a pace that may seem random and is hard to predict. All your end users really care about is using the tools they need. And they want them to be fast, not sluggish. To be able to fix the problem, it helps to first understand what is causing it. So let's dive in and take a look. What Makes My Application Slow?Information, whether it is provided over the Internet or your own business network is all broken down into smaller pieces of data known as "packets." These data packets carry information about many things, including its destination (where its supposed to be going, such as your company database) and even error checking to be sure the packet made it in one piece. The speed, or amount of time it takes for a packet to cross the network from a device that created the packet (such as your laptop computer) to the destination device (such as your central business server) is called network latency. In other words, when you see the word latency in this context, think "delayed speed." There are a few factors that create latency issues. Network routers typically create the most latency of any device on the end-to-end path. Packet queuing due to link congestion is most often the culprit for large amounts of latency through a router. Some types of network technology such as satellite communications add large amounts of latency because of the time it takes for a packet to travel across the link. Since latency is cumulative, the more links and router hops (passes between multiple devices such as your computer, routers, Internet provider equipment and the equipment on the destination side) there are, the larger the end-to-end latency will be. The amount of available bandwidth also has a place in network and application speeds. Your available bandwidth is determined by the direction and destination of your information. I like to think about bandwidth from the context of plumbing. Sure enough, people often refer to bandwidth as “the size of the pipe.” So why not carry that analogy further? The pipe size is determined by the amount of available bandwidth on your local network first, but then by the size of your Internet pipe and the size of the destination pipe if the information is leaving your local network. So if you're on a gigabit network locally, but you have a 10MB Internet connection and your main office has a 100MB Internet connection you can see that the bottleneck may be your office Internet connection. But only if that pipe is full. That pipe may be full if several users are trying to use high bandwidth resources over the Internet at the same time. Each VPN connection will have overhead, or video conferencing, ip telephony shared between offices, etc. The weakest point between the locations can cause the bottleneck, just as too many traffic hops can cause latency. Some applications are more forgiving than others. Much of this revolves around whether an application will just send packets in one direction (User Datagram Protocol or UDP) or requires a connection to assure the data has arrived (Transmission Control Protocol or TCP). Both protocols have their upsides and downsides but every application uses one or the other based on the importance of the information So How Can I Speed Up My Company's Applications?Well, now we know what causes slow network applications, so lets take a look at how we can fix some of these issues. First, examine your latency. IT technicians perform a ping command between any computer having speed issues and the destination computer where you are trying to share resources, such as your server. This will show you the number of hops (or other network resources) your packet will take until it lands at its destination. Your goal is to take as many hops out of the equation as possible to shorten the trip. If you are using multiple Internet connections, it may be difficult to remove some hops. This is where the choice of technology makes a difference. A technology such as Metro Ethernet can really help you reduce that overhead. It provides a network between multiple physical locations without having multiple Internet connections as it does not use routers, in general. It uses switches, which are faster because they are not opening the packets as they flow through the network … making it one network and reducing the number of hops. Bandwidth is still important, however, for those who would be connecting outside of your office infrastructure. Be sure to carefully do the math on the needs of staff who will not work in your office and be sure to provide enough bandwidth for your current workload and theirs. Ultimately, if handled correctly, you can actually save money using a combination of increased bandwidth at a source location and a Metro Ethernet provider who can share all of your resources with lower overhead between office locations. * * * * * More detail on Metro Ethernet can be found here for those looking for deeper technical knowledge. Speed Photo via Shutterstock The post What Makes My Application Slow: The Pipe or the Packet? appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
| 14 Ways to Boost Employee Morale Posted: 19 Sep 2013 05:00 AM PDT
We’ve all been there: A project or task doesn’t go the way you thought it would. This can affect not only the business result, but also employee morale. So how do you pick up the pieces? We asked members of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an organization comprised of the country’s most promising young entrepreneurs, the following question to find out how they recover from a company mistake:
Here's what YEC community members had to say: 1. Turn It Into Opportunity “When something doesn’t go as planned, which happens nine times out of 10, it’s best to remind everyone involved in the project that it’s OK and that no one is to blame. Employees and partners can feel like they are responsible for something that is out of their control. Use it as an opportunity to regroup and reaffirm that you have to fail in order to succeed. It’s part of the cycle.” ~ Sarah Ware, Markerly 2. Go to the Movies “The best thing you can do is get a change of scenery and build a bond among your team members. It always works to get the project back on track.” ~ Suzanne Smith, Social Impact Architects 3. Listen to Them “As the president, I’ll often make assumptions about why a project has taken a turn. In reality, though, I’m infrequently right. My role is to highlight the issue and listen to my staff to help them uncover why the issue is occurring, then help them set a new plan to return to progress. That keeps them feeling respected and supported so they can return to doing great work.” ~ Corey Blake, Round Table Companies 4. Emphasize That Everything Is Experimental “I emphasize to my team that everything we do is an experiment. Sometimes our experiments are successes, and sometimes they’re failures. Training your team to not be afraid of failure makes them open to experimenting with innovative, risky ideas. Send them messages from the top down that failure is acceptable and, at times, even expected. It’s a natural part of being an agile, high-growth company. “ ~ Laura Roeder, LKR Social Media 5. Recognize the Small Wins “When you’re working toward a large goal, product launch or target and things aren’t really going according to plan (which is common in the startup world), it helps to have small achievements and milestones to keep the feeling of accomplishment and success in the team. It will boost productivity and keep everyone smiling.” ~ Christopher Pruijsen, Afrostart.io 6. Acknowledge the Elephant “Pretending the house isn’t on fire doesn’t make it burn any slower, but you’d be surprised how often leaders try to force something that just isn’t working. Instead, acknowledge what’s wrong and collaborate with your team to solve it with alternative ideas. When a team overcomes an obstacle, they feel empowered, and that boosts morale.” ~ Nick Friedman, College Hunks Hauling Junk and College Hunks Moving 7. Have a Warm Environment “We all know that in business (and in life), things don't always go as planned. If your team is putting forth a strong effort but facing challenges with a project or task, I think it's important to create a warm and encouraging environment where they feel they can talk honestly with you about the challenges. That way, you can work together on a game plan for moving forward.” ~ Tracy Foster, ONA 8. Create a Different Solution “When something goes wrong, you need to address it and not ignore it. Take time to think about the potential benefits of the situation and how you can capitalize on them. If there are truly none, come up with some new innovative strategies for your company, and get your employees excited about pursuing them.” ~ Carlo Cisco, FoodFan 9. Have Some Humor “When we have a project or task go awry, many times I’ll make lighthearted comments to generate a smile or laugh. Ultimately, there is nothing we can do about the past except learn from it and push forward. Dwelling on a failure is going to generate lower productivity. Happy team members produce more, so I always encourage doing things to improve attitudes as quickly as possible.” ~ Raoul Davis, Ascendant Group 10. Reward Them “Reward them when they least expect it. Is your commission-based sales team in a slump? Hit them with a bonus when times are tough. Just as the best time to invest is in a down economy, if you want your team around for the long term, the best time to invest in them is when times are tough.” ~ Matt Wilson, Under30Experiences 11. Relate to Them “Keep the project in perspective relative to progress that's being made at the company as a whole. As long as team members feel like big picture goals are moving forward, the ups and downs of an individual project should be less discouraging.” ~ Robert J. Moore, RJMetrics 12. Remind Them It’s a Team Project “Amidst the craziness at a startup, people often forget why they’re there to begin with and that everyone else is alongside them for the same reasons. A break to get everyone on the same page brings back the trust, communication and respect that’s worked so well before.” ~ Derek Flanzraich, Greatist 13. Re-focus on the Big Picture “People want to work on things that matter. So if morale is low, take a moment to remind your team of their important contributions and the impact that they make. People need to be inspired, so don't let your team lose focus on the big picture. Do what you can to create an atmosphere where everyone feels they're a part of what's happening, and be sure to allow some time for doing some fun things.” ~ Dries Buytaert, Drupal 14. Communicate Better “Communication and always setting clear, manageable goals can really help boost employee morale. A goal that is too large to be fully handled can be damaging to morale. Make sure all employees are on the same page and squash rumors immediately. Always be sure to keep your team in the loop as much as you can.” ~ Jay Wu, A Forever Recovery Motivated Photo via Shutterstock The post 14 Ways to Boost Employee Morale appeared first on Small Business Trends. |
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