How many times have you heard in recent times “Small business is getting crushed.” Or “40% of small businesses have closed their doors for good.” Or “You’ll own nothing and be happy.” To someone who is an eternal optimist, like me, all the negativity can drive people to “give up” their will to be in businesses. Yes, these are discouraging signs of deeper fissures in our economy, and yes, their effects will be felt for years. However, I challenge you to change your attitude about what’s possible during severe economic disruption and recognize it for the opportunity that it presents.

Why should we give Facebook and other media platforms another chance at all?

One of the major mistakes I see people make on their LinkedIn Profiles not exploiting the header graphic. This is premium real estate. Most people waste it. You have about 3 seconds to telegraph your value and capture a stranger’s interest on your website and I don’t see why it would be any different on your social media profiles.

Back in 2009, when bitcoin was quietly born in the form of an innocent whitepaper, people didn’t realize its disruptiveness. In fact, most people still don’t. Bitcoin permanently revolutionizes the world because of the digitalization power it presents. Although digitalization is a broad term, comprising many technological breakthroughs, the strong pattern emerging is that it promotes otherwise marginalized use cases and people to participate in harmony within society. The iterative process strongly blows the sails of the circular economy windmill - the main propeller for cryptocurrencies explosive growth.

Given the extra time, I have decided against removing any of my predictions however some of my predictions have taken on new dimensions in the final weeks of January. The time has further cemented my visions of what’s next and afforded me new insights into what I think will be a breakout year for anyone who possesses latent entrepreneurial instincts or the soul of an upstart.

The biggest reason generic resumes aren't effective is that every company is in the market for a different version of you. Ultimately the "you" that Company A wants to buy is different from the you that Company B is in the market for. This truth is essential to an understanding of why generic resumes don’t work. Resumes, as well as the individual themselves, must be tailor-made for the unique role they will assume.

So you want to get left behind in 2016, huh? Winning and leading from the front takes too much energy. I can understand if you need this year to catch your breath. For those of you who need to stop to smell the roses, here are some things to avoid in this new year, so you can do just that.

We've all been there. You spend what seems like an eternity problem-solving for a prospective customer or client, then... radio silence. Over time, I've developed five ways to help guarantee a followup response and bring the deal to a close so, here they are.