Amanda Baldwin, left, and Holly Thaggard, Supergoop’s CEO and founder, respectively. Supergoop’s values helped it stay focused throughout its history , including the 2008 recession. Amid fears of an imminent downturn, Supergoop’s founder and CEO look at how others can prepare. Here are their tips on building a recession-proof business. Sign up for our weekday newsletter, packed with original analysis, news, and trends — delivered right to your inbox. Something is loading. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you’re on the go. Email address By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . "We’re teachers and students" is one of the 10 values painted on the walls of Supergoop’s New York City office. The list serves as a reminder of the company’s greater goals, Holly Thaggard, who founded the company in 2007 , said. Remembering its core values has helped the company through its 15-year history, which includes the 2008 recession , Thaggard and Supergoop CEO Amanda Baldwin told Insider. Those same beliefs are guiding their team as it prepares for and reacts […]

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Guests visit attractions at the 2020 World Ag Expo in Tulare, Calif.Tim Hearden One of the West Coast’s premier farm shows is getting underway this morning, Feb. 14, in Tulare, Calif. Gates will open at 9 a.m. at the International Agri-Center for the 56th annual World Ag Expo, with an awards ceremony for Top-10 New Products Winners and “We Believe in Growing” scholarship winners. Local, state and national business and political leaders will attend the opening of the show, which runs through Thursday, Feb. 16. The ceremony will be followed by the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture 2023 Farm Bill Listening Session at 10 a.m. in the Banquet Hall. The event will bring together farmers, ranchers, producers, agribusiness owners, and more to solicit public feedback—an integral part of the Farm Bill reauthorization process. Session details and panel updates are available at https://bit.ly/WAE23FarmBillSession . Seminars will kick off at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday and run throughout the three-day show at the Seminar Center on the southeast end of the grounds. Sessions on Dairy, Water, International Trade, and more can be found in classroom-style buildings at the corner of U & South Street. The full seminar schedule can be viewed at […]

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European businesses in Shanghai are calling on the Chinese government to restore foreign business confidence and take steps toward repairing fraught international ties now that Covid Zero is over. China should eliminate barriers to investment faced by foreign firms, as well as promote the yuan’s internationalization and strengthen financial support for smaller companies, the European Chamber of Commerce’s Shanghai chapter wrote in its annual report published Tuesday. “Much more remains to be done to restore Shanghai’s reputation as a great place to live and conduct business” following last year’s spring Covid lockdown, Bettina Schoen-Behanzin, chair of the chapter, wrote in the report. The citywide restrictions brought business to a standstill and confined residents to their homes for months. Foreign direct investment fell and portfolio investment dropped as well Foreign businesses slowed down their investments in or even pulled money out of China last year as a housing slump and the government’s stringent virus controls pushed economic growth to its second-slowest pace since the 1970s. Rising geopolitical tensions added to the uncertainty, and the amount of new utilized foreign direct investment in both November and December fell more than 20% below the same months in 2021, according to data from […]

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Virtuzone launches SWYFT Plan, the region’s first business plan software powered by OpenAI. SWYFT Plan allows entrepreneurs to create a ‘best practice’ business plan in less than 10 minutes. The AI-assisted business plan builder generates business plans that comply with requirements set by free zone authorities and banks in the UAE. SWYFT Plan is currently in the beta testing phase and is free for use. Interested users can now sign up at swyftplan.com . DUBAI, UAE, Feb. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The UAE’s leading Company Formation Specialists and award-winning corporate services provider, Virtuzone, is launching SWYFT Plan by Virtuzone, an automated business plan builder powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT to allow users to generate a complete business plan in less than 10 minutes. Designed to support and advance entrepreneurship in the UAE, the AI-assisted business plan builder generates business plans that comply with criteria and requirements set by free zone authorities and banks in the UAE. Continue Reading The AI-assisted business plan builder generates business plans that satisfy the documentation requirements for setting up a business or opening a bank account in the UAE. As of now, SWYFT Plan by Virtuzone is the only AI-driven business plan builder in the […]

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Small business owners see some inflation pressures easing, but remain "cynical" about the overall U.S. economic outlook. The National Federation of Independent Business’ (NFIB) optimism index rose 0.5 to 90.3 last month, an improvement from 89.8 in December. Still, this reading remains below the 49-year average for the index, the NFIB said in a release on Tuesday. Stay ahead of the market Two areas that continue to weigh on small business sentiment are labor and inflation. Twenty-six percent of owners say inflation was their single biggest dilemma when managing their business. Additionally, the outlook remains tough to get excited about for most respondents. "While inflation is starting to ease for small businesses, owners remain cynical about future business conditions," NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg said in a statement . "Count small business owners among the crowd predicting a recession," Dunkelberg wrote in the report . "The Index of Small Business Optimism has been in recession territory all last year and into 2023. If it weren’t for the Job Openings and Hiring Plans components, the Index would be much lower." Data from NFIB’s monthly jobs report showed 57% of owners were trying to hire new employees at the start of […]

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Gabriela is the Founder of the Latino Wall Street movement, which provides financial education to the Latino community. getty As a business owner, you are no doubt always looking for ways to improve your company’s finances. One effective tactic I came across recently is taking advantage of the Employee Retention Credit. This government grant, which was made available through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, enables businesses that have been adversely affected by Covid-19 to receive monetary compensation from the IRS for having retained employees during 2020 and 2021. Not only can the ERC potentially benefit you financially in the short term through you receiving a check, but it can also help your company in the long term by allowing you to reinvest the capital and hire new workers as needed. Whether you’re a business owner or just someone looking to help businesses financially, it is crucial to stay up to date on government grants you may be eligible for. I couldn’t think of anyone better than Josh Fox, founder of Bottom Line Concepts, to have a conversation with about the ERC. The following are three things I learned from Fox about the ERC: 1. Eligible businesses […]

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getty Businesses worldwide are undergoing digital transformation and dominating the market today. Small companies are also harnessing digital transformation’s power, modernizing business models, optimizing internal processes and building new value chains. According to Cisco , they are expected to increase GDP growth by about $2.3 trillion by speeding the digital transformation initiatives. Transitioning to digital initiatives comes with its fair share of challenges, but a well-planned implementation strategy could serve as a gold mine to help get the most out of your business. The cornerstone of ultimate digital transformation is redefining how a business does business with digital technology at the leading edge. It is an opportunity for small businesses to embrace technology that boosts efficiency and improves agility creating fundamental change. This includes developing new business processes and improving team culture and customer experiences. So, what efforts should small businesses make to guarantee they implement the best digital transformation strategies? This article will help you as it outlines the best practices for creating a winning plan and serves as a guide for small businesses. 1. Think big, start small. When developing your digital strategy, thinking big can help you embrace the possibilities and explore all potential solutions to […]

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Getty It’s a five-alarm fire for your business, with critical applications knocked offline and operations grinding to a halt. Your top engineers are working furiously to fix the outage, poring over every part of the business network. The problem: Your “business network” is no longer confined to the corporate local- and wide-area network (LAN/WAN). Even basic IT operations now depend on a sprawling web of software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers, cloud infrastructure, application programming interfaces (APIs) and third-party web services. Issues in any one of them can wreak havoc on your operations—and none are under your direct control. Welcome to the new normal, where the lines that used to separate your network from the internet no longer exist. As you integrate more third-party services into your IT stack, you can do amazing things, like enabling your workforce to work productively from anywhere. But you also introduce more complexity, new interdependencies and more possibilities for something to go wrong. The internet is now your business network, and things will never be the same. Living With Distributed IT Covid-19 changed everything for corporate IT environments. In just a few months, businesses found themselves relying on remote workforces, and much of the world’s digital […]

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WARRIOR RISING SDVETP Are you a Veteran with aspirations of entrepreneurship and business ownership? Do you need guidance to help you put your idea into action? Warrior Rising is positioned to help you. A non-profit organization launched by Veterans for Veterans in 2015, Warrior Rising is dedicated to transforming Veterans into “Vetrepreneurs,” providing them opportunities to create sustainable businesses, perpetuate the hiring of fellow American Veterans and earn their future. Warrior Rising’s next free online course for Vetrepreneurs starts on Feb. 22. You need to apply no later than 6 p.m. EST on Feb. 22 at Warrior Rising SDVET Program Registration . The next presentation of this course will be in May 2023. This free Service-Disabled Veteran Entrepreneurs (SDVET) program includes four weeks of web-based instruction, followed by participation in other programs offered by Warrior Rising: Warrior Academy, VETtoCEO, virtual-live coaching-mentoring sessions. Take note of the following course information: Introduction and overview of starting a business, as well as advantages to purchasing an existing business or starting a franchise. Identifying opportunities in business. Understanding markets and competitive space. Building your economic model. Legal entity structuring and insurance. Financing options, including the latest in capital agreements, ex “SAFE” agreements. Business […]

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APPOINTMENT: NAVAC appointed Brian Cox as director of sales for its industrial vacuum business unit. (Courtesy of NAVAC) LYNDHURST, N.J. — NAVAC, a supplier of HVAC vacuum pumps in addition to a wide array of tools, gauges, charging machines, recovery units and industry-specific items, has hired industry veteran Brian Cox as director of sales for its industrial vacuum business unit. The announcement comes on the heels of strong 2022 North American sales for the company, both in industrial vacuums and its other major business unit, HVAC tools. Cox has more than three decades of sales and business development experience in the industrial vacuum sector. Most recently, he oversaw business development for Nashua, N.H.-based Pfeiffer Vacuum. Earlier in his career, Cox held management-level roles with Leybold USA and Busch Vacuum Solutions, among other companies. Over its first five years operating in North America, NAVAC has quickly established itself as a major supplier to the HVACR sector. This is evidenced not only by upwardly-trending sales, but also a growing workforce and inroads into a variety of high-leverage markets. Cox will be based in the Boston area (Nashua, N.H.). “Brian brings with him a stellar track record for successful sales growth and […]

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