Employers Added 528,000 Jobs in July   Last week we were looking at the specter of businesses being hit with a double whammy of inflation and recession. Even with the hot labor market, some experts were warning of recession. We all knew that the labor market was hot, but we didn't know exactly how HOT it really is.   In fact, economists and White House officials had expected to see a slowdown in job growth in July, due to troubling economic indicators as well as the lost of trillions of dollars of value in the financial markets this year. However, that didn't happen.   The addition...

ASN WILL BE CLOSED MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022 IN HONOR OF VICTORY DAY   ENJOY AND BE SAFE!

Image from Forbes     Inflation AND Recession?   It really seems like we can't catch a break. First we survive a two-year plus pandemic, worker shortages, and supply chain issues, and now we have to worry about the double-whammy of inflation and possible recession. What's a business owner to do?   Well according to a reason article in Inc., there are a few strategies we can apply to cushion the blow.   According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Q4 2021 Small Business Index survey, 71% of owners report that rising prices have significantly impacted their business in the past year. Needless to say, inflation is affecting all of us...

“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Every mind is a building filled with archaic furniture. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.”  Dee Hock, founder of Visa Credit Care       Phase Transitions and Creativity   Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.   The key to most creativity is the usefulness of the end result. The “usefulness” of a work of art can be difficult, if...

“The future is uncertain... but this uncertainty is at the very heart of human creativity” Ilya Prigogine     How Uncertainty Can be a Good Thing (Adapted from an article by Elissa Schwartz, founder of Apercu Advisors)   Let’s imagine you’re standing in front of two doors.   You have two options.   Open Door 1 and get an ELECTRIC SHOCK.   Or choose the mystery behind Door 2.   Door 2 could be better or worse than Door 1, but you won't find out until you open it.   What do you choose?   Which door would you open?   Most folks would open Door 1.1   That's because most of us would rather have certain pain than gambling with the unknown. And that's true...