Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways Positioning, reputation, insight, networks and trust (PRINT assets) do not appear on the balance sheet, but they make businesses more durable. They make growth less dependent on brute force, client acquisition less random and losses less frightening. They can turn a business from something fragile into something far more resilient. The goal is not to eliminate surprise losses; it’s to build a company that’s not badly damaged by those surprises — one with intangible assets that help replace what is lost and create new opportunities faster than before. I first…
Author: Staff Writer
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways The best marketing emails don’t try to close the sale in the inbox — they earn the click and let the landing page do the selling, which changes how you write every part of the email from the subject line to the CTA. Curiosity is the highest-leverage tool in email marketing, but only if it’s a contract: open the loop in the subject line, hold it through the body and close it on the landing page — because a click that leads nowhere destroys the trust your next open depends…
Buyers beware: Starting on Monday, new rules from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go into effect that could make it trickier to obtain a mortgage for a condo. The new policies, announced by the two government-sponsored enterprises back in March, could add some complexity to the sales process as the condo association will face new scrutiny as part of the loan approval process. While the goal is to better identify condominium buildings that may pose financial or structural risks to buyers, the new lending policies could add pressure to an already-challenged area of the housing market in many cities. Condo…
Two people have died in the cyclospora outbreak in Michigan, state health officials announced Monday, the first deaths confirmed in the U.S. related to the microscopic parasite. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said both people had underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by the intestinal illness and dehydration. The department said it would not provide additional information about the deaths. Cyclospora is a microscopic, spherical parasite that commonly causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Outbreaks tend to occur most often in the late spring and summer.…
Balaji Srinivasan believes America is heading toward collapse. So he set out to build his own country instead. The former Coinbase CTO spent two years running the Network School in a ghost city in Malaysia, where founders paid $1,500 a month for room, board and classes on a campus that also included a high-end gym and meals designed by longevity guru Bryan Johnson, according to the Wall Street Journal. The plan called for online communities to pool resources and eventually declare sovereignty. But residents complained of moldy rooms, no nightlife and a lack of women. An Instagram post claiming the…
Leopold Aschenbrenner was once dubbed the “Nostradamus of AI” for a viral essay predicting a wave of transformative artificial intelligence. But his hedge fund didn’t see its own meltdown coming. The 24-year-old former OpenAI researcher launched Situational Awareness in 2024 with $100 million from prominent tech investors, the New York Times reported. Turns out the company wasn’t as situationally aware of AI investment volatility. It poured money into AI-adjacent startups and data center companies, at one point quadrupling investor money and growing to roughly $30 billion. Then AI stocks dropped sharply. Goldman Sachs, one of the fund’s largest lenders, demanded…
Roughly 720,000 people stopped working or looking for work between May and June, according to CNBC, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The mass exodus spans both men and women, with most dropouts between ages 25 and 34. Why is this happening? Economists point to a mix of factors: elevated long-term unemployment, mental health strain from prolonged job searches, and fewer flexible or remote roles for parents and workers with disabilities. For business owners, the numbers cut both ways. A shrinking labor pool means more competition for talent already in the workforce, but it may also mean a deeper bench…
A series of devastating wildfires near Spokane, Washington, has destroyed roughly 600 structures, forced the evacuation of thousands of people, and remained 0% contained as of Monday morning. The fires—collectively being referred to as the Spokane Complex Fire—have so far burned more than 7,700 acres, NBC News reports. The Complex Fire comprises three distinct fires: the Old Trails Fire, the Fairview Fire, and the Autumn Lane Fire. Spokane is Washington’s second largest city and located in the eastern part of the state, near the boarder with Idaho. Lisa Brown, the city’s mayor, said in a news conference on Sunday that…
Leadership positions may be the stuff of envy. From the outside, it can look like the person in charge has it all figured out. But leaders are human, too. And that means bumping up against some harsh realities as they ascend to roles with increasing responsibility. Great leaders take the lessons they learn along the way and make it part of the way they do business. We asked members of the Fast Company Impact Council what’s one leadership lesson they learned the hard way? Fifteen of them shared the leadership wisdom they earned in the school of hard knocks. 1.…
Deep in a curve of the Alabama River is the small rural community of Gee’s Bend. The site of a former cotton plantation where the residents trace their lineage to enslaved ancestors, it has recently become known for some of the most creative abstract art in America. The medium isn’t a canvas or sculpture: It’s the quilt.For centuries, the women of Gee’s Bend faced extreme poverty and isolation. They would save up whatever scraps were on hand—worn out denim workwear, faded rags, old feed sacks—sewing them together to make blankets for the winter. The quilters had an eye for beauty,…