1- Your best friend’s sister

The woman you know the best will often appeal to you the most. But if she is your best friend’s sister, getting lucky can mean two months of fun followed by the need to move to another part of the city. As soon as siz becomes sweetheart, you’ll be walking on eggshells with your buddy. Gone are the days of complaining to your friend about your women troubles because the conflict of interest ruins the good times, and the first time you make a mess of things, he will likely want to beat your ass.

2- Your secretary

There are plenty of reasons to keep your mitts off the help. It can get you into all kinds of trouble — legal and otherwise — should the relationship go south. But even if the fling goes well, you have problems. You’ll soon be tempted to push the limits of what you can get away with at work, perhaps in the janitor’s closet. Love at the office is an enormous distraction from your work, especially if you are in charge of her. Others are always watching what you are doing. Worst of all, once the relationship ends, she will enjoy leverage over you, and may use it simply by gossiping about what happened in the aforementioned closet.

3- The ex-girlfriend

Ex-girlfriends are one of the 7 women you can never date. Yet, the ex-girlfriend becomes increasingly seductive as loneliness sets in. After several years, you can easily get blown away when she follows you up. She might clean your apartment one day while you were getting loaded at happy hour, and you’ll want her there permanently. The loneliness will make you forget the reason the two of you broke up in the first place, but should you jump back into the relationship, those reasons will resurface in no time.

4- The hot trailer girl

The scenario here goes something like this: You were in the club enjoying the company of a young strange woman whose breasts were rubbing against you like two sea lions on a beach, and then you got confused. You enjoyed the one-nighter; but the next time you see her at bar time, you would be wise to end up at Njuguna’s Nyam Chom!

5- Your friend’s ex

When you witness the breakup of your buddy and his hot girlfriend, your mind will invariably wander to a place better left untouched. Since you’ve spent lots of time around her, you already have an established relationship — albeit a non-sexual one. Chances are you already imagined what it would be like while she was still dating your pal, and her new freedom may pique your interest, but be forewarned: If you value your friendship, avoid her at all costs. What men forget to consider is the aftermath of hooking up with a friend’s ex. The word will spread to everyone else in your circle about what type of a friend you are, and you’ll kill your own reputation. It doesn’t matter how long ago they broke up, whether they’re friends now or not, if your buddy’s replaced her with a new girlfriend, the answer is always no. Unless, of course, you enjoy getting your ass kicked!

6- The high-maintenance piranha

If you value your money and your manhood, the high-maintenance chick is to be avoided. She will love you for your increased earnings at first, but then will consider you to be a soulless workaholic incapable of intimacy. Once you’ve built up a nest egg, her divorced friends will start directing her on how to devour that nest egg whole, just like a snake. She will give you the screw of a lifetime, but not the kind you’re seeking.

7- The stripper

Of the women you can never date, the stripper is worse than the hot bar girl. No, she is not stripping to pay for school. Yes, she might be a hard-luck case, but sooner or later you will be acting like a body guard, thinking you can protect her honor from a rowdy bachelor party. If you think jealousy is beneath you, wait until you observe a private dance from afar when George offers an extra coin.

No business can sustain itself without cash; this is especially true for a bootstrapped start-up. A lot of businesses are forced to close their doors due to inadequate cash management.

It just goes to show how important managing cash collections is to a start-up.

Most start-ups bill their clients on an accrual basis –recognizing revenue when it’s earned rather than when payment occurs. This method becomes a problem when a customer pays late or not at all. And that is dangerous territory.

Here is what you need to do to maintain your company’s health:

Bill up front

Ask customers for payment on delivery, and only accept Automated Clearing House or credit card payments to avoid uncertainty or delay in payments. You can also enforce or encourage pre-payment. While some customers may be deterred by high upfront costs, discounts can win them over, and late-payment charges can reduce overdue accounts and help you predict cash flow needs.

Handle your invoices with care

Make sure you send your invoices far in advance. If you don’t give your customers enough notice, you’re practically asking for late payments. Also, track all outstanding invoices, and have a system in place for credit guidelines and follow-ups.

Be accountable

If you don’t have a clear budget and proper accountability, you’re almost definitely losing money. Early-stage start-ups seldom have the resources for a full-time CFO, but if you aren’t diligently recording spending, you have no way of knowing if you’re going over budget.

If you want to grow big enough to be able to delegate this work, you have to manage your cash collections well now. Otherwise, you could find yourself drowning in debt. Get the money you’ve earned, stop wasting precious resources, and enjoy the extra room in your budget.

[Original:entrepreneur]

So long Pirate Bay, you have been my loyal and trusted pirate friend.

All the illegal downloads you have given me, from DVD rips of blockbuster movies to the latest series.

Alas all things must come to an end.

Swedish police seized the computer servers hosting file-sharing site The Pirate Bay, taking the website offline, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said on Wednesday.

Founded in 2003, The Pirate Bay allows users to dodge copyright fees and share music, film and other files using bit torrent technology, or peer-to-peer links offered on the site.

Swedish courts have already handed down prison sentences and heavy fines to its founders Carl Lundstroem, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm Warg and Peter Sunde.

“We had a crackdown on a server room in Greater Stockholm because of a copyright infringement, and yes it was Pirate Bay,” Paul Pinter, national coordinator, intellectual property crime at Stockholm County Police told Reuters.

It was unsure if Pirate Bay was taken down for hosting some of the movies leaked due to the recent cyber attack on Sony Corp’s Sony Pictures Entertainment, tech website Wired reported.

Are you planning to get yourself or that special someone a Smartphone this Christmas?

Then it’s about time you gave online shopping a chance, Jumia online shop to be precise. Why you may ask?

I did a bit of online research and this was the finding.

By taking a list of all the phones and their respective prices at the Safaricom online shop; and then compared them to what Jumia had to offer (same phones, 2 different vendors). And guess what, Safaricom is definitely not the better option in this case; Jumia is.

Check out some of the phones that are cheaper buying from Jumia rather than a Safaricom shop

iPhone 6 16GB

Safaricom 82,999/=
Jumia 73,999/=

How much you’re saving 9,000/=

iPhone 6 Plus 16GB

Safaricom 92,999/=
Jumia 91,500/=

How much you’re saving 1,499/=

Samsung Galaxy S5

Safaricom 59,999/=
Jumia 48,500/=

How much you’re saving 11,499/=

Samsung Galaxy Trend

Safaricom 15,499/=
Jumia 8,200/=

How much you’re saving 7,299/=

Let us not forget the free delivery that comes with the shopping, to your house or office. How cool is that!

Today, Bizna brings you the second part of our top entrepreneurs tips from business moguls across the world. Read, learn and make more money in your business

1.) Bend to the Market

“Learn to pivot. Resist falling in love with your initial idea so you can discover what the market actually wants and is willing to pay for – and then give it to them!” – Cherylanne Skolnicki

2.) Core Values Last — Quick Buck Artists Don’t

“Remain authentic to yourself and your values as you build your business. Stand for something — never sell out for a quick buck.” – Cherylanne Skolnicki

3.) Stop Thinking of Your Own Wallet Part III

“Help people. Help when you’re happy. Help when you’re tired, and even help without attachment to getting anything in return. Keep on helping people towards a better life, straight through to your marketing. If you do this, you’ll create a marketing approach that’s based on “help marketing,” and you’ll have a business that’s never short on customers.” – Forest Linden

4.) Today is Your Day

“I love this from Og Mandino and wish I had learned this at age 20: “I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.” – Julie Samford

5.) Being Entrepreneurs is a Journey — Not a Destination

“Learn to love the journey. Enjoy the slow steady movements toward what you dream of. And take refuge in the simple comforts of loving relationships, dear friends and your creative vision. Remember to smell the flowers often, listen to the birds, befriend fear. I’ll say that one again, befriend fear because it will likely be a constant companion. Nothing wrong with that, as a teacher told me, fear means: Prepare to Grow!” – Ahava Shira

6.) Unique Positioning is Everything

“Sell what people are already buying – in your own voice.” – Barry Friedman

7.) Negative People Can Bring You Down

“Do not let the naysayers and dream stealers turn your dream into a nightmare. There are so many people that will tell you no — you can’t do this. If you are surrounded by those who do, then it is time to make new friends.” – Katerina Gasset

8.) Okay — You Can Think About Your Own Wallet Now

“Stop doing anything else until you can say you’ve mastered the ability to sell what you offer. Everything is easier when you develop the ability to find a need; fill it and then be paid well to do so.” – Ken Foody

9.) Test + Action = Success

“Take small and medium size risks consistently.  Test your results and focus on what works. Taking action will make you feel alive. It’s where you personally grow.” – Justin Krane

10.) Live By: “Just Watch Me”

“Ignore everyone who says you’re crazy and it will never work. Adopt the stance, “oh yeah, just watch me.” – Debra Gould

11.) Expand Your Mind: Forever

“One thing? Never stop learning!” – James L. Pearso

Chris Hart: Thinking of starting a new relationship? Maybe hoping that this time you’ll find “the one”? Well, there are plenty of good guys out there to choose from.

But there’s also a load of rogues. They look good from a distance, but they also have a dark side.

So to avoid getting hurt, you need to be sure you’re not dating one of them.

That means watching every new guy’s behaviour like a hawk. And if you see even the slightest hint of trouble, run!

The first things to look for are dishonesty and any sort of flaky behaviour. Lies about where he is, who he’s with, who his friends are, where he lives, where he works and so on. Expect 100 per cent honesty right from the start, and if you don’t get it, run!

THE CHASE

Dump him if he’s never on time, cancels dates at the last minute, gets strange phone calls or messages, mistreats you, or is in any way weird with the people around you.

Maybe he’s charming to you, but rude to the waiters? Behaviour like that’s an early sign of personality issues, anger and abuse.

Then there’s the guy who’s just out to use you. He only wants you for your body, doesn’t actually like women, and avoids emotional intimacy.

He’ll promise the world to get you naked  but will always leave you in the end. You’re with someone who’s pressuring you into sex? Gets aggressive or manipulative when you say no? Run!

Some guys just want a trophy to show their friends. They love parading you around, but won’t try to get to know you at all. All they want is for people to think they have a girlfriend, but you’ll never be treated like one.

Some guys love chasing a girl  all the way to the altar if need be. But that’s as far as it goes. Once he’s got you, he’ll start looking for his next conquest.

Beware of a guy who’s controlling. Who quickly starts telling you how to dress, where you can go and how you should spend your money.

He may even try to stop you working, or being with your friends and family.

To begin with, it feels wonderful. He’s so deeply in love with you and “protective…” But slowly, day by day, you’re losing your soul. Run while you still can!

MOTHER SUBSTITUTE

Especially avoid a guy who’s financially unstable, probably unemployed and definitely lacking in ambition, who only wants a woman to take care of him!

Instead of looking for a partner to share a life full of achievement, he’s looking for a mother substitute.

Who’ll finance, feed and clean for him. Your new guy’s career doesn’t seem up to much? Somehow you always seem to end up paying for dinner? And you’ve started lending him money?

Make sure you can spot these characters. And if one of them does come into your life, send him on his way again as fast as you can!

Talk about a wining tag team.

If you were not aware, Apple and IBM formed a landmark partnership in July to redefine the way work gets done. And they seem to be living to up to that promise.

One of the Apps released is IBM’s Incident Aware app for iOS is designed to turn an iPhone into a crime prevention aid for law enforcement officers. Incident Aware includes real-time access to maps and video-feeds of incidents, and the ability for officers to call for back-up or support.

According to IBM’s official site, law enforcement has a new way of gaining understanding of the situations they’re facing.

Incident Aware gives officers the ability to:

Tap into GPS data on iPhone to understand the location of those involved in the incident, and the location and availability of other officers so they can determine the most appropriate response to a situation.

Get contextually relevant information about crime history, victim status and risks of escalation that can help lower incident rates, delivered through a simple, yet powerful iOS user experience on iPhone.

If your people know they can be straight with you, then you’re probably a way better boss than you think you are. Besides, that sort of humility and self-awareness goes a long way toward motivating employees. A sense of humour doesn’t hurt, either.

Here are a few ways to inspire your people to do great work and create an environment where they actually like coming to work.

Big responsibility

Perhaps more than anything, people love to be challenged. They want to know that their achievements matter. If you give highly capable people a lot of responsibility they will work their tails off, make smart decisions and thrive. And they will want more.

An outrageous goal

Employees want to be a part of something great. They want to be part of something bigger than them. If you’re passionate about what you’re trying to achieve, let them in on it. Make them part of your crusade to do what’s never been done before.

Pure meritocracy

Let’s face it: mediocre people want to get paid and keep their jobs no matter what they do. You don’t need them in your company. If you want people who want to be rewarded for being the best, for doing great work – and you should – then give them a pure meritocracy.

Effective management

Exceptional employees want to work for an exceptional company. That means the company’s management team has to be effective and the company has to be successful. The best way to motivate your employees is to be great at your own job: managing the business

2015 is upon us. While you may be slowing down as the holiday season approaches, there are a few must-dos to tackle before the New Year.

Clean up accounting

You’ll want to tie up any loose ends. Make sure that all expenses are entered and that things are recorded and classified properly. You will need accurate financial statements to prepare tax returns and to assess your company’s performance.

Review performance

Review revenue. Break it down in whatever way is appropriate for your business. You might look at it by product line, by job, by client, by geography or by salesperson. Assess gross margin and profit in a similar way. Look at expenses by line item. There should be one person and only one person responsible for each line item.

Review external relationships

You likely have important relationships with vendors, partners and/or customers. The end of the year is an excellent time to review the relationships that are critical to your success. Is your company getting what it needs from the relationship? What changes can you make to improve the benefit that your company is getting or should you end the relationship?

Review employees

The year’s end is a traditional time for employee-performance evaluations. Although we feel strongly that employees should receive feedback much more frequently than annually, it is nevertheless appropriate to assess each person’s performance at the end of the year. You should be measuring their accomplishments against specific, quantifiable goals. However, if you did not set these, you can still make a qualitative assessment of performance.

Review yourself

Finally, you’ll want to take a step back and assess your own performance. How did you do vs. your goals? What would you need to do to take your personal performance to the next level? Is there a book that you have been meaning to read? Do you want to attend a training course? Should you hire an executive coach? Reaching out for help when you need it is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of intelligence and self-awareness.

[Original:entrepreneur]