Summer is a great time for slowing down the pace, catching up with friends, and getting plenty of rest and relaxation. But it’s also a great time to turn up the heat on your new job search. If you’ve been thinking of changing roles or companies, don’t wait until after vacation season; you never know where and when you’ll find the perfect opportunity, says Penny Queller, senior vice president and general manager of Enterprise Talent Solutions for Monster.

There’s never been a more crucial time to differentiate your business, whether you sell on Amazon, drop ship, own an e-commerce store or even if you’re in SaaS. Technology has greatly reduced the barriers to starting a business, meaning you can only expect the competition to become even more fierce.

If there's nothing differentiating what you and your competitors offer, buyers will only focus on price. From there, things can only go downhill as prices race to the bottom and profit margins become vanishingly small.

Income inequality has increased in most developed countries over the past three decades. The phenomenon has been felt much more in some countries than others, but the general trend is unmistakable. In the United States, the income share of the top one percent has soared from an average of 27 times more than the bottom one percent in the 1980s to 81 times more in 2014. The top one percent income share (of GDP) is now almost twice that of the bottom 50 percent.

There are many obstacles on the way to success, but fortunately, others have already made it there and could provide insights and advice for the rest of us.

AdView compiled a graphic of 50 business leaders and celebrities with the advice they'd share with their younger selves. Check it out below.

Image: https://www.entrepreneur.com

Thirty years ago, the business world had a fling with chaos theory — the idea that although nonlinear systems, such as markets and companies, are inherently unpredictable, some order exists within them nonetheless. Tom Peters told us that chaotic markets harbored valuable business opportunities. Meg Wheatley said that chaotic companies were more adaptive, creative, and resilient than hierarchical companies. But I don’t recall anyone recommending chaos as a leadership style.

Thanks to modern technology, plenty of offices are now almost completely paperless. Important documents are created, signed and sent exclusively online, and stored for easy access by all parties. While it’s convenient to have all your business paperwork in digital form, you might not want to get rid of your printer just yet. We asked a panel of experts from Young Entrepreneur Council the following:

From domestic academic institutions running incubators to international funds with vested interest in the Indian market, starting an accelerator seems like a good ‘catchment’ strategy to attract and work closely with innovative startups; and the large enterprise companies wanting a piece of the action in the innovation space would give an arm and a leg for starting an accelerator.

Nokia today officially launched the Nokia Open Innovation Challenge (NOIC), an annual global competition that seeks innovative technologies, products and solutions that can change the world. The focus of this year’s competition is industrial automation and the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) domain, with prize money totaling $175,000 available to winning companies. The winners will also be given access to Nokia Bell Labs research & development resources, as well as opportunities to grow their businesses through joint partnerships with Nokia.

The conventional wisdom in policy circles is that the best way to grow the digital economy is by increasing consumer trust. Privacy regulations, we are told, will boost trust and more trust will lead to more technology adoption — more apps downloaded, more time spent online, more e-commerce. For regulation-inclined lawmakers, this scenario is a win-win: They can regulate online companies as they please and still claim credit for growing the digital economy. Unfortunately, they are wrong: Policies designed to increase trust would likely weaken the U.S. digital ecosystem and lower consumer welfare.

Public-sector leaders recently met with leaders from the region’s most innovative companies to learn about their culture of innovation firsthand. Here’s what they heard.

For all the impact government innovation can have on people’s lives, leaders at the national, regional, and local levels often feel constrained in bringing new technologies or ways of working to bear on their organizations. Long approval processes, a lack of resources, and time-consuming regulations can impede progress, and so does the task of assessing what innovations would be worth adopting.

If you were asked offhandedly to assess your work performance, chances are you’d say you’re smart, hardworking, well-liked by your coworkers, and respected by your boss. Maybe you’d mention you’re committed to the company and feel pretty good about the work you do. And maybe you’d even be right.

Too many entrepreneurs I know still believe that that their great idea will carry the startup, and they may even minimize their own value, especially if they have introvert tendencies. Yet most investors agree that the “idea” is worth nothing alone, and it’s the entrepreneur execution that counts. That means that selling yourself is more important than selling your idea.

Image: https://blog.startupprofessionals.com

Across the U.S., venture capital is disproportionately focused in large metropolitan areas. Often, entrepreneurs who do not locate their companies within these areas struggle to garner the same attention as those based in cities, and thus receive less venture investment.

To add to this disparity, certain groups, including business founders of color and female founders, receive fewer investment dollars than their white male counterparts.

Image: https://www.dailyprogress.com - submitted photo

So you think you have an ingenious startup idea.

You want to transform concept into product or service but don’t have the capital to make it a reality. It’s enough just making tuition and room and board. But with U.S. investors increasing the median seed size to $1 million, according to Pitchbook data from 2017, it’s easy to dream of a successful pitch meeting as the gateway to launching a thriving company. After all, some of the most successful tech ventures in recent years – think Modcloth (2002), Facebook (2004), Reddit (2005) and Snapchat (2011) – were started by college students.

This spring, a New Zealand company tried a new experiment: Employees could work four standard days instead of five, but would be paid their usual salary. Newly released numbers from a study of the project, which lasted eight weeks, show that it worked. Workers’ sense of work-life balance went from 54% to 78%. Stress went down. And the missed hours didn’t affect job performance, which actually slightly improved.

Phil Hansen was in art school when he developed a tremor in his hand. Before then, he’d been making images using countless tiny dots, but suddenly he couldn’t make a single solid dot with the shake in his hand. He couldn’t draw a straight line. Hansen was in a creative rut. He left art school, then left art completely.

Some tastes are acquired. Apparently those include Kikkoman soy sauce and Ziploc bags.

Those are among the consumer brands economists at University of Chicago say most consistently correlate with a purchaser’s wealth. The findings, based on a 2016 survey of buying habits for more than 6,000 Americans, are part of a study about whether rising U.S. income inequality has spurred cultural divisions.

A new bill will allow small businesses to raise capital like larger businesses. Proponents say it will help small buinesses start a new venture and grow their company in a robust economy. A bipartisan vote in the U.S. House created the JOBS and Investor Confidence Act, also known as JOBS Act 3.0 reform.

Amazon is known for building a culture that values hard work. So much so that the organization has received criticism from current and former employees for having to work on Thanksgiving, or even when ill.

When asked about Amazon’s “work/life balance” Jeff Bezos remarked that he ascribed to the phrase “work/life harmony” instead.

DUBLIN, Ireland – At the 9th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network Summit (DWEN) kicking off today in Toronto, Dell unveiled new diagnostic tools for local governments and policymakers to help enable women entrepreneurs to succeed.